Search Worlds Without End

Now, McDowell's masterpiece--the serial novel, Blackwater--returns to thrill and terrify a new generation of readers, with all six volumes available for the first time as a single e-book.

Featuring an insightful new introduction by John Langan, Blackwater traces more than fifty years in the lives of the powerful Caskey family of Perdido, Alabama, under the influence of the mysterious and beautiful--but not quite human--Elinor Dammert.

The Flood heralds the arrival of a visitor who will change the Caskey family--and the town--forever...

When the town builds The Levee, it proves a vain attempt to control a horrific power that can never be contained...

The House hides terrible secrets that whisper in closed rooms and scrabble at locked doors...

The War reveals family secrets more deadly and devastating than anything Perdido has ever dreamed in its deepest nightmares...

The Fortune brings happiness and power--but even greater terror...

And finally, the mysterious saga of the Caskey family ends the only way it can--in terrible judgment and fury delivered under the cover of a relentless, earth-shattering Rain.

The mysterious saga of the Caskey family begins in Blackwater I: The Flood, as a devastating flood brings a strange and beautiful visitor to the small, sleepy lumber town of Perdido, Alabama.

Elinor Dammert's arrival will forever change the town and the wealthy and powerful Caskey family.

James, who dotes on Elinor like a second daughter...

Sister, who pines for Elinor's strength and independence...

Oscar, who loves Elinor and determines to build a life with her...

And matriarch Mary-Love, perhaps the only person in Perdido with an inkling of Elinor's true power and purpose.

For Elinor is more than she appears, and she brings to Perdido--and to the Caskeys--a deadly, inexplicable otherness from which no one can ever be safe.

In Blackwater I: The Flood, McDowell introduced readers to the powerful Caskey family of Perdido, Alabama, whose lives were irrevocably changed by the arrival of the strange and beautiful Elinor Dammert.

Now the mysterious saga of the Caskey family continues in Blackwater II: The Levee.

Through a startling sacrifice, Elinor has finally managed to wrench her husband Oscar away from his powerful and demanding mother, Mary-Love.

But Mary-Love Caskey is not one to relinquish power easily, and she knows precisely the revenge that will hurt Elinor most.

As work begins on the levee that will block Elinor's beloved river from view, the two women battle for control of the Caskey family and perhaps the very soul of the town itself.

A strange child is born and baptized secretly in the dark waters of the Perdido River...

A lonely spinster turns to dark magic that will haunt her for the remainder of her life...

And a damaged boy goes for a walk in the moonlight and encounters something beyond his wildest nightmares...

Elinor Caskey's daughters, Miriam and Frances, have grown up next door to one another but separated by a veritable ocean of differences.

Miriam is spoiled and doted upon by her grandmother Mary-Love, while Frances is entirely Elinor's little girl... with all the mystery and otherness such a legacy entails.

As the Great Depression begins, the Caskey family grows ever more wealthy and powerful, and the enmity between Elinor and Mary-Love grows ever more deadly.

An unwelcome visitor makes the fatal mistake of attacking the Caskeys and then seeking escape across the dark river...

Oscar begins to suspect that Elinor is hiding secrets he can never hope to fathom...

And Mary-Love finally realizes the true and terrible extent of her adversary's overwhelming power...

A family war has ended, but a world war is about to begin--one that will prove yet another boon to the wealthy and powerful Caskeys.

As lumber orders pour in from the war effort, the Caskeys seem at times almost preternaturally charmed.

But secrets flow about the family as well, treacherous as the murky waters of the Perdido River.

A secret hidden deep in the woods, discovered by two young soldiers on their way to the war...

A secret revealed in the waters of a nearby lake, far more dangerous than the alligator that sometimes swims there...

And soon the mysterious Elinor will reveal the biggest secret of all--the secret that will change the Caskey family forever.

Already the most powerful family in Perdido, the Caskeys will soon experience success beyond their wildest imaginings. But prosperity comes with a price, and in the end even the Caskeys must pay.

One woman will risk everything to rid herself of the dreams she once begged for...

Another will make herself brutal in business and even more unyielding with the family that loves her...

And a third will finally confront her mysterious and terrible otherness as she faces marriage and motherhood and the relentless pleading call of the dark river...

Time heals old wounds and dissipates old illusions as a new generation of Caskeys ascends to power.

But even unimaginable wealth can't protect the Caskey family from the sins of its past or the judgment that is soon coming due.

An unexpected union brings joy and tragedy in equal measure...

Secrets long forgotten bubble to the surface of the dark river, and scrabble at the door of an abandoned room...

And a tragic encounter in the swamp conjures a storm the likes of which Perdido hasn't seen since the great flood of 1919...

Table of Contents:

• Blackwater Days - interior artwork by Shaun Tan
• Downloading - (1998) - novelette
• Beckoning Nightframe - (1996) - shortstory
• First Interview: A Journey - shortstory
• Basic Black - novelette
• Second Interview: Psychosleuths - shortstory
• The Saltimbanques - (2000) - novelette
• Third Interview: A Forgetting - shortstory
• Jenny Come to Play - (1997) - novelette
• Light from the Deep Pavilion - shortstory
• Blackwater Days - novelette
• L'Envoi: A Homecoming - shortstory