The Collar of the Damned ‘verse is a (fictional) fantasy universe created by (fictional) author Edgar Bowman, and having collected a middle-sized but vivacious (fictional) fandom.

Author Edgar Bowman wrote and published trilogy of fantasy novels which came to be known by fans as the Collar of the Damned trilogy. The trilogy tells the story of an intrepid band of heroes who set out to defeat a brutal dictator and restore rightful rule, but are corrupted along the way by the realities of war. Near the end of the third book, the plot took a surprising turn when one of the heroes turned on the others and took the throne herself. The ending was divisive and fans clamored for a continuation, which Bowman never delivered despite repeatedly stating his intent to write it.

Following Bowman’s passing, the intellectual property rights to the Collar of the Damned ‘verse passed on to his ex-wife. She proceeded, according to his wishes, to write and publish a fourth book in the series. This book was told from the point of view of the supposed traitor and new ruler, who had taken the dictator’s place. Much like the plot twist that preceded it, the novel was highly divisive. Despite widespread dislike among some veteran fans, the book brought many new readers into the fandom and the dispute over it persisted.

Learn more about the CotD universe and fandom:

• “The Three Types of Fanfic in Collar of the Damned Fandom“, a meta essay.
• Find all fiction and meta works by Ayabelle, long-time dedicated CotD fan.

Collar of the Damned works are published for free under a under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) license. If you’ve enjoyed my works, please support via Patreon and allow me to keep them free.