Book picks similar to
Of Dark Elves and Dragons by Greg Curtis
fantasy
science-fiction-fantasy
1
fiction
Remnant
Aaron Pogue - 2012
Gone the high culture of the Mountain Tribes, the learned writings of the Twin Empires. Among the remnant of survivors, barbarism reigns. Men hunt men, sacrifice the weak, and do whatever they must to survive in the face of the dragonswarm.Rinuld, a man once deeply devoted to a fallen Empire, stands amidst this chaos. Despite danger and deprivation, he's fashioned a semblance of safety. Now he faces a form of brutality unthinkable scant years before, and it forces a decision. Rinuld can hide from the monsters, or he can risk his life for the memory of civilization by saving a young girl."Remnant" is a short story set in the fantasy world of the bestselling novel Taming Fire. Beginning thousands of years before the events of the Dragonprince Trilogy, "Remnant" reveals what happened last time the dragons woke.Approximately 10,000 words.
Dragon Prince
Kelly N. Jane - 2020
Jane and Ashley McLeo take you into a supernatural world that exists right under your nose.Coffee house waitress wasn’t on my list of life-long goals, but it paid the bills. The only thing that really mattered was keeping a low profile.Dead-end jobs where no one paid attention made it easier to avoid awkward questions like, “what do you mean you hear voices inside your head?” No, I didn’t need to end up like Mom. I’d pay our bills no matter what to keep from living on the streets.Everything was going as well as it could, until a hulking man carrying a giant red murse showed up at work. Strange, but hot as hell, he was far too intense for my liking. But just my luck, his was the next weirdo voice that invaded my mind.I tried to ignore him, but when a different creepy guy mentally issued threats against the muscled man, I had to warn him. Didn’t I? After that, things went nuts and now I’m in the middle of a supernatural mission I don’t understand. The weird thing is that for the first time in my life I finally feel like I might fit in someplace—I just need to live long enough to find out why that is.
Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits: A Novel
Jason Pargin - 2021
A Winner of the 2016 Alex AwardsNightmarish villains with superhuman enhancements. An all-seeing social network that tracks your every move. Mysterious, smooth-talking power players who lurk behind the scenes. A young woman from the trailer park. And her very smelly cat. Together, they will decide the future of mankind.Get ready for a world in which anyone can have the powers of a god or the fame of a pop star, in which human achievement soars to new heights while its depravity plunges to the blackest depths. A world in which at least one cat smells like a seafood shop's dumpster on a hot summer day. This is the world in which Zoey Ashe finds herself, navigating a futuristic city in which one can find elements of the fantastic, nightmarish and ridiculous on any street corner. Her only trusted advisor is the aforementioned cat, but even in the future, cats cannot give advice. At least not any that you'd want to follow.Will Zoey figure it all out in time? Or maybe the better question is, will you? After all, the future is coming sooner than you think.
Drynn
Steve Vera - 2013
Seventeen years ago, five knights from Earth's magical twin, Theia, entombed Asmodeous the Pale, Lord of the Drynn, in Skip's town. Now that the dark god is free again, he's anxious to get back home and finish the war he began…to enslave all life. It begins with killing the knights who trapped him.Deprived of their magic, the knights fight back using whatever they can get their hands on, from samurai swords to assault rifles. Skip gets reluctantly drawn in to their struggle while Donovan Smith, the demi-god murderer whom Skip was after in the first place, plots to find the Lord of the Underworld and butcher him on his own.Together, these unlikely heroes might just save the world. If they don't kill each other first.
The Window
Kevin Wignall - 2012
The job is simple, to kill a man and get out of town immediately. Why would he stay? He hates Christmas, and hanging around after the crime could be dangerous, but a stranger's compassion forces him to question everything he's always believed, tempting him to stay just another day longer... First published in the Christmas edition of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (Jan, 2004), this story was subsequently reviewed in Mystery Scene, which described it as "bordering on the magnificent". (Please note - this is a short story of approximately 45 Kindle pages.)
The Dark Citadel: The Complete Series
Michael Wallace - 2018
The city is under threat from a sorcerer and his armies, and Darik plans to use the chaos to escape. When a pair of scoundrels—the elderly, seemingly buffoonish Markal, and a tall barbarian named Whelan—offer to help him flee the city, Darik has no idea that he’s about to be swept into a larger game. The two men are spies, a wizard and a paladin from the Free Kingdoms on the other side of the mountain. Whelan and Mark are in the city to observe the sorcerer;s advance, and are alarmed at his growing strength, as he brings giants, dragons, and undead warriors into his ranks to brutally sack and enslave the khalifates of the plains. And they know that if he isn’t stopped before he reaches the mountains, he will carry his war all the way to the heart of the Free Kingdoms. Now in a complete omnibus for the first time, the Dark Citadel is a five book series of dragons, wizards, and griffins by Wall Street Journal bestselling author Michael Wallace.
Emperor Forged
K.D. Robertson - 2019
Betrayed. Now a new ruler must rise from the ashes.
Mykah had been the Empire’s greatest general before it had rotted to corruption. Now he builds his own empire in order to crush the greatest nation in the world. At his side is the stunning woman who leads the horned barbarians from the north, known as the oni.The Empire’s armies are limitless. They have dragons, vampires, scores of mages, space-bending foxes, and more patriotic knights than one can imagine. Their industrial network can outfit an army in days.Sometimes, winning requires a lot more than just a good army and tactics.Mykah is up against the clock as the Empire rushes to crush his rebellion. He needs to find an edge over his opponent. His old allies turn on him even as he gathers new ones: elite sorceresses, energetic berserkers, and the horned beauty that leads the oni.Establishing a new empire is hard. Mykah needs to do it before his past catches up to him and grinds him into the dust.
Note: The Empire Reforged Series is an empire building fantasy series with harem / polyamorous elements, beast-girls, adult scenes and plenty of violence. Enjoy, or don’t read.
Blood Letter (Blood & Fangs Book 2)
Riley Storm - 2021
But when I finally do, something else tags along. Something dangerous, hiding in the shadows, hungering for blood. It was sheer luck that I didn’t murder thousands. I don’t know how to control it, and if I can’t defeat it, I can never go home again.To make matters worse, my vampire protector, Aaron, is missing and there’s a powerful mage trying to capture Fenrir, the only person capable of teaching me how to control my hunger. If he’s caught, I don’t know what I’ll do.It doesn’t take long before a price is also put on my head, shifting the mage’s focus on to me. No matter what, the price will be paid. In blood. The only question is whose. But if she thinks I’ll make it easy on her, she’s got another thing coming. She’s threatened my family and the one person I might have a future with. I’ll stop her. I have to. No matter what.
Arcanist Fables
Shami Stovall - 2021
New arcanists. The rise of the Second Ascension.Volke Savan has proven himself time and time again, but now the others of the Frith Guild want their opportunity. Illia wants to recover a lost runestone, Master Zelfree hopes to learn the magics of the Mother of Shapeshifters, and Adelgis surprises himself with the new depths of his dreamweaving abilities.But while the Frith Guild prepares for the coming war, the Second Ascension has grand plans for the world. When two more god-creatures are born, dastardly arcanists try their hands at braving the godly lairs. With the Dread Pirate Calisto as a ferry, men like Theasin Venrover will have to outsmart puzzles and traps that put the world serpent’s to shame.Witness stories from the viewpoints of friend and foe alike, all while the world races to find and bond with the remaining god-creatures.
Soul Bonds
E.M. Sinclair - 2007
When that death seems all too likely, she is found by one of the Dragon Kindred and Tika's life takes a twist she could never have imagined in her wildest dreams - or her worst nightmares.
The Storm's Own Son: Book One
Anthony Gillis - 2014
Chosen by no fate. Guided by no one. Bound by no destiny. As the world will soon learn. Talaos is a tough young man in a vast, ages-old city. Orphaned in the teeth of a storm at sea, his origins lie in lands far to the north. A rising gangster on the rough streets he calls home, he lives by his blades. A trail of blood and broken hearts lies behind him and an unknown future ahead. Wondering what more life might have to offer, he feels the call of change. When an immortal sorcerer sends acolytes to kill him, he discovers his true nature. His roots are far older and deeper than he ever imagined. His choices will lead farther than he ever thought possible.
Cat Core
Dean Henegar - 2021
Instead of angels, pearly gates, and eternal rewards, a voice in her head keeps telling her that she’s become a dungeon core, whatever that is.Now people keep coming into her new home, wrecking stuff, and stealing from her. But not everything about this whole ordeal is bad. Not only can Florence decorate her home with a thought, but she can also create the best things in the entire universe—she can create kitty-cats.Should these hooligans keep insisting on coming into her home, well, Florence and her kitties are going to have something to say about that.
The Becoming
William D. Latoria - 2012
At sixteen-years-old, he knows only rudimentary spells, mostly for performing work, none of the power he seeks. He seeks more power and responsibility from his mentor and renowned magician Isidor. Follow along the beginning of Tartum’s incredible journey as he discovers his fate.
A Mage in the Making
Alastair J. Archibald - 2007
Once a powerful Mage Questor of the Seventh Rank, Loras fell into disgrace and was banished from the Guild, his name and honours stricken from the Guild records.As a charity Student and the grandson of the reviled Oathbreaker, Grimm faces a difficult and uncertain future in the class-obsessed House. His lowly status also permits the ambitious and unscrupulous Prelate, Thorn Virias, to submit Grimm to the grueling Questor Ordeal. Brutally trained to become a human weapon, Grimm is driven to the very brink of insanity by the man who betrayed his grandfather.
Tech Duinn
Ryan DeBruyn - 2020
A prison planet designed for blood sport. The Sovereign Empire’s power was a lie.Brutally trained his entire short life to be a Sovereign Elite and defend the Empire, Azrael instead finds himself a prisoner. Not even eight years old, and without system access, Azrael is abandoned on Tech Duinn. He must rely on his hunting trainers to keep his identity secret. There is no doubt that if people learn his last name, he would wake up in the arena… if he woke up at all.While fleeing the takeover of Mur, the group discovers how deep despair can drag them. Soon, only the praise of the bloody mob in the Arena Pit Dungeon keeps them alive. Surviving seems impossible, yet Azrael vows to not only live, but to find a way off-world.Azrael lives only because of applause. Others will die for it. Death or escape is the only way out of the cycle.