The Resurrection of Deacon Shader ($0.99 Kindle), by Derek Prior, the first book in his fantasy series The Deceptions of The Demiurgos, has recently been updated. Since it is a bit of a process to get a new version at Amazon (you have to return the old version for a refund, then repurchase), Derek has set up a coupon (which ends today) so that you can get a replacement or just try out his writing at Smashwords for free. I have a review copy here and have placed it high on my TBR stack after scanning the first few pages, so expect to feature the book here again soon.Book Description
A fusion of heroic fantasy, sorcery and dark science, the book introduces the complex, and conflicted character of Deacon Shader - former knight of the Elect, failed monk and gifted swordsman.
Following his rejection by the woman he loves, Shader returns to the Abbey of Pardes where he witnesses a supernatural assault on the Grey Abbot. Something is stolen - a segment of the mythical Sun Stone - which Shader agrees to retrieve from the plague city of Sarum.
Beauty, Truth, Love – these three fled the hound of science, seeking refuge in the Dreaming. As Earth marched towards an unrelenting technocracy, the beleaguered Sun Stone fell from the skies of distant Aethir, but it did not find the sanctuary it had sought; for Aethir had become the home of all the Sun Stone feared: the architect of Earth’s fall from grace, the uncompromising “Pale Wizard”, Sektis Gandaw.
Rescued from the clutches of Sektis Gandaw by the gods of the Dreamers, the Sun Stone was entrusted to the shaman Huntsman until the day of the Reckoning when, bereft of choice, it unleashed the power of nightmare upon the Earth.
Three millennia later, with the parts of the Sun Stone scattered, a creature that has fed for centuries on the unsuspecting people of Sahul locates a segment of the mythical Sun Stone and with it the promise of eternal life. As he enhances his own necromantic arts with the power of the Sun Stone, Ernst Cadman starts to suspect that there are unwanted side-effects and, worse still, someone or something maybe watching.
Huntsman weaves a web of manipulation to ensure the safety of Sahul and to prevent the Sun Stone from falling back into the hands of a terrible being from beyond the stars. The Stone, however, has ideas of its own and calls together those who are to play a part in its destiny: an abbot, a bard, an assassin, a Pope, and the former knight of the Elect, Deacon Shader who unknowingly carries a power of his own, a potency that may either save or condemn the whole of Creation.
Click HERE to get the book on Smashwords and use coupon code SD33X.
