Soot and sorrow plague the air when a hoard of Wilderfolk fall upon a caravan. Running at the head of that hoard is Knalc, a man hardened by battle and the horrors of the Wilderlands. In their attack, Knalc and his clan find a Valforian man, all in red and blade bloodied, who can hold his own against Wilderfolk.

This man in red protects a boy who cannot speak and a girl—Dhorena—with more spite than sense. Once Knalc manages to best the man in red, the fate of Red and his wards lies with Knalc.

Through the twisting of fate and the sinister bend of circumstance, Knalc decides to form a ramshackle alliance with the Valforians to bring them back to their city. What lies between are monsters, gods, and the very Wilderlands.

R.E. Bellesmith is the pen name of Isaac Hamlet. A former entertainment reporter for The Des Moines Register and The Iowa City Press-Citizen, Isaac is a 2018 graduate of the University of Iowa. He has been writing fantasy stories since he was a 5^th grader growing up in Grand Rapids, Michigan. His previous book, Light Keeper Chronicle: The Unspoken Prophecy, is a middle grade fantasy book he spent most of his life working on.

The Wilderlands is a dark fantasy story inspired by oral tales like Beowulf and The Epic of Gilgamesh and is Isaac’s first adult fantasy novel.