Reddit mentions: The best paranormal & urban fantasy books

Some of my favorite books available on Kindle Unlimited:

They Mostly Come Out At Night and Where the Waters Turn Black by Benedict Patrick

Paternus by Dyrk Ashton

Danse Macabre by Laura M. Hughes

The Half Killed by Quenby Olson

A Star Reckoners Lot by Darrell Drake

Sufficiently Advanced Magic by Andrew Rowe

Jaeth's Eye by K. S. Villoso


Here are some that I haven't read, but have heard mostly positive things about:

The Palace Job by Patrick Weekes

Revenant Winds by Mitchell Hogan

Ghosts of Tomorrow by Michael R Fletcher

A Warrior's Path by Davis Ashura

Valley of Embers by Steven Kelliher

Faithless by Graham Austin-King. He also has another series, The Riven Wyrde Saga, beginning with Fae - The Wild Hunt

Ours is the Storm by D. Thourson Palmer

Path of Man by Matt Moss

Threat of Madness by D.K. Holmberg

To Whatever End by Claire Frank

House of Blades by Will Wight

Path of Flames by Phil Tucker

The Woven Ring by M. D. Presley

Awaken Online: Catharsis by Travis Bagwell

Wolf of the North by Duncan M. Hamilton

Free the Darkness by Kel Kade

The Cycle of Arawn Trilogy by Edward W. Robinson

Dawn of Wonder by Jonathan Renshaw

Benjamim Ashwood by AC Cobble

The Crimson Queen by Alec Hutson

The Queens Poinsoner by Jeff Wheeler

Stiger's Tigers by Marc Alan Edelheit 

Rise of the Ranger by Philip C. Quaintrell 

Nice Dragons Finish Last by Rachel Aaron

Devil's Night Dawning by Damien Black


Here are some older fantasy and sci-fi books that I enjoyed:

Tales of Nevèrÿon by Samuel R. Delany - African inspired S&S by an extremely talented writer.

Witch World as well as other good books by Andre Norton

Swords and Deviltry The first volume of Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser by Fritz Leiber - Many of the tropes of the rogue/thief came from this legendary duo created by Leiber. And it's worth noting that Leiber actually coined the term Sword & Sorcery. This collection contains 3 stories, two average origin stories for each character and the final story is the Hugo and Nebula winning novella "Ill Met in Lankhmar" detailing the first meeting of Fafhrd and The Grey Mouser.

Swords Against Darkness - A '70s S&S anthology. It has few stinkers, a few mediocre stories, and a some really good ones. Poul Anderson and Ramsey Campbell both have awesome stories in this anthology that are well worth checking out. For some reason, there were quite a few typos in this book, it was slightly distracting, but may have been fixed since I read it.

The Best of C. L. Moore by C. L. Moore. I read this earlier this year and I absolutely loved it. The collection is all sci-fi and one Jirel of Joiry story, which is her famous female Sword & Sorcery character. I was suprised by how well her sci-fi stories held up, often times pulp sci-fi doesn't age well, but this collection was great. Moore was married to the writer Henry Kuttner, and up until his death they wrote a bunch of great stories together. Both of their collections are basically collaborations, although I'm sure a few stories were done solo. His collection The Best of Henry Kuttner features the short story that the movie The Last Mimzy was based on. And, if you are into the original Twilight Zone TV series there is a story that was adapted into a memorable season 1 episode entitled "What You Need". Kuttner and Moore are two of my favorite pulp authors and I'm not even that into science fiction, but I really enjoy their work.

I don't have many specifics in mind, for any of my books, but the one thing I've always felt strongly about is that I'd dearly love any movie adaptation to have a score composed by Brian Tyler. The man's a genius.

For Below, I can't think of too many known directors who'd treat it well, but I've always liked Ron Howard's steady hand. I wouldn't say no to Joss Whedon or JJ Abrams getting involved; Whedon in particular would be a huge help in the transition from book to movie, making sure the screenplay stayed on target. Casting would be incredibly tough, because the main cast ranges from 17 to 36 in age, and you'd need a lot of unknowns. You could use some slightly older actors with the justification this is a medieval setting, but it can't go too far. The main antagonist is one of the older characters, at least.

Thinking about concept artists, while I don't have a specific one in mind (but hats off to my cover artist), I believe the very best approach would be to hire a small cadre of acclaimed artists from D&D, MtG, etc. and put all of their slightly competing styles to use. The ruins are too huge, and too varied in history and construction, for a single artistic vision to win out.

Of all my books though, I think The Affix has the best movie potential because it's short, fast-paced, and delivers on the action. Most of the good guys are in their mid-twenties, but you could find some solid up-and-coming names to fill them; the villains, and there are so many, would be way more fun to cast. (I have just a few in mind. I'd adore Jordan Peele as Seth Gable, although the role is perhaps too small to do him justice. And I kinda think it'd be cool to see Jasmine Treager played by prolific commercial actress Rachelle Wood, who inspired the look of the character.) I'd still want Brian Tyler at the helm musically. Here a director would be easy to name, because I'd want John Landis; the book was written with some of his vibe in mind, especially his film Into the Night. There are other directors who can probably handle all the action and even the quieter scenes well, but Landis always brought a special weird energy to his films that this one would benefit greatly from.

First off, I got what looks to be some great books from my match. I got Perdido Street Station, Hyperion, The Sparrow, The Little Country, and American Gods. I have never read nor heard of these titles, but I'm excited to start reading them.

Now for the best part. My match sent me an original manuscript for a novel they wrote. How awesome is that? They also included a short story (a side story to the novel) that includes me as a character. I can honestly say that this is one of the best things I've ever received! I think I'll start with the novel first.

http://imgur.com/xVFbm

*update: Thanks for all of the encouraging posts! It seems that I really struck gold on this exchange. I sent a little reddit gold love to my SS for the wonderful gift. It's such a great collection that I feel like the books I sent to my match are woefully inadequate.

Unfortunately, I can never pay attention to what characters look like in series (my brain just skips over most of the time). Unless it is said again and again and again, I'm just not noticing it. I literally have to be beat across the head with it to notice it.

I can give you some series I liked that I think there is a low probability of it happening though:

Cainsville by Kelley Armstrong (I know you said you didn't like WotO but the two series feel pretty different imo. This series does have a love triangle, though, but it is the best love triangle I have ever had the pleasure of reading.)

The Others by Anne Bishop, if you somehow haven't read it before.

Realm Walker by Kathleen Collins

Colbana Files by J.C. Daniels, like lupa280 suggested

Skindancer by Anthony Francis

All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness (this probably is focused on a bit, but mostly because love, it doesn't spread to the secondary characters.)

Elemental Mysteries by Elizabeth Hunter (book one is currently FREE on amazon)

don't do Downside Ghosts by Stacia Kane because I doubt we are ever getting an ending to that, despite it being so damn good.

Hunter Kiss by Marjorie M. Liu

October Daye by Seanan McGuire

Jaz Parks by Jennifer Rardin

The Outlaw King Volume 1 and 2 Boxset

4.2/4.8 out of 5 stars, 174 reviews total
The Whirlwind in the Thorn Tree and Law of the Wolf, $3.99 for two books at almost 1000 pages. Two-for-one deal!

After coming home from a stint in Afghanistan, veteran Ross Brigham learns that his father has passed away. Dearly departed Dad was a famous fantasy novelist, and the 300 fans that show up for the funeral demand that Ross finish E. R. Brigham's long-running magnum opus.

Ross and two of the author's devotees investigate his untimely death and discover that he might have been murdered...and the time-bending gunslingers of Dad's steampunk novels might be real.

As they try to acclimate to the arid deserts of the author's fantasy world, the three damaged heroes become pawns in a war for humanity's survival. The Muses have grown tired of immortality and now incite atrocities on Earth, trying to lure down a leviathan from the stars.

Can Ross and his new friends stop the scheming satyrs before both worlds are eaten?

Inspired by such old-school fantasy classics as Stephen King's The Dark Tower, C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia, and Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time. Volume 3, Ten Thousand Devils, is currently at 240,000 words and almost finished!

----

A. D. Howe, Amazon reviewer - "No mere Wild Wild West (With Magic!) steampunk pastiche, Hunt's world(s) with their immortal muses, lean and scarred gunslingers, come with a well-developed origin story and fearlessly metatextual delving into the stuff of storymaking itself."

Dan Schwent, #6 GoodReads reviewer - "While the Whirlwind in the Thorn Tree may have been inspired by the Dark Tower in some degrees, like Stephen King being a character in the later books and the fact that there are Gunslingers running around, it stands on its own. It actually reminds me more of the second half of Lev Grossman's The Magicians, where Quentin finds out that the Narnia-analog Fillory is real. My fears about the writing were unfounded. There were some hiccups but it was head and shoulders above most self-published books I've ever read. I loved references to the Dark Tower, the Simpsons, and lots of 80's fantasy and sf movies. When's the next one coming out, Hunt?"

Monica Woodall, Dark Tower group mod - "There's some books that completely sweep you away from the real world and this was one of them. I couldn't put it down and I constantly schemed to make time to come back to it."

Andrew Turner, Amazon reviewer - "I want to give a BIG thank you to S.A. Hunt for writing such an epic story. I originally found this book on BookBub, because it was free and I was looking to do a little reading that didn't cost me anything. How was I to know that I would be giving my heart to Ross, Sawyer, and Noreen? And loosing my imagination in the world of Destin? This is by far the best fantasy book I have read since Stephen King's Dark Tower series. I liked it so much that I immediately picked up the second book in the series for my Kindle. If you love fantasy, you will love this book."

Funny you should ask. I'm a novelist in this genre as well, and I've done a bit of research on the market. As you might imagine, this is a fairly niche space. I'd probably be making more money if I wrote vampire romances, but you gotta write what you love, right?


Anyhow, the advice about the Fantasy>Superheroes category on Amazon is real good. There are a lot of books directly tied to licensed properties, like DC and Marvel characters, but I can't tell you much about those since I work in my own universe. There are also excellent lists on GoodReads. Here are some of the examples I used to figure out my keywords and categories (I haven't read any of these yet, but they're on my list):


Soon I will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman. I hear this is awesome.

Confessions of a D-List Supervillain by Jim Bernheimer.

Good Intentions: A Supervillain Story by Michel Crider.

Meta by Tom Reynolds.

The Second Super by Logan Rutherford.

ULTRA (The Last Hero Book 1) by Matt Blake.


And, I hope this isn't a violation of the self-promotion rules (if it is, please let me know and I'll edit this out), but I can't help but add my own novel, The Hero Beat!

I'll just throw in there are actually quite a few book series that focus on superheros, but aren't adaptions.

George R.R. Martin edits a series called Wild Cards which he refers to as mosaic novels. He and his friends will right a series of short stories which fit into a novel, each novel is part of a trilogy, and each trilogy is part of the larger world. The series has been going on since the 80's. The first one Wildcards was recently republished with added material. If you want to skip forward though Inside Straight was written to be a good jumping on point.

Brandon Sanderson recently wrote a series called The Reckoners , where people with Superpowers have taken over the world and

I haven't read these, but Vicious is supposed to be really good as well. Ex-Heroes is massup of the Superhero and zombie genres, I can't speak to it's quality, but it's fairly successful.

I know it isn't exactly what you're looking for, but I thought these might interest you.

Edit: Oh, and if you are interested in the Wildcards series, I would highly suggest reading the first novel even if you skip forward afterwards. The first book is essentially a series of short stories that tell the history of the Wildcards from their appearance in the 40's to the 80's when the rest start taking place.

Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere is a great urban fantasy story that takes place in the unseen world below London and includes some magic, adventure and a great mystery.


If you haven't read the Chronicles of Narnia try those. After you get past the Christian allegories in the first book the series is enjoyable. If you have read them check out His Dark Materials. Another great book that has been called the atheists' response to Narnia.

China Mieville's Perdido Street Station would be a good one too. Definitely darker than the fantasy in Harry Potter but well written and a great story.

The Hunger Games trilogy has been mentioned a few times and is enjoyable. It is more Science Fiction than fantasy but is a great dystopian story. Written for YAs, like Harry Potter, but enjoyable for just about anyone.They're making a Hunger Games movie now so you'll be able to say you read it back before it was cool.


Edit: Forgot to mention The Dark Tower Series. A great series by Steven King that combines fantasy, western, science fiction and some horror. That sounds like a hodgepodge but the series manages to walk the line so well you end up staying awake until 2am reading to find out what happens next.

> I'd love to see an example of a romance novel about a 6.

I'm not sure I could find you a romance novel about a completely average guy. Partly that's because I like romance novels with a bit of action, and action-novel heroes are usually well above average even if you leave the romance out of the equation.

But I can come close. Try Wickedly Dangerous by Deborah Blake. It's brainless fun, but not bad. The guys in this series are just a smidgen above average: a divorced sheriff in a tiny rural town, a former firefighter struggling with PTSD, and so on. They're solid, decent guys, responsible citizens who do their best. It's the women in this series who are "wickedly dangerous," and who outshine the guys. The relationships are fairly cute and turn out to be pretty good matches.

An honorable mention goes to Julius in Nice Dragons Finish Last. By dragon standards, he's tiny, weak and pathetic, and he gets constantly abused by his family. But this is only an honorable mention, because (1) his niceness will eventually save the day, and (2) he's still stronger and faster than any ordinary human. This is still pretty brainless fun, but the writing is solid.

For more, you might have luck with a list like Beta Romantic Heroes:

> Other qualities of the beta male: shy, sweet, reliable, trustworthy, easygoing but not a pushover, quick to offer comfort, feels deeply, avoids confrontation.

"Beta heroes" is definitely a popular subgenre. There's some more discussion here and here.

On the physical side, I suppose I should make another honorable mention of Miles Vorkosigan, who gets a romance or two among all his action plots. Miles is extremely short, somewhat deformed, and suffers from extremely brittle bones. Physically, he's way below average. But he has inhuman determination. When he's thrown into a prisoner of war camp, he's attacked by other prisoners:

> The tunic was jerked off over Miles's head, the pants over his feet. Miles was too busy protecting his head from random kicks to fight much for his clothes, trying obliquely to take as many hits as possible on his belly or ribcage, not arms or legs or jaw. A cracked rib was surely the most injury he could afford right now, here, at the beginning. A broken jaw would be the worst.
>
> His assailants desisted only a little before they discovered by experimentation the secret weakness of his bones.
>
> "That's how it is in here, mutant," said the talker, slightly winded.
>
> "I was born naked," Miles panted from the dirt. "Didn't stop me."
>
> ...The second beating was worse than the first.

Miles is a born leader and tactical genius, and he's always in charge of any situation he finds himself in. Give him a vessel full of corrupt enemy mercenaries, and he'll bullshit and bluff and make them feel shame at their life choices and slovenly habits. Then he'll offer them the opportunity to feel pride again. Despite his physical limitations, Miles is far above average.

I'm not sure what you like, but I have some suggestions:

S. A. Hunt's The Whirlwind in the Thorntree is pretty fantastic. It's perma-free on Amazon and is the first in The Outlaw King series. I'm reading the second book now. Sam also happens to be a really nice guy and a fantastic cover designer (check out his website if you have a chance). The Outlaw King series is supposed to be an homage to Stephen King's Dark Tower series, but I haven't read it so I'm not sure how similar it is. I read it as incredibly creative, a little dark but not grimdark, and very addicting.

And I also write fantasy - my Erdemen Honor series is epic fantasy lite (no magic, just a different world). It's also more character-driven and written on a smaller scale than a lot of epic fantasy... it's epic in tone, but not scale, if that makes sense. That series starts with The King's Sword. I also have a dark, urban, Christian fantasy series in progress called A Long-Forgotten Song. Only the first book, Things Unseen, is out now, but the second will be out this fall.

The links go to Amazon, but my books are available at other online stores and I think Sam's are too. Also, I enabled DRM on Amazon when I published, but now I think DRM is just an annoyance. So if you want a DRM-free copy, just let me know.

9 year old girls

They're old enough to be reading chapter books, but you didn't mention how advanced they were...

Hmm...this might be tricky...

If they like animals:

Summer of the Wolves

A recently orphaned twelve-year-old girl and her younger brother leave a foster home in California to stay with their estranged uncle, a biologist studying a wolf pack in the woods of Minnesota. Heartfelt and informative.

If they like fantasy:

Fablehaven

Kendra and Seth's grandfather has a secret. His woods is a sanctuary for all creatures magical and mystic.

If they like mysteries:

Frightmares: Cat Burglar On the Prowl

Peg Kehret has written a score of mysteries, but the best for middle readers are the Frightmares. Kayo and Rosie run into quite a few mysteries, and quite a bit of danger.

If they want to read about normal kids:

You can't go wrong with Beverly Cleary; I will never not recommend her. If I had to choose a single book of hers to recommend...

Dear Mr. Henshaw

7 year old boy

If he likes fairy tales:

The Stinky Cheese Man & Other Fairly Stupid Tales

The best set of fractured fairy tales I can think of. And perfect for a seven year old boy.

If he likes mysteries:

Jigsaw Jones

Encyclopedia Brown and its emphasis on logic and catching people in lies might be a touch too much for him at the moment, so I'm going to recommend Jigsaw Jones, the other elementary sleuth solving mysteries at reasonable rates. There's approximately a bazillion Jigsaw Jones books, so take your pick.

4 year old boy

If he likes little stories:

Mouse Tales

****
I may need a little extra time to think of books for the other kids.

Walter Moers

Given the massive success of Adams, Pratchett and others, the rave reviews of everything in Moers' ever-expanding Zamonia series, the fantastic illustrations and the riotous and creative writing I cannot believe so few people have read these books.

These books have some deep social and psychological analysis alongside absurdity, humor, violence, love and adventure.

Reference books, chronologically:

• The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear
  
  
• Rumo
  
  
• The City of Dreaming Books
  
  
• Alchemaster's [sic] Apprentice
  
  Editorial reviews:
  
  
  >“Cheerfully insane. . . . Remains lively and inventive right through the final heroic battle between good and evil.”
  
  —The New York Times Book Review
  
  
  >“Moers’s creative mind is like J.K. Rowling’s on ecstasy; his book reads like a collision between The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and the Brothers Grimm…. What a delightful book.”
  
  —Detroit News and Free Press
  
  >“An overstuffed confection… Cross The Lord of the Rings with Yellow Submarine, throw in dashes of Monty Python, Douglas Adams, Shrek, and The Princess Bride…That’s the sort of alchemy in which this sprawling novel trades.”
  
  —Kirkus
  

I highly recommend The Second Super by Logan Rutherford. It's has 4 books already and the whole series is amazing. Very similar to Drew Hayes Super Powereds, but starts in a world new to super heroes.

I'd also recommend The Awaken Online series. Characters are in a similar age group and although it's a online RPG driven narrative, the character and story development has a similar feel to the way Super Powereds is developed. It's a fun, immersive and addictive read.

I write comedy LitRPG that might be along the lines of what you're looking for. Definitely lighthearted, reviewers have compared it to the likes of Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett and Monty Python.

Note there is an element of 'trapped' but only because the real world becomes the game, and the characters take it in their stride.

Here's a link for Level Up - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079JFM67F

Another book I can recommend that ticks a lot of your boxes is Orcanomics (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00O2NDJ2M) It isn't strictly speaking LitRPG, but there are enough gaming terms that I'd be comfortable classifying it as gameLit. It's brilliant, extremely funny, with great characters and a very satirical take on the fantasy genre.

One of my favorite series is Super Powereds by Drew Hayes. It's about Supers if you couldn't guess. The last book isn't in KU, but it is available to read free on Drew Hayes's website.

I just finished the Bobiverse series by Dennis Taylor and was enthralled! It's sci-fi/space exploration.

Nice Dragons Finish Last by Rachel Aaron is about a magic, spirits, and a nice dragon thrown into trouble by his viperous family.

Silvertongue by Casey White was fantastic (and it came from a reddit writing prompt!), but the series is not finished yet, if that matters to you.

Scott Meyer writes many hilarious books, nearly all in KU.

Lindsay Buroker writes sci-fi/fantasy, and she has a decent amount of KU books (and frequently has 1st book/boxsets for free for series not in KU).

K. M. Shea if you like fairy-tale retellings.

Cassandra or Elizabeth Gannon (sisters) for kind of odd, over-the-top, funny romance adventures (both write explicit sex scenes, fyi). Also while bad/crude language can be found in both sisters' books, Elizabeth has some absolutely magnificent crude expressions in hers. Like, if I ever want to be fired with extreme prejudice, I know how to go out with style now.

And that seems like a decently long list of possibilities to leave you with, so I'll stop here.

I only read one fantasy book this month:

The Whirlwind in the Thorn Tree by /u/AuthorSAHunt was pretty enjoyable! It was obviously inspired by Stephen King's "The Dark Tower" Series, but it stood really well as its own story. I was really happy with it overall, but because of my own schedule, I didn't have a lot of time to read it, so it took me a long time. That combined with the slow pace at the beginning meant that it took some time for me to really get into it. The last third of the book really picked everything up, but the ending felt a little more like a chapter ending than a book ending - not a ton of closure, but a nice hook to keep on reading.

I'll definitely read the second book soon. Right now I'm finishing a small non-fantasy tour (finishing up with The Winter of Our Discontent) and so it may end up being a December or January book.

I encourage everyone to check it out! The first two books are free on Amazon!

/u/Tevesh_CKP listed several series that I have read or are on my to-read list, so excluding them...

I just had a similar question myself, so I looked around for decent urban fantasy that stayed away from the paranormal romance that seems to be about 60% of the genre.....that said, I have a lot of books I just added to me to-read list. I can't really vouch for how good/bad they may be, but you can certainly check and see if these hold any interest for you.

Felix Castor series by Mike Carey

Alex Verus series by Benedict Jacka

Sandman Slim series by Richard Kadrey

Laundry Files by Charles Stross

Joe Pitt series by Charlie Huston

Twenty Palaces series by Harry Connolly

Demon Accords series by John Conroe

Skinners series by Marcus Pelegrimas

Connor Grey series by Mark Del Franco

Shadow Police series by Paul Cornell

Tome of Bill series by Rick Gualtieri

Night Watch series by Sergei Lukyanenko

Bobby Dollar series by Tad Williams

Central series by Zachary Rawlins

Darker Shade of Magic series by V.E. Schwab

Magic 2.0 series by Scott Meyer - this one is a little lighter/comical


Also, since you said you really like Harry Potter, you might try The Magicians trilogy by Grossman - it is like Harry Potter fused with Narnia, grew up, and got an attitude. Lots of people like it since it is rather Harry Potter-esque, but lots of people don't like it because the tone of the books doesn't fit with the tone from Harry Potter. It is much more cynical and adult.


OK, that turned out to be really long but hopefully really helpful as well!

Hmmm, it is super hero genre, not magic, but the MC in Super Sales on Super Heroes has a pretty unique power

https://www.amazon.com/Super-Sales-Heroes-William-Arand-ebook/dp/B072HQF1B6/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=super+sales+on+supers&qid=1574918522&s=digital-text&sr=1-3

I would love love LOVE a Kindle...I want one so badly, as it would mean I would no longer need to lug round a heavy bag of books whenever I go on a long trip (Which is quite regularly) and I would also be able to read much more comfortably as I often read laying down on my side aha! Here is the E-book I would love, I've heard great things about it and stupidly I've never got around to purchasing it to read :/ Thank you for this contest btw :)

I just started Monster Hunters by Larry Correia--I'm less than halfway, so it's too early to give it a complete review, but so far, I'm enjoying it--not perfect, but a fun first in a series. It definitely reminds me of DF, but the protagonist is a normal human. Lots of monster fights. It's nice and long, and if you have a Kindle or Kindle app, you can get it free: http://www.amazon.com/Monster-Hunter-International-Hunters-Book-ebook/dp/B00APAH7PQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1452481390&sr=8-1&keywords=monster+hunters+correia

cracks knuckles I have no idea if these have audiobooks. I'm sorry if they don't. Most of these are only three books long or shorter, sorry.

Sandman Slim and the sequel. It wasn't my favorite book, BUT it sounds a lot like what you're looking for. And it was fun.

China Mieville's Bas-Lag series (Perdido Street Station, The Scar and Iron Council. Three (~500 pg) books long, fantastic world building, twisty plots and great characters.

The Baroque Cycle, Neal Stephenson (Quicksilver, The Confusion and The Confusion of the World. Three books long, but you could kill a small animal by dropping one of those books on it. These are good, but his stand-alones are better (Snow Crash and Diamond Age for sure).

Most of Stephen King's stuff has the kind of sprawl you're looking for.

Dune, at least until God Emperor (#4).

Honestly, I think if you liked John Grisham, you'll like The Girl with the
Dragon Tattoo books. I think I'm making that leap based on the last book in the trilogy. They're definitely entertaining.

Not sure how popular this is, but the Coldfire Trilogy by C.S. Friedman is really nice.

Nightblade by Ryan Kirk is another one.

EDIT 1: If you delve into urban fantasy (or would like to for a change of pace) try Mind Dimensions. I love it when I find new competent authors!

EDIT 2: Starships Mage is really good if you want something that straddles fantasy and science fiction.

I will edit this post to add more once I peruse through my kindle in a bit.

For the LARPer, SCAer, and DM in your family: What Kings Ate and Wizards Drank: A Fantasy Lovers Food Guide

For the Jane Austen and Charles Dickens lover in your life: Hustlers, Harlots, and Heroes: A Regency and Steampunk Field Guide

For the paranormal lover in your life who likes fun: Spirit Caller Box Set

I'm gonna stretch the rules and include some comics on this list:

1. Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. Perfect in tone, pacing, characters, exposition and humour.
   
   
2. Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny. One of the greatest sci-fantasy epics of all time.
   
   
3. The Outlaw King by S.A. Hunt. More sci-fantasy, but with the sort of trippy, psychological, anything-goes attitude that elevates it above most of the genre.
   
   
4. Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis. Exceptional political satire contained inside in a painfully real near-future scifi wrapper. Ellis's best work, IMO.
   
   
5. Saga by Brian K. Vaughan. Yeah, I have a soft spot for sci-fantasy, but this comic series is all about the characters, and every one of them is pure gold. Exceptional writing, great art, compelling storytelling. The complete package.

I've had mixed success in dealing with Amazon recommendations. My interest in Perdido Street Station led me to The Etched City, but my interest in the Israeli author Aharon Appelfeld's Laish led me to a Krupp's coffee maker. The Etched City is an excellent book, but I never figured the coffee maker thing out.

By the way, I think you'd really like those first two.

There's r/Fantasy's own Krista D. Ball and also K.S. Villoso. I haven't read Villoso yet, but I've read Krista's Spirit Caller omnibus, which was fun urban fantasy set in Newfoundland.

I've also really enjoyed Rachel Aaron's self-pubbed Heartstrikers series. First book is Nice Dragons Finish Last. I've also heard good things about Lindsay Buroker.

Glad you liked it! I do the same thing with finding books in a bunch different places. I usually put them on my goodreads to-read shelf, but I never tag them as KU so I have no idea whats what without going through book by book.

If you want some more sci-fi Duel in the Dark by Jay Allen has been in my TBR list for a while, but it looks like a good series. Starship's Mage by Glynn Stewart is also decent. I like a lot of the ideas for his books they're just a little flat IMO.

You might like Unbound Deathlord - the MC is fairly amoral in that one.

Awaken Online might also be to your liking.

I also like to recommend Unsouled, which is basically a xianxia novel written by an American. IMO cultivation / xianxia novels are basically litrpgs, with weird names slapped on top of the numbers.

Another one that kinda sorta straddles the line of LitRPG is Super Sales on Super Heroes - it's a superhero novel, and the MC's power is that he can spend "points" to upgrade things.

I didn’t get called dictionary, but I did get asked about definitions, same experience with reading. I was definitely an “acktually” guy too (still am to an extent, though I try not to).

Tangent, but I think it’s really unfortunate a lot of grade school and high school boys don’t read a lot. Probably because no one gives them something like this (probably not appropriate for below 7th grade. On the younger side my mom always credited these). Gregor the Overlander was also great. Star Wars rarely fails too. From my experience as a student, getting boys to read is very different from getting girls to read. The hook has to be the action and the concept behind the world (that’s probably true with girls too, but they seem to have a longer attention span when it comes to internal monologues, character drama, ect.). They can read the grapes of wrath or catcher in the rye when they’re older and need a sleep aid.

What is interesting is that LitRPG is basically a sub-genre of the "Portal Fantasy", like Narnia or The Chronicles of Amber. There are a number of LitRPG examples where the story has the main character transported to a fantasy world where everyone has "levels".

The "Chaos Seeds" Series by Aleron Kong has the main character transported to a world where all people have stats, levels, and skills.

The Arcane Emperor web series has a similar conceit - everyone in that land has stats, levels, and skills and a "character sheet".

Hero of Thera and Worth the Candle also has the MC transported to a fantasy/sci-fi world with a character sheet. (Worth The Candle, BTW, is excellent and updates regularly.)

In Super Sales on Super Heroes the main character gets a super power where he has character sheet "in the real world" - this is sort of LitRPG adjacent (Harem warning, Slavery warning). Decent book, even if the MC is a bit amoral.

One of the things I like about the genre is that there a many roads to the "game". Some are just VR based, others are a portal fantasy, while still others have game-like elements in "real life". There are a ton of approaches.

I am excited to see how the genre grows as new authors enter the space and we move further from the "Light Novel" origins. I can't wait to get further away from Asian style grinding and Russian style misogyny and misanthropy.

While it's not solely about a gay character, the Soulkeepers series by GP Ching is great. She just released the final book in the series. In book 4 though, one of the characters introduced in book 1 meets an openly gay Soulkeeper (kind of like guardian angels except human) and finds himself falling in love with him. I won't say much more but at the time I read these books I was still very far in the closet and it really tore me up in a good way to where it helped push me out of the closet.
The first book happens to be free and the rest aren't expensive: http://www.amazon.com/The-Soulkeepers-Series-ebook/dp/B004RR1NZI

Oh this looks great! Wow, I have never heard of this this author. I have an Amazon gift card at home and going to buy this book and the first book in his Outlaw series.

I just bought a Kindle so my books to read researching techniques are in need of adjustment. However, if even half of the reviews for these Ebooks on Amazon are accurate/not inflated, then I will be happy.

jumping on the Whirlwind in the Thorn Tree/Outlaw King train over here, it is literally my fav series of all time _ western, fantasy, sci-fi, action, adventure... a wonderful melting pot of genres all tied up with a little dark humor ribbon makes for an AMAZING package

<with a french waiters accent>

For madam,

I would propose either china miéville "Perdido..." or Robert Charles Wilson "spin". Both weave interesting believable characters within a good sf plot.

But If you want a page turner, I would say Eliantris or Warbreaker both by brandon sanderson. They're fantasy and really hard to put down.

In the end, I would propose "To say nothing of the dog" by connie Willis. Very clever and funny with a time travel theme.

</with a french waiters accent>

( Damn, I really liked to be a bookseller...)

http://www.amazon.com/Metro-2033-Dmitry-Glukhovsky/dp/0575086254/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1289835951&sr=8-3

This says not til april 2011. I see some used copies though. I guess that will have to do. I loved the video game. If the book is anything like it, I'm sure I'll love it.

http://amzn.com/B00LSV28DC

Nice Dragons Finish Last by Rachel Aaron was great and funny at times. :)

GTA IV, as I'm sure you might have heard, was a pretty terrible port for PC, meaning it doesn't properly utilise awesome PC hardware, however it should run great on your rig, even with ICenhancer and texture mods, especially with a GTX 780!

Metro is definitely more than a benchmark. It's quite story-driven and is based on the books by Dmitry Glukhovsky. It is set in a post-apocalyptic world in which, due to nuclear war, the citizens of Moscow have been forced to take to the sewers for protection.

Good luck building it, I hope you have fun!

I'd recommend Perdido Street Station. Not pure, but has some very steampunky stuff and more importantly is a great book!

Read any of China Miéville's Bas-Lag books - Perdido Street Station being an excellent place to start. Dark, strange urban fantasy in a world of his own design.

Also, if you like fantasy that's based in the real world, more or less, you might like Tim Powers's works; he writes what he refers to as "secret histories", which basically look at some event in recent (e.g. 20th-century) history where the historical record doesn't quite add up, and then he goes "How could I weave this all together by claiming there was magic going on behind the scenes?". Last Call and Declare are probably my favorites of his (although Last Call does use a certain amount of European mythology, it doesn't do so in the same way most fantasy, being set in pseudo-medieval-Europe, does; Declare uses Middle Eastern mythology instead).

The Whirlwind in the Thorn Tree also takes a western aesthetic and transports into a completely different genre, in this case it's a fantasy world.

It's a sort of fantasy/horror/western/drama if that makes any sense! Another parallel is the humour of the characters', which in both Whirlwind and Firefly really shine through.

I really recommend it: http://www.amazon.com/The-Whirlwind-Thorn-Tree-Outlaw-ebook/dp/B00BJCLMFU

Also - I saw someone recommend Farscape. Watch it, it's amazing.

if you're in the US, look into overdrive. they team up with libraries to let you digitally borrow audiobooks. dunno if it's available outside of the US.

if you're not picky about what books you get, there are services like audiobook boom which give out specific free audible books in exchange for reviews. i've been using them 1-2 months now and haven't paid full price for a book in a while.

you can also checkout whispersync deals. sometimes it's possible to buy a kindle ebook for < 4$ and add on the audiobook for < 4$, which ends up being cheaper than just the audiobook. the most popular books are usually more expensive, so look into the lesser known authors. here's an example where the ebook is free and the audiobook is 1.99$ after you get the ebook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00APAH7PQ

I'm surprised no one has mentioned any of China Mieville's work. Though he has a bunch of stand alone novels, he has 3 in a world he built: Perdido Street Station, The Scar, and Iron Council. All solid, but I think The Scar is the best.

Kind of steam punkish, but completely unlike anything else I've ever read.

Easy! Fablehaven is great. The whole series is drastically underrated.

​

And if into deep brooding with less fantasy (or none): The Book Thief, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, might be worth checking out. I read 'Perks of' when I was almost 20 and it pretty much wrecked me.

And not a book at all. But the piece I think that went the deepest with dark fantasy elements is Pan's Labyrinth lol.

I'm gonna go check out Django Wexler now though.

Do you like Neil Gaiman? More to the point, have you read Neverwhere? It is that extension you want and the prose is just gorgeous.

For unique, I'd say The City of Dreaming Books. It is particularly good if you haven't read any of Moers other books beforehand.

Cape High

a light read but still very good, it alternate between characters each book, but still maintain a overall plot

The Indestructibles

really nice too

Kid Sensation

Rise of the Renegade X

Please don't tell my parents i'm a supervillain

Wearing the Cape

Meta

Vicious

Check out China Mieville. He's bending genre's hardcore with his Bas Lag universe. It's fantasy/horror/steam punk. Perdido Street Station followed by The Scar are both amazing and truly original. There are no kings, queens, elves, dwarves or much of anything you'd expect in a Tolkien like fantasy world and it's not about the simplicities of good vs. evil. Instead you get a lot of compelling grey areas and horrific things I can't even mention without spoilers. There's also a third called Iron Council but I haven't read it yet. Oh, and it's not a trilogy, they just take place in the same universe with casual links between the stories.

http://www.amazon.com/Perdido-Street-Station-China-Mieville/dp/0345459407/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1371527142&sr=1-1&keywords=perdido+street+station

Edit: I'm doing a horrible job selling the idea that Mieville is good here. But as a fan of the horror and fantasy genre's I find Mieville to be extremely creative, original and entertaining.

It blurs the line between genres, but I'd highly suggest Perdido Street Station by China Miéville.

Since you liked Left Hand of Darkness, check out LeGuin's A Wizard of Earthsea, and if you like it, the subsequent sequels.

list of linked fictions in order posted repeats omitted, see my other comments for what EY said about them.

Dungeon Keeper Ami by Pusakuronu As a .docx

Mandragora (HP)

To The Stars (Madoka)

My Little Pony: Friendship is Betrayal (MLP)

Earthfic

Unequally Rational and Emotional(Negima/damn near everything)

The Missing Risk Premium (Non-Fic)

Mahou Sensei Negima manga


Harry Potter and the Natural 20 (HP/DnD)

Naruto: Game of the Year Edition(Naruto)

Big Human on Campus(Ranma/RosarioxVampire)

Friendship is Optimal (MLP)

Myou’ve Gotta Be Kidding Me(MLP)

Prince of the Dark Kingdom (HP)

Fallout Equestria (MLP)

Time Braid(Naruto)

Hybrid Theroy(Mega Crossover)

Luminosity (Twilight)

[Discworld] (http://i.imgur.com/kvqoC1h.jpg)

The Best Night Ever(MLP)

Imperfect Metamorphosis(Touhou)

Sanctum

Friendship is Optimal: Caelum est Conterrens(MLP)

Tales of Mu

Black Cloaks, Red Clouds (Naruto)

Dirty Old Men(Naruto)

The Eyre Affair (first novel in the Thursday Next series)

Postnuptial Disagreements(F/SN / Sekirei)

Saga of Soul

Murasakiiro no Qualia

NGE: Nobody Dies: The Trials of Kirima Harasami(Eva)

Love Lockdown(Naruto)

Worm

MLP Loops(MLP)

City of Angles

The Last Christmas

Branches on the Tree of Time(Terminator)

How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love Lord Voldemort(HP)

Emperor of Zero(Familiar of Zero/Napoleon)

Cenotaph(Worm)

Memoirs of a Human Flashlight(Worm/Exalted)

She Who Skitters in Darkness(Worm/Exalted)

Goblin Queen(Worm/Exalted)

Starry Eyes(Worm/Lovecraft)

Tale of Transmigration(Worm)

Bug on a Wire.(Worm)

Sunshine

Toasterverse(Avengers)

Back Again(LOTR)

Carpetbaggers(Narnia)

A Bluer Shade of White (Frozen)

Metropolitan Man(Superman)

Ra

Homestuck

In Fire Forged(Naruto)

Right Moments(Ranma)

Hitherby Dragons

Nice Dragons Finish Last

The Shadow of What Was Lost

The Unwelcome Warlock

Path of the King (F/SN)

Gate! Thus the JSDF Fought There

Weaver Nine(Worm)

https://www.fanfiction.net/community/Rational-stories/117575/99/4/1/0/0/0/0/
https://www.reddit.com/r/rational

fun ones you might like are Super Sales on Super Heroes by William D. Arand or the Waldo Rabbit series by Nelson Chereta

The book "Metro 2033" also refers to stalkers quite a bit. I haven't played the game yet, but I assume that they are mentioned there as well. I thought that the book was pretty good. Didn't much care for the ending.

I would highly recommend checking out The Outlaw King series by S.A. Hunt. It's a great series a definitely has a Dark Tower vibe to it.

I am just going to leave this here:
"SUPER SALES ON SUPER HEROES"

https://www.amazon.com/Super-Sales-Heroes-William-Arand-ebook/dp/B072HQF1B6

Have you read Walter Moers' The City of Dreaming Books? If not, it has a similar premise and would likely be a great source of inspiration!

On amazon kindle the first book is free

https://www.amazon.com/Monster-Hunter-International-Hunters-Book-ebook/dp/B00APAH7PQ/ref=nodl_

The whole series is excellent

I picked MHI up a while back (free Kindle version + $1.99 to add narration), but I haven't listened to it yet. Good to know it's enjoyable.

If you what you are looking for is 100% the game mechanics, give it a shot. Setting, game system, skills/magic, crafting, city building are all pretty cool.

If humor, prose or characters in any way, shape, or form have any impact whatsoever on your enjoyment, dont bother. Save your money for something with more profound conversations and character depth, like Dora the Explorer or something.

I wouldnt say there is many interesting ways of using the game mechanics. Theres a lot of "Deus Ex! Pow! I'm OP" and then dropping any relevance to that aspect of the story for 4 books. There could be some unconventional blends of power in the 7th book, but I didnt get that far.

Instead give Beginners luck a go. Unconventional setting and unique game-mechanics for the MC.

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


amazon.co.uk

amazon.ca

amazon.com.au

amazon.in

amazon.com.mx

amazon.de

amazon.it

amazon.es

amazon.com.br

amazon.nl

amazon.co.jp

amazon.fr

Beep bloop. I'm a bot to convert Amazon ebook links to local Amazon sites.
I currently look here: amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca, amazon.com.au, amazon.in, amazon.com.mx, amazon.de, amazon.it, amazon.es, amazon.com.br, amazon.nl, amazon.co.jp, amazon.fr, if you would like your local version of Amazon adding please contact my creator.

Monster Hunter International was a pretty good read. Seems like it would meet your criteria IMHO