#Fantasy Novels

[johnbierce]

It's finally launch day for my new book! The City That Would Eat the World, book one of the More Gods Than Stars Trilogy, is out now on Amazon and Audible! More Gods Than Stars is socialist sword and sorcery progression fantasy starring a pair of wandering lady adventurers, set on a gas giant's habitable moon, featuring a mimic-based ecosystem, uncounted millions of gods ranging from ones for individual teakettles to gods of entire cities, a ridiculously complex magic-based economy in the vein of Max Gladstone's Craft Sequence, anime-inspired fight scenes, a trans deuteragonist (and plenty of other queer characters), a pseudomedieval megastructure arcology spreading uncontrollably across the landscape, and last but definitely not least, the god of counting flagstones.

"An incredibly imaginative adventure through the corrupt underbelly of a world-devouring and ever-expanding city and its gods-blessed inhabitants. Magical engineering, economics, divine blessings and human corruption combine into an adventure through a truly original setting."

Cameron Johnston, Author of Age of Tyranny & The Maleficent Seven

Art by Lukas Ketner, Cover Design by Virginia McClain

Thea is a washed-up mimic exterminator who expected more out of life, not some hero from stories. Aven is an impulsive wandering adventurer whose personal goddess is constantly getting her into trouble. Neither of them have the slightest interest in getting involved in world-shaking historical events. History doesn’t care what they want, unfortunately, and it’s fallen right into their laps in the shape of a godslaying weapon from a fallen civilization. Thrown together out of chance, Thea and Aven will have to learn to work together if they want to survive their pursuers. Because if they fail, and the weapon falls into the wrong hands? The results won’t be pretty. No one’s going to be using it on some random street corner goddess, teakettle god, or any of the other countless teeming millions of divinities on Ishveos. No, there’s one target that sits above all others. Cambrias, Whose Watch Never Ends. Cambrias, whose power has given rise to Cambrias’ Wall, the greatest city in the known multiverse- a city that has already covered much of a continent, and is strip mining entire mountain ranges for space and building material. A city that threatens to spread across the entire surface of Ishveos. And there’s no shortage of folks willing to kill Thea and Aven in order to stop the Wall, no matter the consequences.

I'm incredibly proud of this one- I spent years on the research behind its world, reading literally dozens of books on architecture, economics, leftist political theory, and theology. Though, for all that I genuinely tried to say something important with The City That Would Eat the World, I also did my best to keep it a fun, high-octane fantasy adventure- and I'm pretty dang confident I succeeded on that latter part. It draws heavily in inspiration from Terry Pratchett, China Mieville, and Max Gladstone; as well as the classic sword and sorcery adventure stories like Jirel of Joiry, Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, and their ilk. More Gods Than Stars is set in the same multiverse as my other books, the magic school series Mage Errant and the standalone epidemiological fantasy novel The Wrack, but you don't need to have read either of them to read this, or vice versa.

"The City That Would Eat The World is easily one of the most impressive books I've ever read. Not only has Bierce conjured up a hell of an adventure from page one, but he's also crafted a strange and gritty world with stunning depth, jammed it full of fantastic characters, then topped it all off with an explosive ending. The next book can't come soon enough."

Kyle Kirrin, author of The Ripple System

[atomic-chronoscaph]

Streams of Silver - art by Clyde Caldwell (1989)

[oldschoolfrp]

Frank Frazetta's Death Dealer novels by James Silke, Tor Books

Prisoner of the Horned Helmet (1988)

Lords of Destruction (1989)

Tooth and Claw (1989)

Plague of Knives (1990)

[thefugitivesaint]

Dorothy P. Lathrop (1891-1980), ''The Princess and Curdie'' by George MacDonald, 1946 Source

[gollancz]

Here it is! Our gorgeous cover for A FINE AND PRIVATE PLACE! It's out on the 12th October 2023, with a brand new introduction from @neil-gaiman (which got me all teary-eyed while I was proofing it, ngl). Obsessed with the sunset colours, obsessed with the stunning lineart by Borg, obsessed with how this is going to sit so perfectly next to our editions of THE LAST UNICORN and THE WAY HOME.

[pangurbanthewhite]

So if you're wondering where I've been for the past while, I've been WRITING A BOOK and that book is COMING OUT ON 2.28.2025!

"As the Devil Drives" is about a devil and a deserter breaking out of prison and going on a road trip, to investigate a magic academy that mysteriously closed its gates with students still trapped inside!

It's about a man trying to find out what happened to his sister and not even being sure she'll recognize him! It's about being autistic and finding commonality in unexpected places! It's about a world where your shadow self appears once a month and tries to kill you! And it's about being a bisexual disaster in more ways than one!

Described as "Journey to the West" meets "Elden Ring", I hope you'll look forward to it and check it out, coming to Itch and whatever other digital platforms I can get to cooperate!

[kjscottwrites]

I've been reading a pretty wide variety of both recently and not-recently published fantasy and I'm curious!

[ninawolv3rina]

✨Books✨

The beginning of a trilogy about a god of death and the world who has to put up with him

Book 1: A disaster bisexual convicted of stabbing a politician gets chosen to be Prophet of Death. The priesthood is… not thrilled. Get it here

Book 2: A retired assassin gets hired to find a cure for a young lord’s poisoned daughter. Along the way he meets a nonbinary bard with the power to change people’s emotions by touching them. Maybe they fall in love? :3 Get it here

You can read them out of order, as long as you read both before book 3 (which will come out 2025)!

Read the reviews here

Trigger warnings are listed in amazon descriptions.

[vino---delectable]

AHHHH.. He drunkenly asks her to kiss him!!!

[the-font-bandit]

Speaking of books, I guess now is a good time to mention that the paperback of my novel comes out this Tuesday, January 14, 2025.

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A fantasy novel about former gifted kid Tirne, whose life falls apart after a tragic accident with a holy artifact locks the world in eternal autumn.

As a priestess of the god of Autumn who was present at the scene, Tirne is accused of sabotage and must decide just how far she's willing to bend to prove her innocence, end the long autumn season, and get her life back.

She'll have some help along the way, including the God of Autumn himself, even as his time in the human world turns him slowly mortal and kindles a forbidden attraction to Tirne. The mysterious, alluring poisoner and blood mage Sidriel also agrees to aid Tirne, but he may have his own unknown motives.

As crops fail and starvation threatens, Tirne races to solve the crime, but may lose herself along the way.

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GET YOUR COPY HERE

[johnbierce]

Fantasy short story anthology time!

My new book, The Gorgon Incident and Other Stories: A Mage Errant Anthology, is out now on Amazon and Audible!

I absolutely love writing short stories. They push me as an author in ways that novels don't, and each one presents me with a unique, fascinating challenge. And, with this anthology, they allow me to explore parts of Anastis, the world of Mage Errant, in ways I couldn't in the main series. I get to travel to out-of-the-way corners, visit ordinary people to see how they get by in a world of giant monsters and ruthless archmages battling for control of petty territories, to explore secret conspiracies and legendary historical figures, and to flesh out Anastis' ecology, culture, and history.

If you haven't read Mage Errant yet, the first three ebooks are free for the next few days, and books four through six are on sale for $0.99 in the US and UK! Mage Errant is a completed, seven book magic school progression fantasy series, following the adventures of Hugh of Emblin as he goes from being a shy, neurodiversefailure of a student mage who struggles with anxiety and depression to being a shy, neurodiverse terrifying archmage who struggles with anxiety, depression, giant monsters, and magical superweapons. It features found family, giant monsters, a science-inspired hard magic system where you're as liable to run into hair or bismuth mages as fire mages, giant monsters, lots of queer characters, giant monsters (some of whom are also queer characters), kaijucratic systems of government, and sapient living cities. (Did I mention the giant monsters?)

The stories in the Gorgon Incident are written to be legible even to people who haven't read Mage Errant yet- though I think most people will get more out of them after reading the main series. The twenty-four stories, all originally published on my Patreon, span five centuries of history, from the last years of the Ithonian Empire up to the events of the series itself, even visiting another of Anastis' continents for the first time.

I also leaned hard into the science-inspired aspects of the setting with many of the stories, building what I like to call science puzzle stories, where the plot of the story revolves around the real-life behavior of various materials and natural processes, through a magical lens. (I had a lot of fun doing it, and it even let me include a whole additional appendix filled with notes on the science of the short stories- I love appendices.)

(Art by Aaron McConnell and Lee Moyer.)

A fugitive child finds shelter with a monster of legend. A mind-blind scholar outwits the mages who disdain him. A gold mage must secure a bank vault from a monster capable of obliterating entire cities. An aging basketweaver wakes up one morning to find a brand new river in front of her house. A palace-sized octopus seeks to defend his city from a living fortress of bone— if he can get his arms to cooperate.

In these twenty-four short stories set in the world of Mage Errant, John Bierce explores the murky depths of history, forgotten corners of Ithos and beyond, and the strangest reaches of magic itself.

Gorgon Incident US link Gorgon Incident UK link Gorgon Incident CA link Gorgon Incident AU link

Gorgon Incident Audible US link Gorgon Incident Audible UK link Gorgon Incident Audible CA link Gorgon Incident Audible AU link

Amazon US series page Amazon UK series page Amazon CA series page Amazon AU series page

[atomic-chronoscaph]

A Scattering of Jades - art by Guillaume Sorel (2006)

[gndewere1]

When Rachel Gillig wrote:

'Weariness was king, and I just servant.'

I felt that on a deeply personal level

[justsimpleaestetic]

[gollancz]

Brandon's only gone and done it again! Another Sunday Times bestseller, this time for THE SUNLIT MAN!

At this stage it's almost showing off.