The Eternal Dungeon

In a cool, dark cavern, guarded by men and by oaths, lies a dungeon in which prisoners fearfully await the inevitable. The inevitable will be replaced by the unexpected.

The Eternal Dungeon, a historical fantasy series set in a land where the psychologists wield whips.

This series is part of Dusk Peterson's High Bookshelf | More fiction by Dusk Peterson | About the author | Contact information | Parental supervision is strongly suggested for this series. Series warnings (with minor spoilers).

¶ Store: Love in Dark Settings Omnibus (all of Dusk Peterson's online fiction, nonfiction, and fiction recommendations in one e-book).

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CONTENTS

Resources.

Rebirth: The Breaking, Love and Betrayal, First Time, In Training, As a Seeker, Tops and Sops.

Transformation: Deception, Twists and Turns, A Prisoner Has Need, The Consultation.

The Balance: Truth and Lies, Barbarians, Hidden, Death Watch, The Balladeer.

On Guard: Upcoming novel.

Side stories: The Unanswered Question.

RESOURCES

Shared Universes: Works set in the Eternal Dungeon world by other authors and artists.

The Eternal Dungeon story discussions. Posted by readers at Dusk Peterson's LiveJournal blog. Includes major spoilers for the stories being discussed.

Turn-of-the-Century Toughs, a cycle of historical fantasy novels that includes The Eternal Dungeon.

Bibliography for this series:

Masculinity, Crime, and Everyday Life in Victorian and Edwardian Times.

Rebirth

In the Queendom of Yclau lies an underground royal prison that embraces the worst of the past and the best of the future. The Eternal Dungeon is old-fashioned in its equipment and ahead of its time in its treatment of prisoners, seeking to put their best welfare above all else. Torture is part of the process of assisting the prisoners.

The High Seeker, Layle Smith, embodies this contradictory institution: a man of deadly impulses, the head torturer binds himself strictly by the dungeon's code of conduct. His efforts to maintain this delicate balance are altered, though, by the introduction into his life of Elsdon Taylor, a vulnerable prisoner who is coming to terms with his own darkness.

¶ Novel: 130,000 words | Genre tags (with minor spoilers) | Reviews.

ONLINE EDITION

Rebirth 1: The Breaking. The prisoner knew that the Eternal Dungeon was a place where suspected criminals were broken by torture, and he was prepared to hold out against any methods used against him – except the method he could not anticipate.

Rebirth 2: Love and Betrayal. As a torturer learns the art of questioning prisoners, he discovers that the word "love" can have a darker meaning than he had supposed.

Rebirth 3: First Time. One od them seeks to heal from abuse. The other one dreams of abusing. Now they're in love.

Rebirth 4: In Training. Unexpected danger reveals to a young torturer the dark mystery of his mentor's past – as well as unpleasant revelations about himself.

Rebirth 5: As a Seeker. If the High Seeker wants something, no power in life or death will hold him from taking it. What he wants now has brought danger to the Eternal Dungeon.

Rebirth 6: Tops and Sops. The torturer was young, inexperienced, and lacking in knowledge of the world. The prisoner was tough, worldlywise, and had an infallible plan that would give him escape from this place. So why did the prisoner feel as though the torturer had the edge?

Rebirth: Historical Note.

Rebirth: Back Matter. Dedication, credits, publication history, etc.

Transformation

The Eternal Dungeon, a royal prison where criminals are transformed, has lost its leadership. The duty of returning the dungeon to normal falls on two Seekers (torturers) who are already burdened with their own problems. One Seeker is struggling to understand why an old love affair continues to gnaw at him. The other Seeker is faced with his greatest challenge: whether to risk that which is most precious to him in order to save his own abuser.

¶ Novel: 110,000 words | Genre tags (with minor spoilers).

E-BOOK EDITION

Transformation (HTML e-book).

ONLINE EDITION

Transformation 1: Deception. The Eternal Dungeon is no longer in danger. Unless, that is, something unexpected should happen.

Transformation 2: Twists and Turns. Only the loyal presence of one man has kept him alive. Now that man's loyalty is about to be tested.

Transformation 3: A Prisoner Has Need. A cold-hearted murderer has been brought to the Eternal Dungeon, one who must be dealt with through firmness and perhaps harshness. Too bad he's twelve.

Transformation 4: The Consultation. He has come from the Eternal Dungeon to offer his services to another prison's head torturer. The only trouble is that the head torturer likes him too much.

Transformation: Historical Note.

Transformation: Back Matter. Credits, publication history, etc.

The Balance

The workers in the Eternal Dungeon have always expressed contempt toward the Hidden Dungeon in the neighboring kingdom of Vovim, whose torturers abuse prisoners without restraint. But the balance between mercy and hell is not so clear as might be thought in either dungeon, and now that balance is about to tip. Only the strength of love and integrity will determine the paths of two Seekers whose fortunes are bound together.

¶ Novel: 70,000 words so far.

ONLINE EDITION

The Balance 1: Truth and Lies. When you're a prisoner, having a torturer who's mad can be an advantage. Or maybe not.

The Balance 2: Barbarians. Vovim was renowned for its strong monarchy, for its love of the theater, and for its skill in the art of torture. In other words, it had all the qualities needed to become a civilized nation. But would anyone be willing to defy Vovim's tyrannical king? And if they did, would they survive?

The Balance 3: Hidden. He had been given the kindest, gentlest torturer in the dungeon. The prisoner was left with only one hope: that he could teach his torturer how to be cruel.

The Balance 4: Death Watch. Death lurks everywhere in the Eternal Dungeon . . . even in a Seeker's bedroom.

The Balance 5: Balladeer. Sometimes it takes an outsider to point out the obvious.

The Balance: Back Matter.

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On Guard

The ties forged between the noble-minded Eternal Dungeon and the abusive Hidden Dungeon have set off an unpredictable chain of horrific events, in which the love between two Seekers (torturers) will be tested to the straining point. Caught in the middle of the struggle are Barrett Boyd and Seward Sobel, two loyal guards who will find themselves questioning their most fundamental beliefs about the Eternal Dungeon's ideals.

¶ Novel.

EXCERPT – On Guard: Excerpt.

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Side stories

The Unanswered Question. No weapons, no allies, and no guarantees that he will survive the test.

A 2009 holiday gift story for Dusk Peterson's readers. Includes major spoilers for Rebirth.

¶ Novella: 36,000 words | Genre tags (with minor spoilers).

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This text, or a variation on it, was originally published at duskpeterson.com as part of the series The Eternal Dungeon. Copyright © 2002-2010 Dusk Peterson. Some rights reserved. The text is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0). You may freely print, post, e-mail, share, or otherwise distribute the text for noncommercial purposes, provided that you include this paragraph. The author's policies on derivative works and fan works are available online (duskpeterson.com/copyright.htm).

Cover designs: Dusk Peterson. Art credits. Permission is granted for the reposting and reprinting of the banner, covers, and story summaries for the purposes of providing information on Dusk Peterson's writings. Please link to duskpeterson.com if possible.