What do you think?
Rate this book
The Cloud Gatherer
Oas. A city in the middle of a great desert, yet blessed with an abundance of water. This water is coaxed out of the skies by the Gatherers, an ancient guild of pilots who use barely understood technology to seed the clouds. The rain they bring is collected in Oas' grand system of fountains and distributed throughout the city. When Oas' Caliph dies suddenly, a new Caliph is augured--a young and not very responsible Gatherer named Haran. Only a teenager, Haran finds himself thrust into a new world of court intrigue, politics, servants and betrayal. His Vizier thinks himself Caliph, and is willing to kill for the title. In the Caliph's almost forgotten harem, Haran meets and falls in love with Qeemah. Her love forces him to question his path in life, whether to continue on as a puppet of the Vizier or to return to the honorable life as a Gatherer? But when Oas' neighboring city, Entana, loses its only source of water, its Sultan demands that Oas surrender the Gatherers and their technology to him for Entana's use. War looms, and Haran is faced with the awesome responsibility of being Caliph not only in name, but in deed. Confronting the Sultan's army--and the skein of betrayal that brings it to Oas, Haran must decide if he is Gatherer or Caliph-or both.
328 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
6 people want to read
About the author
John F.D. Taff
86 books257 followersJohn F.D. Taff is a multi-Bram Stoker Award short-listed dark fiction author with more than 30 years experience, and more than 100 short stories and seven novels in print.
He has appeared in Cemetery Dance, Eldritch Tales, Unnerving, Deathrealm, Big Pulp and One Buck Horror, as well as anthologies such as Hot Blood: Seeds of Fear, Hot Blood: Fear the Fever, Shock Rock II, Lullabies for Suffering, Gutted: Beautiful Horror Stories, Behold!, Shadows Over Main Street 2, Horror Library V, Best of Horror Library, Dark Visions Vol. 1, Ominous Realities, Death's Realm, I Can Taste the Blood and Savage Beasts. His work will appear soon in The Seven Deadliest and I Can Hear the Shadows.
His novels include The Bell Witch, Kill-Off and the serialized apocalyptic epic The Fearing. Thunderstorm Books and Grey Matter Press will release a one-volume version of The Fearing in 2021, in limited edition hardcover, soft cover and digital. Short fiction collections include Little Deaths: The Definitive Collection and Little Black Spots, both published by Grey Matter Press.
Taff's novella collection, The End in All Beginnings, was called one of the best novella collections by Jack Ketchum and was a Stoker Award Finalist. His short "A Winter's Tale" was also a Stoker Finalist.
His upcoming anthology Dark Stars, a tribute to that seminal '80s work Dark Forces, will be published by Tor/Nightfire 11/2/21.
His website is at johnfdtaff.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnfdtaff.
He has appeared in Cemetery Dance, Eldritch Tales, Unnerving, Deathrealm, Big Pulp and One Buck Horror, as well as anthologies such as Hot Blood: Seeds of Fear, Hot Blood: Fear the Fever, Shock Rock II, Lullabies for Suffering, Gutted: Beautiful Horror Stories, Behold!, Shadows Over Main Street 2, Horror Library V, Best of Horror Library, Dark Visions Vol. 1, Ominous Realities, Death's Realm, I Can Taste the Blood and Savage Beasts. His work will appear soon in The Seven Deadliest and I Can Hear the Shadows.
His novels include The Bell Witch, Kill-Off and the serialized apocalyptic epic The Fearing. Thunderstorm Books and Grey Matter Press will release a one-volume version of The Fearing in 2021, in limited edition hardcover, soft cover and digital. Short fiction collections include Little Deaths: The Definitive Collection and Little Black Spots, both published by Grey Matter Press.
Taff's novella collection, The End in All Beginnings, was called one of the best novella collections by Jack Ketchum and was a Stoker Award Finalist. His short "A Winter's Tale" was also a Stoker Finalist.
His upcoming anthology Dark Stars, a tribute to that seminal '80s work Dark Forces, will be published by Tor/Nightfire 11/2/21.
His website is at johnfdtaff.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnfdtaff.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
January 12, 2014
My experience with John Taff up to this point has been his horror writing, specifically his short story collection Little Deaths and his awesome ghost story in The Bell Witch. I was a little skeptical about The Cloud Gatherer at first, but the story sucked me right in, and I'm really glad I gave it a chance. It had me so interested that I read the entire book in one sitting!
The story follows young Haran, a Gatherer-in-training responsible for helping provide rain to a desert city. Haran is ripped from his training and is named Caliph, ruler of the city. Oas is a city with both magic and technology, relying on technology to provide the water they need to survive. One of his first struggles is dealing with the Vizier of Oas, Fahad. Mr. Taff does an exceptional job bringing Fahan to life, and you find yourself wishing you could help Haran remove him from the narrative, one way or another. His real problem is the Sultan of Entana, who is intent on acquiring the technology used to make it rain.
Haran is a character that is very easy to like and relate to. In a sense, he reminded me of Richard Rahl from The Sword of Truth novels by Terry Goodkind, one of my favorite series of books. He struggles to make the moral choice, and isn't afraid to stand up for what he thinks is right, even if it could result in his own death.
Give it a try, you won't be disappointed. I can't wait to start on the sequel, Heir to the Sand.
The story follows young Haran, a Gatherer-in-training responsible for helping provide rain to a desert city. Haran is ripped from his training and is named Caliph, ruler of the city. Oas is a city with both magic and technology, relying on technology to provide the water they need to survive. One of his first struggles is dealing with the Vizier of Oas, Fahad. Mr. Taff does an exceptional job bringing Fahan to life, and you find yourself wishing you could help Haran remove him from the narrative, one way or another. His real problem is the Sultan of Entana, who is intent on acquiring the technology used to make it rain.
Haran is a character that is very easy to like and relate to. In a sense, he reminded me of Richard Rahl from The Sword of Truth novels by Terry Goodkind, one of my favorite series of books. He struggles to make the moral choice, and isn't afraid to stand up for what he thinks is right, even if it could result in his own death.
Give it a try, you won't be disappointed. I can't wait to start on the sequel, Heir to the Sand.
Displaying 1 of 1 review