The Realm drops you into a bizarre and disturbing vision of the afterlife where the dead will never rest in peace. L. Marie Wood’s compulsively readable and fast-paced tale grabs you and doesn’t let go. Hang on tight!”

– Kirsten Imani Kasai, Author of The House of Erzulie

The Realm

L. Marie Wood

Cover Art by Eric Battle

 

In The Realm, L. Marie Wood presents readers with a cast of nuanced characters against the backdrop of an intricate world where nothing is simply black and white or right and wrong. The “sins of the father” takes a refreshing detour from triteness and makes us accomplices to the main character’s (Patrick’s) endeavors.

– R. J. Joseph, author of Monstrous Domesticities

You thought you were dead.

Waking up and looking all around you, you realize all you learned about The Afterlife was a fantasy. You don’t know where you are, but you do know it’s not a pleasant or suitable place. You need to run. Hard and fast.

Eventually, you meet others doomed to live in this terrifying Realm with you. Here are gathered the newly dead from all over the universe. A formidable race of giant beasts hunts them. The likes of which have never been seen by those in the living world. This place is like nothing you ever learned about in life – neither Heaven nor Hell, neither Purgatory nor Sheol.

You encounter clusters of people huddled together for safety. You’re a lone wolf – they don’t trust you, nor you them. Perhaps with good reason.

Patrick is key to the future of The Realm. He must right old wrongs and fight against all the terrors it has in store. He must fight to save his family and, most importantly, all of his descendants. His revelations will impact the living world, as well as what comes next.

Patrick is the future of humanity.

Can he succeed?

About the Author

L. Marie Wood

L. Marie Wood

L. Marie Wood is an award-winning author and screenwriter.  She is the recipient of the Golden Stake Award for her novel The Promise Keeper and the Harold L. Brown Award for her screenplay Home Party. Her short story, “The Ever After” is part of the Bram Stoker Award Finalist anthology Sycorax’s Daughters. Wood was recognized in The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, Vol. 15 and as one of the 100+ Black Women in Horror Fiction.

Active in the horror community, Wood is an officer in Diverse Writers and Artists of Speculative Fiction (DWASF). 

To learn more about L. Marie Wood, visit her website.

“L. Marie Wood continues to be a force in the world of horror with her unique writing style and her ability to spin a tale that will stay with you long after you have read the last sentence. ”

– Midwest Book Review

“Wood has supurb pacing and a fantastical flair that has earned her a place among the most inventive horror writers of our time.”

– Somniloquy