It’s been six years since we saw an original novel from Hugh Howey. With the publication of ACROSS THE SAND, I am happy to announce that he has returned in a big way by taking readers back to the world he created in SAND. We are introduced to new players in this post-apocalyptic thriller in which the old world everyone once knew is buried by a different one --- one of drifting sands and tall, peaking dunes that exist within a constant whipping wind and signifies what was lost but still could be reclaimed.

"With ACROSS THE SAND, which can be read and enjoyed as a stand-alone, Hugh Howey continues the unique worldbuilding that he started with his planet buried in sand."

Taking us on this journey are two storylines that eventually will converge. In the prologue, we meet Victoria, who was one of the greatest sand divers ever to comb the barren desert world. Imagine undersea diving, but terribly more difficult and with a buried world of treasure existing literally beneath their feet. Vic’s time is in the past, but her legacy lives on through her four siblings: Conner, Rob, Palmer and Violet. They are seeking to carve out their own future with risky, dangerous dives, as well as occasional feats of sand parasailing at incredibly high speed.

The other story is sort of a coming-of-age tale featuring a young girl named Anya and her father, who have fallen on hard times. They live on the other side of No Man’s Land, far from the siblings who represent Victoria’s legacy. Anya also has witnessed some terrible things in her short life, like the explosion that wiped out the place she once called home and took the lives of most of the people she knew. Her father once worked the mines in this territory, but now that is no longer safe due to the dangers from the fallout caused by the eruption.

With this catastrophe forever living inside of her, Anya decides that she needs to leave what she once knew behind and travel across the sands to find somewhere new to start over. Her alcoholic father may be a shade of his former self, but Anya is dependent on him to help her in this mission. They take a vehicle to cross the sand and pray that it can get them through to the other side where hopefully their situation will improve.

Conner, Rob, Palmer and Violet have faced their own loss in addition to the constant danger that their sand diving brings about. However, they are trying to relive their family’s past glory as they search for answers and something new to call their own. Eventually, these two storylines will connect, and all of their fates will be forever intertwined.

With ACROSS THE SAND, which can be read and enjoyed as a stand-alone, Hugh Howey continues the unique worldbuilding that he started with his planet buried in sand. The result is a novel that is singularly its own and not to be mistaken with Frank Herbert’s Dune Chronicles.