Book picks similar to
Crystal Castle by John D. Ashton
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First Draw
Tim Moon - 2019
War and rebellion roil the nation, sowing chaos among the surrounding kingdoms. Darkness often finds a foothold when chaos reigns, thriving on the torment of the mortal realm. In times of great need, the light calls upon beings of destiny to stem the tide. Though you may blaze your own path, know that you have the power to shape the future. Choose well.Forced to join a virtual world, Luke Rivers delves into Drezkarn, a land of swords and magic. For a fantasy game, things don't start off the way he imagined and he quickly finds himself in terrible situations. While his frame of reference for fantasy RPGs was limited by a rough childhood, the experience of a life spent fighting for survival pays off.
The Dwarf, The Mine, and The RPG Apocalypse: Dwarf Smith From Earth
Constantin Step - 2021
Witch Girl Study Group
Milo Storm - 2021
Not quite an archeology major’s wet dream.But then an ancient Pillar awakens and Jake switches lives with a doppelganger in another world. This world’s Jake happens to be a top prospect at the magical Aether Academy… and a servant of a dark God who expects repayment for his boon.If he’s going to live long enough to find a way home, Jake will need a little help. Luckily, beautiful witch girls are lining up to form a study group with the man they think is a genius. He’s not. But who is Jake to turn away busty witch girls in need?When they learn about a bond that will help them all cheat on their deadly exams…well they’ve worked their whole lives to get into that school, and they’ll do whatever it takes to graduate!But exams are just the beginning.**Witch Girl Study Group is an 18+ isekai fantasy harem story with adult situations**
I Overlord
Joshua Done - 2020
However, what I do know is that my boredom is about to come to an end. The tides of chaos have changed, rifts have opened to other worlds, and unless I miss my guess, nothing will ever be the same. Within the day, a new lord will come to power, and in his path, nations will burn. After being sucked through a dark and mysterious portal while walking his dog Jerry finds himself in a magical duel to the death. With the help of an ancient and unknowable force Jerry finds a way to interact with the magic of the new world as if it were a game. Using this new power he sets out to save as many fellow abductees as possible before they are murdered by this new world’s vicious inhabitants.
First Flight
Zachary Jones - 2019
Just the Earth Federation and the League of Sovereign Systems fighting for the third time over who would be the supreme power in settled space, and who would have to exist in the victor’s shadow. Then the Ascendency showed up and ruined everything.One moment, Flight Lieutenant Mason Grey was a fighter pilot of the Federal Space Forces about to strike a League base located on a dwarf planet in an uninhabited system. The next, unknown starships showed up, blew his carrier to hell, killed his squadron, shot down his fighter, and left him stranded amid the ruins of the very base he had come to attack.With nothing but a space suit and a dwindling life support system, Mason was in way, way over his head. And that was just the start of his problems. (Content Warning: This novel contains violence and adult language)
Heroic: The Golden Age
Evan Currie - 2021
No once noticed. We were invaded. No one realized. We fought back. No one... cared. In the last moments before defeat, our enemy deployed a bioweapon, spreading an invisible pandemic to the winds.The world just wanted to go back to normal.A third of the population have the genetic code needed to activate the Quantum Virus. Billions of people, waiting to wake up one morning with powers. Abilities. Enhancements beyond that of mortal men.The aliens bet on us destroying ourselves in the ensuing madness, but not all humans revel in destruction. When Order and Chaos go to war, Chaos always wins in the short term... but heroes know how to play the long game.Looking back, will this be the beginning of the end, or the start of the Golden Age?
Seeker of Secrets: The Search for Heroes
Deck Davis - 2018
Before they leave, Joshua’s father gives him the Binding of the Seeker, which grants him powers for discovering new places, new races…and secrets. They’ve saved every penny from their apprenticeships to buy an old building, but not just any old building. This was a heroes’ guild once; a place where mighty warriors and powerful mages trained, ready to answer the calls of townsfolk in trouble. For a price, of course. Benjen and Joshua are desperate to restore it to what it once was. The only problems? An unwelcome surprise is waiting for them at the guildhouse…and good heroes are hard to find.
The SyStem: Multiverse
Jon Svenson - 2020
He escaped Boston, with help from his mother, to head to the west coast and create a new life in Seattle. All that changes when he attends a party to celebrate his friend's new physics invention: a device that connects two universes together.Events quickly spiral out of control as Brett, and his best friend's ex-girlfriend, find themselves pulled by the device and end up in a different version of Earth, one that has been stripped of it's resources and population by an alien race. Will the Earth they came from share a similar fate? Can they escape the dimension they've been sent to and find a way back home? And do they want to escape after learning more about the universe they find themselves in? More importantly, can they change the SyStem that controls everything in that universe and many more?The SyStem: Multiverse is the first book in a series of the same name, where they fight monsters with psychic powers, deal with betrayal, survive on a barren world, and decide whether they will let things remain the same or take action to change their circumstances.Jon Svenson is the author of Biomedical Self-Engineering and other novels yet to be released.
The Sphinx Scrolls
Stewart Ferris - 2016
Mayan legends tell of a location where the secret to surviving the end of the world may be found. One part of that legend is recorded on a stone tablet in the dusty attic of Lord ‘Ratty’ Ballashiels’ crumbling manor. The other twin part disappeared from a Berlin museum when the Nazis took power. When Ratty seems about to sell his tablet to the adopted son of Josef Mengele, his friend, the archaeologist Ruby Towers, is appalled. Soon it is clear that more than archaeology is at stake. The quest to rescue historic Central American artefacts becomes a race to prevent an apocalyptic threat when Ruby discovers that the ancients have set in motion something that will threaten the world today.
Lord of the High Reaches
James Haddock - 2021
Kol-ha is what the clan called him, which means shame in clannish. Being a half-breed, Cam was not allowed to take the test to become a clan member. Cam decides that rather than not being worthy to be part of the clan, the clan is not worthy of him. Taking nothing, he leaves the clan to find his place in the world. Though ignorant of the ways of the ‘outside’ world, Cam is a quick learner. His first lesson is the outside world is at war, and he is inadvertently drawn into it. Saving the life of a nobleman’s son, from an invading army’s scouts sets him on a path to meet the King of the Eastern Kingdom. As a reward, Cam is given lands and becomes a pawn in the King’s chess game. Cam sees it for what it is and decides he doesn’t want any part of the King’s game. Fate, however, has a different plan. Cam discovers two moored airships in a plague-stricken village with a single survivor, La-mar. He also finds new weapon innovations and information that will change the balance of power in the Kingdoms. With La-mar’s help, Captain Cam finds himself and his ships back in the King’s chess game. This time it’s with more than one King and Kingdom playing, and they’re playing for blood. When they kill some of Cam’s friends, he spoils their chessboard when he starts playing by his rules of fang and claw.
TO FORGE A KING: The Chronicles Of Ellorhim
Thomas Adams - 2019
This is an exciting new coming of age story with detailed world building and gritty action and fight scenes. The backstory has Norse or Scandinavian cultural and spiritual influences and overtones. His past was lost, only faded dreams and echoes of happier times remained. Sometimes he had a flash, a quick fleeting glimpse of a better place with friends, warmth and cheer below a silver sun in a twilight land. Those were rare though. Now, there is only the harsh brutal present, sweat stinging the eye and blood flowing from cracked bruised knuckles, a sword in his filthy callused hand and the hoarse shouts of the Sword Masters ringing in his ears. Exhaustion paints his partner's face like cheap mask. No doubt his own face looks just as bad. It is a never ending struggle, up before the sun, running, jumping, lifting and fighting, each day full of pain and injury. Training, always training, His country, Vesfalruk, needs warriors to defend their land and homes. And, this place makes the best warriors. There are none better with sword or ax in all the world. But there is a power and a sense of belonging in this place, this ancient Guild Hall and fortress lying in the shadow of the Eastern White Mountains. Being here comforts him in ways he does not understand and the cold winter winds are somehow less chill. His sword calls and he takes it up and trots out into the yard. Vesfalruk is a besieged place, an isolated mountainous land that has struggled against numerous foes and invaders, the Erhand. It is a land with a violent and bloody history and a kingdom without a king. There has been no king for over two-hundred years and relative peace, if it can be called that, has been the norm for most of that time. So trade flourishes, peace reigns and ancient traditions are openly questioned and sometimes mocked. Vesfalruk warriors are still renowned throughout Ellorhim and the Guild Halls continue to train them, against a rising popular opinion. Old enemies are stirring again, their armies gather, swelling and massing for another round of invasion and conquest. And, that is fine with him and it if the same for those he has grown up with in this Guild Hall. Let them come again. We will be ready. He vows this, to himself and to others.
The Bachelor's Games
J.S. Cooper - 2019
Maxwell Van Harkel is totally out of Sophie’s reach. He’s her best friends brother, the hottest guy she has ever met and a billionaire bachelor. Some days he acts like he wants her. Other days he just ignores her. So Sophie decides to try and seduce him. Only Maxwell is an alpha male and he has his own plan of seduction. One that she’s not prepared for. And then come the games. Games that will blow both of their worlds. But what Maxwell doesn’t know is that Sophie has a secret that could change everything. What Sophie doesn’t know is that Maxwell’s got a secret even bigger than hers that could be the undoing of them both.
Whargoul
Dave Brockie - 2010
From torture chambers in Iraq to race riots in the United States, the Whargoul was there - killing and raping. It is a beast born in bullets and shrapnel, feeding off of pain, misery, and hard drugs. Cursed to wander the Earth without the hope of death, it is reborn again and again to spread the gospel of hate, abuse, and genocide. But what if it's not the only monster out there? What if there's something worse? From Dave Brockie, the twisted genius behind GWAR, comes a novel about the darkest days of the twentieth century. The modern world is dying and Brockie is here to put a bullet between its eyes and violate the corpse. This is all-out fucking war!
