I’m a South African fantasy and sci-fi author. I’ve been reading, watching, and playing fantasy since the gods deigned to send me to this world. Since school, I’ve been crafting fantasy realms for my friends to play in for D&D. Fantastical worlds, wondrous magic and brutal monsters fill all my books. I also adore history and philosophy, and let both permeate my fantasy and sci-fi novels.
The Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews combines an epic magical apocalypse with one of the snarkiest and most badass heroines in urban fantasy. While the first book is not the best in the series, it is necessary to appreciate the rest of the series. And oh boy, what a series it is!
Kate Daniels is one of those formative urban fantasies for me, as it didn’t balk from having magic out in the open. It explores the interaction of the supernatural with the world we know without escaping into hidden worlds and the masquerade so prevalent in most urban fantasy—and for that it stands as one of the best urban fantasies out there.
Kate Daniels is about to enter a world of gritty magic and dangerous mystery! Vampires, necromancers and mages abound on the city streets, with one kickass heroine in the middle
Future Atlanta is an interesting place to live: one moment magic dominates, and cars stall and guns fail. The next, technology takes over and the defensive spells no longer protect your house from monsters.
Here skyscrapers topple under the onslaught of magic; the Pack, a paramilitary clan of shapechangers, prowl through the ruined streets; and the Masters of the Dead, necromancers driven by their thirst for knowledge and wealth, pilot…
While Henry Cavill’s depiction of Geralt is stellar, the Netflix series is no substitute for the dark, engrossing, and morally grey tale that is The Witcher. For me, The Witcher games and novels were the exact combination of monster hunting, moral quandaries, and somber contemplation that I needed.
It’s no wonder that people describe my books as a modern Witcher! While the main novels are excellent, the short story anthology that started it all is legendary and is a must-read!
While I grew up on Narnia, The Lord of the Rings, and His Dark Materials, I still credit Feist’s Riftwar Saga for sparking my true love of fantasy. This epic spans a total of 31 books, crafting a multigenerational tale of a world of magic, cataclysm, monsters, and continuously rising stakes that never feel trite.
Through all my years reading, nothing has topped it. It’s high time I start a re-read.
In the westernmost province of the Kingdom of the Isles, upon the world of Midkemia, an orphan kitchen boy named Pug was made apprentice to the magician Kulgan.
Here starts an adventure that will span lifetimes and worlds. Discover where the story begins.
The world had changed even before I discovered the foreign ship wrecked on the shore below Crydee Castle, but it was the harbinger of the chaos and death that was coming to our door.
War had come to the Kingdom of the Isles, and in the years that followed it would scatter my friends across the world.…
Any fantasy book list would be incomplete without this classic. While some may complain about pacing, dryness, or that they should have just taken the eagles to Mordor, The Lord of the Rings has still stood the test of time as not just an enjoyable classic, but a foundational text in fantasy in general.
While the magic is subtler than what we’re used to in modern fantasy, it seeps into every pore of the text, crafting a world of wonderment filled with horrific monsters, glorious heroes, and time-tested importance and morals. It is truly an epic work.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, the Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it remained lost to him. After many ages it fell by chance into the hands of the hobbit Bilbo Baggins.
The Wheel of Time gets a bad wrap as a slog, and it may be so further in the series. But I never found it boring. Rather, what I found while reading Jordan’s epic was a magical world that I could become fully engrossed in. What starts as a thin Lord of the Rings clone soon becomes its own unique tale of prophecy and adventure incomparable to any other fantasy.
The monsters and the magic are also both in top form! Trollocs are like orcs on steroids, with the magic of the Aes Sedai being one of the first hard magic systems that really made me start thinking about, well, magic systems.
The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth returns again. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow.
When a vicious band of half-men, half beasts invade the Two Rivers seeking their master's enemy, Moiraine persuades Rand al'Thor and his friends to leave their home and enter a larger unimaginable world filled with dangers waiting in the shadows and in the light .
When a ghost from another world possesses Kat Drummond, she could be forgiven for being upset. But instead, she takes the chance to become a monster hunter in the darkness-infested Hope City.
With the help of her ghostly companion, and a pair of swords she bought on the internet, Kat will stop at nothing to become the greatest hunter in the city. Those bills aren’t going to pay themselves after all…
As a child, I lived in a small valley sheltered from the night city lights. I could see the stars, and from that time, that is where my imagination dwelled. As a teenager, I read several of the books I have listed here, and from that point, I was inspired to read more and also to write myself. I sincerely believe that despite our current problems, humanity will outlive its troubled childhood and reach for the stars. We are destined for the stars, and only in the works of science fiction writers is that future explored. The books below helped me to become a successful author in my own right.
An alien starship appears in the Solar System! Humanity faces a glorious future, or total extinction, and only Joe Falcon can make the choice. Never would Joe have imagined it would fall to him to make the decision that would alter the destiny of two worlds, launching humanity towards a glorious future, or to extinction.
Falcon's Call is an action packed dive into the unknown, written in the style of the great, classic, science-fiction stories. If you like surprising plot twists, compelling characters and a hero who actually cares, you must read this new novel by Mike Waller.
Reader's Favorite Gold Medal winner 2019 B.R.A.G. Medallion Honoree 2019 Chill With A Book Premier Award 2019
In a heart-pounding battle for humanity's survival, one man holds the key to a glorious future or utter extinction.
In a race against time, Earth and Mars race to claim a derelict alien ship as it enters the Solar System, both aware that whichever planet succeeds might in so doing achieve technological advantage over the other. But who should they send? Joe Falcon, an unlikely candidate, never saw himself as the "right" person. Accompanied by a crew of misfits, each fleeing their own…
