Book picks similar to
Keep an Ace in the Hole by Andrew Seiple
superheroes
fantasy
sci-fi
short-story
Incandescent Guardians (Mythic, #1)
D.R. Rosier - 2020
A magician to the world at large, wielding the powers of magic, only not. That’s just a part of his cover, and a clever use of his true power.His alter ego is Bob Williams who is a powerful telekinetic that works in the civilian business world, no one knows that he’s truly the infamous Mythic, and keeping the streets of Chicago safe from monsters with powers. Supervillains.He isn’t the only superhero vigilante. With the end of the MTF, heroes were back on the streets, but the rules had changed again. Lawful heroes had to by law, reveal who they were, take off the mask. That was something he and the others he fought alongside of simply could not do. Not when they had families vulnerable to any psychotic supervillain bent on revenge for past slights.Things are about to get a lot more complicated for Bob, as he teams up with two of the other vigilantes, Lady Lightning and Elegant Prodigy. Will they be able to keep their secrets from each other?After all, the government had mind reader supers, it wasn’t safe for even allies to know the true identity of a vigilante, lest they all be caught when one was. Join Bob as he fights to protect Chicago, and the surprises in store for him.Content Warning: Not suitable for children. This is a Superhero Harem story with explicitly mature scenes between a man and a woman, and other mature content. This first book has no harem action, but plenty of explicit sex, and the harem aspects will come in book two and three. You have been warned.
How to Become a Henchman: The Henchman's Survival Guide
J. Bennett - 2019
Just another delightful day in Big Little City. As I huddle on the floor, I know I shouldn't complain. After all, the regular villain attacks keep the rent low, and the City Council even subsidizes the local college tuition. It's the only reason I can afford to get my degree. The problem is that the heroes are better at showboating for the cameras than trying to save us hapless civilians. As if to make my point, a hero leaps through the window just above me. When the glass shower is over, I peek between my fingers and get an eyeful of glowing orange boots and a muscled body wrapped in the most highly modified suit that crypto currency can buy. As I pick glass out of my hair, the hero bellows, "Worry not, young lady. Shine is here to save you!" Ugh. Save your cheesy lines for a different damsel! Welcome to Big Little City, a semi-reality town where everyone who isn’t already a hero or a villain wants to become one. Well, almost everyone... Alice just needs to keep her head down, earn her college degree, and then she’ll finally be able to escape this crazy place and find a real job. Too bad a super scary villain just blew up the restaurant where she works and her paycheck along with it! Now Alice finds herself running low on funds and employment options. Her tuition bill is due, and the university doesn't take promises or tales of woe. As luck would have it, one of the town’s most famous villains is holding henchmen auditions. The gig would earn Alice the money she needs; all she has to do is betray every instinct and play the "Fame Game" she despises. Oh, and she’s also got to beat out the other competitors who might just kill for the limited henchmen spots. Author J Bennett is back with a brand new, action-packed superhero series. With a keen social eye and her trademark wit, J Bennett weaves a story of a futuristic world where good and evil are both beholden to ratings. Is Alice willing to risk life, limb, and her integrity to land the role of a lifetime and the juicy paycheck it brings? Find out why it's so much fun to root for the henchman!
Red Light Hero
Kory Shen - 2018
Alan Star thinks he's the luckiest guy in the world, but fantasy turns into nightmare when a late-night meetup with a heroine turns deadly. To the dismay of the powers-in-charge, Alan has stumbled upon the dirty truth behind the squeaky-clean image of the hero business. Soon, everyone from government black ops to angry superpowered flames want to shut him up. Permanently. With nowhere else to run, Alan escapes to the one place that the heroes won't go: the underground world of a fabled hero-killer. There, he discovers the key to becoming the greatest hero of all. Alan will have to gain new powers, seduce even more superpowered babes, and face the true menace lurking in the shadows. Witness the birth of the Red Light Hero. Warning: This book contains diverse adult situations and possibly unwholesome interactions such as superpowered flings, polyamory, and biology experiments gone wild. This book also contains light gamelit mechanics in the final act.
Spaceships and Spellcasters
Glynn Stewart - 2018
A mage cop on his first assignment learns the world isn't as black and white as hopedA jump mage and a starship with matching needs turn out to be a magnet for troubleDigging in 1940s New York City awakens a monster--and brings in the elite of the FaeThe protected heir of an interstellar dictatorship is called to a battle no one expected him to fightAn explosive collection of four novellas from science fiction and fantasy author Glynn Stewart, spanning his ONSET, Starship's Mage, Changeling Blood and Exile universes, including two brand new urban fantasy novellas. Includes:ONSET: Murder by MagicStarship's Mage: Episode 1Fae, Flames and FedorasAshen Stars
The Methuselah Treatment
T.C. Powell - 2015
Not everyone can. Who decides? Desperate to save his daughter from a mysterious sickness, Daniel applies for the Methuselah Treatment. If she gets it, his daughter won’t just recover, she’ll live forever. But the drug is tightly controlled, and only the special, the talented, and the truly deserving ever receive it. There is nothing special about Daniel’s destitute ten- year-old girl—or is there?
Super Babes
Jeremy Zenith - 2019
When the three heroes who protect Eros City are taken down, Ryan gets his chance, thanks to a high-tech implant that uses RPG mechanics to unlock hidden powers. Now that Ryan's become a real-life superhero, he's going to have to face the five powerful supervillains that have taken over his city, but he'll have some sexy superheroines to help him along the way. Note: This LitRPG story contains strong language, harem elements, and explicit adult situations.
Super
Karen Diem - 2016
As a result, the second-to-last thing she expected was to wake from a spontaneous coma, quarantined, and with super powers she has to hide from everyone, including her family. Now Zita must master her new abilities while dodging kidnappers, evading government inquiries, and finding her missing brother. The only thing weirder would have been if the blind date had gone well. Super is the first in the Arca superhero urban fantasy series, and as a movie, would be rated "R" for immoderate language, lame sexual innuendo, comic book violence, and sheer length (approximately 110,500 words).
Good Intentions: A Supervillain Story
Michael Crider - 2015
I recommend you read this book in full before beginning your journey, as approximately six out of ten villains are captured or killed before completing their third extra-legal activity. Any portion of these instructions you neglect to read before then will represent a small waste of money on your part. - excerpt from Villainy for Dummies! by Professor ParasiteShawn Simmons lives in a world of superpowers. Until now he's always been content to walk beneath as his Heroes fly over, happy in the knowledge that he was making a contribution. But when his job hands him an opportunity for some much-needed heroics of his own, Shawn finds himself press ganged into the company of the world's largest villainous organization. Before long he's on the wrong side of both the super-powered and the powers that be. Now caught in the cruel clutches of a comic book cabal, Shawn is trapped between the criminal intentions of the planet's most feared supervillains and a woman with even higher aspirations. Can he escape from his poor decisions before he loses his family, his identity, and his life?Good Intentions: A Supervillain Story is a novel that celebrates and lampoons the conventions of superhero comic books, while approaching the subject from a completely new angle. It's full of interesting bad guys, kick-ass women of both virtuous and dubious nature, heart-pounding action, and a protagonist who would really prefer to avoid it.
Preemption
Marion G. Harmon - 2011
Astra has finished her training and is now a full-fledged Sentinel, but things are not going well. She suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and the public revelation of her relationship with Atlas has caused her popularity to nose-dive.To complicate things, the Teatime Anarchist's intervention has changed the course of events--leaving her with lots of knowledge about the way the future was before the Big One, a complete future-history that is now out of date.And just when she thinks she's getting a handle on things, unfolding events (a bank-robbery and a horrific murder) show that one of the nastier pieces of the old future isn't so out of date after all; unless she solves a murder before it happens, Blackstone is going to die.
The Once-Dead Girl (Shapechanger Tales)
Laer Carroll - 2013
She comes back to life with superhuman powers. She remembers that in her brother's comic books superheroes come to be feared and hated no matter what good deeds they do. She tries to lead a normal life.But little by little fate conspires against this course. Bad things happen that only she can make right. Baby step by baby step, then bigger steps, she grows into her responsibilities.To help her do her superhero "job" she creates first one, then another alternate identity. Former soldier now mercenary Yao Ming, unequaled with weapons, able to get unseen into places impossible to enter. Beautiful jet-setter millionaire Sandrine Ascaride. And a star girl with blue skin and purple hair who can fly and wield laser bolts and lightning.She is sometimes desperately lonely, unable to share her secret. Then she finds she is not alone....
Alien Prince's Bond
Sophia Sebell - 2020
Now I belong to a brutal alien race who only see me as a fertile womb.I’m claimed by the Prince of the Khuvex, a devastatingly handsome colossus with blue skin and rippling muscles. I should be terrified. I should be planning my escape.But without Prince Tacien’s claim, I’d be snapped up in an instant—claimed, bred, used, and thrown away.What’s worse is I’m not even sure I want to run. Prince Tacien is fiercely protective. I’m unsure what my future holds with him, but I know he’d kill before he let anyone lay a hand on me. Maybe I’m crazy, but I’m starting to think he’d do anything for me.But before he can secure his claim over me as his mate for life, his vicious brother intervenes. He challenges Tacien for his title and all of his holdings. Including me.If both of the terrifying aliens kill each other, I might have a chance at freedom. So why do I find myself desperately wishing Tacien will win the right to claim me? To breed me…
GOON SQUAD 2014 Summer Special
Jonathan L. Howard - 2014
The Goon Squad 2014 Summer Special contains an introduction to the Squad, and four short stories: "Red Wolf, Red Wolf, Does Whatever a Red Wolf Can," "Changes," "No-No Dojo," and "Tale of Terror." Join Puppet Girl, the Revenant, Red Wolf, and Talos as they protect the fairly innocent, are sharply critical about modern newspapers, talk to a door in Salford, and recount the day the city nearly blew up.
Team Omega
Christopher G. Nuttall - 2015
Superhumans! They fly through the skies like gods; superhumans, men and women who have gained extraordinary powers. Some are celebrities, some rule entire countries, some just try to lead normal lives … and some are criminals. Jackson McDonald, USMC, fought and killed a superhuman who threatened to tear Camp Pendleton apart. His reward is to be invited to join Team Omega, an elite black-ops military unit tasked with dealing with rogue superhumans. But one superhuman has plans. He will save the world, even if it doesn’t want to be saved… And no matter who tries to stop him.
Stories
D. Rus - 2015
This is a story about the legions of Inferno invading the Earth. If we can enter AlterWorld, why can’t AlterWorld enter our home? Do you like to watch Chaos unfold? Beware, for one day you will feel its gaze upon you…- Call of Duty. Doc’s long awaited story. Did Doc make his dream a reality and save the doomed children? And what will the authorities do once they see the empty beds and the overfilled freezers in the hospice morgue?
Absolute
P.S. Power - 2016
Nothing else will do.After the death of his father at the hands of a corrupt government, Ben Epson knows that there is nothing he can do to extract revenge. Not as an ordinary person.So he throws everything he has in with a group of very special rebels, who are more than they seem. From them he will gain the powers, and skills, that he needs to change the world for the better. At the very least, to hurt the ones that stole his life away from him.Or die trying. Possibly both.Because, in the end, that's all he has left.Revenge.Some things make you stronger... Because there is no other choice.