Shader Origins

"I was hooked right from the first chapter..." -- Ray Nicholson (Amazon top 1000 reviewer)"... an engaging story that creates questions you'll be dying to know the answers to." -- Jared J."Witty, well paced and intelligent when it needs to be, I'm looking forward to reading more." -- Craig Whitby"For a novella to inspire a need for more, in me, is quite a surprise. I am off to acquire the whole series!" -- James J. Hughes"This short is outstanding, simply stated it was one of the best reads that I've been exposed to in a while." -- Christopher T.Deacon Shader is a child out of time, removed as a baby from his Ancient world parents and raised on the Isle of Maranore.On his seventh birthday, the philosopher Aristodeus arrives to commence the boy's training with sword and mind. Nothing short of excellence will suffice, if Deacon is to fulfill his destiny and avert the Unweaving of all things.But as Aristodeus pushes him to the limits, reavers are spotted approaching the coast, and a cloud of horror descends upon the village.For these are no ordinary pirates. They sail under the Impaled Man, the grisly flag of Verusia, land of the undead and realm of the Lich Lord. "Derek Prior always produces masterpieces of storytelling, with great characters full of life, relentless plots, and gripping and intense fight scenes." Mitchell Hogan"Like Bernard Cornwell on 'shrooms!" Dinorah WilsonInternationally bestselling and award winning author Derek Prior excels in fast-paced, high stakes epic fantasy adventure stories in which good ultimately triumphs, but always at a cost.Taking familiar fantasy tropes as a point of departure, Prior expands upon them to explore friendship, betrayal, loyalty and heroism in worlds where evil is an ever-present reality, magic is both a curse and a blessing, and characters are tempered in battle.Winner of best fantasy novel 2012 (The Nameless Dwarf: The Complete Chronicles)Fantasy Faction semifinalist for the SPFBO 2018 (Ravine of Blood and Shadow) The origins of the Templum knight Deacon Shader

For centuries, no one had heard a peep out of Verusia, the dark stain at the heart of the Templum's empire.But when a messenger arrives in the Holy City of Aeterna, bearing news that the fortresses along the border have mysteriously been abandoned, and the three-hundred men of Trajinot's garrison have been impaled outside the city walls, word is, the Lich Lord is on the move again.As an army of the dead waits within the shadow-black trees of the Schwarzwald, the Templum gathers its troops for war.Captain Deacon Shader leads the Seventh Horse, a heavy cavalry troop now deemed obsolete. One charge, one chance is their motto. Time it right, and the tide of any battle can be turned; get it wrong, and it could all be over.When the two forces face off outside the walls of Trajinot, it is not just the hordes of undeath the Templum must fight. Intangible terror poisons the air, driving seasoned warriors to panic.Only the Elect knights of the Seventh Horse have the discipline to stand their ground; yet facing a fear doesn't mean it will do you no harm, and for Shader, there are worse things than wounds of the flesh. "Derek Prior always produces masterpieces of storytelling, with great characters full of life, relentless plots, and gripping and intense fight scenes." Mitchell Hogan"Like Bernard Cornwell on 'shrooms!" Dinorah WilsonInternationally bestselling and award winning author Derek Prior excels in fast-paced, high stakes epic fantasy adventure stories in which good ultimately triumphs, but always at a cost.Taking familiar fantasy tropes as a point of departure, Prior expands upon them to explore friendship, betrayal, loyalty and heroism in worlds where evil is an ever-present reality, magic is both a curse and a blessing, and characters are tempered in battle.Winner of best fantasy novel 2012 (The Nameless Dwarf: The Complete Chronicles)Fantasy Faction semifinalist for the SPFBO 2018 (Ravine of Blood and Shadow) The origins of the Templum knight Deacon Shader