The Bookwyrm's List of Must Read Under-The-Radar Urban Fantasy
The debut book of the hot new military science fiction series, Joint Task Force 13.
There is a thin wall between our world and that of the Fae, and, during times of war, it is easily stepped through. The passions and emotions stirred by violence and combat bleed over, and the supernatural often awake from long slumber to meddle in mortal affairs. Then also, there are the humans who purposely force that wall down seeking glory and power.
Either way, there have always been those among us who have been willing to meet the supernatural threat with cold steel, burning hearts and grim determination. In modern America, they are the men and women of Joint Task Force 13, those who have proven they have the metal to confront soul blasting otherness on the battlefield. This unit, this organization, though, has been intertwined with our country since its birth. The name changes, but they are always there, ready to answer the call. Unknown, seeking no glory, asking no reward. They hold the line....
BETWEEN HEAVEN AND HELL
Marines, soldiers, sailors, and airmen take on the forces of the Supernatural, defending America's military from the things that come from a deeper darkness than the night. Six tales from the past and present as they meet the supernatural with hot lead and cold steel, in the debut of the new series, Joint Task Force 13.
“Devils and Dust” by two time Dragon finalist J.F. Holmes takes place in the Syrian Civil War, 2018. A JTF squad sent to take out a terrorist dabbling in the supernatural finds that they're up against an ancient god determined to walk the earth again.
“Redeye” by Dan Humphreys follows a pair of military contractors as they fly home from a job in the Middle East. Unknown to the two ex-Rangers, onboard is necromancer intent on getting a foothold in the United States.
“Revolution” by Lucas Marcum. Outside Valley Forge in the brutal winter of 1777, American Marines and British Redcoats team up to defeat an Old World threat that has been leaving soldiers of both sides drained of blood and lifeless in the snow.
“Run through the Jungle” by Lloyd Behm II. A French plantation owner turns to the supernatural to punish all sides in the Vietnam War, dragging the men of Task Force 13 into a vicious battle with the undead.
“Spy vs. Spy” by Michael Morton. In the opening moves of the Pacific War, an American detachment takes on a Japanese intelligence officer in the Philippines who using supernatural powers to run a spy network.
“Devil Dogs” by Chris Bast. A young Marine in the mountains of Afghanistan beholds the horrors of hell as his platoon is overrun by demons, and his desire for revenge drives him to accompany a JTF 13 squad as they hunt the demons’ master.
“Troll” by J.F. Holmes. A squad from the 82nd Airborne is wiped out trying to destroy a bridge behind enemy lines on June 6, 1944, and the Task Force is called in to deal with the ancient enemy hiding beneath it.
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Scattered, Smothered, & Chunked collects ten hilarious short stories and one origin novella about Robert “Bubba” Brabham, ex-Georgia Bulldogs football player and now the official Southeastern Regional Monster Hunter for the Holy Roman Catholic Church. Along with his best friend and tech guru Skeeter, Bubba hunts down zombies, werewolves, vampires, two-for-one lap dances, and beer specials all over the back roads and byways of the South.
Join Bubba, Skeeter, Uncle Father Joe, and Agent Amy Hall of the super-secret government agency DEMON as they rid the world of monsters and make the South a safer place for hard-drinking rock n’ roll loving rednecks everywhere!
Eddie Lancaster can provide any magical service for a price. This time the price is his best friend's life....
Eddie is a warlock, but not your typical warlock. He can siphon magic out of anyone and anything. When Ashley Sheridan asks him to remove her magic he does so, unknowingly getting wrapped up in a situation better left alone.
By helping Ashley, Eddie has put himself in the sights of the malevolent seer, Killian Myers. The choice is simple - perform a ritual that will make Killian invincible or watch his best friend die.
Eddie needs to put Killian down before it's too late. But how do you stop a man who sees your every move before you've even decided to make it?
The Wizard of 4th Street by Simon Hawke
Now, hunted by the authorities, by thugs employed by dealers in stolen goods who think the pair have cheated them, and by a mysterious international hitman known only by the name of Morpheus, the thieves have only one place left to run -- the home of Wyrdrune’s old professor, Merlin, who is the first to realize that the runestones are a key to an immensely powerful and dangerous spell dating back before the dawn of human civilization. And as if that were not frightening enough, the runestones are alive....
In the same style of humor as Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett, you'll find the Norse gods and characters hilarious. If you are looking for a humorous adult version of the Magnus Chase series, you'll be laughing at how Esmy and Jake deal with Loki.
Esmy is frustrated by a lack of pockets on women's pants. Living with her librarian brother Jake in a small Indiana town and working at a private college, Esmy feels like she is is stuck in a rut.
Meeting Loki ignites their lives like a powder-keg. This simple, seemingly innocuous encounter leads Esmy and Jake to discover the campus's mysterious depths, involving sasquatches, vampires, and much more with the supernatural, magical and paranormal.
In a crudely comedic high-stakes game of maneuvering, Loki's freedom and Esmy's survival come down to a fight over a God's dead body.
If you like insane action, hilarious dialogue, and gods behaving badly, then you'll love the first installment in Joel Spriggs's series of magical realism and whimsical mythology.
Tallow Jones, Wizard Detective by Trevor Cooley
Dwarven kidnappers and evil wizards have invaded our world and they've brought monsters with them. Only Tallow Jones stands in their way.
Magic doesn't belong in Atlanta, Georgia. Yet it's creeping in.
When Detective Douglas Jones' son goes missing under strange circumstances everyone assumes he ran away. The first break in the case comes when a long-lost relative shows up with a new name and a strange tattoo on the palm of his left hand. His name is Tallow Jones. He is a private detective . . . and Earth’s only native wizard. A wizard is needed too because, in Atlanta, strange abductions are just the beginning.
Derek Hawthorne was born to be an agent of the Red Room. Literally. Raised in a conspiracy which has protected the world from the supernatural for centuries, he's never been anything other than a servant of their agenda. Times are changing, though, and it may not be long before their existence is exposed.
When a routine mission uncovers the latest plan of the magical terrorist, the Wazir, Derek finds himself saddled with a new partner. Who is the mysterious but deadly Shannon O'Reilly? What is her agenda? Couple this with the discovery the Red Room has a mole seeking to frame Derek for treason and you have a plot which might bring down a millennium-old organization. Can he stop the Wazir's mission to expose the supernatural? And should he?
A crashed wedding. A scorned vampire. A necromancer's fury...
Oberon's used to solving supernatural crimes, but the latest one's extra weird. A mobster's daughter was kidnapped sixteen years ago, replaced with a changeling, and Mick's been hired to find the real child. The trail's gone cold, but what there is leads Sideways, to the world of the Fae, where the Seelie Court rules. And Mick's not really welcome in the Seelie Court any more. He'll have to wade through Fae politics and mob power struggles to find the kidnapper – and of course it's the last person he expected.
My name is Cisco Suarez, but I've been called a lot of things. Wizard, hit man, black magic outlaw. I guess one day I finally went too far because someone left me for dead in a dumpster.
That should've been it for me. End of story. But I'm not like most people. Compelled by equal doses of voodoo and sheer grit, I came back... and I want answers.
Which might explain the zombie pit bull sniffing after me. And the automatic weapons. But I'm too stubborn to back down. I'll go through a voodoo gang, a shape-shifting trickster, and a bloodthirsty vampire if it gets me out of this.
And maybe I'll get a little more than that too. My old life back. A cleared name. A city to protect from the kinds of monsters who did this to me.
Not too shabby for a dead man.
The Ravenmaster's Revenge by Jacob Sannox
King Arthur is back, but can he stop the Ravenmaster?
It is the autumn of 2019. Merlin’s wayward apprentice has escaped from the Tower of London with his raven familiars. Legend foretells that the White Tower, then England, will fall.
Can King Arthur, a weary veteran of the English Civil War, Waterloo and the Somme, prevent the Ravenmaster from exacting his revenge?
Dead Eye: Pennies for the Ferryman by Jim Bernheimer
It's a Bad, Bad, Bad, Bad World by Curtis M. Lawson
When the Vatican’s top assassin, a Rhodesian merc, a pair of serial killer lovers, a dirty cop, and a professional sadist compete in a mad race for a pair of priceless magical artifacts, betrayal, theft, and murder are just the opening moves in a game of death.
The Statement of Andrew Doran by Matthew Davenport
Dr. Andrew Doran has been out of touch with the major civilizations for quite a while. When an emissary from his Alma Mater demands his assistance, Andrew is in such a state that he has no choice but to help. The Nazis have taken the Necronomicon from Miskatonic University's library. With it they could call upon every form of darkness and use the powers of the void to destroy all who stand in their way of unlimited power.
For years Doran has been at odds with Miskatonic University.
Putting his negative feelings aside, Andrew takes charge and heads straight into the Nazi-controlled territories of Europe. Along his journey from America and into the heart of Berlin, the dark Traum Kult, or Dream Cult, has sent beasts from the void between worlds to slow his progress.
This is adventure and monsters unlike anything the anthropologist has ever experienced, and only with the assistance of the trigger-happy Leo and the beautiful Olivia, both members of the French Resistance, does Dr. Doran have any chance of success.
A sane man would flinch.
Dr. Andrew Doran charges in.
Deicide by M.K. Gibson
What happens when all the myths, legends, and things that go bump in the night come out to the world as real? Well, the world does as it always does: it rejected them.
Welcome to Avalantis, Alaska, the world’s first supercity with over 50 million myth and mundane citizens and home of those rejected by society. Although due to pesky things like murder end explosions, there are a few fewer citizens. When the former Greek god Hermes dies, three unusual cops from the Avalantis PD are recruited into a secret organization known as MORTAL, who has apparently been watching the Myths for longer than mankind realizes.
Their mission is to find and apprehend the mysterious figure known as “The Laughing Man,” the one responsible for a recent string of deaths. These three new recruits will have to use all their skill, strength, and wits to find and defeat the “The Laughing Man.” That is, if they don’t kill each other first.
Agents of MORTAL: Deicide is an action-comedy that is packed with excitement, laughs, and more than a few touching moments.
The Shadow Revolution by Clay & Susan Griffith
A thrilling new Victorian-era urban fantasy for fans of Kevin Hearne’s Iron Druid Chronicles, the Showtime series Penny Dreadful, and the Sherlock Holmes movies featuring Robert Downey, Jr.
They are the realm’s last, best defense against supernatural evil. But they’re going to need a lot more silver.
As fog descends, obscuring the gas lamps of Victorian London, werewolves prowl the shadows of back alleys. But they have infiltrated the inner circles of upper-crust society as well. Only a handful of specially gifted practitioners are equipped to battle the beasts. Among them are the roguish Simon Archer, who conceals his powers as a spell-casting scribe behind the smooth veneer of a dashing playboy; his layabout mentor, Nick Barker, who prefers a good pub to thrilling heroics; and the self-possessed alchemist Kate Anstruther, who is equally at home in a ballroom as she is on a battlefield.
After a lycanthrope targets Kate’s vulnerable younger sister, the three join forces with fierce Scottish monster-hunter Malcolm MacFarlane—but quickly discover they’re dealing with a threat far greater than anything they ever imagined.
Straight Outta Fangton by C.T. Phipps
Peter Stone is a poor black vampire who is wondering where his nightclub, mansion, and sports car are. Instead, he is working a minimum wage job during the night shift as being a vampire isn’t all that impressive in a world where they’ve come out to mortals. Exiled from the rich and powerful undead in New Detroit, he is forced to go back when someone dumps a newly-transformed vampire in the bathroom of his gas station’s store. This gets him fangs-deep in a plot of vampire hunters, supernatural revolutionaries, and a millennium-old French knight determined to wipe out the supernatural.
Sometimes, it just doesn’t pay to get out of the coffin.
Set in the same world as The Bright Falls Mysteries.
Drake by Peter McLean
Meet Don Drake: a profane, alcoholic hitman . . . and summoner of demons. Drake owes a gambling debt to one such demon. Forced to carry out one more assassination to clear his debt, Don unwittingly kills an innocent child and brings the Furies of Greek myth down upon himself.
Rescued by an almost-fallen angel called Trixie, Don and his magical accomplice, The Burned Man—an imprisoned archdemon—are forced to deal with Lucifer himself whilst battling a powerful evil magician.
Now Don must foil Lucifer’s plan to complete Trixie’s fall and save her soul whilst preventing the Burned Man from escaping and wreaking havoc on the entire world.
When creatures of the night proved to be real, the best of America’s military came together to form an elite band of rapid response teams. Their mission: to keep the civilian populace safe from the creatures that go bump in the night and hide all evidence of their existence.
During a routine mission things go horribly wrong and the Monster Squad finds themselves having to rebuild from the ashes of what they once were. This time they face not only the monsters, but their own government as a dark storm brews on the horizon.
A storm that will threaten not just the squads and their existence, but the lives of every human on earth.
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