Books with author Bob Neufeld

The entire epic fantasy trilogy in one volume and now including the totally restructured and revised book one, Sword of the Archon. Plague strikes the city of Sarum, and the dead rise from their graves. The liche, Dr. Cadman, has discovered a long-hidden artifact and perverted its power for his own selfish ends. But an ancient evil from beyond the stars is drawn by its use and turns hungry eyes upon the Earth. These are the times of Unweaving, the times Deacon Shader has been prepared for since the day he was born. A man of prayer, deeply troubled by a contradictory faith, he is also the deadliest warrior of his generation. As events spiral out of control and creation itself hangs by a thread, the paradox at the heart of Shader's life may just be the last desperate hope of all the worlds.

The first book of the epic fantasy trilogy. Plague strikes the city of Sarum, and the dead rise from their graves. The liche, Dr. Cadman, has discovered a long-hidden artifact and perverted its power for his own selfish ends. But an ancient evil from beyond the stars is drawn by its use and turns hungry eyes upon the Earth. These are the times of Unweaving, the times Deacon Shader has been prepared for since the day he was born. A man of prayer, deeply troubled by a contradictory faith, he is also the deadliest warrior of his generation. As events spiral out of control, and Creation itself hangs by a thread, the paradox at the heart of Shader's life may just be the last desperate hope of all the worlds.

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. Ward of the Philosopher is a novella of 15,500 words introducing the character of Deacon Shader as a child. The novella serves as an introduction to the bestselling Shader series.

One by one, the guilds of New Jerusalem fall to Shadrak the Unseen and his accomplice, the poisoner, Albert. But as the battle for supremacy comes to a head, Shadrak is given a new order by the mysterious Archon: kill his closest living friend, the Nameless Dwarf. The philosopher, Aristodeus, persuades the Archon to stay his hand, proposing instead three quests that will free Nameless from the curse of the black axe that led him to slaughter his own people. But the plan has perils of its own: a visit to the fire giant's lair at the heart of a volcano; a daring raid on the Liche Lord's castle in darkest Verusia; and a confrontation with the son of the Demiurgos in the depths of the Abyss. Even with the incomparable partnership of Shadrak and Nameless, the quests seem doomed to failure, and so Aristodeus tries once more to entice Deacon Shader back to the fight. But Shader is a changed man, more given to drink than the sword; and if he should discover the secret Rhiannon and Aristodeus have kept from him these past four years, the quests are sure to come to a crashing halt before they even get off the ground. Friendship, scheming, and the worst horrors imaginable combine to test the companions to the limits, and despair dark enough to corrode even the most unwavering faith awaits those not destined to return.

Shader has failed, and Sektis Gandaw now holds all the pieces of the statue of Eingana. Despair hangs like a pall over the battered armies of Sahul and Aeterna. It's now just a matter of time.... A sliver of hope comes in the form of Shadrak the Unseen, who has the means to travel to the source of the coming cataclysm, the black mountain at the heart of the Dead Lands on Aethir. But Shader, Shadrak, and Rhiannon discover that Aethir brings a new set of challenges: the Sour Marsh - an oozing malignancy from the nightmare realm of Qlippoth; an arrogant senate that seeks to appease rather than fight; and a volatile secret at the heart of the ravine city of Arx Gravis: a dwarf with no name who could prove the most stalwart of allies...or the deadliest of foes. Old love has turned sour, and regrets run deep. Shader is sick of killing but can see no other way. Rhiannon's last defense against all she has lost is a self-destructive rage, and Shadrak's niggling conscience is causing him more trouble than he needs. Loyalties are called into question, yet all three must bury their differences if they are to find a way into Sektis Gandaw's impregnable base and prevent the unweaving of all things.

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 300 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 undead 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.