A peregrine sailor returns to his home port of Venice in search of a famed emerald.

On an Earth permanently hidden from ours by the sun, a young agent travels to the fabled city of Samaris in search for his missing colleagues.

A Swedish mercenary must smuggle a holy relic out of Constantinople before the Fourth Crusade sacks the heart of the Byzantine Empire.

In the heyday of pulp, a police officer dons the one-way glass globe and black cape of the Moon Man, stealing back fortunes taken by criminals beyond the reach of the law.

These adventures and more await in this month’s Fantasy and Adventure New Release Roundup.

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A Place Called Hope (Z-Day #2) – Daniel Humphreys

The survivors built a community and called it Hope. After eight years, they allowed themselves to think that the zombie scourge was ending; the hordes fading away in the face of time.

But the enemy they thought extinct was evolving – growing faster, stronger, and more cunning. The timely return of the much-depleted 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, US Marine Corps helped turn the tide of one battle. The prospect of renewed war against a different type of enemy will require sterner stuff and serious firepower.

Now, they must go far beyond the overgrown wastes they call the wild in a desperate attempt to recover vital military equipment that will determine whether the future of mankind is one for the living – or for the dead.

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Adventure Capital (Delvers LLC #3) – Blaise Corvin

By working together, Henry Sato and Jason Booth have managed to survive their unwanted trip to Ludus, an experiment planet. However, Delvers LLC has made some enemies…if monsters, bandits, mages, criminals, bounty hunters, and even dark cults can be called, “some enemies.”

After their latest battle, the two have been separated and must adapt or die. Henry in particular faces a trial by fire—perhaps literally—that may be impossible for him to overcome.

The two American men will face their greatest challenges yet while working as conscripted Berber Intelligence agents. But even while outnumbered, and most likely outgunned, the former veteran EMT and resilient IT programmer will be armed with modern Earth know-how.

Unknown horrors are descending on Ludus, but Delvers LLC won’t go down without a fight.

 

Blood Circus (Junkyard Druid Novellas #2) – M. D. Massey

Best-selling urban fantasy author M. D. Massey welcomes readers back to the world of the Junkyard Druid in a brand-new short story collection!  This 38,000 word volume features characters from the Colin McCool series, starring in three separate novelette-length stories:

Carnival of Blood: When Colin investigates the disappearance of a young teen at a carnival infested with creepy clowns, he discovers that not all clowns are friendly… and some can be downright deadly.

Serpent’s Daughter: As someone who hunts and kills paranormal creatures for a living, Belladonna Becerra isn’t easily intimidated. But when it comes to standing up to the ancient fae witch who rules her family with an iron fist, she has her reservations. Can Belladonna complete a task for the Anjana that will ensure her freedom… and her future with Colin?

The Vigil: Hemi always said his mother was a force of nature. As Colin discovers on meeting her, his best friend is a master of understatement. Now, the Maori warrior’s mother has assigned the druid a unique task… one that could cost him his life.

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Fable of Venice (Corto Maltese #6) – Hugo Pratt

In this affectionate tribute to his home town, Hugo Pratt offers a complex mystery thriller involving Freemasons, occultists, and esotericists set during the rise of Fascism in 1921. Corto Maltese’s return to Venice is ostensibly a search for an emerald known as the Clavicle of Solomon, but by the end he is left questioning whether the object of his quest will open the hidden doors of magic and unravel the nature of time and space in this city of secrets…or if it’s merely “the stuff that dreams are made of,” as was the black bird of Dashiell Hammett’s novel featuring another Maltese.

Series winner of the Harvey Award for Best American Edition of Foreign Material.

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Halls of Shadow (Kingdoms of Sand #5) – Daniel Arenson

The world reels from a shocking assassination. The Aelarian Empire is cracking. From the ashes of a burnt world, warlords, barbarians, and rebels emerge to claim the remains.

Outside the walls of Aelar, different factions converge. Tribal warriors prepare to shatter the gates. Valentina, a senator’s daughter, seeks to enter the city and rebuild the Republic. Prince Seneca, the last scion of a mighty house, battles his rivals to the throne and strives to hold the Empire together. Meanwhile, within the walls, dark magic and conspiracies brew.

In the distant desert, the kingdom of Zohar crumbles. The Empire musters to grind Zohar’s cities into dust. Epher, King of Zohar, and his sister Maya, a powerful magic-user, fight desperately to defeat the Empire’s legions. Yet their greatest enemy might be the mysterious, shadowy figure that roams their ancient land.

In smoldering battlefields, crows feast and humans squabble for the last shreds of power. Yet can the splendor of past glory ever shine again, or will the final victors rule from halls of shadow?

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Helen’s Daimones (Dyscrasia Fiction #2) – S. E. Lindberg

Helen’s Daimones – the gateway novella for Dyscrasia Fiction. Helen and Sharon are orphans haunted by supernatural diseases, insects, and storms. They are your tour guides in this entry-way novella into Dyscrasia Fiction which explores the choices humans and their gods make as a disease corrupts their souls, shared blood and creative energies. In Helen’s Daimones, guardian angels are among the demons chasing the girls. When all appear grotesquely inhuman, which ones should they trust to save them?

Dyscrasia Fiction explores the choices humans and their gods make as a disease corrupts their souls, shared blood and creative energies. Historically, dyscrasia referred to any imbalance of the four medicinal humors professed by the ancient Greeks to sustain life (phlegm, blood, black and yellow bile). Artisans, anatomists, and chemists of the Renaissance expressed shared interest in the humors; accordingly, the scope of humorism evolved to include aspects of the four alchemical elements (water, air, earth and fire) and psychological temperaments (phlegmatic, sanguine, melancholic and choleric). In short, the humors are mystical media of color, energy, and emotion; Dyscrasia Fiction presents them as spiritual muses for artisans, sources of magical power, and contagions of a deadly disease.

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Kingdom Come (Price of Power #1) – Blake Biscotti

When an unlikely mix of races joins together to create a thriving civilization, the nations of southern Herridon find that the peace they had known for over a hundred years is suddenly in jeopardy. For some, the thralls of war might create opportunity, but for others it could lead to a precipitous fall from power. The winds of change are passing through the lands giving way to heroic acts of valor and honor, but also to plots of deceit and destruction.

The three cities by the South Sea are in the middle of the fray, which leads a bold Captain, Victus Antonel, to take matters into his own hands. He raises an army with the intentions of eradicating the threat posed by the upstart nation. With the help of an unscrupulous ally, the Captain and the cities are immersed into the chaos of war and the enemy may not be quite what, or who, it had seemed to be.

Life for all who reside in southern Herridon will be forever changed; however whether it will be for better or for worse hangs in the balance.

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Over Our Heads (Valens Legacy #3) – Jan Stryvant

Sean’s still up to his neck in trouble, but at least he’s finally found an example of his father’s work, along with all of his notes. Now all Sean has to do is figure out not only how to reproduce his father’s greatest achievement, but to solve the one problem his father wasn’t able to. Holed up in a cold war era bomb shelter, all Sean wants to do now is keep his head down and his family safe, while he untangles this latest problem.

Like it or not however, Sean has set events in motion that will change the future for all of the mages and supernatural beings involved, should he prove successful. While many may welcome these changes and the freedom it will bring them, some of the more powerful councils will most definitely not.

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Samaris (The Obscure Cities #1) – Benoit Peeters and Francois Schuiten

Against the urging of his friends and his lover, Franz, a young officer in the Xhystos government, is sent on a mission to the remote and elusive city of Samaris to investigate the disappearance of several of his colleagues.

After weeks of travel, Franz reaches Samaris, to find a practically deserted city of enveloping and deceptive architecture. He is immediately bewitched by a mysterious young woman, drawing the suspicion of the other residents. Can Franz escape the impending doom of this sprawling metropolis?

The first in the Obscure Cities series, The Great Walls of Samaris was originally published in Europe in 1983 and in the US in 1987 by NBM. The story has been slightly altered to include characters who appear later in the canon, and reveal Peeters’ Kafkaesque storytelling prowess. Schuiten’s art in this edition has been reworked to be much truer to the originally intended color palette, and includes 32 additional pages of early Obscure Cities stories, comprising the Mysteries of Pâhry, never before published in English.

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Skysworn (Cradle #4) – Will Wight

With his duel fast approaching, Lindon is locked away in prison.

As a Blackflame, he is too dangerous to remain free. The Skysworn, protectors of the Empire, have imprisoned him to keep him under control until the day of his promised fight arrives.

When it does, he will face Jai Long.

But a new danger approaches the Empire, closer every day. Only the Skysworn stand between the people of the land and total annihilation.

And Lindon may be forced to join them.

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The Complete Adventures of the Moon Man: Volume 6, 1935-1936 – Frederick C. Davis

From 1933–37 pulpsmith extraordinaire Frederick C. Davis chronicled the adventures of the classic pulp hero the Moon Man in the pages of Ten Detective Aces. One of the most unique and compelling characters in the history of the genre, the Moon Man was the Robin Hood of the pulps: He stole from those who profited from the misery of the Depression to help those in need, to balance the scales of justice.

And justice was close to the Moon Man’s heart. For the Moon Man was actually police detective Stephen Thatcher—a dedicated law officer all too familiar with the cracks in the system criminals used to avoid retribution. Donning a black robe and a globe of Argus glass, Thatcher became the Moon Man, a thief who stole from criminals the law could not touch.

Now the Moon Man is hunted by his best friend and partner, reviled by his father and fiancé who all want to see the masked thief pay the ultimate price for his crimes. Stephen Thatcher must walk the razor’s edge of his double life where, every minute, the threat of exposure could shatter his fragile world.

Volume 6 collects the next four stories from this series: “Homicide Dividends,” “Robe of Blood,” “The Whispering Death” and “Corpse’s Plunder.” And it includes an all-new introduction by Moon Man expert Andrew Salmon.

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The Slayer – James Alderdice 

Warships of the Fourth Crusade surround Constantinople threatening murder, rapine and worse.

The only option left the impotent Emperor to avoid the sacking of the great city, is to secretly give away a sacred relic.

Enter Tyr, a red-handed Swedish mercenary and Wolfram von Eschenbach, the Templar poet, together charged with retrieving the holy artifact and escaping the city.

What they don’t know is that arcane forces, old as myth, are marshalled against their mission. The old gods of multiple nations war with the New.

And Ragnarok is coming to Greece.

Plus three more short sword and sorcery tales of Tyr: “Dogs of War”, “Hel Awaits”, and “Sailing to Valhalla”.

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Wrath of the Dragon Czar (Aegis of Merlin #5) – James E. Wisher

A bodyguard… really?

Sentinel city is quickly recovering from the events of the month earlier. Conryu Koda, the world’s only male wizard, and, many would say, savior of the city, is enjoying the last few days of his summer vacation. His enjoyment comes to a screeching halt when he gets a call from Orin Kane, the chief of the city’s Department of Magic.

Conryu arrives at the Department and is introduced to the stunning Anya Kazakov. She has information the Department wants and he’s the price. Conryu agrees to protect her, not realizing what he’s getting into.

Wrath of the Dragon Czar is a world spanning adventure that’ll take Conryu from the relative safety of the academy to the middle of a war between monsters on the other side of the planet.