Survival I: Slaughter At Ghastar: A Novella from the Era Of Darkness

Product Description
Slaughter At Ghastar is the first in an all-new spin-off series of novellas set in the apocalyptic Era Of Darkness.
Hordes of demonic warriors swarm from beyond the great Wall of Light. They crush opposing armies. They eradicate towns and villages. They have already slaughtered the Unseen Gods... This is an invasion like no other. Their purpose is not to expand their territory, to instil their doctrines on other people or to plunder the riches of their prey, but simply to destroy every living thing.
At dawn, the demon forces reach the peaceful Human village of Ghastar – and an atrocious massacre ensues...
Amid the fleeing villagers are four friends. Nidel is a strong but fearful nineteen-year-old man, who is desperate to protect his younger sister Dansel. Tanner and Lul are brothers and traders; Tanner is fifty and a stout boastful liar; Lul is half his age, very intelligent but quiet-natured. A fourteen-year-old girl named Vina joins the group and they reach the outskirts of Ghastar…
Here the refugees meet Tygis, an old hermit believed to be an addled fool. They retreat into his small cabin – and discover there is more to the hermit that anyone could have ever believed.
Yet soon the cabin is surrounded and under siege by demons. Makeshift barricades won’t last long under the mammoth onslaught. The six villagers will have to fight for their lives against the overwhelming invaders…
Can anyone survive?
Whereas Era Of Darkness tells the story of the demonic invasion on a huge scale, Survival depicts it from the perspective of a small group of refugees – not great warriors or leaders of nations, but ordinary people caught up in a catastrophe. Homeless and terrified, they are already victims of war. To make it through to the end of one terrible day, each character will need to summon up more courage than they ever knew they possessed.
Review
From Reader Reviews for the Era Of Darkness Saga:
 

"Magic, Unstoppable Evil, and Brutal, Brutal Combat... The world Ian Thompson created for Era of Darkness is immense, and his cast of characters is huge. Luckily, Mr. Thompson is a fantastic guide. He drops you in the middle of the action and leads you through a world bracing itself against its inevitable demise. The action is intense, the battles are brutal, and the characters are complex and very real. What a great story! ... If you love heart-pumping action and vicious battles, you have to read this book."- Mike Reynolds "...vividly descriptive with an almost metered artistry... One of the hardest things to find as a reader of fantasy is a suitable description of violence. Fantasy authors either use descriptions that are familiar to readers or create a new type of violence that usually falls flat because it seems as unreal as it is. Descriptions of violence here have a very nice balance of both. The emotional impact of the violence described was not diminished in any way by the fact that readers have never heard of these creatures before." - Frank Wright
 
(see full reviews on my website)
From the Author
So what's special about the Era Of Darkness Saga?

 

The world today is torn apart by racial, religious and cultural differences. It is a terrifying thought to consider how our divided world might struggle to face some new, apocalyptic threat.

 

Era Of Darkness
transplants this scenario into a mystical fantasy land - where the nations of a fragmented, feuding world find themselves battling to thwart their utter annihilation. This was a concept I knew could be rich in potential - diverse cultures, characters driven into extreme circumstances, epic battles and a mysterious, seemingly invincible enemy.

 

Although Era Of Darkness has generic roots in works ranging from the classic 'pulp' tales of R.E. Howard and Edgar Rice Burroughs to the fantasy lands of Tolkien, the series has been developed to create a distinctive experience through its blend of imagination, characterisation, tension