Book picks similar to
Conan the Defiant by Steve Perry


fantasy
conan
sword-and-sorcery
fiction

The Dragon and the George


Gordon R. Dickson - 1976
    He hadn't planned it that way, but that's what happened when he set out to rescue his betrothed. Following her through an erratic astral-projection machine, Jim suddenly found himself in a cockeyed world - locked in the body of a talking dragon named Gorbash.That wouldn't have been so bad if his beloved Angie were also a dragon. But in this magical land, that was not the case. Angie had somehow remained a very female human - or a george, as the dragons called any human. And Jim, no matter what anyone called him, was a dragon.To make matters worse, Angie had been taken prisoner by an evil dragon and was held captive in the impenetrable Loathly Tower. So in this land where georges were edible and beasts were magical - where spells worked and logic didn't - Jim Eckert had a problem.And he needed help, by george!

Gauntlgrym


R.A. Salvatore - 2010
    But before they even get close, another drow and dwarf pair stumbles across it first: Jarlaxle and Athrogate. In their search for treasure and magic, Jarlaxle and Athrogate inadvertently set into motion a catastrophe that could spell disaster for the unsuspecting people of the city of Neverwinter--a catastrophe big enough to lure even the mercenary Jarlaxle into risking his own coin and skin to stop it. Unfortunately, the more they uncover about the secret of Gauntlgrym, the more it looks like they can't stop it on their own. They'll need help, and from the last people they ever thought to fight alongside again: Drizzt and Bruenor.

Elminster: The Making of a Mage


Ed Greenwood - 1992
    In these ancient days, Elminster is but a shepherd boy, dreaming of adventure and heroics. When a dragon-riding magelord sweeps down upon him, though, the boy is thrust into a world of harsh realities, corrupt rulers and evil sorcerers.

Conan the Buccaneer


Lin Carter - 1971
    Awaiting him will be his fiercest battle: the cold steel of his sword against the hell-fed powers of the sorcerer Thoth-Ammon.

Jarka Ruus


Terry Brooks - 2003
    . . .Twenty years have passed since Grianne Ohmsford denounced her former life as the dreaded Ilse Witch. Fulfilling the destiny predicted for her, she has established the Third Druid Council and dedicated herself to its goals of peace, harmony among the races, and defense of the Four Lands. But despite her devotion to the greater good as Ard Rhys, the High Druid of Paranor, Grianne still has bitter enemies. Even her few allies—chief among them her trusted servant Tagwen—know of the plots against her. But they could never anticipate the sudden, ominous disappearance of the Ard Rhys, in the dead of night and without a trace. Now Tagwen joins Grianne’s brave young nephew, Pen Ohmsford, and the wise, powerful elf Ahren Elessedil on a desperate and dangerous mission of search and rescue—to deliver the High Druid of Shannara from an unspeakable fate.BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Terry Brooks's The Measure of the Magic.

Red Planet


Robert A. Heinlein - 1949
    But one day Willis unwittingly tuned into a treacherous plot that threatened all the colonists on Mars, and it set Jim off on a terrfying adventure that could save--or destroy--them all!From the Paperback edition.

Lord Valentine's Castle


Robert Silverberg - 1979
    Valentine's journey is a long one, a tour through a series of magnificent environments. Fields of predatory plants give way to impossibly wide rivers, chalk-cliffed islands and unforgiving deserts. The prose is unrelentingly dreamlike—no accident given that on Majipoor, dreams rule the minds of great and humble alike. Originally serialized in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction in four parts: November 1979, December 1979, January 1980 and February 1980.

Inferno


Larry Niven - 1975
    And the late, great Allen Carpentier begins his one-way journey into the dim nether regions where flame-colored demons wield diabolically sharp pitchforks and tormented vixens reign forever in a pond of sheer ice. Here, in this land of torment and terror, he discovers the amazing truth of the ultimate adventure that lies beyond the grave.Frank Herbert -"The somber beauty of INFERNO brought up to the twentieth century with care and humor and with some sins Dante didn't even suspect."

The Girl Who Heard Dragons


Anne McCaffrey - 1985
    The Girl Who Heard Dragons and fourteen other stories of alien worlds and strange beings are all brought magically alive by the magic pen of Anne McCaffrey.

Conan the Barbarian


Michael A. Stackpole - 2011
    Wandering the world alone, Conan was forged into a peerless warrior by hardship and bloodshed. Years later, he crosses paths with Zym and his armies. But before Conan can exact vengeance, he must contend with the warlord's daughter-the seductive witch Marique-and a host of monstrous creatures. Only then will Conan's quest bring him face to face with Zym in an epic battle to avenge his people and save the world.

On a Pale Horse


Piers Anthony - 1983
    The new Thanatos is superbly competent, ends pain when he ends lives. But Satan is forging a trap for Luna, the woman Death loves.

Jack of Shadows


Roger Zelazny - 1971
    Science rules the dayside of the globe. Magic rules the World of Night, and Jack of Shadows, Shadowjack the Thief, who broke the Compact and duped the Lord of High Dudgeon, walks in silence and in shadows to seek vengeance upon his enemies.

The First Book of Swords


Fred Saberhagen - 1983
    Play begins in grand and gloriously violent fashion as Swords are gathered and used to control chance, enhance fortune, and change destiny. The holder of a Sword wields power undreamed... power to change the world and the holder.To add to the enjoyment, foolish mortals are invited to join, risking their puny lives. Demons and elementals need no invitation. But something had gone wrong in the forging, and the Game...

The Planet Savers


Marion Zimmer Bradley - 1958
    The Planet Savers, the first Darkover novel, introduces the reader to the now legendary world of Cottman IV. The Winds of Darkover, also an early novel in the series, reveals the awesome and terrifying powers of the infamous Sharra Matrix.

The Skull


Philip K. Dick - 1952
    He wasn't concerned about getting the wrong man. He knew what the man looked like. There was no way he could make a mistake about his target's identity -- he had the man's skull under his shoulder.