Similar stories:
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Truth and Other Lies by Lyra Wolf Nothing is trickier than the truth. All Loki the trickster god of Asgard wants is a quiet, peaceful life where he’s free to needle Balder, occasionally stir up the inter-realm porridge pot, and get Thor to dress in women’s garments (for all the best reasons). Getting beset by sudden, painful, and terribly inconvenient visions of blood, ash, and death are definitely not on his to-do list. But, because of some small, ridiculous remnant of caring that refuses to be extinguished, Loki feels he must save Asgard...and that means warning Odin, his least favorite god (next to Thor). But getting the gods to believe the boy who cried Fenrir is harder than it looks, and time is running out, not just for Asgard, but also for a mortal woman named Sigyn who may just hold the key to Loki’s future. Loki is about to find out the hard way that the only thing crueler than truth are the lies behind it all. "Truth and Other Lies" is the first book in a new series inspired by Norse mythology, and has snarky anti-heroes, lovers-to-enemies, and strong female characters. |
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Racing with the Serpent by A.R.K Horton You can't ignore destiny when it breaks down your barriers, even if that means defeating a god. Eya has found safety among friends, but she knows it's only temporary. The battle is far from over, and she has a duty to protect Telverin from the power-hungry. With true allies by her side and unique abilities, it's only a matter of time before she wins back her home and rescues the Goddess Winds. Yet, Eya's recklessness might mean her ruin. Can she learn to control her impulses, the way she's learning to control the elements? Racing With the Serpent is the third and last book of The Telverin Trilogy, a fantasy war story that takes place between several countries in the world of Telverin. |
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Palon, a Windward novella by S. Kaeth It’s not easy growing up part of a famous family. Twelve-year old Palon’s magic isn’t strong compared to the rest of her family’s, she has no special talents, and she’s constantly falling short of the mark. Desperate to stand out, she leaves home and bonds a dragon, Windward. But life among dragons and other dragonbonded is not easy. Palon’s refusal to admit to mistakes makes it hard for her to fit in. She’s so worried about proving herself, she pushes people away. When Palon sees an intruder in the nest, no one believes her. Despite her insistence, they explain away her concerns, and soon everyone’s too distracted with a spreading illness to listen. Frustrated, Palon defies her mentor’s instructions and convinces Windward to help her investigate. In order to heal the nest, Palon will have to trust that her newfound family will accept her despite her imperfections. And it begins with immersing herself in the wisdom of the dragon she bonded. |
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Jiao Tu’s Endeavour, Episode 1: The Kidnapped Mousling by Donald Jacob Uitvlugt On a multigenerational colony ship five hundred years off course, a lagomorph warrior must survive using only his wits and his sword. Jiao Tu has been hired to rescue a young kidnapped mousling. A tip leads him to the Below, home to the engines that keep the world in motion. His mission has hardly begun when an encounter with a monstrous being plunges him into the midst of a struggle not only for control of the Below but for the world itself. Teamed with an untested ratling warrior and the ratling leader of a gang of thugs, Jiao Tu must stop the monster and save the mousling—and the world—before it is too late. Drawing inspiration from sources as diverse as Leigh Brackett’s planetary romances, Gene Wolfe’s Book of the Long Sun, Robert E. Howard’s Solomon Kane stories, Hideyuki Kikuchi’s Vampire Hunter D, Stan Sakai’s Usagi Yojimbo, and the wuxia tradition starting with Water Margins and Journey to the West, Uitvlugt has created a world all his own that promises a far-future adventure unlike any other. |
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Fogbound: Empire in Flames by Gareth Clegg London 1899, a ruined city under martial law. It was just another bounty job for Simmons - recover a killer escaping beyond the massive walled city, while avoiding the toxic red fog and the tainted creatures who make their home Fogside since the failed Martian Invasion of '94. When he stumbles across a dastardly plot to overthrow Empress Victoria, the hunter becomes the hunted. With the brutal military police on his trail, he needs to gather others to his cause, learn who is responsible for this treason and keep the Empire he loves from plunging into eternal darkness. But in the darkest and most fogbound areas of the flooded London streets, a sinister intelligence watches, biding its time until the hour of reckoning is at hand… |
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A Touch of Death by Rebecca Crunden A thousand years in the future, the last of humanity live inside the walls of the totalitarian Kingdom of Cutta. The rich live in Anais, the capital city of Cutta, sheltered from the famine and disease which ravage the rest of the Kingdom. Yet riches and power only go so far, and even Anaitians can be executed. It is only by the will of the King that Nate Anteros, son of the King’s favourite, is spared from the gallows after openly dissenting. But when he’s released from prison, Nate disappears. A stark contrast, Catherine Taenia has spent her entire life comfortable and content. The daughter of the King’s Hangman and in love with Thom, Nate’s younger brother, her life has always been easy, ordered and comfortable. That is, where it doesn’t concern Nate. His actions sullied not only his future, but theirs. And unlike Thom, Catherine has never forgiven him. Two years pass without a word, and then one night Nate returns. But things with Nate are never simple, and when one wrong move turns their lives upside down, the only thing left to do is run where the King’s guards cannot find them – the Outlands. Those wild, untamed lands which stretch around the great walls of the Kingdom, filled with mutants and rabids. |
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The Hanged Man by K.D. Edwards Book 2 in The Tarot Sequence. Rune Saint John, heir to the fallen Sun Court, finds clues to his Companion Brand’s past on a mission into the ruins of his family estate. But while he’s still agonizing over whether to tell Brand, a more pressing matter arises. Rune’s ward, Max, is nearly kidnapped by the Hanged Man, who has asserted a marriage claim on the young man. Rune isn’t about to lose Max to the Hanged Man and his court, the Gallows, which is known to have unhealthy interests in necromancy and mutilation magics. Urgency will lead Rune and Brand to the family of an old servant, whose own son has fallen into the Hanged Man’s orbit. In going to her aid, Rune may find a way to free both young men, but only if he’s willing to gamble everything on a decision that will change his life forever. |
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Jack of Thorns (Inheritance, 1) by AK Faulkner You’d think seeing the future would make life easy, but Laurence Riley knows better. No matter how hard he tries to master the chaos, everything slips out of control. His violent ex-boyfriend, his supernatural talents, his drug addiction—seeing what’s coming doesn’t help with any of them. He needs help and he knows it. Help that only a god can provide. The answer to his prayers is Jack, who offers aid with reining in his powers and mastering his life. In exchange, all Jack asks is regular offerings of sexual energy from Laurence's conquests. A month ago, that would have been just fine with Laurence. If not for Quentin, it still would be. Devastatingly handsome, incredibly desirable, and so far out of Laurence’s league it’s not even funny, Quentin is the flame to Laurence’s moth. Laurence doesn’t want anyone else, he can’t think of anyone else, and neither Quentin’s frustratingly chaste behavior nor his uncontrollable telekinesis are enough to put him off. Not even if his focus on Quentin means breaking his bargain with Jack and facing the consequences of disappointing a god. Laurence doesn’t need to see the future to know that’s a bad idea, but he has no clue how dangerous Jack really is… |
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Mistletoe & Mishigas by M.A. Wardell Beauty and the Bear: Can these opposites fake their way into something real? Sheldon Soleskin should be having a horrible day. Even though he’s been unexpectedly transferred to a new school right before the holidays, has only one day to set up his new classroom, and just discovered his twin sister's been hiding an invitation to his ex-boyfriend’s Christmas Eve wedding, he’s still ready to take on the world with a smile on his face and a skip in his step. Theo Berenson just wants to be left alone to his custodial duties. But when the chipper new first-grade teacher needs help moving furniture the Sunday after Thanksgiving, he's forced to do something he detests. Help. To make matters worse, Theo's overbearing parents are coming for Hanukah in a few weeks, and he's told them he has a boyfriend. Except he doesn't. Because who would want to date an oaf like Theo? Working together, these opposites discover they might be able to help each other out. Agreeing to be each other’s dates, they become friends as they practice for their upcoming events. But when all the rehearsing starts feeling a little too real, and both men's pasts come roaring back to haunt them, will they be able to pull off the ultimate holiday masquerade? |
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Perception Check by Astrid Knight Her favorite tabletop roleplaying game is real, and her kidnapped childhood best friend is trapped in a far off land. Will she be able to save her? Let's roll initiative! Violet Spence wants nothing more than to have a normal life. After witnessing her childhood best friend get abducted by monsters, that’s easier said than done. At twenty-three years old, Violet cannot seem to move past that fateful night ten years ago. Her only solace is Mages of Velmyra, a tabletop roleplaying game filled with goblins, fairies, and all-powerful magicians. But of course, that’s all fantasy. Or, so she thought. As it turns out, the land of Velmyra is very real and the home of the monsters that took her best friend. With the help of her friends (and the creator of the game itself), Violet must navigate the once-fictional creatures and powerful mages of Velmyra to retrieve a set of ancient relics—all in the hopes that the journey will lead her back to her friend. But for Violet, fighting monsters and magic workers doesn’t seem nearly as terrifying as confronting her own demons. And she’ll soon realize fighting the battle within herself can be just as tough as those fought against demigods. Perception Check is the magical first installment of the Mages of Velmyra Saga, great for fans of Dungeons and Dragons, Critical Role, and The Magicians. With endearing and hilarious characters, an exploration of mental health and trauma, LGBTQ+ representation, gut-wrenching twists, and a whirlwind of an ending, you will never want to leave the world of Velmyra. |
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The Orc's Captive Bride (The Five Kingdoms #5) by Honey Phillips The Five Kingdoms are poised to fall into eternal darkness. All hope lies in a forgotten prophecy—and a woman from another world. Dr. Thea Monroe knows nothing of prophecies. She only knows she's been transported to a strange new world, kidnapped by a terrifying orc warrior, and is being dragged toward the heart of an enemy's empire. Her only chance at survival is to outwit her captor, a male taught to be a monster. But his reluctant care and fierce protection tempt her to believe he could be so much more. Khorrek was bred for one to obey. But his beautiful new captive, a brilliant woman with fire in her eyes, challenges his every command and sees through the lies that have defined his existence. He was sent to deliver the final piece of his master's puzzle, but Thea may be the one person who can help him destroy it. In the final battle for the future of the Five Kingdoms, a monster must become a hero, a captive must become a queen, and two souls from different worlds will have to risk everything for a love that could save them all… Although each book in the Five Kingdoms series can be read as a standalone romance, there is an overall series arc which concludes in this book. This sweet and steamy romance is intended for mature readers. |
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To Haunt and To Hold by Taliesin Neith When they first got together, Sam had resolved to never tell him. He was so afraid of loss, and so drawn to the bright, aching thing in Malcolm that called to him. He had reasoned that he never would need to tell Malcolm. In the end, casual practicality had become something stranger. Sam’s secret held Malcolm’s secret, like a crocodile holding its young in her mouth, so gently in spite of all the teeth. Malcolm and Sam have been together for a long time. Sam knows what Malcolm does when he leaves their shared flat, late at night, returning alone and washing his clothes immediately. It's something worse than an affair. To Haunt and To Hold is a 5,400 word short story about a trans man who can see ghosts and his lover of three decades: a serial killer who is reaching the limits of what he can get away with. If you like your horny stories to be creepy and splattered with gore, if you like your horny stories to feature older men and/or trans and queer characters, you will enjoy this. |
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The Century Blade by Rob J. Hayes Orochi, the king of the dragons, has ordered his brothers and sisters to destroy humanity. It falls to a young hero to assemble a team and stop the dragons' rampage. It falls to the Century Blade. This is a short story set in the world of the award-winning Mortal Techniques. It is designed to be read as a standalone story, completely independent from the full length novels set in the same world. |
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The Haunting of Sheila Lee by Uilleam Whitedale Sometimes the human psyche seeks to protect itself in ways that shield one from trauma in the short term through denial, sublimation, projection. Regardless, the emotions shunned must be addressed in due time in some manner. Yet, once in an age, trauma is so severe and the bearer so unwilling to face it that it is wholly displaced, made homeless, and, epitomizing pain in excess, intends to punish its source. Sheila Ann Lee, a narcissistic and neurotic seeker of affluence, creates her own manifestation of trauma and leaves it forlorn. As it tortures her mind, and, eventually, interferes with the true love she finds, it remains unclear to her and all those seeking to protect her whether she is being haunted or she is the source of her own misery, and theirs. |
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Not The Fighting Kind by Will Soulsby-McCreath Nat should be doing what dandies do creating fashion, trading information, working on the edges of high society to further their own aims, and flirting with scandal. Instead, they're in the bowels of a ship, captured by pirates intent on ransoming them back to their family as soon as they find out to which family they should send the letter. Unfortunately for all involved, Nat knows one thing the pirates can never be allowed to find They are unransomable. Their family has plenty enough money to pay any ransom, but Nat's father sent them to sea in the first place, put them in the path of these pirates, because he wanted Nat out of the way. Ransoms create scandal. Nat can't afford another. |
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A Bone in His Teeth by Kellen Graves When a fall from the mast leaves Alba Marsh unable to sail, he finally has the chance to run away from his family debts in search of a better life. He hopes to reunite with his mother, Edythe, where they always promised to meet if things went awry, but finding the small, secluded, secretive town of Moon Harbor proves a greater challenge than Alba ever expected. Worse, upon arriving, no one seems to know anyone by the name Edythe Marsh at all. Taking a job as the local lighthouse keeper while waiting for her to come, Alba attempts to find peace in his stolen freedom--but the sea has other plans. First come the shadows, then the voices, then watery trails left on the floor while he sleeps. He's inundated with erotic dreams of sirens calling out to him, and distant singing haunts his waking hours, all while the townspeople claim to hear nothing. After a debtor catches up with him and he's forced to dispose of their body in the harbor, Alba is interrupted by Eridanys, the last merrow of Moon Harbor, who curses him from leaving until he can find out what happened to the other merrow that once filled those waters. Eridanys' demands, both mental and physical, are exhausting and endless--but as their relationship deepens, and Moon Harbor’s long-kept secrets are butterflied open to see, it becomes clear they may both be prey to the town in ways neither of them ever anticipated |
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Family Binds (The Journey Missions Book 2) by Holly Ash It should have been a routine rescue mission Lieutenant Commander Crystal Wolf could lead in her sleep: go in, restore life support, and evacuate the colonists of Stapleton Farms if things went south. But when the true identity of Stapleton Farms’ leader is revealed, it changes everything. And for the first time in her career, Crystal is emotionally compromised. With the Commander gone, Lieutenant Desiree Flint must put her own prejudices aside and lead an investigation into the sabotage against Stapleton Farms’ computers; but she soon realizes there’s more at stake here than one colony or Neophia's food supply. War is in the air, even if no one else can see it yet. And Desi can’t stop it on her own. In over her head, Desi only has one person she can turn to for help. But can Crystal set aside the betrayal, pain, and chaos of a compromised past in time to stop Stapleton Farms from being destroyed – and prevent war? |
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It's Only A Little Death by Shane Blackheart Being dead never felt so good... Silver's memories are gone, but that's the way death usually goes. You wake up by the Styx, you realize you're dead, you pick a name, and you pay Charon for a ride across the river. If you have nothing of value to give, Charon deals in other currencies too — including ones of the flesh. Silver soon finds themself sitting on a bed in a strange room. They're given a diary, which is the most important thing they now own, and a peer support worker, Ifris, who's less than stellar about the job. Silver isn't prepared to go through the stages of grief for their own death, but they're even less ready for the deal they made with Charon: Recover their memories and the reason they died in record time, and they get to avenge their murder. There's one problem; the only way to trigger memories is to create a shock to the system, which is easily attained by having an explosive climax at the hands of the beasts that hold Silver's life story. |
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Silence is Silver by Andrew Watson The Urdahl believe pain is inevitable. But if one can lean into that suffering they can achieve anything. Beneath the desert sands, Bas has spent his entire life training to become a fully-fledged Urdahl. And now his time has come to prove his worth. First, he must drink from the Seeing Bowl to clear his clouded mind and witness visions bestowed to him by ancient deities. Next, he must prove strength of body with the Passage of the High Pass. But destiny is shrouded in red and strength of arm will not be enough to survive its true tests. Will he ascend to a full Urdahl or will his visions of blood come to pass? The turning season has begun. Taking place before the events of the Shadowbinders trilogy, “Silence is Silver” is a novella for both old and new readers. |
