General News
15 August, 2025
Former local to release book
Jesse Harman’s Dark Sands throws readers onto a far away planet in a fight for survival. But that is a part of a bigger journey that began in the middle of Maryborough.
From starting university to taking on a masters, Mr Harman’s interests have taken him all over Victoria.
But it was when he attended high school locally that he had the first major ignition of wanting to write.
“I attended Highview College until about year 12. I have always been a reader, when you’re a kid, you copy what’s around you,” he said.
“When I was in year 9 everyone would do a specialist project in their interest, we called it Strive. The first novel I wrote was my project. I can actually attribute that to having a role to play in the journey.
“It was about 43,000 words. If you know your novels, a standard paperback fiction novel is about 85,000, so about half the length of a feature. It was really cool having that opportunity.
“I didn’t end up publishing it formally, Amazon print on demand wasn’t as much of a thing when I was 14, I reckon my mum still has it somewhere.”
After high school, Mr Harman went on to pursue a psychology degree.
But it was after a devastating personal trauma that reawakened his need to write and create.
“I love the idea of art and creative expression for everybody. I actually took up writing again as an adult, in the aftermath of a fairly traumatic 24 months of my life. I wasn’t writing about my experiences, this novel is an adventure, it’s a horror,” Mr Harman said.
“It’s literally not on this planet. But it was really just about coming out of that experience, and wanting to create something, and to pour myself into something that was new, and gave me that feel of energy.”
Mr Harman said readers can anticipate a fusion of sci-fi and action.
“If you like the Alien movies and you like the Pitch Black movies, and you set them in the deserts of Dune,” he said.
“You have a relatable protagonist at the core, who just wants the best for the people around him, and also doubts himself quite a lot.
“Suddenly they are thrust into this race to try and survive a planet around them, which is full of these surprises that don’t really reflect anything humanity has ever experienced before.”
The process has prompted Mr Harman to strongly encourage any young people with a creative flair to fully wrangle any opportunity and turn it into something real and tangible.
“If you go through something, being able to create is such a wonderful way to get back in touch with yourself, and that is what it was for me. It has represented so much of myself in this growth as a person to be able to do this,” he said.
“This all started as a word document that was completely blank. You don’t need something miraculous happening to put yourself on this path, you can just do it.
“It has taken about six or seven drafts. It wasn’t something I just created, typed it up and said it was done, I really tried to make this as professional as possible. But it always comes back to writing a story that I would want to read.
“You can make something no matter what position you’re in now. That is probably one of the big messages I’d love people to have.”
Dark Sands is outer worldly and celestial.
But much of his inspiration has come from real life experiences still prevalent here on earth.
“Another experience I can relate to is things not always going to plan, which is probably a core theme to it. We go in with these dreams and expectations and then sometimes we have to pivot a bit,” Mr Harman said.
“Sci-fi is the exciting costume, but this explores the experiences of humanity, and growing up and getting older and all of those crazy things that we all go through. But told through a lens that is totally out of this world.
“For me, I write about a story I want to read. I wasn’t trying to write about a certain group of people, apart from wanting to make it as good as it could possibly be. To make it that good, I know I needed to care about it.”
Dark Sands will be available on September 25 with the ebook already available for preorder on Amazon.
More information on the novel can be found on Instagram at J.S.Harman.author or Facebook J.S.Harman - Author.