SOMEWHITHER is the first part of A TALE OF THE UNWITHERING REALM, a new science fantasy series from the science fiction author John C. Wright. It is an adventure, it is a romance, and it is a coming of age story of a young man who is not a man, in a world that is only one among many. It is a tale of a greater and darker evil with longer reach than anything he could imagine, of despair without bounds, of pain beyond measure, and of the faith required to surmount all three. It is a story of inexorable destiny written in the stars and the stubborn courage that is required to defy it. Ilya Muromets is a big, ugly, motherless boy who does not look like anyone else in his Oregon town. His father is often absent on Church missionary work that strangely seems to involve silver bullets, sacred lances, and black helicopters. Ilya works as a janitor for Professor Achitophel Dreadful of the Cryptozoological Museum of Scientific Curiosities, and he has a hopeless crush on the Professor’s daughter, Penelope, who seems to think his name is Marmoset. One night, when Professor Dreadful escapes from the asylum in which he is presently residing, he sends a warning to Ilya that not only is the professor’s Many Worlds theory correct, but those many worlds are dominated by an unthinkably powerful enemy determined to destroy anyone who opens the Moebius Ring between the worlds. And, as it happens, prior to his involuntary absence, the Professor left his transdimensional equipment in the basement of the Museum plugged-in and running…. So it is that Ilya, as he has long dreamed in secret, is called upon to save the mad scientist’s beautiful daughter. With his squirrel gun, his grandfather’s sword, and his father’s crucifix, Ilya races to save the girl, and, incidentally, the world.

NOWHITHER is the eagerly-awaited sequel to SOMEWHITHER, the Dragon Award winner for Best Science Fiction Novel (2016). The tale resumes as Ilya Muromets, nonhuman immortal and would-be hero, and his friends and companions, make a hair's breadth escape from the endless immensities of the Dark Tower, that unconquerable stronghold and throne of a monstrous, dimension-spanning empire ruled by cruel tyrants and omniscient magicians, only to find themselves trapped in circumstances even worse. They escape a citadel of blood-drinking abominations only to find themselves trapped in a chamber at the sunless bottom of the sea. The invulnerable Ilya also realized he can be hurt indeed when he faces a dread decision pitting family love against loyalty to friends, and involves the fates not of his own world only, but all worlds. Grab it now!