The Man of Bronze, the Wisewolf’s daughter, a Wild West King Arthur, and the Ark of the Covenant feature in this week’s roundup of the newest releases in fantasy and adventure.
Closure (Javin Pierce #3) – Ethan Jones
Covert operative Javin Pierce will avenge his betrayal or die trying . . .
Off the grid, Javin Pierce is struggling to heal from his wounds. Immediately he’s forced into a shaky deal with former enemies not only to secure his partner’s release from a Saudi jail, but also to settle the score with the traitor who double-crossed them.
While his new rogue team crosses Iraq’s treacherous lands, he can barely stay ahead of the deadly threats coming from all sides. As Javin sets his sights, alliances around him crumble. So with no one left to trust, in an ever-changing maze, how will Javin survive the deadliest mission of his life?
Destruction’s Ascent (Dragon Ridden Chronicles #3) – T. A. White
When the past rises, the world burns.
Newly conscripted into the Emperor’s dragon corps, Tate Fisher is still trying to figure out all that her new position entails. Along with an elevation in status comes dangerous enemies. Enemies who would rather see the dragons fall into ruin than remain in their current place of power.
When a dragon goes missing, followed by a child close to her, Tate is forced to confront the hidden agendas of those in the highest seats of authority. Her search for the truth takes her deeper into the maze of tunnels that lie beneath the city. It’s a place where secrets lurk and dangers abound.
There, she’ll uncover a plot whose origins stretch all the way back to the beginning of this world—one that can only end in the destruction of everything she knows and loves. The key to saving her city lies in her uncertain past. If only she could remember what that was.
The Disclosure Protocol (Warner & Lopex #8) – Dean Crawford
In the United States, the CIA is being held to ransom. Perfectly focused images of Unidentified Flying Objects are being sent to Langley with a demand: provide full disclosure of what the government knows about UFOs or these images will go public.
Struggling with the task of identifying the perpetrators of the images, and aware that they must somehow know when and where UFOs will appear, the CIA sends General Scott Mackenzie in search of Ethan Warner and Nicola Lopez, the only known former US agents with the skills to track down the perpetrator. His mission; obtain the technology that is allowing someone to predict when and where UFOs will appear and ensure that nobody else can access it.
But as the investigation unfolds, so Ethan and Nicola learn that the Russians are also seeking the same technology. As a race against time develops to get the upper hand, victims of strange abduction events implore the government for help, including the parents of a seven-year-old girl who is suffering seizures and post-traumatic stress from her experiences.
From the Indian Ocean to the lonely deserts of Utah, Scotland to Nevada, Ethan and Nicola discover the startling truth about alien abductions and UFO sightings, and realise that full disclosure isn’t about UFOs at all: the knowledge the CIA possesses will change the course of human history…
Dispersal (Guns of the Waste Land #3) – Leverett Butts
Guns of the Waste Land recasts the legends of King Arthur as an American Western.
Set in the late 19th century outside the West Texas town of Bretton, this third volume continues the stories of the men and women devoted in their own ways to Sheriff Ardiss Drake: Percy Murratt, still living with Ardiss, is in love. Unfortunately, so is Ardiss’ foster brother, Caleb and with the same woman. Gary Wayne Orkney has recovered as much as possible from the beating he received from Lancaster O’Loch and desperately wants to ride a horse again and continue is service as a deputy. Reverend Merrle Tallison is considering leaving Bretton and finding a life for himself. Finally, Ardiss’ estranged wife, Guernica, continues to seek closure for the events that brought her to the wilds of the Waste Land.
Haunted Ocean (Doc Savage #4) – Laurence Donovan as “Kenneth Robeson”
“Let me strive every moment of my life to make myself better and better, to the best of my ability, that all may profit by it. Let me think of the right and lend all my assistance to those who need it, with no regard for anything but justice. Let me take what comes with a smile, without loss of courage. Let me be considerate of my country, of my fellow citizens and my associates in everything I say and do. Let me do right to all, and wrong no man.”–The Oath of Clark “Doc” Savage, Jr.
An awesome power haunts the sea, paralyzes New York City and brings the most powerful nations of the world to their knees. Deep in the frozen Arctic an astonishing army of naked men and the forces of international greed challenge the invincible Man of Bronze for the strange secret of the so-called Man of Peace!
Honor at Stake (Love at First Bite #1) – Declan Finn
One is a heartless, bloodthirsty killer. The other is a vampire.
College freshman, Amanda Colt knows few people and wants to know fewer still. She enjoys fencing and prefers facing a challenge every once in a while. She is beautiful, smart, and possibly the most interesting person on campus.
Then she finds tall, intense Marco Catalano in her fencing class. With a mind like a computer and manners of a medieval knight, he scares most people – but not Amanda.They both have secrets, for they are both monsters.
As they draw closer, they must find the line between how much they can trust each other, and how much they can care for each other. Each carries a secret that can destroy the other. But they must come to grips with their personal drama soon, because a darkness rises around them. Bodies keep turning up all over New York, and an army of vampires closes in on all sides.
They have only one hope – each other.
On the Shoulders of Titans (Arcane Ascension #2) – Andrew Rowe
Corin Cadence finally has a firm reason to believe his brother, Tristan, is still alive. Unfortunately, finding more information isn’t going to be easy. Tristan appears to be entangled with a clandestine organization that calls themselves Whispers. And Corin’s last brush with the Whispers didn’t exactly end well.
As much as he wants to follow that lead, Corin has more pressing problems to deal with.
Sera is still suffering from a mysterious malady that has stolen her voice and her magic. Corin knows that a portion of that is his fault, and he’s determined to fix it.
Corin still hasn’t finished his first year at Lorian Heights. If he fails his final exams, he’ll be sent off to the military, and lose his chance to investigate his brother’s fate.
And finally, there’s the issue of enemies. He might have made a few of them.
The biggest problem?
He’s not sure if Jin, once one of his closest companions, is one of them.
The Princess in the Tower (Schooled in Magic #15) – Christopher G. Nuttall
Everyone knows that the Tower of Alexis is impregnable…
…But Emily intends to prove them wrong.
The Kingdom of Zangaria has finally started its descent into civil war. King Randor has declared martial law, imprisoned the pregnant Crown Princess Alassa in the Tower of Alexis and started preparations for a first strike against his enemies. The time has come for everyone to choose a side.
Emily has arrived in Alexis with the intention of freeing Alassa before her father can have her executed. But as Emily and her friends are drawn into a maelstrom of rebellious factions and crown loyalists, of commoners trying to escape the chaos and noblemen trying to make it worse, they find themselves faced with an insolvable problem.
If they manage to liberate Alassa – and put her on the throne – will there be anything left of Zangaria for her to rule?
Sacrifices (War Aeturnus #2) – Charles Dean
Desperate to save as many people as he can from a horrible fate in the cruel game of the gods, Lee and his small group of friends abandon the relative safety of Satterfield for the great city of Kirshtein. Tensions within the city have reached a breaking point after the arrival of an enemy Herald, and Lee is soon caught up in the struggle for power.
Captured, imprisoned, and forced to fight for his life on the blood-soaked sands of the Kirshtein arena, Lee has to figure out how to survive long enough to mend the rifts in the broken city before it falls apart completely. Armed with new skills, joined by new allies, and up against his most dangerous enemy yet, Lee’s bid for survival in the War of Eternity takes on even higher stakes as he learns the what true leadership requires. Now, with an ominous new threat looming in the distance and an army on the horizon, Lee has to answer one question: Can he pay the price of victory?
Son of a Liche (The Dark Profit Saga #2) – J. Zachary Pike
A doubly disgraced dwarven hero. A band of accident-prone adventurers. Giving redemption a second shot may have been a grave mistake…
Still bruised and heartbroken from their last calamitous quest, Gorm Ingerson and his band of washed-up heroes try to make amends for the Orcs they accidentally betrayed. But justice is put on hold when an old foe marches to the city gates. Gorm is horrified to discover a liche pitching the frightened city-dwellers on the merits of the undead lifestyle… at the head of a corpse army.
To save the city from high-pressure sales tactics and an inevitable siege, the Dwarf warrior and his misfit band hatch a harebrained scheme that lands them at the top of the king’s kill list. With death and dark magic on his heels, Gorm must craft his own pitch to round up the troops and put the undead snake-oil salesman and his army of pushers permanently out of business.
The Templar Curse (Sean Wyatt #15) – Ernest Dempsey
Throughout the course of human warfare, no weapon has been as feared, as deadly, as the Ark of the Covenant.
Legend claims that this mysterious, supernatural force, first carried into battle by the ancient Israelites, was so powerful that the Ark could lay waste to entire armies, entire cities in moments—thousands of years before the advent of nuclear bombs.
So, when an ancient order of killers reemerges from the shadows after centuries of hiding—convinced that other secret societies took the Ark from Jerusalem to hide it in early America—international treasure hunter Sean Wyatt knows exactly what they seek and why. And that realization terrifies him.
Together with his best friend and sidekick, Tommy Schultz, Sean must track down the Ark before the Order of the Assassin can. Before their order can pervert this heavenly power and wield it to enslave all of humanity.
Where the Cats Will Not Follow – Stephen Stromp
Ayden finds himself held captive by his former friend, Phillip. Phillip believes Ayden holds the key to finding Ginger, his missing girlfriend. This shocking claim forces Ayden to revisit the adolescent world he shared with his older brother, Everett. It is a world where truth is uncertain and dreams and imagination blur with reality. Everett insists Ayden possesses powers of clairvoyance and has the ability to conjure entities from his mind. As Everett pushes Ayden into increasingly darker territories, events turn deadly. Digging into this murky past, Ayden and Phillip awaken old demons they must face as they race to find Ginger.
Where the Cats Will Not Follow is a strange journey into the mind of a troubled young man who may be delusional–or may in fact possess the extraordinary abilities he was believed to once hold.
Wolf & Parchment, Volume #2 – Isuna Hasekura
The young man Col dreams of one day joining the holy clergy and departs on a journey from the bathhouse “The Spice and Wolf Inn,” owned by his savior, Lawrence. The Winfiel Kingdom’s prince has invited him to help correct the sins of the church. But as his travels begin, Col discovers in his luggage a young girl with a wolf’s ears and tail named Myuri who stowed away for the ride!
The young man Col and the daughter of the Wisewolf, Myuri, survived the scripture riots in the port town of Atiph. Col spends intense days being pined for after Myuri tells him about her love.
Meanwhile, Heir Hyland commissions them for another next job. In the coming war with the Church’s forces, control over the strait between the Kingdom of Winfiel and the mainland will play a crucial role. While Myuri is excited for a new adventure, Col cannot hide his unease after hearing about potential heresy among certain pirates for their faith in the “Black-Mother”!
Original Doc Savage pulp stories as inexpensive e-books? That seems like way too good of an idea to possibly be happening.