Book picks similar to
Greaveburn by Craig Hallam


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Ghosts of Manhattan


George Mann - 2010
    1926. New York. The Roaring Twenties. Jazz. Flappers. Prohibition. Coal-powered cars. A cold war with a British Empire that still covers half of the globe.

Fade to Black


Francis Knight - 2013
    A city that the Ministry rules from the sunlit summit, and where the forsaken lurk in the darkness of Under.Rojan Dizon doesn’t mind staying in the shadows, because he’s got things to hide. Things like being a pain-mage, with the forbidden power to draw magic from pain. But he can’t hide for ever.Because when Rojan stumbles upon the secrets lurking in the depths of the Pit, the fate of Mahala will depend on him using his magic. And unlucky for Rojan—this is going to hurt.

The Reclaiming Honor Omnibus (Books 1-8): A Kurtherian Gambit Series


Justin Sloan - 2019
    She will fight for the oppressed. She will destroy evil. This digital box set contains eight action-packed science fiction adventures: Justice is Calling Valerie must flee a brother who leaves her for dead. Because, if there is one thing Valerie understands? It's that Justice Doesn't Turn the Other Cheek. 150 years after a near apocalypse, the world is rebuilding. Survival has become the only rule, and justice is in short supply. Now, Justice has come calling.  Claimed by Honor The New York City-State wakes up and their world has been shaken to its core. The Enforcers have been scattered, but they aren't finished. This vampire is but a bump in their road to keeping the city-state in the hands of the CEO's.The Were's are involved, some leave, some stay and new alliances are made and an old one broken.However, in the end, it always comes back to heart and determination. Judgment has Fallen The City Has Changed... but not always for the better. Some love her, some hate her, but the one thing that is causing the city problems is Valerie herself. As a lightning rod, she needs to get out of the public's eye and allow the emotions to cool without her presence.Whether she wants to, or not. Angel of Reckoning For this vampire, it's time to die... a second time.Valerie understands that to take the fight to those who are attacking in New York, she needs to leave the spotlight. Both for the city, and for herself.Her enemies are relentless in their attacks to get to her. Since they have relocated to the Chicago City-State area, that is where she must go. Born Into Flames When Valerie and Robin head north to take on an army of post-apocalyptic pirates, the deadly duo find themselves on a thrill-ride of air-ship battles and full-on assaults against pirate strongholds.Her friends back in Old Manhattan discover an attempt at mutiny, while Sandra learns that being an expecting mother doesn't mean she has to stop kicking ass and taking names. Everyone must step up their game, or be consumed by the flames of this new world. Defending the Lost A time of reckoning has come for the council of Toro, a bandit city about to burst with corruption and injustice. Valerie refuses to allow her world to rot, and she's brought friends to help her teach the council a lesson. Saved By Valor A dream of peace. A hand of justice. A time for closure. Valerie has found her way full circle, heading back to Europe, where it all began. New enemies await, calling themselves The Gods, and the journey to put an end to the atlantic pirate problem means dealing with the local trouble makers as well as these false gods.

The Windup Girl


Paolo Bacigalupi - 2009
    Under cover as a factory manager, Anderson combs Bangkok's street markets in search of foodstuffs thought to be extinct, hoping to reap the bounty of history's lost calories. There, he encounters Emiko... Emiko is the Windup Girl, a strange and beautiful creature. One of the New People, Emiko is not human; instead, she is an engineered being, creche-grown and programmed to satisfy the decadent whims of a Kyoto businessman, but now abandoned to the streets of Bangkok. Regarded as soulless beings by some, devils by others, New People are slaves, soldiers, and toys of the rich in a chilling near future in which calorie companies rule the world, the oil age has passed, and the side effects of bio-engineered plagues run rampant across the globe. What Happens when calories become currency? What happens when bio-terrorism becomes a tool for corporate profits, when said bio-terrorism's genetic drift forces mankind to the cusp of post-human evolution? Award-winning author Paolo Bacigalupi delivers one of the most highly acclaimed science fiction novels of the twenty-first century.

Brother’s Ruin


Emma Newman - 2017
    When a new mage is discovered, Royal Society elites descend like buzzards to snatch up a new apprentice. Talented mages are bought from their families at a tremendous price, while weak mages are snapped up for a pittance. For a lower middle class family like the Gunns, the loss of a son can be disastrous, so when seemingly magical incidents begin cropping up at home, they fear for their Ben's life and their own livelihoods.But Benjamin Gunn isn't a talented mage. His sister Charlotte is, and to prevent her brother from being imprisoned for false reporting she combines her powers with his to make him seem a better prospect.When she discovers a nefarious plot by the sinister Doctor Ledbetter, Charlotte must use all her cunning and guile to protect her family, her secret and her city.Brother's Ruin is the first in a new gaslamp fantasy series by Emma Newman.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

The House of Shattered Wings


Aliette de Bodard - 2015
    Its streets are lined with haunted ruins, Notre-Dame is a burnt-out shell, and the Seine runs black with ashes and rubble. Yet life continues among the wreckage. The citizens continue to live, love, fight and survive in their war-torn city, and The Great Houses still vie for dominion over the once grand capital.House Silverspires, previously the leader of those power games, lies in disarray. Its magic is ailing; its founder, Morningstar, has been missing for decades; and now something from the shadows stalks its people inside their very own walls.Within the House, three very different people must come together: a naive but powerful Fallen, a alchemist with a self-destructive addiction, and a resentful young man wielding spells from the Far East. They may be Silverspires’ salvation. They may be the architects of its last, irreversible fall…

Age of Victoria


Alston Sleet - 2019
    She wanted to explore the world and escape from the strict etiquette of British nobility. With her father fighting in India, the governess assigned to raise her controlled every aspect of her life. The financial downturn of a friend of the family would lead to her sister's longtime engagement turning into an immediate marriage. Victoria's thirst for adventure and tomboy ways would not prepare her for the sudden advent of the apocalypse. Can Victoria and her friends survive this new world of Classes and Skills? Join Victoria and her family on a LitRPG adventure, unlike any other!

Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories


Kelly LinkDylan Horrocks - 2011
    Where tinkerers and dreamers craft and re-craft a world of automatons, clockworks, calculating machines, and other marvels that never were. Where scientists and schoolgirls, fair folk and Romans, intergalactic bandits, utopian revolutionaries, and intrepid orphans solve crimes, escape from monstrous predicaments, consult oracles, and hover over volcanoes in steam-powered airships.

Tales of Ethshar


Lawrence Watt-Evans - 2012
    “Ethshar” is the invented world that has been the setting for almost a dozen novels from the pen of Lawrence Watt-Evans. Its inhabitants don’t call it that; they call it “the World.” For readers, though, that’s not specific enough. The dominant nation on the World is the Hegemony of the Three Ethshars, while the largest, richest city, where most of the stories are set, is Ethshar of the Spices, so “Ethshar” is close enough. The name itself comes from words meaning “safe harbor.” You don’t need to have read any of the novels to enjoy the stories herein; each one should stand alone. And if you've read the novels, you will enjoy this return to the world of Ethshar with 11 stories... This is the first time they have all been collected in one book!

Druid's Folly


M.D. Massey - 2021
    Hell on earth doesn’t stand a chance.Now that I’ve dealt with Badb and proven to the Celtic gods that I’m a force to be reckoned with, it’s time to address some unfinished business...The Hellpocalypse.Just thinking about that place makes me break out in a cold sweat, and since I started planning this journey, the nightmares have come back with a vengeance.Do I really want to revisit that hellhole? Absolutely not, but folks there are depending on me—innocents who won’t survive unless I return to protect them. Besides, it’s my fault that the Hellpocalypse exists, so it’s my responsibility to fix it.Of course, this time it’ll be different.When Gwydion stranded me there, I had no warning or time to prepare. But for cripes’ sake, I’m a master druid now—a little ol’ paranormal apocalypse will be a cake walk. I’ll just zip in, kill some master vampires, stop the spread of the vyrus, and be back in time for dinner with my girlfriend.In short? It’s time to cast magic and chew bubblegum… and I’m all out of bubblegum.- - -Druid’s Folly is an urban fantasy romp through present-day Austin, Texas and an alternate history, post-apocalyptic version of The Lonestar State.If you enjoy paranormal action & adventure novels that are full of magic, guns, explosions, vampires, werewolves, ghouls, zombies, and necromancers, you’ll love this first book in the Colin McCool Trickster Cycle trilogy.Grab your copy today and find out what 200,000+ book lovers already know… that M.D. Massey’s Druidverse is a world tailor-made for fans of urban fantasy and paranormal suspense.Review"M.D. Massey's skillful storytelling and entertaining plot twists combine to deliver a page-turning experience that's sure to delight urban fantasy fans everywhere. If you're looking for your next riveting, supernatural adventure, this series delivers in spades!" ~ New York Times bestseller Joseph Nassise"M.D. Massey's action-packed novels take the reader on a rollercoaster ride into an immersive universe of quirky gallows humor, nightmarish supernatural creatures, and high octane urban fantasy adventures. The pages are filled with paranormal suspense and a host of monstrous grotesques in plots that teem with twists and turns. And in all this perfectly streamlined chaos, one thing's for sure; Colin McCool's never going to stop fighting until he's saved Austin, Texas, and most likely the entire world."~ Kit Hallows, Author of The Order of Shadows Series"MD Massey's Druidverse is the perfect playground for urban fantasy fans who enjoy what we've come to expect in excellent storytelling from the genre. Fast pacing. Relatable characters you want to root for. 'Bad guys' you love to root against. With plenty of supernatural elements, mythology, and non-stop action, his world is richly crafted and complex, never feeling bogged down in the details--just how urban fantasy should be told. Master storytellers are able to balance excitement, anticipation, and suspense over a long series--and that's exactly what MD does in the Colin McCool books. A must-read!"~ Paul Sating, Author of the Zodiac series"M.D. Massey offers bantering humor and action-packed adventure reminiscent of Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files... a wonderful read with a snarky hero, quirky characters, bizarre creatures, and dangerous situations."~Liz Konkel, Readers' Favorite Reviews

The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer


Neal Stephenson - 1995
    It is to some extent a science fiction coming-of-age story, focused on a young girl named Nell, and set in a future world in which nanotechnology affects all aspects of life. The novel deals with themes of education, social class, ethnicity, and the nature of artificial intelligence.

The Iron Dragon's Daughter


Michael Swanwick - 1993
    A slave in a dragon factory that manufactures flying fighting machines, Jane changes her destiny when a voice from a dragon promising freedom and revenge prompts her to escape and challenge the foundations of the world.

The Inverted World


Christopher Priest - 1974
    Rails must be freshly laid ahead of the city & carefully removed in its wake. Rivers & mountains present nearly insurmountable challenges to the ingenuity of the city's engineers. But if the city does not move, it will fall farther & farther behind the optimum & into the crushing gravitational field that has transformed life on Earth. The only alternative to progress is death. The secret directorate that governs the city makes sure that its inhabitants know nothing of this. Raised in common in creches, nurtured on synthetic food, prevented above all from venturing outside the closed circuit of the city, they're carefully sheltered from the dire necessities that have come to define human existence. Yet the city is in crisis. People are growing restive. The population is dwindling. The rulers know that, for all their efforts, slowly but surely the city is slipping ever farther behind the optimum. Helward Mann is a member of the city's elite. Better than anyone, he knows how tenuous is the city's continued existence. But the world he's about to discover is infinitely stranger than the strange world he believes he knows so well.

Pavane


Keith Roberts - 1968
    That single tragedy set off a whole series of events, resulting in the Spanish Armada's defeat of England and subsequent demise of Protestantism. Now it's the 20th century, and the Church of Rome reigns supreme. People live a pastoral existence of guilds and farming, with technology held back to the level of the steam locomotive and primitive radio. Still, science cannot be held back forever...a revolution is building.

The Outcast Ones


Maya Shepherd - 2012
    The last surviving humans are barricaded inside safety zones to protect themselves from the radiation.They can only stay alive if they follow strict rules. No one has property of their own, and no one can make their own choices: the Legion Commanders take every decision away from people. This world has no room for emotion. People only live in order to function, so they have numbers instead of names. D518 is one of them. Born into this destroyed world, she's never known any other life than this - completely defined and controlled. But this changes in an instant when she is kidnapped by opponents of the government, and she discovers that everything she believed in is a lie.