Haskell wants to be a legend, a hero like his grandfather who broke the orcish hordes. Froba just wants to survive. She knows what Haskell doesn't: that the deck is stacked against them, and there are no heroes in the world. After assembling a band of misfits, Haskell must face a labyrinthine dungeon, an exploitative, monster-hunting guild, and his own failings, while Froba must decide where her loyalties lie?with her naïve mark or corrupt master. If traitors and woodland monsters don't murder them first.

J.D. Mitchell's stories are informed by his historical studies and transient upbringing. The latter, while terribly angst-inducing, exposed him to a rich tapestry of people and places, as did his varied service industry jobs and a sixteen-year stint in the Public Service of Canada (but who's counting?).

He has been published in Radon Journal, and his self-published works include Springtide Harvest, a dark fantasy, and The Citadel of Bureaucracy, a satirical gamebook about surviving a very bad day in the civil service.