The Writers' Network! discussion

The deathly Sanghouls have escaped from the Empty Province and, from within their golden dunes, they seek to wipe out all life in Empyria. Unaware of this, the last surviving humans continue going about their daily routine in the city of Nimar. But when the city’s water pool stops refilling, the Nimerians are forced to move into lands of myth and legend.

Only when Prince Viro, an elf of the southern lands, arrives in Nimar do the humans truly understand the threat to their existence. The two races must unite and reclaim the lost seven stones of light – the only weapon that can defeat the demonic shadow enclosing them.

As four of the city’s most talented young men and women, Athmane, Faria, Bayoud and Mary will be critical to Nimar enduring the perils, both natural and unnatural, that await them.


http://www.amazon.com/Shadows-Sand-Em...

This is a fantasy about friendship, love, action and an epic quest around the dangerous lands of Empyria. If you love fantasy, you'll love this.

Thanks,
Michael

Thanks William. Reduced the price now to 77p!

Free today!

Amazon US:

http://www.amazon.com/Shadows-Sand-Em...

Amazon UK:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shadows-Sand-...

New reviews just in:

****

After reading a million and one fantasy books, this one is much different. The end half of the story has been well thought out and has been planted well in the first half, also having perspective from several characters gives much more depth to the whole story rather than just your typical one point of view.

More please, I need to know what happens !!!


***
This is the imaginative fantasy tale of a race hard pressed by a desert land and a lack of water. Recent geological activity has greatly reduced the city's water supply and has allowed a fearsome race of sand-dwelling creatures to encroach. The people of the city are divided into four groups, hunters, medics, craft workers and soldiers and the story follows a group of four who grew up together.

The author has created a great set-up here which is very promising but it is marred by some clunky sentences and rather wooden dialogue at times. I found these rather distracting. Michael Diack is a young author and I think experience will make his writing flow better. I hope he continues to write and on the basis of this book I think fantasy is his genre.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shadows-Sand-...

http://www.amazon.com/Shadows-Sand-Em...

Ignore the fact it's Friday 13th - today is your lucky day because my book is free (and over the weekend)

Free: 13th to 15th Sept


http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shadows-Sand-...

http://www.amazon.com/Shadows-Sand-Em...

New reviews just in:

*****

A very intricate and thought-provoking fantasy story. It is very well written and had me gripped from the first page. It's not the first book I have read by this author and it certainly won't be the last. I look forward to the next book in the series.

Only $0.99 for this weekend.


Reviews:

I should start with a spoiler alert – 'Shadows in the Sand' ends at a perilous point, requiring the next book in the series. If you don't want want to read a gripping novel that is the first of a series, then you shouldn't start 'Shadows in the Sand'.

While most fantasy novels are set in worlds resembling medieval Europe, Empyria is much more primitive. Humans only exist in very small clusters of hunter-gathers, with very limited technology. Almost everything they encounter thinks that men are nothing more than another food item. When an earthquake shuts off the communities water supply, everyone must begin a process of moving to a new refuge … that is far from safe.

The world Micheal Diack has created is continually fascinating. The environment is so threatening, and mankinds technology so limited that I continually asked myself – would anyone actually be able to survive this?

Well worth reading for an adventure in a world unlike any other.

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First, I love Athmane and Faria. I really like that they, Mary and Bayoud have known each other basically all their lives. It gives their bonds to each other a very lived in feel and the reader is able to focus more on the story unraveling than on the building of the characters relationships.
With a larger cast of characters like this it's easy for an author to loose a someone's place in the plot. To not mention them for too long and suddenly they're back in the story and we're all left scratching our heads trying to remember who this person is and what they mean to us. Michael didn't do that. He did a great job of giving us glimpses of the characters, creating tension around them and leaving us wanting more when he moved on to the next one. It creates that feel of a story within a story. My only complaint would be that the characters are a little bit flat. They're dialogue is stunted sometimes which leaves it feeling a little unnatural. I think Michael was more focused on the story unfolding and it's unique and exciting enough that one can forgive slightly flat characters.

If you're a fan of epic fantasy, this is a book you need to read.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E...

Another new review:

Shadows in the Sand is set in an apocalyptic world where human survivors eke out an existence amongst a harsh and brutal environment. In contrast to the exposition-heavy opening chapters the novel is extremely well written. It is also a largely based action tale, something rare for a first instalment of a fantasy series.

The plotline is beautifully simple. A tribe’s water pool is running dry and it is up to a hunter and tracker Athmane, along with his childhood companions, Faria, a craftsman, Bayoud a soldier and Mary a medic, to go into new lands and find out why.
This is no clichéd quest but rather a life and death mission. The desert however is full of perils such as sandghoulls and serpents which always keep the narrative fresh and exciting. The mood of the desert, especially at night; its beauty as well as terrible dangers are wonderfully evoked.

The work is very different from most fantasy novels and reminds me of one of the greatest science fiction novels of all time, Frank Herbert’s Dune, yet this time with the tale told from Arakis’ Fremen viewpoint. That is not to say this tale is derivative. The story is entirely the author’s own.

The one staple fantasy character the author does borrow is the elf. Yet the reader need not fear clichés for they serve to act as an important catalyst in the narrative as it is realised the two races must work together if they are to withstand an encroaching dark, malign enemy.

This first instalment of Michael Diack’s Empyria trilogy promises great things. The canvas grows increasingly broader throughout as the author creates the foundation for the second instalment. If Diack manages to keep the same atmosphere and mood without falling into the usual fantasy stereotypes I believe this trilogy will be something very special indeed and attract an army of fans.

http://www.amazon.com/Shadows-Sand-Em...

New Review:

In Empyria it takes courage to live, and more than mere courage to challenge those who want to kill you. Athmane and his friends must take up that challenge or become the next victims. Forced to move they now face many unknown dangers. This story thrives on tension and danger. The sheer depth of “Shadows in the Sand” is simply amazing. This book exceeded all my expectations with its incredible story line that was highly imaginative, inspired and totally unique. The fast moving action pulls me along on a thrilling journey, which is full of vivid imagination and suspense. His characters are unique and original, yet seem simple when you realize that they aren't perfect. This is the beginning of book one where the journey begins. As a side note: the characters are not only likable, but are generally upstanding citizens with strong moral fiber. I like that. Also, there is fighting and death, but the scenes are not written too gruesome or gory. I like that as well.

http://www.amazon.com/Shadows-Sand-Em...

New Review and book cover!

Great fantasy novels are difficult to write because even if you’re writing about events or characters that never happened or existed, there is still the readers’ demand for believability and verisimilitude. But Michael Diack, with his ‘Shadows in the Sand’, has fulfilled those demands in a flourish: this is a book you will “devour” and whose sequel(s) you will watch out for. Here’s why.

‘Shadows in the Sand’ is a post-apocalyptic tale about the remnants of mankind who manage to thrive and survive after a devastating cataclysm. And like how human beings lived in the past, this small, vulnerable community of survivors in a city called Nimar live near a water pool, on which they depend on for their meagre nourishment. But the water pool happens to be drying up—in a few weeks, the water would be gone. Desperate, the humans send out search or exploration parties everywhere to find an alternative water source, despite their fear that there might not be any. This post-apocalyptic situation sounds familiar—but in ‘Shadows in the Sand’, the humans have allies and foes that come from the fantasy genre: elves, trolls, giant insects, mermen and mysterious immortal beings called the Ovites. And if the water problem isn’t enough, the humans also face a formidable problem: the murderous onslaught of the Sanghouls, beings whose main mission in life is inflict death. Fortunately for the humans, they’re not alone: an elf prince offers alliance and military help—and a chance to survive the Sanghouls: using the long lost seven stones of light as weapon. There’s only one little problem: as I’ve said, the stones have been lost a long time ago, and nobody knows where they are.

And that’s only for starters—as you may realize, this is an epic fantasy tale that shall span multiple books, as indicated by its sheer scope. But if this “Book 1” is any indication, then the entire series is set to become a well-loved classic. Author Michael Diack has a way with words that compels you to keep on turning the pages and drops your jaws when you least expect it. He paints a rich, vivid, and evocative backstory that supports the tale’s present, giving us more than enough emotional gravitas to “feel” with the main characters.

http://www.amazon.com/Shadows-Sand-Em...

Price drop for the coming winter months! Only $0.99.

http://www.amazon.com/Shadows-Sand-Em...

thanks everyone!