Orcs by Stan Nicholls
The Wolverines are an elite Orc fighting unit bound to the service of an evil witch-queen. War rages between religious factions — those who follow the one god who places humans above the elder races (orcs, dwarves, trolls, etc.) and those, such as the Wolverines, who worship the old god. On a mission to secure a mysterious relic, the Wolverines discover a slim hope of salvation for all the elder races, but they must turn renegade to achieve it.
The shadowed brute on the cover of Orcs caught my eye, and it's got endorsements by great authors like David Gemmell and Tad Williams, but it was this teaser on the back cover that got me hook, line, and sinker:
There is fear and hatred in your eyes. To you I am a monster, a skulker in the sha... Read More
More books by Stan Nicholls
The Nightshade Chronicles — (1996-1998) Publisher: Nightshade was once the best warrior in Delgarvo. But defeat at the hands of the evil sorcerer, Avoch Dar, left him without his sword arm. Now Avoch Dar has returned and intends to lay Delgarvo to waste. Only Nightshade can stop him. But what use is a one-armed hero against such powerful sorcery?
The Dreamtime (Quicksilver) — (2003-2007) In the UK, these are known as The Quicksilver Trilogy and are titled Quicksilver Rising, Quicksilver Zenith, and Quicksilver Twilight. Publisher: In a land where magic defines the social order, the ruling tyrants alone control the most powerful sorcery … One of the last of a massacred race of warriors — an unparalleled swordsman magically afflicted by spells of blind, uncontrollable rage — Reeth Caldason wanders Bhealfa seeking vengeance … and freedom from his strange malady. Now word has come from a sorcerer’s apprentice of a mysterious Covenant in the capital city, a secretive society that may provide the escape Reeth desires. But forming an uneasy alliance with the youthful messenger could ultimately prove disastrous — for the road they must travel together leads into the sordid heart of a perilous conspiracy of treachery, tyranny, necromancy, and death.
Dark Skies — (1997) Publisher: Two young members of Kennedy’s office become involved in a top secret government mission to combat the covert invasion of Earth by an extraterrestrial intelligence.
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Stan Nicholls has been a reviewer and interviewer in the UK for more than 20 years. He writes a regular column for TIME OUT and contributes to both INTERZONE and STARBURST. Read excerpts of his novels at 
