The best non-fantasy books for fantasy readers

Why am I passionate about this?

I've been an avid reader across many genres since I learned to read as a child and have wandered into all sorts of categories to find literature I love. Fantasy became my first love, but that didn't mean I had to abandon everything else. I like finding great books that don't make the big publisher lists with their generic output. Since the rise of indie publishing, I've developed a habit of sampling anything that sounds like it might be interesting and have found some amazing and very original stories!


I wrote...

Book cover of Dance of the Goblins

What is my book about?

The complete collection of the Fantasy trilogy that brought the Epic series to a new generation. World building based on the foundation of Traditional Fantasy.

The goblins lived unseen by man for many generations and were forgotten, consigned to legend, but a fluke sighting when a man wanders into the entrance of a forgotten underground transportation system revives an ancient war between the species, originated by misunderstanding and prejudice of a species which appears alien to the superstitious humans.

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Jack Dawkins

Jaq D Hawkins Why did I love this book?

Most Fantasy readers enjoy an occasional change and Historical Fiction is a popular companion genre, especially when it's set in England. Whether you love Classics or your experience of Dickens is limited to seeing the musical, Oliver!, the Artful Dodger is a fascinating character and this book follows him into adult life when he returns to Turn of the Century Victorian England. It's an easy read which is historically accurate but doesn't get bogged down in teaching history. A fast-moving adventure with humour and dastardly villains with a flavour that only this era can produce.

Overall it's a fun story with much of that 'different world' quality that Fantasy readers so love.

By Charlton Daines,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Jack Dawkins as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Artful Dodger returns with new adventures!

Jack Dawkins, once known as the Artful Dodger in the streets of London, was sent to Australia on a prison ship when he was little more than a boy. Now he has returned to find that London has changed while the boy has turned into a man.

With few prospects provided by his criminal past and having developed mannerisms that allow him to move amongst a higher strata of society, Jack turns his back on the streets that would have primed him as a successor to the murderer, Bill Sikes, and quickly remodels…


Book cover of The Time Shifters Chronicles Volume 1: Episodes One - Five of the Chronicles of the Harekaiian

Jaq D Hawkins Why did I love this book?

As much as Fantasy readers bemoan getting lumped in with Science Fiction in general, sometimes there is a crossover that justifies the relatively recent category of Science Fantasy.

Time Shifters, and its wonderful sequels, fall into Science Fiction by virtue of the element of time travel. However, this is an exciting series with Mystery, Thriller, and certainly Fantasy elements. It's fast moving, exciting, has a touch of Romance. It appeals to YA readers as much as those who prefer mature books. The sub-plots are numerous and the society of the Time Shifter people is unique and pretty amazing. It's well worth a read!

By Shanna Lauffey,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Time Shifters Chronicles Volume 1 as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A Spellbinding Epic Time Travel Series An ancient people who can move through time or space... but not both at the same time. Akalya of the Harekaiian, a nomadic spirit who lives invisibly among the ordinary people of Los Angeles, must discover who is behind the hunt for her people, when no one should have known they existed. Through an apparent accident of fate, she becomes the only one of her people who can save them from the enemy who hunts them and she must risk everything, even her life, to protect the others of her kind. A time travel…


Book cover of Letters To The Damned

Jaq D Hawkins Why did I love this book?

Sometimes Fantasy can be dark or even cross into the realm of Horror. The concept of this book certainly would appeal to most Fantasy readers. An old, out-of-use post box in a small English village is reputed to be a conduit for local residents to ask for favours from dead relatives. Cris Lopez from California, mourning the loss of his estranged wife whom he still loves, sees a tabloid story about the box and decides a change of scene would do him good. His desire to have some hope of contact with his deceased wife is something he's not ready to admit to himself.

Rather than terrifying, this one moves into the weird, or I should say wyrd. It has all the earmarks of magical English villages and folklore brought to life.

By Austin Crawley,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Letters To The Damned as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Cris Lopez has just lost his wife. His hopes of ending their separation ended with a freak accident that robbed him of even the chance to say goodbye. When a tabloid newspaper prints an article about an uncanny post box in a small English village that supposedly transports letters to dead relatives, Cris' natural scepticism is overshadowed by the thought that a change of scene might help him come to terms with his loss.However, the residents of the village refuse to discuss supernatural intervention and having long since abandoned his childhood faith, Cris' logical mind won't accept the outlandish tale.Eerie…


Book cover of A Grand Old Time

Jaq D Hawkins Why did I love this book?

Fantasy readers often enjoy a good quest. While this would be classed as a feel-good book that takes place in the real world, there are fantastical elements in the adventures of the protagonist, an elderly lady who decides care home life is too dull for her.

A rocky start followed by an interesting series of decisions and taking chances makes for an uplifting adventure story as fulfilling as a typical Fantasy quest.

By Judy Leigh,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked A Grand Old Time as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'Brilliantly funny, emotional and uplifting' Miranda Dickinson

Heartwarming, hilarious and fun - the perfect read for anyone who loved Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, A Man Called Ove, Ruth Jones and JoJo Moyes.

Evie Gallagher is regretting her hasty move into a care home. She may be seventy-five and recently widowed, but she's absolutely not dead yet. And so, one morning, Evie walks out of Sheldon Lodge and sets off on a Great Adventure across Europe.

But not everyone thinks Great Adventures are appropriate for women of Evie's age, least of all her son Brendan and his wife Maura, who…


Book cover of Force of Chaos: The Coming of Age of the Antichrist

Jaq D Hawkins Why did I love this book?

This one is classed as YA, and might actually fall under Fantasy but with a difference. The protagonist is the antichrist, normally the stuff of Horror, but he's in high school and trying to fit in as best he can and gather friends rather than followers. What could go wrong?

Well, falling in love with a girl with religious parents might be an error in judgment and the local Satanist groups trying to enlist him doesn't help. It's a story of a teenager at the heart of it, albeit one with special powers and demons harassing him, but it's a fun read and has some great humour when it comes to dealing with bullies or misguided young Satanists trying to sacrifice a duck. Trust me, the duck is okay.

By Lin Senchaid,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Force of Chaos as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Incarnation bestows free will and the Antichrist is waging a teenage rebellion!Lucas doesn't want to grow up to be like his father. What teenager does? But for Lucas it's not the same because his father is the devil himself and Lucifer expects his incarnated son to embrace his destiny as the Antichrist. Lucas has other ideas.A California high school is the perfect environment for an adolescent boy with special abilities to play down being 'different' and seek friends, rather than followers, but what teenager could resist using his powers to get to class on time or deal with the school…


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A Diary in the Age of Water

By Nina Munteanu,

Book cover of A Diary in the Age of Water

Nina Munteanu Author Of Darwin's Paradox

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Writer Ecologist Mother Teacher Explorer

Nina's 3 favorite reads in 2023

What is my book about?

This climate fiction novel follows four generations of women and their battles against a global giant that controls and manipulates Earth’s water. Told mostly through a diary and drawing on scientific observation and personal reflection, Lynna’s story unfolds incrementally, like climate change itself. Her gritty memoir describes a near-future Toronto in the grips of severe water scarcity.

Single mother and limnologist Lynna witnesses disturbing events as she works for the powerful international utility CanadaCorp. Fearing for the welfare of her rebellious teenage daughter, Lynna sets in motion a series of events that tumble out of her control with calamitous consequence.…

A Diary in the Age of Water

By Nina Munteanu,

What is this book about?

Centuries from now, in a post-climate change dying boreal forest of what used to be northern Canada, Kyo, a young acolyte called to service in the Exodus, discovers a diary that may provide her with the answers to her yearning for Earth’s past—to the Age of Water, when the “Water Twins” destroyed humanity in hatred—events that have plagued her nightly in dreams. Looking for answers to this holocaust—and disturbed by her macabre longing for connection to the Water Twins—Kyo is led to the diary of a limnologist from the time just prior to the destruction. This gritty memoir describes a…


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Interested in the Antichrist, time travel, and villages?

11,000+ authors have recommended their favorite books and what they love about them. Browse their picks for the best books about the Antichrist, time travel, and villages.

The Antichrist Explore 7 books about the Antichrist
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