Single Books With An End

Single books with an end are getting harder to find in these days of seemingly never-ending series novels. Here are some of the books I have enjoyed greatly over the years. Most of them are out of print and to find them you will need to haunt the used book stores or use something like Barnes and Noble's out-of-print service. I hope you find something here that you haven't heard of before and can enjoy.

The Adventures of Hiram Holliday
Author: Paul Gallico
Synopsis: Adventures of an American newspaperman in Europe just prior to World War II. Funny, touching, exciting, and stunningly well written. If you have ever dreamed dreams of adventure, you should not miss this book. Few writers can touch you the way Gallico can.

The Anubis Gate
Author: Tim Powers
Synopsis: Modern science and ancient Egyptian wizardry combine to send our hero into the past in London. Body switching, evil clowns, desperate deeds, and still more time travel make this book quite a ride. One of the best by an author with a somewhat different approach.

Bridge of Birds
Author: Barry Hughart
Synopsis: A novel of a China that never was. High adventure in a fantasy China of roughly the 6th century a.d. A first class read.

The Cowboy and the Cossack
Author: Clair Huffaker
Synopsis: Adventures of a small group of Montana cowboys and an equal group of Cossacks taking a herd of Longhorns from Valdivostok across Siberia a free cossack town. Told first person by one of the cowbows. Funny, touching, and altogether wonderful.

The Forgotten Beasts of Eld
Author: Patricia A. McKillip
Synopsis: Meet the sorceress Sybel and her collection of fabulous beasts as she learns the meaning of hate, deception, intrigue, war and betrayal. A magnificent book.

Gerfalcon
Author: Leslie Barringer
Synopsis: A novel of the high middle ages with some minor fantasy elements. Complex characters, desperate deeds, and all well written. What more can you say.

The Grey Mane of Morning
Author: Joy Chant
Synopsis: A tale of nomads in conflict with the settled people around them. Set in the same world as her Red Moon and Black Mountain but thousands of years earlier.

Grey Maiden
Author: Arthur D. Howden Smith
Synopsis: A collection of stories about a sword. "Grey Maiden" was the first iron sword and embodies the spirit of all swords. There's nothing else quite like these stories. The collection I have ranges from the battle of Marathon to the Spanish Armada, each written in a style compatable with the era of the story.

The Harp and the Blade
Author: John Myers Myers
Synopsis: Adventure in 11th century Brittany with a wandering Irish bard. Some good song poetry that should be set to music. A solid feel for the era and good writing.

Looking For Dilmun
Author: George Bibby
Synopsis: Bibby is an archaeologist and this is the non-fiction story of a Danish archaeology expedition to the island of Bahrain in search of the ancient but little known civilization of Dilmun. It makes for fascinating reading for anyone interested in ancient times or archaeology in general.

Nada the Lily
Author: H. Rider Haggard
Synopsis: Books like "King Solomon's Mines" by Haggard are more well known, but Nada is perhaps the best book he wrote. A tale of the Zulu people under Chaka. There are some fantasy elements but it's basically a story of dreadful doings and revenge that is quite gripping.

The Night Land
Author: William Hope Hodgson
Synopsis: Another book unlike pretty much anything else. A narrative of a step-by-step journey across a grim landscape in the far future after the sun has gone out. The writing is a bit clumsy but the power of the story comes through anyway.

The Night Life of the Gods
Author: Thorne Smith
Synopsis: An odd but hysterically funny and sometimes touchingly sad novel of the Greek gods lose in New York during prohibition times. You won't regret reading this one.

The Old Man and the Boy
Author: Robert Ruark
Synopsis: A book about growing up hunting and fishing in the rural south of the United States during prohibition. Not politically correct but a heck of a good read and a look at a different society than most of us are used to these days.

The Princess Bride
Author: William Goldman
Synopsis: Read the book, see the movie which is just possibly the best adaption of a movie ever made. Humor, great swordfights, pirates, torture, miracles, rodents of unusual size, and many other things. This book has it all.

Red Adam's Lady
Author: Grace Ingram
Synopsis: A historical novel about the time of Henry II in England. It looks like, but is not, a bodice ripper. The author has all of her historical details smack-on and it is a fine read with a very good feel for the time.

Slim
Author: William Wister Haines
Synopsis: Maybe the best book about a working man ever written. It's about line work in the 1930's which doesn't sound exciting but is.

The White Company
Author: Arthur Conan Doyle
Synopsis: The adventures of a small company of English longbowmen during the time of the Black Prince in medieval Europe. Doyle is more famous for the Sherlock Holmes stories but he considered this his best novel.

The Worm Ouroborus
Author: E. R. Eddison
Synopsis: The language can be a bit difficult but it's grand high fantasy with some of the best battle scenes ever written.