The Curse of One-Eyed Jack


Kent Holloway - 2011
    Instead, she finds a world of suspicion and superstition. Locals say her brother, and a string of others, may have been killed by One-Eyed Jack—the fabled giant guardian that protects the fantastic archaeological monument he was researching. As Kili's search intensifies, the danger escalates, and the only person that can help her is a man whose mysterious past might be just as frightening, and infinitely more dangerous, than the dark secrets she is determined to uncover. A man named Ezekiel Crane.

The Keepers of Limbo


Yuri Ulengov - 2020
    Today he is a prisoner who chose exile to Rhapsody instead of death. This planet, the Range, knows no mercy. Here, thousands of prisoners fight each other for a place under the strange, cold sun. Here, the leftover alien biomechanisms and out-of-control Terran war machines roam in the ruins, and human life is measured in virtual experience that can be exchanged for armor and implants.Surviving in the Limbo slaughterhouse, upgrading to the tenth level and getting into the Green Zone is all any dead man can hope for. Except not everyone succeeds. Altai will have to make a lot of effort just to take a breather, and remaining high in the audience’s favor is something worth striving for. After all, the Range, among other things, is the most popular reality show, one of the few where everything is real, and death...death only raises the ratings.

Shit Happens


Eileen Wharton - 2012
    She's got problems though when bits of her ex-husband turn up in different places and the slimy DI Savage seems to be bending the evidence to link her to the death. Add the fact that she's being pressured into taking a ‘job’ by hard-nosed Vera Devlin from the estate and having to work in a topless bar to make ends meet and you can see she's up against it. Desperate to extricate herself from the mess she breaks into her old marital home to find the diary of her dead husband, except that his mother has taken up residence and arrives back early from bingo… Set against a backdrop of Northern council estate life, this fast paced, humorous novel exemplifies the problems caused by poverty, piles and unruly children, think Jeremy Kyle meets the Thorn Birds and you won't be far wrong!

The Lifers' Club


Francis Pryor - 2014
    Most of the sites he dug were ahead of industrial development or new housing estates, gravel quarries, roads, etc. The people who did the work were down-to-earth. Some were students, others were professional diggers – but they all knew what they wanted from life and were prepared to work long hours, for very low pay. In the seventies to nineties, Alan and his colleagues lived in abandoned houses or camped out on the edges of industrial estates. They were always covered in mud, were deeply suntanned and drunk (or stoned) on their days off. They were feared by respectable citizens. They were known as Circuit Diggers because they worked the 'circuit', moving from one excavation to another, as new sites were opened, right across Britain.Like others on the circuit, Alan Cadbury is obsessive: he won’t let problems lie, even when he’s slumped drunk in a lonely bedsit, somewhere in the Fens. But there’s another side to him, too: he enjoyes solving mysteries. In the late ‘90s he helped to give a forensic archaeology course and there met Richard Lane, now a senior detective in the Leicestershire force. DCI Lane helps him tackle new cases. But this is his first big one: it involves an 'honour killing', which happened eight years ago in Leicester. Most of the action takes place in the Fens, where Alan has lived all his life. It’s a dark tale of past wrong-doing and modern criminality – on a very large scale. And it’s not without violence and rapid action. Alan’s life may be harsh and at times unpleasant, but it’s not likely to be very long, either.

Ball of Light: Evolution


AR Chen - 2019
    Heck, he doesn't know what he is. Despite his spotty memory, he's pretty sure he didn't used to be a floating ball of light. He's also certain that he's not originally from this dangerous fantasy world...maybe. Okay, fairly certain. To make things stranger, he seems to be involved in something big, something magical...a game. Who was he before? Will his memories come back? Why does he have an assistant explaining the game's rules to him? He can evolve? There's a countdown timer? One thing Steve does know is that he needs to figure out what's going on fast, and if he is playing a game, even a deadly one, he plans to win.

Merry Bloody Christmas


Ellie Scott - 2018
    A chocoholic grizzly bear, a talking Christmas tree, mince pie overdoses and a very bloody murder. Will poor old Saint Nick make it out alive? Sad, strange, funny and gruesome, this overlapping, multi-genre collection of tales has a little something for every reader. Curl up with a mulled wine and some fictional festive misery, and discover what Father Christmas really likes to drink when he wriggles down your chimney. Spoiler: it isn’t milk.

Nothing but Bones: The Wasteland


John Carrarn - 2020
    But in the absence of life, undead energy surges. Millennia after the last humans fled the galaxy only the dead are left to roam the earth. On this barren wasteland, Solus awakens. With no memories or even a personality, he is cast into a dangerous world. He will need to learn fast if he is to keep his new existence, for he is not alone.--Post-apocalyptic, Undead, Sci-fi, LitRPG

The Genesis Game: Volume I


Andrew O'Kelley - 2021
    No one gained more power than the tyrant known as the Black Seraph, the Angel of Genocide. Surviving at the expense of the rest of humanity, Seraph was able to complete the World Dungeon upon reaching the Altar of the End. A hollow victory, as he was cursed by the spirit of the dungeon for ruthlessly focusing on his empowerment.His power was sealed away, deep within the dungeon; Seraph was cast into the past, reincarnated into the body of his child-like self. Forbidden from hoarding power for himself and charged with the mission of ensuring the survival of humanity. But people do not change overnight, and Seraph must find a new path forward and learn there's more to power than being a tyrant if humanity is to survive the Genesis Game.

Shudder


Michael Prescott - 1994
    Death stalks the streets of Los Angeles, targeting the most innocent of victims – and for LAPD Detective Robert Card, the next outrage may strike terrifyingly close to home.

If Pigs Could Fly (West Kensington Paranormal Detective Agency #1)


Jonny Nexus - 2015
    Doctor Ravinder Shah speaking. No case too weird, no problem too bizarre. Strangeness a speciality. How can I help you?” London Social Worker Rav Shah moonlights as a paranormal detective, aided by one of his clients and a Border Collie he rents by the hour. It was supposed to be a bit of fun: a search for truths out there; a quest for a life more interesting than the one that fate, destiny, and personal apathy had granted him. But then a case involving a Yorkshire farmer and a herd of flying pigs leads him into a world darker and more dangerous than he’d ever dreamed. The truth is indeed out there. And it’s got Rav square in its sights.

Apocalypse Game: A LitRPG Adventure


Grayson Sinclair - 2021
    To the victor go the spoils.My name is Killian Dunn. I'm eighteen, a high school senior, a gamer, and, oh yeah, the Harbinger of the Apocalypse. Not exactly what I had in mind as a career path.Reality took a nosedive when Armageddon came knocking. It brought with it classes, levels, and skills, as well as a horde of Lovecraftian abominations to use them on.I never wanted any of this, but the sick god who orchestrated this whole nightmare has my family. Their lives are forfeit if I refuse to play his game.He left me no choice but to accept my role and play my part—not as just another piece on the chessboard, but as the king—the Demon Lord of the Black.But if I'm the villain, then there must also be a hero. On the side of White stands the Archangel, and they're as determined as I am to win.The prize? A single wish.With it, I can protect my family, fix everything that's broken, and save the whole damn world.I just have to destroy it first.

Whisper to the Black Candle: Voodoo, Murder, And the Case of Anjette Lyles


Jaclyn Weldon White - 1999
    Anjette Lyle's restaurant was a popular gathering place. It was the place to go for lunch to hear the latest news. Then, one day, Anjette Lyles was charged with the murders of two husbands, her mother-in-law, and her nine-year-old daughter, all committed over the course of seven years. The case was the most sensational Macon had ever seen. The newspaper accounts spiced up the allegations of murder with references to voodoo ceremonies and black magic. The trial attracted record crowds and received worldwide coverage. Anjette Lyles was a glamorous figure and spectators stood in line for hours, hoping for just a glimpse of the defendant. Both lucidly written and emotionally engaging, this is the story of a woman who was called both "cold-blooded" and the "sweetest woman I ever knew," and despite overwhelming evidence and her conviction, many still believe that she was innocent.

Winter's Breath


Carrie Summers - 2020
     From bestselling LitRPG author Carrie Summers comes a new saga about survival on a wind-swept coast. Jace, a backcountry ranger assigned to patrol the wilderness of North America, was hiking when abruptly he was somewhere...else. Wind battered his thinly-clothed body, and the salt air from crashing waves immediately soaked him to the skin. Nothing looked familiar. And then the strange game messages started appearing in his vision. With no explanation for how he arrived here, Jace must nonetheless learn to survive in a merciless environment, crafting everything with his own hands. He must learn the art of combat and how to control the powerful abilities that surface in his body. Northblood, they'll call him. A blessing and a curse. On the bright side, he's totally buff. And there's this hot redheaded game tester who was pulled from her old life and shoved into his. Things could definitely be worse. Tales of a Northblood: Winter's Breath starts a brand new adventure.

Adapt: The Scourge Wars Book 2


Derek Belfield - 2019
    The first clutch has hatched, and their forces have been reinvigorated for a conflict with the rest of the world. Unfortunately, their entry into the realm of Somnium hasn’t come without its costs. Far to the east, the Lord of Light’s mortal enemy, the Vallyr, have learned of their budding settlement. In an effort to wipe them out once and for all, Mors dal Ventrix, Patriarch of the Vallyrian Collective has summoned his army and sent them west. While the Scourge leadership is on the warpath, things aren’t so easy in their capitol city of Bastion. The Cult of the Leech saboteurs plague the city, a strange Prophet claiming to be from the Lord of Light has arrived, and the Scourge must struggle to recruit enough warriors to fend off the much larger Vallyrian forces. In book two of the Scourge Wars, Slate must accomplish one thing: adapt or die.

Ascension


B.F. Rockriver - 2020
    For Eli Miller, it was never a choice.Most of Eli’s life has been spent running, doing everything in his power to protect his family. His world is plagued by war, wild magic, and unimaginable monsters. But none of these threats are more dangerous than the immortal beings known as Adventurers. They are players and Entarra is their game. Its citizens aren’t real. Yet, to the billions of near-sentient AI that live there, the game world is the only one they will ever know. It is where they are born, live, and die. Eli is no different. After being attacked with a strange weapon, Eli awakens as the thing he fears most: an adventurer. Struggling to cope with his new reality, he finds himself in the middle of the most nefarious plot of all: His world, and everything he loves, is about to be deleted.