The forces of Eromar ravage the Everland, and the skies are filled with the smoke and ashes of the burning woods. Those Folk who do not escape into the far mountains and hidden valleys are driven into the broken westlands of Humanity, where Dreydmaster Vald reveals the full vision of his mad crusade, one that will annihilate even the memory of the Kyn and their kind.
One group of heroes walks the Darkening Road to rescue the exiles, and another travels to the capital city of Men to make a last, desperate appeal, but both know that these days will determine the fate of the Folk in this Melded world. Will their roots hold fast, or will they be cast adrift into the storm?
Can they find a safe middle path on this way of thorn and thunder?

Daniel Heath Justice (Cherokee Nation) is Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Literature and Expressive Culture and Chair of the First Nations Studies Program at the University of British Columbia, unceded Musqueam territory. His previous publications include a study of Cherokee literature, Our Fire Survives the Storm: A Cherokee Literary History, and The Way of Thorn and Thunder series from Kegedonce Press (omnibus edition from the University of New Mexico Press). His most recent publications are Badger, part of the Animal Series from Reaktion Books (UK), and the co-edited Oxford Handbook of Indigenous American Literature. Current works include the literary manifesto, Why Indigenous Literature Matters (forthcoming from Wilfrid Laurier University Press), a study of other-than-human kinship in Indigenous literary expression, and a new dark fantasy trilogy.

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Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm is a member of the Saugeen Ojibway Nation, Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation, on the Saugeen Peninsula in Ontario. Kateri is an Assistant Professor, teaching Creative Writing, Indigenous Literatures and Oral Traditions in the English Department at the University of Toronto, Scarborough. She has taught creative writing and Indigenous literatures at the University of Manitoba, the Banff Centre's Aboriginal Arts Program, and the En'owkin International School of Writing in partnership with the University of Victoria. Her publications encompass poetry, fiction, non-fiction, radio plays, television and film, libretti, graphic novels, and spoken word. Her teaching and creative work is firmly decolonial, a practice of cultural resurgence, affirmation and survivance. She is a recipient of a REVEAL Indigenous Arts Award for writing, her 2015 book of short stories, The Stone Collection, was a finalist for the Sarton Literary Book Awards, and her collaborative recording A Constellation of Bones was a nominee for a 2008 Canadian Aboriginal Music Award. Kateri was the 2011-2012 Poet Laureate for Owen Sound and North Grey. She founded and coordinated the first Honouring Words: International Indigenous Authors Celebration Tour in 2003 and initiated and was a co-organizer for the first Indigenous Comics Symposium in 2021. She is the founder, publisher, and art director for Kegedonce Press. (Re)Generation: The Poetry of Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm, selected and edited by Dallas Hunt, was released in August 2021. She is currently completing work on a new collection of poetry and a collection of humourous short stories.

Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm's profile page

Come on a journey of ancient worlds, mysterious creatures, warriors and primeval tales told through remarkable images and fantasy-driven dialogue. Think of it as Lord of the Rings set in the culture and wisdom of Aboriginal society in North America.Published by Kegedonce Press, this fantasy epic could have been written by J.R.R. Tolkien - if he was Indian. - SPIRIT MAGAZINE, Autumn 2005