I was in Boarders yesterday bent on finding a good science fiction or fantasy book, however, here are the things I'm looking for, but was not able to find:

1. Either a stand-alone book, a duology or a trilogy. I don't want to jump into some big saga and have tons of catch-up reading to do.
2. I enjoy either futuristic space stories or swords and magic. However, I do not like girly things like unicorns and the like.

I was eyeing The Blood Knight, but they didn't have books 1 and 2.

Any suggestions?