The Drop of a Hat

A powerful wizard and a lowly kobold experience a magical meeting of the minds in the first book of a comedic fantasy-adventure for fans of Terry Pratchett.

Absalom Scryne, the greatest wizard of his generation, has been murdered. There’s no other explanation for why his consciousness now resides in his well-worn but perfectly pointed hat.

Well, he isn’t going to take that lying down . . . or hanging from a branch, as the case may be. Instead, he’ll hop on the head of the first foul-smelling kobold that comes along and convince it that it’s in everyone’s best interests for them to undertake the epic journey through the Badlands—past horny necromancers, rustic werewolves, and rampaging ogres—back to the shining city of magic at the heart of civilization, where he will promptly kick the backside of whoever it was that finally managed to stab him in the back.

Assuming, that is, he can teach a kobold how to use magic, survive all the roaming adventurers who consider a kobold to be a very minor payday, and prevent anyone else from claiming the wealth of arcane knowledge that is now bound within the rather handsome piece of haberdashery that he has become.

Luke Chmilenko is the bestselling author of the Ascend Online series and other fan-favorite fantasy epics, including Iron Prince and the Hat Trick and Shattered Reigns series. He has become a cornerstone of the LitRPG and progression fantasy genres, known for crafting vast worlds and delivering high-stakes magic and combat. Luke lives in Ontario with his wife and two daughters, splitting his time between writing, gaming, and plotting new stories faster than his hands can keep up.

G. D. Penman is the author of more books than you can shake a reasonable-size stick at. Before finally realizing that his guidance counselor had lied about one’s not being able to make a living as an author, Penman worked as an editor, tabletop game designer, and literally every awful demeaning job that you can think of in between. Nowadays, he can mostly be found smoking a pipe in the sunshine and pretending that deadlines aren’t lurking behind him with a club. He lives in Dundee, Scotland, with his menagerie.