The Wizard of Kalar

On the distant planet of Kalar the two hundred year old life cycle of the Schanda once again menace the idyllic lives of the Bolani, a small tribal village of forest dwellers living in their hollowed Lando trees. The schanda have a two hundred year life-cycle and normally live up on the northern edges of the tundra of the planet of Kalar. They are an insect, something like a cross between a spider and a scorpion. The mating urge mutates the schanda into a massive swarm of ferocious carnivores. It doubles in size, grows the stinger and large claws in its fourth and final moult, then begins its long march from its home-ground in the North of Kalar, south to its mating grounds on the shores of the Golden Sea. In its path live the small peaceful Bolani tribe who make their homes in living Lando trees in the forest. Around the same time as the schanda begin their journey, the Bolani's collective unconscious, triggers nightmares. They dream of an unstoppable carnivorous procession intent on eating their way to their mating grounds, heading their way. The Bolani must gather their possessions and flee ahead of the encroaching swarm. Their long march to the shores of the Golden Sea takes them through a series of adventures with small blood sucking insects, vicious storms, predatory birds, unfriendly villages, lakes of volcanic lava, and desert worms. Only the skill of their apprentice wizard, Morac, saves them from disaster-transforming his powers in the process. Even when they reach the Golden Sea their problems are not over. Imprisoned by a coastal tribe and then buffeted by storms on flimsy rafts, the dynamics of the tribe are changed forever as they strive to return to their small forest village in the far North. This is an eco-fantasy tale stretching the imagination beyond the solar system."