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A Dragon of the Veil by Nick Snape With the realm falling apart, the fate of a people falls upon Laoch and Sura’s shoulders and the Gods’ weapons they now bear ‒ a thousand years of faith and lies reconciled in a single moment of hope and redemption. For Laoch, the Crusades never ended, yet the embittered Ranger finds hope in his love for the dishonoured elven warrior, Sura. Together, they must face a new conflict when a powerful enemy crashes into a Meister’s alchemical experiment, setting off a wave of fear that ripples through the realm. With the secrets of the Gods’ scripture exposed and whispers of an ancient evil’s return, Laoch and Sura are left reeling by the power their enemy wields when an even larger threat rises from the forest depths. One even the Gods’ weapons fear. In a world no longer devoid of magic, a thousand years of secrets and lies spill out, and cracks form in the last bastion against an ancient foe. For cast in iron and spiritfire - here be dragons. “…artfully mixes elements of arcanepunk and high fantasy … this is a riveting start to a new fantasy series from an undeniably skilled storyteller” ★★★★★ SPR editorial review |
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The Night Dredes by Shayna Grissom The island is all Destiny Sallows has ever known. It is her birthright to become the next matriarch and leader of her isolated family. The only catch is that she must marry Daniel; Mother insists on it. It’s not that she dislikes Daniel, he’s kind and clever. The problem is with her. Destiny suffers from a reoccurring night terror about a monster with green eyes. One glance in Daniel’s eyes sends her spiraling into a severe panic attack. Mother calls them the night dredes. Mother says Destiny will get over them, but when the monsters come out, the night dredes come for them all. |
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The Way of Edan by Philip Chase The Kingdom of the Eternal will awaken when the Way of Edan holds sway over all of Eormenlond. So say the prophecies. With unrivalled power in the gift, the Supreme Priest Bledla leads Torrlond and its mighty army to convert rival kingdoms by the sword and by the fang. Among the gathering resistance is the sorceress Sequara, whose mission is to protect her island and her Andumaic faith from the Torrlonders’ aggression. As holy war looms over the kingdoms of Eormenlond, a chance encounter bestows a terrible curse upon a young man. Dayraven’s curse may decide Eormenlond’s fate. But first, with the help of unlikely friends, he must survive the shattering of his world. Equal parts epic and lament, The Way of Edan is the lyrical opening of The Edan Trilogy. |
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Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang Magic has made the city of Tiran an industrial utopia, but magic has a cost—and the collectors have come calling. An orphan since the age of four, Sciona has always had more to prove than her fellow students. For twenty years, she has devoted every waking moment to the study of magic, fueled by a mad desire to achieve the impossible: to be the first woman ever admitted to the High Magistry. When she finally claws her way up the ranks to become a highmage, however, she finds that her challenges have just begun. Her new colleagues will stop at nothing to let her know she is unwelcome, beginning with giving her a janitor instead of a qualified lab assistant. What neither Sciona nor her peers realize is that her taciturn assistant was once more than a janitor; before he mopped floors for the mages, Thomil was a nomadic hunter from beyond Tiran’s magical barrier. Ten years have passed since he survived the perilous crossing that killed his family. But working for a highmage, he sees the opportunity to finally understand the forces that decimated his tribe, drove him from his homeland, and keep the Tiranish in power. Through their fractious relationship, mage and outsider uncover an ancient secret that could change the course of magic forever—if it doesn’t get them killed first. Sciona has defined her life by the pursuit of truth, but how much is one truth worth with the fate of civilization in the balance? A standalone dark academia brimming with mystery, tragedy, and the damning echoes of the past. For fans of Leigh Bardugo, V. E. Schwab, and Fullmetal Alchemist. (Content warnings for gore, sexual assault, and suicidal ideation) |
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Miners of the Mystics by Penny Moss Deep in the mountain where magic and mining coincide, penniless Oliver enlists as a Miner of the Mystics. The dream is unfathomable riches, the risk is injury or even death. A risk worth taking for just a glance at Sentinel Tau, an otherworldly being tasked with protecting the mountain’s inhabitants. Oliver’s luck plummets when he suffers a magical curse. Even a wayward touch could hurt him or his friends, alienating Oliver from everyone but Tau, whose healing magic he needs to survive. Oliver aches for an echo of his feelings behind the Sentinel’s expressionless mask—and discovers it in unexpected ways. When Oliver and his friends unearth a portal, the rarest artefact of all, he is plunged into a world of nightmares. There, he uncovers the gruesome origins of mining for the transmundane. The truth of what they might have unleashed upon their own world is only the beginning of a harrowing road Oliver stumbles down to be with Tau. A slow-burn dark fantasy m/m romance story. |
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Behind Blue Eyes by Anna Mocikat In a future world ruled by warring mega-corporations, cyborg Nephilim believed she was fighting a righteous cause. As a powerful, cybernetically enhanced elite soldier her job is to do all the dirty work for the mega-corporation she belongs to. She and her elite cyborg squad are deployed on the most dangerous missions – to protect Olympias from threats outside and inside at any cost. One day, a malfunction in her implants separates her from the all-controlling grid. For the first time in her life, Nephilim is free. She learns that everything she has believed in all her life is a lie and decides to defend her newfound freedom. But Metatron, the leader of her unit, has very special plans for her future and won’t let her get away. Soon, Nephilim finds herself hunted by the killer squads she once belonged to. She’s the best of them but will her skills be enough to survive? Blade Runner meets John Wick with a badass female lead. |
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Season One: Iris and the Crew Tear Through Space! by Cait Gordon In a galactic network known as the Keangal, where space is accessible… Lieutenant Eileen Iris and the command crew of the S.S. SpoonZ haven’t a clue what it means to be disabled. An unexpected conversation with an intergalactic janitor brings up the question but offers no answers before he’s ’ported away. Unfazed, duties resume as Iris manages an overprotective guidebot; Security Chief Lartha and her sentient prostheses offer kick-ass protection; Mr. Herbert’s inventiveness is a godsend (although he’s not quite grasped how to flirt); Commander Davan’s affable personality comes through whether trumpeted, texted, or signed; and Captain Warq’s gracious but firm leadership keeps everyone at their best. Until on one mission, where the crew tears through space. Just a little bit. |
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Someone Else’s Horror Story by Rebecca Crunden Jace Venable lives a quiet life in the house his father left him. He dreams of fixing up the barn out back so that he doesn’t have to return to the city he’s only too happy to leave behind. He likes to be left alone, thank you very much. And then, one night, he finds a runaway in his barn. A boy with a horrifying story that’s about to upend Jace’s quiet life permanently. |
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Deny Me, The Nightshade Boy by Z.M. Celestaire A cozy queer romance against the backdrop of wild and dangerous Fae magic. For fans of A Marvellous Light, Holly Black, and TJ Klune. Andrew has been haunted by the Folk ever since his mother's addiction to Fae-spelled foods. It was never his intention to fall for Micah, whose mysterious nature suggests more than just human lineage, but Micah has a certain... charm to him that Andrew finds irresistible. While their ensuing romance seems to be going well, the Folk from Micah's past demand his attention, and demand that Micah stop denying his Fae nature to harness the power in his blood. |
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(Not) In This Lifetime by Rebecca Ouellette Time Travel! 1980s! Rock 'n' Roll! Charlie North doesn't want to be a rock star, that was his overbearing father's dream. It is only out of a sense of parental loyalty that Charlie drags himself into seedy clubs and dive bars night after night, when he would rather be anywhere else. For years, he does this without hesitation, until a devastating nightclub fire forces him to question everything he thought he knew about his father, and himself. In the days following the fire, Charlie begins to dream about another band, long ago, and the tragic death of a beautiful girl he’s never met. Soon, they are all he can think about. He struggles to grasp onto any kind of logical explanation as he spirals out of control, consumed by feelings and memories not his own. It isn’t until he awakens one morning, in another time, 21 years in the past, that everything finally makes sense. |
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Iago’s Penumbra: A Metaphysical Novel by Rose Guildenstern Everybody loves a good ghost story, yet poor dead Vee feels anything but “good” being stuck upstage in the heavens of her own afterlife. She can peek in on Val, who’s “downstage” with the living but haunted by ghosts. Then there’s Julie, stubbornly stage left but longing to be downstage with Val. And finally, poor Peter remains solitary in his stage-rightness with the sneaking suspicion he might be dead wrong. Trapped at center stage lurks the demon Iago, willing to bridge heaven and hell to exit this cursed performance once and for all. Just as Good Omens revamped the book of Revelation and His Dark Materials reimagined Milton’s Paradise Lost, Iago’s Penumbra is a modern love story about the darkness that redeems us, rooted in the works of William Shakespeare—with a little philosophy, physics, and cosmic horror thrown in, just for fun. |
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Sigils of Spring (Inheritance, 7) by AK Faulkner We all fall down. When Quentin is accosted by YouTube ghost-hunters with a crackpot theory about his mother, he writes it off as nonsense — until they kidnap him right off the street in broad daylight. Not even his psychokinesis can save him, but Laurence will. He must. Except Laurence can't find Quentin. His powers have never failed him like this before. There's only one hope left: a stranger called Angela is willing to teach him more magic than he currently knows. Normally he'd write her off as bad news, but Quentin is running out of time, and Laurence is all out of options. He has less than 48 hours to save Quentin's life, and no price is too high. The clock is ticking. |
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Legacy of the Brightwash by Krystle Matar SPFBO7 Indie Recs Indie SPFBO Finalist Follow the law and you’ll stay safe. But what if the law is wrong? Tashué’s faith in the law is beginning to crack. Three years ago, he stood by when the Authority condemned Jason to the brutality of the Rift for non-compliance. When Tashué’s son refused to register as tainted, the laws had to be upheld. He’d never doubted his job as a Regulation Officer before, but three years of watching your son wither away can break down even the strongest convictions. Then a dead girl washed up on the bank of the Brightwash, tattooed and mutilated. Where had she come from? Who would tattoo a child? Was it the same person who killed her? Why was he the only one who cared? Will Tashué be able to stand against everything he thought he believed in to get the answers he’s looking for? |
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Obsidian: Awakening by Sienna Frost An epic tale of humanity that survives its ugliest and most admirable moments, one that will change your perception on love, life, and what it means to be human forever. When Hasheem, a legendary male-escort-turned-assassin finally escapes the city that enslaved him as a child, he finds himself trapped in the centuries-long war between his nomadic race of desert warriors and an empire that seeks to rule them. There, a new set of shackles awaits him in the form of a fifteen-year-old girl and her oracle brother whose agenda plunges him into the blood sport of power and politics. As warfare exacts its price and the line between good and evil gets put to the test, the men and women from both sides are forced to fight a common enemy that remains the greatest threat to mankind: humanity and all its flaws. |
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Wings of the Storm (The Dunes of Aelaron: Book One) by Aaron Bunce, Christopher Guhl My name is Vayo, and I am a slave. My people lived in Argia, the City of Light, before Nabonidus the Defiler swept across the land. He conquered, murdering and enslaving the other tribes. I was born after the fall, in a crumbling pit of despair and sadness. Nabonidus crowned himself ruler of the land, building his new kingdom from the rubble of our fallen world. I live and serve them now, my head bowed, and my eyes down. That is, until a master servant chose me. My new duty? Attending the King himself, serving the man that ruined my people. Desperate for blessings, I placed an offering to the Mother Goddess on my roof. Afterwards, I fell into a strange dream. One where I soared over the dunes on wings of radiant feathers. Shouts and screams startled me awake, and I watched as the King’s men carried my friend away. I followed, deep into dark tunnels beneath my fallen city. Fleeing the horrors I witnessed below, I hid in the one place they would not think to look. Inside that forbidden temple and buried beneath the rubble of our broken past I stumbled upon a peculiar sight. A beautiful warrior, with her arms wrapped around a shimmering, blue egg. Life as I know it will never be the same. |
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The Hunt of the Pumpkin King by Rowena Andrews Legend speaks of the Pumpkin King, a tale steeped in superstition and fear. But all legends carry a grain of truth, and autumn is coming. CW: Mild body horror, decapitation. |