Under Shattered Skies Trilogy
Read here about the first two books in the Under Shattered Skies trilogy: Murderer's Sky and Daemon Sky. You can read about final book in the series, Mourning Sky, in a further blog post.
Murderer's Sky:
Book 1 of Under Shattered Skies
by P. D. Allen
Description
Under shattered skies, fifty-seven illegal immigrants are murdered outside of the town of Heater, Arizona, a dying town in a dying civilization. Their deaths in a ritual sacrifice awaken Sheriff Elliot Pierce, Father Albert Hayne, pregnant survivor Maria Diaz and all of the people of Heater to an evil as abhorrent as what is happening in the sky overhead, an evil that is linked to what is happening in the sky, to their fate and to the fate of the entire world.
Murderer's Sky is the first book of the speculative, dystopian horror trilogy Under Shattered Skies. Set in a world not too different from our own, a world where humanity has passed the point of no return in its exploitation of the planet, a world where the monster threatening the future of life on this planet is the sociopathic inclination of its dominant species. Is there still a chance to save it all? Perhaps, but only if we can overcome isolationist tendencies and achieve a new degree of empathy with the world in which we live. Can that happen? Or are we damned to commit suicide by ignorance? Find out in Under Shattered Skies.
Review
By Elaina Davidson
Murderer's Sky begins innocuously enough - a priest summoned to a mother's home, the local sheriff giving him a ride- but all is not as it seems. Overhead the sky is sickly and ominous and there are rumors of a terrible massacre out in the desert.
We come to know this priest with the soul of a musician and we travel with the sheriff into the jaws of hell. We meet a mother trying to help her challenged son- a boy who paints prophetic images of doom. We follow two boys who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, witnesses to terrible atrocity. We meet a woman about to give birth, the only survivor of a holocaust.
And then there are those with ulterior motives. Drug smugglers and people peddlers, soldiers without conscience, and their leader, a creature from the darkness. And the first inkling of what and who caused the changes to the atmosphere comes to the fore; this is long-term manipulation. And what, pray, is up at that church raising a safe house?
Every character is well-rounded and the tale flows with ease, holding the intense interest of this reader. Woven into and throughout is the ages-old struggle between what is good and what is evil- an enlightening experience in this silent, hot and dry context. A well-structure tale; P. D. Allen is a born storyteller.
I recommend Murderer's Sky to anyone who enjoys depth in characters, a strange adventure, science and the supernatural- these factors are cleverly woven to form a tapestry that appears normal...yet isn't. My only gripe is that Murderers Sky ended too soon! But the stage is set, and we know our characters now...and I cannot wait to read the next volume: Daemon Sky. May it be soon.
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Daemon Sky:
Book 2 of Under Shattered Skies
by P. D. Allen
Description
The multi-threaded plot of Under Shattered Skies is on the move even as the sky itself is on the move. In the second book of the series, Daemon Sky, our many characters draw inexorably closer to their fate. And we are given our first close look at the evil behind the plot to cull the population through atmospheric cataclysm, as well as a glimpse through the eyes of Martin Ross and his henchman, Vince Riker.
Will Albert Hayne be able to heal the wounds of his past, with the help of the elemental spirits he has subconsciously invoked through his fiddle playing?
Will Sheriff Pierce be able to rescue the town of Heater from its own rising madness, and will he be able to rescue it from the shadow of Martin Ross and the flux of the disturbed skies?
Will Zach McCready be able to lead the people of Loveland Manor successfully through their encounter with Homeland Security and the US military?
Will Keven Howell be able to rescue his injured friend without falling into the hands of Homeland Security?
Will Lucinda Morales be able to keep her family and her community safe from the threat of anti-immigrant violence?
Will Connie Blain and her children be safe from her deranged husband?
Will Rhonda and Allison Howell be able to rescue their mother before she becomes a victim of Reverend Chassey's mass suicide?
And will Colonel Nations be able to save his base from the designs of Martin Ross, along with the town and the entire world?
Daemon Sky takes the suspense, the intrigue and the terror up another notch, transcending the plot through the interweaving of characters, storyline and imagination, to deliver the reader into a whole new realm of speculative fiction.
Review
By Elaina Davidson
Daemon Sky is akin to a modern
parable. The problems of our civilization are condensed into the small town of
Heater in Arizona where good folk have to battle for survival against not only
the greed of evil men, but a shattering sky that could end all life. In Heater
there is racial tension, religious fanaticism, crime and prejudice, but Daemon Sky isn't a political statement,
a religious treatise or shake-up about crime, greed and uncaring. It's far more
interesting than that! Not only does the reader fall in love with some
characters (especially Father Hayne), but the reader is transported into a
space of archetypes, demonic forces, the terrible science that destroys and,
above all, the beauty and power of pure music.
And yet, given
the great concepts, I have to tell you there is something very
"normal" about Daemon Sky.
Perhaps it's the well-rounded characters and what makes them tick (so to
speak), or perhaps it's the fact that one can identify with one or more of them...and
perhaps it's P. D. Allen's remarkable ability to keep a story flowing ever
onward...
Loved Murderer's Sky (vol 1), loved Daemon Sky as much, and can't wait to
read the final instalment of the trilogy, Mourning
Sky!
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About the Author
P. D. has led a dynamic and adventurous life. He bicycled the Rocky Mountains, traveled the country as a wandering minstrel, and took degrees in geology, earth science and mathematics. Some consider him an authority on energy issues. His work has been referred to in the US Congress, and in the Australian and French Parliaments.
Yet his greatest talent has always been storytelling. He writes fiction in longhand, with a pen and paper, and then types the handwritten manuscripts into document files for proofing and editing.
Twelve years ago, he had the good fortune to find his soul mate, Elizabeth Anne Pfeiffer (nee Lovan). Elizabeth is an angel who has stood by his side through the best and worst, and has always believed in him, even when he did not believe in himself. He must have done something good, to have such a wonderful person as his partner.
Over the next couple of years, P. D. Allen will release several novels. He will also produce further volumes of Yoopernatural and Quantum Meditations. The last book in the Under Shattered Skies trilogy, Mourning Sky, was released in October 2012.
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