Book picks similar to
The Origins of Constantine by D.C. Gomez


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Angelmaker


Nick Harkaway - 2012
    The son of infamous London criminal Mathew “Tommy Gun” Spork, he has turned his back on his family’s mobster history and aims to live a quiet life. That orderly existence is suddenly upended when Joe activates a particularly unusual clockwork mechanism. His client, Edie Banister, is more than the kindly old lady she appears to be—she’s a retired international secret agent. And the device? It’s a 1950s doomsday machine. Having triggered it, Joe now faces the wrath of both the British government and a diabolical South Asian dictator who is also Edie’s old arch-nemesis. On the upside, Joe’s got a girl: a bold receptionist named Polly whose smarts, savvy and sex appeal may be just what he needs. With Joe’s once-quiet world suddenly overrun by mad monks, psychopathic serial killers, scientific geniuses and threats to the future of conscious life in the universe, he realizes that the only way to survive is to muster the courage to fight, help Edie complete a mission she abandoned years ago and pick up his father’s old gun...

Bridge of Birds


Barry Hughart - 1984
    He found master Li Kao, a scholar with a slight flaw in his character. Together, they set out to find the Great Root of Power, the only possible cure.The quest led them to a host of truly memorable characters, multiple wonders, incredible adventures—and strange coincidences, which were really not coincidences at all. And it involved them in an ancient crime that still perturbed the serenity of Heaven. Simply and charmingly told, this is a wry tale, a sly tale, and a story of wisdom delightfully askew. Once read, its marvels and beauty will not easily fade from the mind.The author claims that this is a novel of an ancient China that never was. But, oh…it should have been!

Raider's Curse


Gail Z. Martin - 2013
    When sea raiders threaten the villages along the Margolan coast, young Jonmarc Vahanian risks everything to save his family. The Jonmarc Vahanian AdventuresSoldier. Fight slave. Smuggler. Warrior. Brigand lord. If you’ve met Jonmarc Vahanian in the Chronicles of the Necromancer and Fallen Kings Cycle books, you don’t really know him until you take his journey.

The Tracker


John Hunt - 2018
    A sinister shadow trails him playing a game of hide and seek. If Taylor is caught, a cruel death awaits him. There are rules for this game. To break them would mean dire consequences for Taylor and anyone close to him. Taylor must outwit and outlast the fiend for forty-eight hours.

Comanche Sunset: Western Box Set


Ron Schwab - 2018
    175+ FIVE-STAR REVIEWS. COMANCHE SUNSET collects the first three books of the THE LAW WRANGLERS as an opening trilogy to the popular Western series. DEAL WITH THE DEVIL - The Law Wranglers Book 1After several long years of trying to put the past behind him, Josh Rivers finds himself intertwined in a case that has him leaving the comforts of his life in Santa Fe for the desolation of the Staked Plains. In his quest to find a young woman abducted by the Comanche, Josh must confront the horrors of his past, as well as pull off the diplomatic high-wire act of negotiating with the Comanche and their great war chief, Quanah Parker. MOUTH OF HELL - The Law Wranglers Book 2As tensions continue to escalate between the U. S. Army and the Comanche, members of the Rivers family find themselves involved on multiple fronts of the “Red River War.” Josh Rivers discovers his efforts to covertly negotiate on behalf of his newest client have been exposed, and now he finds himself looking over his shoulder, even in the relative safety of Santa Fe. Meanwhile, his journalist sister, Tabitha, is embedded with Colonel Ranald “Bad Hand” Mackenzie’s forces on the eve of battle. What begins as a ploy to sell more newspapers, quickly spirals into a series of life-changing events as the opposing sides converge in the Texas Panhandle. THE LAST HUNT - The Law Wranglers Book 3Set amidst the last days of the Comanche wars, The Last Hunt continues the story of the Rivers family, whose fates are intertwined with the Comanche—and their great war chief, Quanah Parker—both personally and professionally. The decisions Quanah makes as the conflict nears its end will have a far-reaching effect beyond his Comanche nation, and the long-brewing showdown for Josh to reclaim his kidnapped son reaches its conclusion.From the AuthorThe Law Wranglers novels comprise the author's best-selling series. Some series books are independent novels that can be easily read out of order. Others may be confusing without the back story from the previous novel. This series is a bit of a mix.The first three books of the Law Wranglers series (Deal with the Devil, Mouth of Hell, and The Last Hunt) constitute a trilogy, and the author recommends sequential reading. For that reason, the publisher also packaged the books as a boxed set under the Comanche Sunset umbrella.New readers should have no difficulty reading subsequent books as stand-alone novels, and, of course, it is hoped enjoyment of the experience will coax the reader to experience the entire series, which the writer plans to continue indefinitely.The Law Wranglers (in order of publication):Deal with the Devil (2016)Mouth of Hell (2016)The Last Hunt (2017)Summer's Child (2017)Peyote Spirits: A Novella (2018)Comanche Sunset: Books 1 - 3 (2018)

The Theta Prophecy


Chris Dietzel - 2015
    JFK’s assassination. A tyrannous regime’s inner-workings. Welcome to The Theta Prophecy, where alternate history meets modern dystopian.Having survived a perilous journey into the distant past, a time traveler grapples with the crushing realization that his sacrifices were in vain. In a different era, the world suffers at the hands of an empire bent on instilling misery upon an entire population. But the course he unknowingly sets the world upon will change everything we think we know about history.Irreverent but insightful, The Theta Prophecy is an adventure spanning centuries. More than just another dystopian story, it offers a disturbing vision of the future that will leave you asking, what is reality and what is fiction? And most importantly, can the Tyranny be stopped?"A terrifying glimpse at a believable future." - Kirkus

What in God's Name


Simon Rich - 2012
    For as long as anyone can remember, the founder and CEO (known in some circles as "God") has been phoning it in. Lately, he's been spending most of his time on the golf course. And when he does show up at work, it's not to resolve wars or end famines, but to Google himself and read what humans have been blogging about him. When God decides to retire (to pursue his lifelong dream of opening an Asian Fusion restaurant), he also decides to destroy Earth. His employees take the news in stride, except for Craig and Eliza, two underpaid angels in the lowly Department of Miracles. Unlike their boss, Craig and Eliza love their jobs -- uncapping city fire hydrants on hot days, revealing lost keys in snow banks -- and they refuse to accept that earth is going under. The angels manage to strike a deal with their boss. He'll call off his Armageddon, if they can solve their toughest miracle yet: getting the two most socially awkward humans on the planet to fall in love. With doomsday fast approaching, and the humans ignoring every chance for happiness thrown their way, Craig and Eliza must move heaven and earth to rescue them -- and the rest of us, too.

Attack of the Mammary Clans


David Blake - 2018
    after a cleaner unplugged his cryogenic freezing machine by accident, Detective Inspector Capstan wakes up to find that he's been in a state of suspended animation for over four hundred years. As he's forced to adjust to life in the future he finds himself reinstated as a policeman, and together with the great great great great grandson of his former subordinate, Sergeant Dewbush, he's put on the case of a missing cow.

Welcome to Night Vale


Joseph Fink - 2015
    It is here that the lives of two women, with two mysteries, will converge.Nineteen-year-old Night Vale pawn shop owner Jackie Fierro is given a paper marked "King City" by a mysterious man in a tan jacket holding a deer skin suitcase. Everything about him and his paper unsettles her, especially the fact that she can't seem to get the paper to leave her hand, and that no one who meets this man can remember anything about him. Jackie is determined to uncover the mystery of King City and the man in the tan jacket before she herself unravels.Night Vale PTA treasurer Diane Crayton's son, Josh, is moody and also a shape shifter. And lately Diane's started to see her son's father everywhere she goes, looking the same as the day he left years earlier, when they were both teenagers. Josh, looking different every time Diane sees him, shows a stronger and stronger interest in his estranged father, leading to a disaster Diane can see coming, even as she is helpless to prevent it.Diane's search to reconnect with her son and Jackie's search for her former routine life collide as they find themselves coming back to two words: "King City". It is King City that holds the key to both of their mysteries, and their futures...if they can ever find it.

The Sharded Boy


L. Darby Gibbs - 2017
    Pain runs a close second.Jahl must cope with both if he hopes to fulfil his dream of becoming a master wielder.He teams up with the best friend that abandoned him and the girl who ridiculed him. Rouen has a secret to keep and needs Jahl to make it happen. Donya needs Jahl to teach her how to wield, never mind that it could get them killed.And he needs them both if he's to survive the danger he refuses to believe awaits him.It's a relationship that will force them to face both the cruelties of love and the miracles of friendship.When a stranger hires Jahl for a job only a master wielder can perform, it seems the perfect first step to take him to the destiny he is certain is within his grasp.Will the cost of being recognized as a wielder of magic be worth the loss of those he loves most?Read this classic tale of adversity and becoming an adult in a world of magic.

A Measure of Disorder


Alan Tucker - 2010
    Armed with only their notebooks, MP3 players, and wits, Jenni and her classmates are unknowingly transported to another world. Follow Jenni and her class on their extraordinary adventures in their fight to discover who and what they really are.

Precinct 13


Tate Hallaway - 2012
    But when her first day on the job ends with a missing corpse, Alex starts to wonder if she would have been better off collecting unemployment... When the cops made some cryptic comments about being careful with the body they brought in, Alex just thought the boys in blue were messing with her. That is, until something freaky happens that no amount of med school could have prepared her for. By the time Alex gets herself together, the body has disappeared and the other residents of the morgue start talking her ear off. After working up the courage to report the missing body, Alex is transferred to the mysterious Precinct 13 where she discovers that her new co-workers—including a cute technomage named Jack—are paranormals just like her. Now, Alex is being encouraged to use her ability to speak to the dead to solve crimes. And despite being in the middle of nowhere, Hughes County sure does have a lot of paranormal activity…

Nice Dragons Finish Last


Rachel Aaron - 2014
    But this meek behavior doesn't fly in a family of ambitious magical predators, and his mother, Bethesda the Heartstriker, has finally reached the end of her patience. Now, sealed in human form and banished to the DFZ--a vertical metropolis built on the ruins of Old Detroit--Julius has one month to prove that he can be a ruthless dragon or kiss his true shape goodbye forever. But in a city of modern mages and vengeful spirits where dragons are considered monsters to be exterminated, he’s going to need some serious help to survive this test. He only hopes humans are more trustworthy than dragons...

The Secrets of Drearcliff Grange School


Kim Newman - 2015
    Although it looks like a regular boarding school, Amy learns that Drearcliff girls are special, the daughters of criminal masterminds, outlaw scientists and master magicians. Several of the pupils also have special gifts like Amy’s, and when one of the girls in her dormitory is abducted by a mysterious group in black hoods, Amy forms a secret, superpowered society called the Moth Club to rescue their friend. They soon discover that the Hooded Conspiracy runs through the School, and it's up to the Moth Club to get to the heart of it.

The Soulkeepers


G.P. Ching - 2011
    A beautiful and mysterious neighbor offers to use her unique abilities to help him find his mom. But in exchange she requires Jacob to train as a Soulkeeper, a protector of human souls. He agrees to her demands, desperate for any clue to the mystery of his mother's disappearance. But soon Jacob finds himself trapped in a web of half-truths, and questions her motives for helping him.