Dark Sands (Darkworlds #1)

DARK SANDS is the thrilling debut by author J.S. Harman, a finalist for Best Science Fiction Novel in the 2025 Aurealis Awards - Australia's premier speculative fiction award, and BookFest Award winner for Exploration & Adventure Science Fiction. 

"Dark Sands thrills with its gripping originality, meticulous plot, engaging characters, and hypnotising thrall of dread and terror."
- Neil J. Hart, Award Winning Sci-fi Author

Humanity has spent years surveying the depths of space, searching for another planet like Earth.

In Cahros, they might have found one.

Among the first wave of specialists deployed to the planet is Tarlo, a young and optimistic biologist who has spent his life dreaming of adventure among the stars. For all his excitement, he feels a little out of his depth – everyone around him seems so much smarter, stronger, and better equipped to deal with whatever challenges may lie ahead.
The team finally sets down on Cahros, but is surprised to learn that the planet is home only to a barren, lifeless desert. All is quiet.

That is, until night falls.

A nightmarish series of events leave Tarlo and the remaining colonists struggling to survive in a world that is so much more than a benign sea of orange. Here on Cahros, nothing is as it seems, and deep within these endless deserts lie untold, deadly secrets.

There’s something out there… in the sands…