Bona Fide: Living in a Fantasy World?

Beside the work on this blog we get requests for interviews, guest post, and other fun stuff. John over at Grasping for the Wind has an interesting feature called Inside the blogosphere. For the latest edition he asked other bloggers the following question: "If you could live in an SF/Fantasy/Horror world, in which one would you live? Why?" - Alec was asked too, so read his and other great answers: Inside the Blogosphere: Living in a Fantasy World Part 1.

When I started to write this post I asked myself what my answer would be. Upon significant reflection, there are several worlds in which I would live. But there is only one which came up first in my mind, and this world is described in The Last Rune series by Mark Anthony. This six volume series is set in... two worlds: The Earth and the magic otherworld of Eldh. It is the story of two earthlings - saloonkeeper Travis Wilder and ER doctor Grace Beckett - and their allies in both worlds. The Earth is like our earth in the nineties. Eldh is a medieval-style world full of myths and runecraft and has secretly coexisted beside Earth for millennia. I must admit I have a foible for connected worlds. I would like to live there, where you get magic abilities when you move from Earth to Eldh, and you become involved in a fight between good and evil. I still have a relationship to Travis Wilder and Grace Beckett, and I really want to meet them and their allies.

The books are still available. I own the German edition which has been split into 12 books!!

1. Beyond The Pale (1998) [US] [UK]
Travis Wilder and Grace Beckett live in Colorado. They are separately transported to Eld where they little by little discover their talents for magic. It does not take long and they are in th middle of a confrontation between good and evil.

2. The Keep of Fire (1999) [US] [UK]
Travis Wilder returns to Eldh in order to locate the source of a plague which has emerged on earth. Gace Beckett tries to combat the plague by combining medicine from earth with magic from Eldh and discovers an ancient conspiracy.

3. The Dark Remains (2001) [US] [UK]
Grace and Travis return to earth in order to seek medical aid for a good Eldish friend who has been seriously wounded by a Necromancer. It does not take long and they stumble across a new enemy.

4. Blood of Mystery (2002) [US] [UK]
Travis and Grace have been separated. On Eldh the ancient evil arouse in shape of the Pale King. Grace returns to Eldh and tries to find the key weapon against the Pale King. Meanwhile Travis must face life in the Old Wild West because he has been catapulted back in time by a demon.

5. The Gates of Winter (2003) [US][UK]
On Earth Travis fights against another strong enemy who somehow connected to Eldh, where Grace levies an army for the final fight against the Pale King.

6. The First Stone (2004) [US][UK]
The greatest challenge for Grace and Travis.