Ought to be Dead by Scott Warren

SPFBO8

Some monsters are hunted by the living, but you really ought to be dead for this sort of work. An overworked necromancer, woken in the deep hours of the night, attempts to help a group of desperate dock workers with their recently deceased cargo inspector. Instead, she accidentally awakens the terrifying spirit of a vengeful, undying warrior with a single drive: to kill monsters. But he’s really not so bad, once you learn to live with the smell. Loosed upon the world, Specter travels the land hunting all manner of beasts and monsters both magical and mundane. Joined by an incorrigible human apprentice with a nose for books, the two set out for a year of travel together. But while calling upon the necromancer who raised him, an encounter with an unusual and deadly creature forces him to examine a pattern of attacks that leads him up and down the coast, finding danger wherever he ventures. Across seven deadly hunts, Specter must journey to find the truth of the dark designs behind these attacks. And somehow, along the way, maintain his fading grip on humanity by coming to terms with his past life (and death)—lest he become one of the very monsters he’s sworn to destroy. A cozy, standalone popcorn adventure from the author of The Dragon's Banker. The perfect fantasy palate cleanser between grimdark main courses.

The Dragon's Banker by Scott Warren

SPFBO6

Finance: The lifeblood of any country’s beating heart and the life’s work of Sailor Kelstern — Merchant Banker. While wizards brood in their towers and great warriors charge into battle Sailor is more interested in the price of ore, herbs, and alchemicals carried by the trade ships. But when a spell of bad fortune and bitter rivalry leaves him scrambling to turn a profit on little more than winds and whispers, one such whisper catches Sailor’s ear— a dragon has been seen in the west. Sailor soon finds that the dragons are very real, and not at all what he expected. And they practice a very different sort of economy — one of subterfuge and fire. With bonus novelette: Forego Quest What if you were the hero of every song, story, and legend? What if you didn’t want to be? Find out in this hilarious fantasy short.

Oathbreakers Anonymous by Scott Warren

SPFBO10

A knockout fantasy from author of The Dragon’s Banker. Pride comes before the fall. And when the great paladin Marluck of Kalash fell, he fell hard. Labeled an Oathbreaker and banished from the Temple of Fate, the once-champion had no idea why his goddess-given powers were stripped and his holy icon shattered. Only that a banished paladin can never return to the fold, and is doomed to eternal longing and misery. Bereft of his powers and cast down from his once-lofty heights, Marluck is rescued by the Oathbreakers Guild where other fallen paladins like himself meet to share their woes of banishment and pine for better days. But when a stranger in the group whispers of four holy sites where other Oathbreakers found favor once more, Marluck is helpless to resist the siren song of renewed succor within the fold of his goddess. Together with three other members of the group—each with demons of their own—Marluck sets out on a do-or-die quest to unravel the mystery of his fall from grace, and discover what it means to be a champion.