Book picks similar to
The Masters by Ricardo Pinto


fantasy
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Espedair Street


Iain Banks - 1987
    Maybe still is. At thirty-one he has been both a brilliant failure and a dull success. He's made a lot of mistakes that have paid off and a lot of smart moves he'll regret forever (however long that turns out to be). Daniel Weir has gone from rags to riches and back, and managed to hold onto them both, though not much else. His friends all seem to be dead, fed up with him or just disgusted - and who can blame them? And now Daniel Weir is all alone. As he contemplates his life, Daniel realises he only has two problems: the past and the future. He knows how bad the past has been. But the future - well, the future is something else.

The Root


Na'amen Gobert Tilahun - 2016
    Then Erik learned he was Blooded: descended from the Gods.Struggling with a power he doesn’t understand and can barely control, Erik discovers that a secret government agency is selling off Blooded like lab rats to a rival branch of preternatural beings in ’Zebub—San Francisco’s mirror city in an alternate dimension.Lil, a timid apprentice in ’Zebub, is searching for answers to her parents’ sudden and mysterious deaths. Surrounded by those who wish her harm and view her as a lesser being, Lil delves into a forgotten history that those in power will go to dangerous lengths to keep buried.What neither Erik nor Lil realize is that a darkness is coming, something none have faced in living memory. It eats. It hunts. And it knows them. In The Root, the dark and surging urban fantasy debut from Na’amen Tilahun, two worlds must come together if even a remnant of one is to survive.

Edge of the Breach


Halo Scot - 2020
    In a post-apocalyptic world where season of birth determines power — spring healers, summer mages, fall shapeshifters, and winter shields — a man and a woman emerge from tragic childhoods to lead humanity on opposite sides of an interrealm war.▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀There is a hole in the sky. They call it the Rift. A portal to the gods. The scar of a suffering world. Through it, the gods rule the last scraps of civilization, harkening war. As chaos beckons, two leaders emerge from the ashes of a dying planet.Julian Kyder is the son of an abusive rape victim who compensates for his abandonment through psychopathy. Sira Rune is a cancer survivor who dedicates her life to living free and fearless while experiencing the taboo and the unorthodox. Rune is the only one unafraid of Kyder, and that terrifies him, because he only knows how to function through fear. Even though she gives him more chances than he deserves, how much violence can she forgive? When is a person beyond redemption? While he struggles to control his demons and she struggles to find purpose, the gods drag the ruined world into war. Amazon #1 Top Free Bestseller LGBT SF Amazon Top 10 New Releases LGBT SF Amazon Top 25 New Releases LGBT Fantasy CONTENT WARNING: The Rift Cycle is a highly graphic series intended for mature audiences.TAGS: science fiction, fantasy, grimdark, horror, LGBT, mental illness▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ READ AN EXCERPT Chapter 1: Pain Made a Man Kyder, Age 9 - July 7, 7009Her body is stone. Her eyes glass. She doesn’t see me. Doesn’t want me. Yet her blood runs through me, a river of pain.I call her mother, but she calls me nothing. She hopes to forget me. Hopes I will disappear. Conceived in violence, I am a constant reminder of the crime that made me.“Come,” she orders me. Like a dog. And I jog at her heels, obedient.She won’t use my name. It’s a reminder I exist. The meaning behind it is empty, anyway. She refused to name me, so the hospital staff did. Julian Kyder — Julian after the doctor who delivered me and Kyder after the hospital. Forever marked by the circumstances of my birth.She tried to abort, but I survived. She put me up for adoption, but no one took me. She tried to release me into the system, but they were already at overcapacity. We’re trapped. Stuck together as two halves of misery. The doctor told me I am a miracle. She told me I am a curse.“This way.”She leads me along the edge of the Shelf toward the market. With each step, my feet crunch along the parched gravel. To our left, cliffs drop hundreds of meters into the Ruined Sea, a toxic cesspool that encircles the island. In the distance, Mount Erebus puffs ash into the blanched sky, a grandfather smoking the last bit of a cigar.We mutilated our world, bombarded the planet for centuries with nuclear weapons until we ran out of missiles, until Earth flipped upside-down. The only habitable continent is Antarctica, now the North Pole, and even here, the war melted the desolate wasteland into a scorching desert. Humans near extinction, huddled near the top of the planet like exiles. But we deserve it.Sweat trickles down my back. I pull my robe tight around myself, hoping to block out the sun. It’s summer, so there’s no respite from the heat. The days are endless. They bleed into each other like ink on a page, no distinction between the lines. Night won’t come for another few months, and soon after it does, it won’t leave till winter’s done.Some call it balance. Day and night. Light and dark. Sun and stars. Birth and death. People look for meaning when it’s only chaos disguised as order…▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ WELCOME TO THE BREACH.

Demonworld


Kyle B. Stiff - 2012
    Living in an isolated, technologically advanced city, it was hard to imagine that the rest of humanity suffered at the hands of sadistic, godlike monsters called flesh demons. Then Wodi finds himself exiled into the wasteland, victim of a death sentence handed out for no reason that he can understand. Moving boxes in his father’s store and attending the local university did nothing to prepare him for the horrors that lay ahead.Unfortunately for the ones behind his exile, the wasteland turns Wodi into a force to be reckoned with. His journey through baking, wind-tortured deserts and poisoned oases wakes something up inside of him, and Wodi learns that the human spirit has strength that few can imagine… and also comes equipped with terrifying weapons that those who crossed him cannot even begin to comprehend.

World's End


Mark Chadbourn - 1999
    All over the country, the ancient gods of Celtic myth are returning to the land from which they were banished millennia ago. Following in their footsteps are creatures of folklore: fabulous bests, wonders and dark terrors As technology starts to fail, Jack and Ruth are forced to embark on a desperate quest for four magical items - the last chance for humanity in the face of powers barely comprehended.

Nophek Gloss


Essa Hansen - 2020
    Essa Hanson’s is a bold new voice for the next generation of science fiction readers. Caiden's planet is destroyed. His family gone. And, his only hope for survival is a crew of misfit aliens and a mysterious ship that seems to have a soul and a universe of its own. Together they will show him that the universe is much bigger, much more advanced, and much more mysterious than Caiden had ever imagined. But the universe hides dangers as well, and soon Caiden has his own plans. He vows to do anything it takes to get revenge on the slavers who murdered his people and took away his home. To destroy their regime, he must infiltrate and dismantle them from the inside, or die trying.Finalist for r/Fantasy Stabby Awards for Best Debut!

Lightning Strikes


Cass Sellars - 2017
    Sydney Hyatt doesn’t even do overnight. She attracts women effortlessly, then discards them after an hour or two of mutual pleasure. They meet at a party celebrating Parker’s divorce, and they’re tailor-made for a no-strings encounter. Yet when their paths cross again, lightning strikes, and both women begin to question their life rules in the face of undeniable passion and growing love.But demons past and dangers present threaten the lovers, and Parker and Sydney must fight to find new traditions in dark spaces as they cling to the relationship neither of them thought she wanted.The first book in the Lightning series.

The Cloud Roads


Martha Wells - 2011
    An orphan with only vague memories of his own kind, Moon tries to fit in among the tribes of his river valley, with mixed success. Just as Moon is once again cast out by his adopted tribe, he discovers a shape-shifter like himself... someone who seems to know exactly what he is, who promises that Moon will be welcomed into his community. What this stranger doesn't tell Moon is that his presence will tip the balance of power... that his extraordinary lineage is crucial to the colony's survival... and that his people face extinction at the hands of the dreaded Fell! Now Moon must overcome a lifetime of conditioning in order to save himself... and his newfound kin.

Dragon & Detective


Layla Lawlor - 2020
    James never could resist a puzzle, but this one has a good shot at getting him killed...

The Darkness That Comes Before


R. Scott Bakker - 2003
    Scott Bakker's Prince of Nothing series creates a world from whole cloth-its language and classes of people, its cities, religions, mysteries, taboos, and rituals. It's a world scarred by an apocalyptic past, evoking a time both two thousand years past and two thousand years into the future, as untold thousands gather for a crusade. Among them, two men and two women are ensnared by a mysterious traveler, Anasûrimbor Kellhus - part warrior, part philosopher, part sorcerous, charismatic presence - from lands long thought dead. The Darkness That Comes Before is a history of this great holy war, and like all histories, the survivors write its conclusion.

The Five Warriors


Angela J. Ford - 2015
    your best friend started a rebellion in the middle of a war? your lover awakened a deep evil and helped it grow? your people were too cowardly to face a battle? you stole an ancient power source? you gambled with the fate of the world?

Stryker: Dragon Shifter Bodyguards


Ava Benton - 2019
     They save lives. They demand secrecy. They take no prisoners. Or do they? Stryker is one of that elite bodyguard cadre. She’s the target of organized criminals, the daughter of a gambling man. Fate brought them together. Will death separate them?

Of Gods and Men


Stephen Aryan - 2018
    An original epic fantasy novella by Stephen Aryan focusing on a fan-favourite character from Battlemage: the gruff and mysterious warrior know as Vargus.

The Anvil of Ice


Michael Scott Rohan - 1986
    The first volume in The Winter of the World fantasy trilogy, this novel of a young boy's rise to power is set in a world where an ice age threatens a brilliantly imagined world similar to our own.

Gardens of the Moon


Steven Erikson - 1999
    Even the imperial legions, long inured to the bloodshed, yearn for some respite. Yet Empress Laseen's rule remains absolute, enforced by her dread Claw assassins.For Sergeant Whiskeyjack and his squad of Bridgeburners, and for Tattersail, surviving cadre mage of the Second Legion, the aftermath of the siege of Pale should have been a time to mourn the many dead. But Darujhistan, last of the Free Cities of Genabackis, yet holds out. It is to this ancient citadel that Laseen turns her predatory gaze.However, it would appear that the Empire is not alone in this great game. Sinister, shadowbound forces are gathering as the gods themselves prepare to play their hand...Conceived and written on a panoramic scale, Gardens of the Moon is epic fantasy of the highest order--an enthralling adventure by an outstanding new voice.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.