The Shepherd

The Aionach Saga #0.5

by J.C. Staudt

In the heat-blasted wastelands of a post-apocalyptic world, Toler Glaive makes his living as hired muscle, guarding trade caravans against the storms, mutants, monsters, and nomad tribes who harry them every step of the way. When he and his crew discover smuggled goods inside a merchant's cargo vessel, Toler will risk everything to come out ahead - including his future with the woman he loves.

The Shepherd is a prelude novella to J.C. Staudt's debut post-apocalyptic fantasy epic, The Infernal Lands, and is a part of the Aionach Saga.

74 pages, ebook

First published November 17, 2014

About the author

J.C. Staudt was born in Oceanside, New York, and moved to Virginia at the age of four, where he has lived ever since. He is a graduate of George Mason University, with a B.A. in Integrative Multimedia Studies, and he works for an Engineering and Consulting firm as a New Media Designer. He lives with his beautiful wife in a house lacking pets and children in Manassas, Virginia.

Staudt has been an unrepentant nerd for three decades and counting. He spends his weekends playing D&D and theorizing about every possible plot twist and untimely death (and undeath) that might occur in the next Game of Thrones novel. He writes science-fiction and fantasy across three distinct universes:

The Aionach - A dying world whose sun is so hot and close it's turned the entire planet into a wasteland. For fans of the Fallout video games, the Mad Max movies, and Stephen King's Dark Tower novels.

Esperon - A planet shattered centuries ago after a cataclysmic event of unknown origin, which gave rise to super-human beings called techsouls and islands that float on an anti-gravitational element called driftmetal.

Orothwain - A realm of goblins, elves, and dragons, where everyone talks like they're fresh off the boat from middle-ages Europe. You know the place. Magic and nature exist in polar opposition to one another, so magic users battle nature users like a fantasy rendition of crips and bloods.

Find him on Twitter @JCStaudtWrites or on his website, jcstaudt.com

Reviews

[KiWi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worthy of continuation of series

I liked the pace and length of this story. It also introduced the characters w/o making you feel you might mix them up. Thought it was clever and suspenseful and will plan to keep reading from this author.

[Bradford Tetlow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. Really well written, great setting and a fun read