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As always, this is not a comprehensive list, but only includes all the books I have heard about so far.
If you have a fantasy novel you are self publishing in July or beyond, let me know by filling out THIS FORM, and I shall add it to the page. There are but 3 requirements:
1) It must be a self published fantasy novel.
2) It must have a Goodreads page.
3) It must have a cover.
1st July – In the Shadow of Kings (A Time of Dragons #2) by Philip C. Quaintrell
Epic Fantasy
![shadow of kings](https://usercontent.one/wp/www.robjhayes.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/shadow-of-kings.jpg)
ONLY ONE CAN END THE WAR.
HE STANDS BETWEEN TWO WORLDS, A SAVIOUR AND A DESTROYER TO BOTH.
DRAGONS AND AEGRES WILL FALL.
BUT ONE CAN TURN THE TIDE.
One who stands in the shadow of kings. Such has been seen by the doomed. The weight of ten thousand lives and all the realm besides now sits on Joran’s shoulders. So much has already been sacrificed to bring him to the ancient doors of Drakanan, where he might take on the mantle of Dragon Rider and usher in a new age of heroes.
But a time of dragons is not all that has been seen…
The days are shadowed by approaching night. The war to devour all wars has come again. He who lies entombed in the dark will rise and the fires with him. Death cannot hold him.
The Skaramangians hold to this, their fingers pulling the strings of war to hide their dark deeds. In past and present they work towards a future that will reset the world. Evil will be made manifest in that world, and there remains no power in all of Verda capable of preventing it.
And so the few, those who would be heroes, must take the road to madness if they are to prepare for the inevitable war. It is not a road they can all survive…
1st July – The Grandmaster’s Gamble (The Nightwyrm’s Resurgence #1) by Paul G. Zareith
Sci-Fantasy, Horror
![grandmaster's gamble](https://usercontent.one/wp/www.robjhayes.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/grandmasters-gamble.jpg)
An unparalleled academic genius of his generation – Norman has a bright future ahead. While he may be the rising star of the famed Illustrious Academy, in the brutally competitive Irvanian socio-political landscape, opportunist vultures lurk at every corner and no tactic is too low.
The biggest obstacle in the way of his grand ambitions though, is an ancient alien parasite that has made his body its nest. Oh, and there is also the problem of a high profile murder investigation that is likely to destroy his career.
Will Norman be able to reassert control over his life? Or will he succumb in his pursuit of the forgotten arts of soul harvesting and become something else… Find out in this grimdark cyberpunk fantasy.
Sometimes being the best among the best is still not good enough.
1st July – Shadow of Hope (Shadow Knights #6) by Michael Webb
Epic Fantasy
![shadow of hope](https://usercontent.one/wp/www.robjhayes.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/shadow-of-hope.jpg)
In a battle for the kingdom, only one can win.
In the thrilling conclusion to the Shadow Knights series, Lia finds herself imprisoned in the caverns, fighting insurmountable odds to regain her freedom. She battles not only the dangers lurking in the dark but also the hopelessness that threatens to overwhelm her.
Meanwhile, the surviving Shadow Knights work to thwart Danik’s sinister ambitions and his growing thirst for power. In a desperate attempt at victory, the knights form alliances to protect their kingdom from falling into the clutches of darkness.
Amidst the growing danger and looming defeat, hope flickers, driving Lia and the Shadow Knights forward in their quest for victory. Will hope prevail in the face of adversity, or will the knights be eliminated once and for all?
6th July – The Wolf of Wilmore Manor by Kieran Weisenberg
Horror
![wolf of wilmore](https://usercontent.one/wp/www.robjhayes.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/wolf-of-wilmore.jpg)
A wolf lurks among them.
When nine strangers are invited to a remote mansion for a supernatural weekend getaway, mystery is bound to follow. The guests arrive to find their host dead. Murdered by a werewolf…or so it seems. In the black halls of Wilmore Manor, nothing is certain.
As suspicions rise, and bodies pile up, those left standing are faced with a terrible proposition: find the killer, solve the puzzle, or submit to perishing themselves.
7th July – Magic Kingdom at War #3 by Tao Wong
LitRPG
![magi kingdom](https://usercontent.one/wp/www.robjhayes.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/magi-kingdom.jpg)
One throw of the dice to win it all
Matt’s in trouble now. The enemy lord has tricked him into over-extending, forcing Matt’s Hero to retreat in disarray. Now, there’s nothing stopping the enemy from launching an attack against his fort, nothing but a few last wood elemental units and Irvine himself.
There’s a path to victory here, he’s certain. But it’s a risky one, and after dying once, Matt’s finding it hard to find the courage to roll the dice again.
9th July – Herald (Age of the God Eater #1 – The God Eater Saga) by Rob J. Hayes
Epic Fantasy
![GE - Herald-Cover_eBook-small](https://usercontent.one/wp/www.robjhayes.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/GE-Herald-Cover_eBook-small.jpg)
A thousand years ago, humanity’s greatest heroes killed God.
Now, under the brutal rule of warrior-kings, the land of Helesia has fallen to chaos. Demons stalk the deep forests, monsters roam free of their prisons beneath the World Vein, and ancient terrors rise again.
History is written in blood, but the future will be forged in holy fire…
Renira Washer lives the dreary life of a laundry girl, dreaming of adventure. When a stranger from her mother’s past appears with a dire warning, Renira’s peaceful life is shattered and she’s thrown headfirst into a millennia old war between Heaven and earth. In Renira’s blood, hides a secret: the angels are not all gone.
Only the Herald can ring in the Fifth Age.
Only the Herald can bring the God back to life.
11th July – Murder on Hunter’s Eve (The Lamplight Murder Mysteries #3) by Morgan Stang
Gaslamp
![muder on hunters eve](https://usercontent.one/wp/www.robjhayes.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/muder-on-hunters-eve.jpg)
A werewolf terrorizes the city of Lamplight!
It’s the week of Hunter’s Eve, a yearly celebration of monsters, ghosts, and things that go bump in the night. But for Huntress Isabeau Agarwal, the event is a stark reminder that in her line of work, there is never a day’s rest.
Murders rock the city, and Isabeau is charged with solving them before the killer strikes again. One, a macabre accident during a dangerous magician’s trick gone awry. The other, a slain politician, his disfigured body displayed atop Lamplight’s most memorable landmark.
The deaths are seemingly unrelated, until Isabeau learns both magician and politician belong to the same mysterious social club filled with powerful paragons of the city, each with their own hidden agendas—each with a reason to kill.
And during it all, a werewolf stalks the streets, bounding from rooftop to rooftop and claiming the lives of innocent citizens. As Isabeau uncovers the city’s secrets, complications the monster and the murders may be connected.
The magician. The police chief. The Ethereal Maiden. The professor. The criminal kingpin. The industrialist.
One may be a killer. One may be a werewolf. All are hiding something.
11th July – Throne of Blood (Battleborn Mage #3) by Angel Haze
Epic Fantasy, Sword & Sorcery
![throne of blood](https://usercontent.one/wp/www.robjhayes.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/throne-of-blood.jpg)
Amid the king’s death, magic storms rage, spreading fear against the mages.
Killien will stop at nothing until he finds his sister, Fate. Her magic is both feared and hunted by mages, soldiers, assassins and the new king alike. His sister has a power like no other—chaotic and destructive, it makes her a danger to everyone around her. If she were to fall into the wrong hands—such as the tyrannical mage Killien believes may have kidnapped her—Fate could be turned into a devastating weapon.
With her magic growing ever stronger, magic storms rage across Vendragon, destroying towns and villages. Fear of magic is spreading, and a war is brewing. Killien must find Fate before she kills or is killed, spurring a nationwide bloodshed.
The only way to find her is to follow the destructive trail of her uncontrolled magic and into the eye of the storm.
16th July – The Fire Eye Hunted (The Fire Eye #3) by Samuel Gately
Epic Fantasy
![fire eye hunted](https://usercontent.one/wp/www.robjhayes.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/fire-eye-hunted.jpg)
As the Fire Eye draws open above, the city of Celest lies on the brink of collapse. Kay the fetch is locked in a struggle to keep her powerful magic a secret even as pressure mounts from the highest levels for her to track down a missing girl—one who isn’t what she seems. The nights have grown long, dark, and dangerous, and they hide more than just Kay’s secret. From the deepest shadows, hunters have entered Celest, intent on destroying all Kay has built and tirelessly defended. Unearthing their intent and surviving their attention will take everything she has, and more.
17th July – The Famine Cycle BOXSET by J.D.L. Rosell
Epic Fantasy, Sword & Sorcery
![famine cycle](https://usercontent.one/wp/www.robjhayes.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/famine-cycle.jpg)
A roguish sorceress. An ancient dragon god. The war over a dying world…
Airene the Finch is a scrappy peddler of rumors, accustomed to eking out a living among the shadows. But fate has grander plans for her…
When the king is assassinated and her brother vanishes without a trace, Airene is thrust into a perilous journey.
To save her brother and unravel the mystery of the king’s death, Airene must embrace a destiny she never imagined—as a warden, a master of sorcery, and a pivotal figure in the survival of the Four Realms.
But wielding such power comes at a dire cost, and every secret she uncovers demands a greater sacrifice…
In a world teetering on the brink of ruin, Airene’s choices will shape the future of kingdoms and the balance of divine forces. Can she defy the will of a god, or will the price of her secrets be too steep to pay?
17th July – The Sword of the Elves by Luis Falcao de Magalhaes
Sword & Sorcery
![sword of the elves](https://usercontent.one/wp/www.robjhayes.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/sword-of-the-elves.jpg)
Frida d’Armand was once the most dreaded swordswoman of the Circle Sea.
Now war has taken everything from her ship, her crew, her lover.
Hope is rekindled when a sorcerous tome transports her to a hidden valley halfway across the continent. There, she finds the love she thought dead—alive and unharmed.
But she has traded one prison for another, for a mighty enchantment secures the valley’s borders, making escape impossible… and often fatal.
When the pair tries to break the spell, they are caught and taken to the lost kingdom of the elves, where they meet the young and ambitious mage Sandelar Seidhanna.
The elf offers them a help him steal the magical artifact powering the valley’s enchantment, and he will send them home.
Yet the artifact is hidden deep within an ancient elven temple, and guarded by more than steel, trap, and spell…
It has a will of its own, and the shadow it casts threatens to consume Frida and her companions long before the journey’s end.
19th July – The Thief and the Wild by Seann Barbour
Steampunk, Sci-Fantasy, Gaslamp
![thief and the wild](https://usercontent.one/wp/www.robjhayes.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/thief-and-the-wild.png)
New Alms is a city of sin and vice, populated by all manner of criminals. The ruling Cerenite priests can barely keep order; not that they—or anyone else for that matter—ever try too hard. It’s a den of cutthroats and thieves, and there ain’t many thieves out there as talented or as skilled as Jackson Balor.
When Jackson’s hired by a priest to steal an old mask, he thinks it’s just another job. But that’s before he sees the blasphemous shrine it’s housed in, before he starts getting followed around by bugs and birds and three-eyed cats, before he finds out that the mask was a vessel for the Wild God Ferengris, and that by filching it, he’s invited the Enemy of Civilization to take up residence inside his head.
Now to save his own mind, Jackson’s gonna have to team up with the very Wild cult he stole the mask from and take it back from the Cerenite Temple. But the priests have their own plans for the Wild God’s artifact. They have their own ambitions for New Alms—and Jackson’s about to learn that there ain’t no room in their design for no-good criminal scum like him.
23rd July – Deathless (Annals of the God Eater #1 – The God Eater Saga) by Rob J. Hayes
Epic Fantasy
![GE -Deathless-Cover_eBook-small](https://usercontent.one/wp/www.robjhayes.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/GE-Deathless-Cover_eBook-small.jpg)
Seven were the Godless Kings who took their war to Heaven.
King Ertide Hostain was once known as the Crimson Prince. He fought side by side with angels and pegasi and defended the Sant Dien Empire against monsters. But his pact with Heaven has become strained. He has grown old, his body rots, and he has yet to choose which squabbling prince will be his heir.
The Hostain dynasty has ruled over the empire for millennia, but when Ertide finds cryptic notes from his dead father, he realises not all is as it seems. Has history been rewritten? And if so, what is heaven hiding?
Immortality has a price, and it is paid in blood.
23rd July – The Bartender Between Worlds (Greatest in the Multiverse #1) by Herman Steuernagal
Cozy Fantasy
![Untitled-3](https://usercontent.one/wp/www.robjhayes.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/bartender-worlds.jpg)
Low-stakes magic, crafting cocktails, and discovering the power of who we truly are.
Emma grew up as a Hunter of the Cursed—those charged with eradicating monsters and magic from the Kingdom. She’s good at it too and is revered as one of the King’s most skilled hunters. At least she was—until she discovered she possessed magic herself.
Before anyone else can discover her secret, Emma abandons her post and flees to the far edge of the Kingdom, where she hopes she can settle down and live a quiet life as a bartender, out of the Hunters’ watchful eye.
Fate, however, won’t allow us to run away from who we are so easily.
When Emma is confronted by an exiled fairy and a man who claims to be a scientist (though Emma is convinced he’s a sorcerer), she must evaluate what she believes and the confines of who she’s been allowed to be.
Pulled on a journey that takes her further than she’d ever imagined possible, Emma is led on an adventure to discover where her fate lies and must confront her own biases, hopefully learning a drink recipe or two along the way.
30th July – Unfamiliared by J.E. Hannaford
Cozy Fantasy
![unfamiliared](https://usercontent.one/wp/www.robjhayes.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/unfamiliared.jpg)
After watching all Witchgorn’s familiars disappear through a portal, Eva Eclipse has to face the fact that she has lost all her protectorate’s familiars just before they host the magical inter village games, along with her chance at competing for the first time.
With no idea who stole them, and no way to work it out before the games begin, the protectorate might be facing a harmless prank, or something far more nefarious.
Can the village of Witchgorn pull together to get through a competition where they are the only competitors not using magic? And will Eva find more than a chance to compete as her need to find a fake familiar brings an old friendship back into her life.