From internationally acclaimed author Stephen R. Lawhead, creator of the Pendragon Cycle and the King Raven Trilogy, comes a time-travel treasure hunt across alternate worlds in search of a map tattooed on human skin. Doctor Who meets National Treasure.

It is the ultimate quest for the ultimate treasure. Chasing a map tattooed on human skin. Across an omniverse of intersecting realities. To unravel the future of the future.

Kit Livingstone's great-grandfather appears to him in a deserted alley during a tumultuous storm. He reveals an unbelievable story: that the ley lines throughout Britain are not merely the stuff of legend or the weekend hobby of deluded cranks, but pathways to other worlds. To those who know how to use them, they grant the ability to travel the multi-layered universe of which we ordinarily inhabit only a tiny part. But when his girlfriend, Wilhelmina, is stranded in seventeenth-century Prague, Kit's reluctant curiosity becomes a desperate search.

One explorer knew more than most. Braving every danger, he toured both time and space on voyages of heroic discovery. Ever on his guard and fearful of becoming lost in the cosmos, he developed an intricate code--a roadmap of symbols--that he tattooed onto his own body. This Skin Map has since been lost in time. Now the race is on to recover all the pieces and discover its secrets.

But the Skin Map itself is not the ultimate goal. It is merely the beginning of a vast and marvelous quest for a prize beyond imagining.

The Skin Map is the first book in the five-book Bright Empires series and is a unique blend of epic treasure hunt, ancient history, alternate realities, cutting-edge physics, philosophy, and mystery. The result is a page-turning adventure like no other.

"Once again, Lawhead has penned an epic tale, putting a new spin on an old legend. Full of rich imagery, this page-turner will appeal to fans of suspense and fantasy . . ." --Library Journal, STARRED review

"Anything but ordinary . . . Dynamic settings are mixed with unpredictable adventures [and] parallel worlds." --BookPage