Adam J Smith is a UK-based writer, blending science-fiction, dystopia, and horror. Influences range from Isaac Asimov to Stephen King, Jeffrey Eugenides to Clive Barker. He is the author of two series: the Neon series, of which Neon Sands is available in this bundle; and the Risen series about a virus outbreak in the UK.

Neon Sands by Adam J. Smith

The stars brought life to the planet, and the stars destroyed it.

It was ash on fingertips, and vast. Stepping upon it gave the impression that it had come not from below, buffed by millions of years of wind slicing against rock, but rather from above; that perhaps it had drifted down and settled here.This is the post-apocalyptic sandscape that Calix and Annora must navigate - when they're old enough to join the scavenger crews outside of the domes, that is.

They've spent their entire lives within Sanctum, the domed town that protects them from the dangerous sands that storm against the curved wall. But they are orphans, with questions about their heritage. With a childhood that prepares them to become scavengers. With a father figure in Kirillion who has an agenda all of his own - just what are they searching for when the scavenger crews depart?

Grown up, they join Walker's crew, scouring the sand in giant Crawlers, ready to dig. When an accident unlocks childhood memories and murder, questions arise within the crew about where their allegiances lie, and what their true purpose is. And then their search hits the big time.

A sci-fi dystopian adventure in an inhospitable landscape, Neon Sands is the opening book in an epic series that will explore Man's technological and innate potential, and the search for hope when all looks bleak.

CURATOR'S NOTE

In this desert wasteland, where the skies are always cloudy, a hidden elite enact their diabolical agenda. While scavenging for scrap, two orphans from the domed city of Sanctum are thrown into a whirlwind adventure. With strong characters and plenty of intrigue, this hard sci-fi dystopian tale promises a twist-filled ride. – Dean F. Wilson

 

REVIEWS

  • "Neon Sands is sci-fi with conviction, and that conviction displays most evidently in setting. A world built of glorious and alienating sands, both a marvel and irritant. Chocka with filmic interludes, glowing horizons, red dusty skies. This novel quietly won me over."

    – Reader review

  • "It has great tension and some wonderful world building details which hook you in to the claustrophobic existence of the characters."

    – Reader review

  • "The tension really is well maintained throughout and the sense of mystery, high-stakes and justified paranoia that the characters experience is excellently portrayed."

    – Reader review
 

BOOK PREVIEW

Excerpt

It was ash on fingertips, and vast. Stepping upon it gave the impression that it had come not from below, buffed by millions of years of wind slicing against rock, but rather from above; that perhaps it had drifted down and settled here. The layers undulated from an inch to hundreds of feet thick. Red storms swept and swirled, colouring the atmosphere with grains so light it took days until the air became clear again: shifting from bloodshot and murky to a jaundiced yellow, the sepia sun somewhere above the thick cloud-layer.

When the veins of sand shifted and the hills crumbled into flakes; when tracks were swept clean by the hands at the end of the wind's embrace; secrets long hidden, landmarks long lived, came and went. A planet torn and sutured. Old wounds healed only to have older scars revealed. Those left behind survived, somehow, within these wounds, something like maggots but not exactly – though they fed from what they found. They learned from the revelations offered by the shifting sands, hoping for enough sustenance to last through the long, red storms to come.

Retreating upwards as birds once did, the fractals of sand became clearer: they were a web of capillaries. There was a subtle camber to the veins: hidden pipes whose vague shape could only be seen from above – an eight-pronged star. And here, on a very rare occurrence, a visible section where the sand was at a low swell. And something inside, swooshing, almost gushing. Where was this pipe from, and where was it going? What was inside?

But unmentioned and most obvious from this ghosthead-trip through the sky was the star's beating heart; the one uninterrupted lightshow; the one sand-free oasis in this miasma of nothing. It stood like a dagger in the flesh of the planet, buried to the hilt, the handle reaching high into the sky. Rumours of its existence were fairy tales to the wanderers; some claimed to have seen it, and some had, though few had lived to tell their story.