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Jorvik
by Sheelagh KellyA thrilling tale of love, war and one man's quest to reclaim his home – the great Viking city of JorvikBorn into a massacre, Viking Sigurd Einarsson is brought up in exile in Norway, filled with a consuming hatred for King Ethelred who butchered his father and siblings. He swears that never again will a descendant of Ethelred wear the English crown.On a raid into Ireland he captures the enigmatic Una, and besotted, plans to marry her. But his mother Ragnhild intervenes with her own choice of bride and causes a tragedy that will alter Sigurd’s life forever.And when Ethelred's son is appointed King, Sigurd must finally decide if he is an Englishman or Viking…Perfect for fans of Bernard Cornwell and Conn Iggulden, this is an epic adventure of Viking Britain.
Night of the Animals: A Novel
by Bill BrounIn this imaginative debut, the tale of Noah’s Ark is brilliantly recast as a story of fate and family, set in a near-future London.Over the course of a single night in 2052, a homeless man named Cuthbert Handley sets out on an astonishing quest: to release the animals of the London Zoo. When he was a young boy, Cuthbert’s grandmother had told him he inherited a magical ability to communicate with the animal world—a gift she called the Wonderments. Ever since his older brother’s death in childhood, Cuthbert has heard voices. These maddening whispers must be the Wonderments, he believes, and recently they have promised to reunite him with his lost brother and bring about the coming of a Lord of Animals . . . if he fulfills this curious request.Cuthbert flickers in and out of awareness throughout his desperate pursuit. But his grand plan is not the only thing that threatens to disturb the collective unease of the city. Around him is greater turmoil, as the rest of the world anxiously anticipates the rise of a suicide cult set on destroying the world’s animals along with themselves.Meanwhile, Cuthbert doggedly roams the zoo, cutting open the enclosures, while pressing the animals for information about his brother. Just as this unlikely yet loveable hero begins to release the animals, the cult’s members flood the city’s streets. Has Cuthbert succeeded in harnessing the power of the Wonderments, or has he only added to the chaos—and sealed these innocent animals’ fates?Night of the Animals is an enchanting and inventive tale that explores the boundaries of reality, the ghosts of love and trauma, and the power of redemption.
Silent Storm (Quantum Men Ser. #2)
by Amanda StevensHE WAS THE MOST EXTRAORDINARY MALEThe kind a small-town girl like Marly Jessop had rarely—if ever—seen in the flesh. Deacon Cage arrived in Mission Creek, Texas, like a specter in the night, stealthy and secretive. And his ability to stir Marly’s feminine senses was like no other man’s….But she didn’t have time for female fantasies. As local deputy, Marly had her hands full with a rash of suspicious suicides. Could there be a link between them and the killer Deacon came to catch? And would Marly survive her run-in with the desirable Deacon?
Trouble No Man: A Novel
by Brian HartAmerican War meets Into the Wild in Brian Hart’s epic saga of one man’s struggle to survive a hostile world—tracing his path from a self-destructive, skateboarding youth in the 90s to the near future as he journeys across a desolate, militia-controlled American West to find his missing family—perfect for fans of Edan Lepuki and Cormac McCarthy.In the America of a near future, northern California and the Pacific Northwest have become a desolate wasteland controlled by violent separatist militias and marked by a lack of water and fuel. In a village outside Reno, a middle-aged man visits an undertaker and gathers the ashes of his dead wife to bring to Alaska. There, their children await them—refugees from the destruction of the south. To reach his only remaining family, the man must cross the treacherous, violent landscape north by bike, his dog his only companion. Thirty years earlier, we meet Roy Bingham. After a rough-and-tumble childhood, Roy is numbing himself with skateboarding, drugs, and sex, when he meets Karen. Sassy, soulful, and arresting, Karen pulls Roy into her orbit until she decides to give up their nomadic lifestyle to put down roots in her hometown of Loyalton, California. Roy’s fidelity buckles under the commitment and after a boozy night in Reno he leaves Karen for the road and skateboarding.Flashing back and forth in time across four decades in the life of a man who is lost even when he’s found, Trouble No Man delivers a resonant story of survival, violence, and family, set against the tumult of an America on the precipice of becoming an unfree nation.
Census: A Novel
by Jesse BallAfter a devastating revelation, a father and son journey across a tapestry of towns in award–winning author Jesse Ball’s thought-provoking novel Census.When a widower learns he doesn’t have long left to live, he wonders who will care for his adult son whom he fiercely loves—a son with Down syndrome. With no recourse in mind and a desire to see the country, the man becomes a census taker for a mysterious governmental bureau and takes his son on the trip. Traveling into the country, through towns named only by ascending letters of the alphabet, father and son encounter a wide range of human experience. While some townspeople welcome them into their homes, others who bear the physical brand of past censuses on their ribs are wary of their presence. Pressing toward the edges of civilization, the landscape grows wilder, and the towns grow farther apart and more blighted by industrial decay. As they approach “Z,” the man confronts a series of questions: What is the purpose of the census? Is he complicit in its mission? And just how will he learn to say good-bye to his son? Mysterious and evocative, Census is a novel about free will, grief, the power of memory, and the ferocity of parental love. “A vital testament to selfless love; a psalm to commonplace miracles; and a mysterious evolving metaphor. So kind, it aches.” —David Mitchell“[Jesse Ball] has combined Kafka’s paranoia with Whitman’s earnest American grain to found a fictional kingdom of genial doom and melancholia.” —New York Times“Truly otherworldly writing in the best ways that Borges and Calvino have shown to be possible.” —Forbes
Executive Bodyguard: The Enforcers (The Enforcers #2)
by Debra WebbHer husband returns from the dead—with superhuman strength. Second in the series featuring operatives who have been made smarter, stronger—and sexier.Caroline Winters, the first woman elected president, knew her term wouldn’t be easy. Then, months into her office, her husband tragically died in a plane crash—and she began receiving bone-chilling phone calls . . . Now, suddenly, Justin Winters had returned. And when the threats on her life began, like an executive bodyguard, Justin performed feats of superhuman skill to protect her. And as the danger escalated around them, it seemed less daunting than facing the feelings provoked by the tender touch of the stranger with her husband’s face . . .
Marvel Super Heroes: Secret Wars (Marvel Universe Novels)
by Alex IrvineMarvel&’s greatest heroes and villains battle for survival across the galaxy on an unknown planet in this prose adaptation of the classic graphic novel. In a flash of light, Earth&’s mightiest heroes find themselves aboard a mysterious spaceship in an unfamiliar galaxy alongside a ship filled with their deadliest foes. They have been summoned to the strange planet known as Battleworld by an omnipotent cosmic entity, the Beyonder. His message is simple: &“Slay your enemies and all you desire shall be yours . . .&” The only hope the Avengers, the X-Men, Spider-Man, and the Fantastic Four have now is to prepare for a fight. But who among this murderers&’ row of villainy poses the greatest threat? Is it the powerful Magneto? The manipulative Molecule Man? The world-eater, Galactus? Kang the Conqueror? Ultron, the robot whose only desire is to kill all life? Maybe it&’s the enigmatic Beyonder? Or perhaps they should worry about what plans Doctor Doom has up his sleeve. With so many questions to answer, only one thing is certain: the battle royale begins now . . .
Anything You Say Can and Will Be Used Against You: Stories
by Laurie Lynn DrummondThis riveting debut collection of short fiction about women cops comes from the author's real–life experience as a Baton Rouge police officer. In an entirely fresh and unique voice, these stories reveal the humanity, compassion, humour, tragedy and redemption hidden behind the "blue wall." Anything You Say Can and Will Be Used Against You centres on the lives of five female police officers. Each woman's story–like each call in a police officer's day–varies in its unique drama, but all the tales illuminate the tenuous line between life and death, violence and control, despair and salvation. Because the stories come from the author's own experience, they open a curtain on the truth behind the job–how officers are trained to deal with the smell of death, how violence clings to a crime scene long after the crime is committed, how the police determine when to engage in or diffuse violence, why some people make it from the academy to the force and some don't, and all the friendships, romances, and dramas that happen along the way. It illuminates not only how officers feel while they are in uniform, holding their guns, but also what they feel after they go home and put those guns aside.
The Savage Girl
by Alex Shakar“A crystalline satire of a preening media elite too exhausted with pillaging the minds of consumers to notice the collapsing world around them” (Kirkus).What is the next trend—the next “killer app”? This question is very much on the mind of Ursula Van Urden, a burned-out art student who, after her supermodel sister Ivy’s widely publicized suicide attempt, has found work as a trendspotter for Tomorrow, Ltd., in the volcano-shadowed metropolis of Middle City. Armed with only a sketch pad and a mandate to “find the future,” Ursula discovers a homeless girl who hunts her own food and lives on the street. This “savage girl” becomes Ursula’s first trend and the basis for an advertising scheme that goes madly, disastrously awry.An exceptionally written novel that puts an obsession with pop culture under the microscope, The Savage Girl is a book that cannot be ignored, and Alex Shakar is a writer brimming with talent.Praise for The Savage GirlA New York Times Notable Book“An exceptionally smart and likable first novel that tries valiantly to ransom Beauty from its commercial captors.” —Jonathan Franzen“A brutally funny first novel that skewers America’s marketing mentality and fractured consciousness.” —Time Out (New York)“It’s exciting to meet a new novelist who’s not afraid of heights.” —New York Times Book Review“The most sensitive, observant, and shrewdest of writers are preternaturally attuned to the undercurrents that twist and warp society, and Shakar, a seer with extraordinary literary skills and a piquant sense of humor, will join the ranks of Goerge Orwell, Aldous Huxley, and Tom Wolfe.” —Chicago Tribune
The Dark: Ghost Stories
by Tanith Lee Lucius Shepard Charles L. Grant Joyce Carol Oates Ramsey Campbell Jeffrey Ford Kelly Link Daniel Abraham Kathe Koja Terry Dowling Stephen Gallagher Jack Cady Glen Hirshberg Sharyn McCrumb Gahan Wilson Mike O'DriscollThis award-winning horror anthology is the &“yardstick by which future ghost fiction will be measured&”—featuring Tanith Lee, Joyce Carol Oates, and others (Publishers Weekly, starred review). Award-winning anthologist Ellen Datlow—praised by William Gibson as &“the genre&’s sharpest assembler of strange, dark fictions&”—is determined to prove that ghost stories still possess the power to chill modern readers to the marrow. So she reached out to a list of varied and talented authors and invited them to scare the heck out of her. The resulting anthology redefines the ghost story, venturing beyond the accustomed tropes and into horror&’s true realm: the unknown. The Dark takes a nuanced and disquieting look at the tormented and unquiet dead; the darkness in us, the living; and the sometimes tenuous boundary between the two. Under the covers of The Dark, you will find a gathering of sixteen unique ghost stories, deftly penned by authors versed in the argot of the damned, including Ramsey Campbell, Jeffrey Ford, Glen Hirshberg, Kelly Link, Sharyn McCrumb, Lucius Shepard, and Gahan Wilson. This is the stuff nightmares are made of.Winner of the International Horror Guild Award for Best Anthology of the Year
Corporate Gunslinger: A Novel
by Doug EngstromDoug Engstrom imagines a future all too terrifying—and all too possible—in this eerie, dystopic speculative fiction debut about corporate greed, debt slavery, and gun violence that is as intense and dark as Stephen King’s The Long Walk.Like many Americans in the middle of the 21st century, aspiring actress Kira Clark is in debt. She financed her drama education with loans secured by a “lifetime services contract.” If she defaults, her creditors will control every aspect of her life. Behind on her payments and facing foreclosure, Kira reluctantly accepts a large signing bonus to become a corporate gunfighter for TKC Insurance. After a year of training, she will take her place on the dueling fields that have become the final, lethal stop in the American legal system. Putting her MFA in acting to work, Kira takes on the persona of a cold, intimidating gunslinger known as “Death’s Angel.” But just as she becomes the most feared gunfighter in TKC’s stable, she’s severely wounded during a duel on live video, shattering her aura of invincibility. A series of devastating setbacks follow, forcing Kira to face the truth about her life and what she’s become. When the opportunity to fight another professional for a huge purse arises, Kira sees it as a chance to buy a new life . . . or die trying.Structured around a chilling duel, Corporate Gunslinger is a modern satire that forces us to confront the growing inequalities in our society and our penchant for guns and bloodshed, as well as offering a visceral look at where we may be heading—far sooner than we know.
They Walked Like Men
by Clifford D. SimakA reporter uncovers a terrifying conspiracy, in this thrilling classic from a Science Fiction Grand Master. After a night out on the town, Parker Graves returns home to life-threatening danger. The science reporter for the local newspaper barely misses a bear trap sitting on his doorstep. Then, the object transforms into what looks like a bowling ball and rolls off into the night all by itself. He begins to obsess over the question—Who put the trap there? And why? The following day, there is strange news floating around at the newspaper office. Someone with limitless funds is buying up hundreds of homes and businesses, only to close them up and tear them down. People are running out of places to live and to work. Suddenly, Parker finds himself in the middle of a story nobody will believe . . . Aliens? Dolls that walk like people? Talking dogs? With a little help from a fellow reporter and an unusual visitor, Parker just might be able to put a stop to this mess—if he survives. &“Some surprising jolts of violence and mayhem and a goodly dollop of cosmic paranoia.&” —Fantasy Literature
Blood and Other Cravings: Stories Of Vampirism
by Barry N. Malzberg Lisa Tuttle Bill Pronzini John Langan Elizabeth Bear Carol Emshwiller Kathe Koja Margo Lanagan Laird Barron Kaaron Warren Melanie Tem Steve Rasnic Tem Barbara Roden Steve Duffy Reggie Oliver Richard Bowes Michael Cisco Nicole J. LeBoeufA collection of &“mesmerizing tales, each one creepier than the next&” that go beyond the traditional vampire myths (Library Journal). When we think of vampires, an image instantly arises: fangs sunk deep into the throat of the victim. But bloodsucking is merely one form of vampirism. For this brilliantly original anthology, multiple award-winning editor Ellen Datlow solicited stories from many of the most powerfully dark voices in contemporary horror, who conjure tales that will chill readers to the marrow. In addition to the traditional fanged creatures, Datlow presents stories about the leeching of emotion, the draining of the soul, and other dark deeds of predation and exploitation, infestation, and evisceration . . . tales of life essence, literal or metaphorical, stolen. Seventeen stories by such acclaimed authors as Elizabeth Bear, Richard Bowes, Kathe Koja, Margo Lanagan, Carol Emshwiller, and Lisa Tuttle redefine the terror of vampirism.
Iron Man: Extremis
by Marie JavinsIn this prose adaptation of the classic graphic novel, Tony Stark selects a dangerous upgrade for Iron Man to tackle a deadly new enemy. After revealing his secret identity as Iron Man, Tony Stark aims to engineer a better world. He is shifting the focus of Stark Industries from destructive weapons to life-improving technologies. With his revelation and his plan, Tony expects fame and adulation but he is only going to get more trouble . . After suffering a tragic, public failure, Tony knows he must improve Iron Man if he ever hopes to defeat a devastating new threat. One solution is a potentially lethal techno-organic virus known as Extremis. It will grant Tony more power than he has ever known—and test his spirit to the breaking point . . . Adapted from the graphic novel by Warren Ellis and Adi Granov.Praise for Iron Man: Extremis&“Javins is a masterful writer when it comes to convincing the reader of the sensory details of travel, of locations and their character, and even more adept at portraying characters in a psychologically realistic way. . . . The dialogue is as sharp, appealing, and funny as the films are known for, and are windows into character personality as well.&” —The Beat
The Luminous Dead: A Novel
by Caitlin StarlingBram Stoker Award nominee for Best First Novel!"This claustrophobic, horror-leaning tour de force is highly recommended for fans of Jeff VanderMeer’s Annihilation and Andy Weir’s The Martian." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)The thrilling, atmospheric debut from the author of The Death of Jane Lawrence, a novel with the intensive drive of The Martian and Gravity and the creeping dread of Annihilation, in which a caver on a foreign planet finds herself on a terrifying psychological and emotional journey for survival.When Gyre Price lied her way into this expedition, she thought she’d be mapping mineral deposits, and that her biggest problems would be cave collapses and gear malfunctions. She also thought that the fat paycheck—enough to get her off-planet and on the trail of her mother—meant she’d get a skilled surface team, monitoring her suit and environment, keeping her safe. Keeping her sane.Instead, she got Em.Em sees nothing wrong with controlling Gyre’s body with drugs or withholding critical information to “ensure the smooth operation” of her expedition. Em knows all about Gyre’s falsified credentials, and has no qualms using them as a leash—and a lash. And Em has secrets, too . . .As Gyre descends, little inconsistencies—missing supplies, unexpected changes in the route, and, worst of all, shifts in Em’s motivations—drive her out of her depths. Lost and disoriented, Gyre finds her sense of control giving way to paranoia and anger. On her own in this mysterious, deadly place, surrounded by darkness and the unknown, Gyre must overcome more than just the dangerous terrain and the Tunneler which calls underground its home if she wants to make it out alive—she must confront the ghosts in her own head.But how come she can’t shake the feeling she’s being followed?
Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution
by R. F KuangInstant #1 New York Times Bestseller from the author of The Poppy War “Absolutely phenomenal. One of the most brilliant, razor-sharp books I've had the pleasure of reading that isn't just an alternative fantastical history, but an interrogative one; one that grabs colonial history and the Industrial Revolution, turns it over, and shakes it out.” -- Shannon Chakraborty, bestselling author of The City of BrassFrom award-winning author R. F. Kuang comes Babel, a thematic response to The Secret History and a tonal retort to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell that grapples with student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of language and translation as the dominating tool of the British empire.Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal.1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he’ll enroll in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation—also known as Babel.Babel is the world's center for translation and, more importantly, magic. Silver working—the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation using enchanted silver bars—has made the British unparalleled in power, as its knowledge serves the Empire’s quest for colonization.For Robin, Oxford is a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge obeys power, and as a Chinese boy raised in Britain, Robin realizes serving Babel means betraying his motherland. As his studies progress, Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to stopping imperial expansion. When Britain pursues an unjust war with China over silver and opium, Robin must decide…Can powerful institutions be changed from within, or does revolution always require violence?
The Chaos Function
by Jack SkillingsteadA reporter tries to cheat death and jeopardizes the fate of millions in this science fiction thriller by the author of The Whole Mess and Other Stories.Olivia Nikitas, a hardened journalist whose specialty is war zones, has been reporting from the front lines of the civil war in Aleppo, Syria. When Brian, an aid worker she reluctantly fell in love with, dies while following her into danger, she’ll do anything to bring him back. In a makeshift death chamber beneath an ancient, sacred site, a strange technology is revealed to Olivia: the power to remake the future by changing the past. Following her heart and not her head, Olivia brings Brian back, accidentally shifting the world to the brink of nuclear and biological disaster. Now she must stay steps ahead of the guardians of this technology, who will kill her to reclaim it, in order to save not just herself and her love, but the whole world.
Whispers in the Dark (The Enforcers #3)
by Debra WebbA clairvoyant is reunited with a familiar stranger from a past she can’t remember in this paranormal romantic suspense from a USA Today–bestselling author.After helping the police track a serial killer brutalizing her sleepy Louisiana town, Darby Shepard made headlines that put her life on the line. Now, the only man she can trust to keep her safe is the enigmatic, inexplicably familiar Aidan Tanner who seems to know Darby as well as she knows herself. She knows this man—like a whisper in the dark that she can’t quite grasp. As the danger escalates around them, the dark secrets from that past fight to resurface.
A Grand Guy: The Art & Life of Terry Southern
by Lee Hill"When they're no longer surprised or astonished or engaged by what you say, the ball game is over. If they find it repulsive, or outlandish, or disgusting, that's all right, or if they love it, that's all right, but if they just shrug it off, it's time to retire."-- Terry SouthernA Grand GuyHe was the hipster's hipster, the perfect icon of cool. A small-town Texan who disdained his "good ol' boy" roots, he bopped with the Beats, hobnobbed with Sartre and Camus, and called William Faulkner friend. He was considered one of the most creative and original players in the Paris Review Quality Lit Game, yet his greatest literary success was a semi pornographic pulp novel. For decades, the crowd he ran with was composed of the most famous creative artists of the day. He wrote Dr. Strangelove with Stanley Kubrick, Easy Rider with Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper, and worked on Saturday Night Live with a younger, louder breed of sacred cow torpedoers. He's a face in the crowd on the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (the guy in the sunglasses). Wherever the cultural action was, he was there, the life of every party -- Paris in the '50s, London in the swinging '60s, Greenwich Village, and Big Bad Hollywood. Brilliant, dynamic, irrepressible, he enjoyed remarkable success and then squandered it with almost superhuman excess. There was, and ever will be, only one Terry Southern.In a biography as vibrant and colorful as the life it celebrates, Lee Hill masterfully explores the high and low times of the unique, incomparable Terry Southern, one of the most genuine talents of this or any other age. Illuminating, exhilarating, and sobering, it is an intimate portrait of an unequaled satirist and satyrist whose appetite for life was enormous -- and whose aim was sure and true as he took shots at consumerism, America's repressive political culture, upper-class amorality, and middle-class banality. But more than simply the story of one man, here is a wide-screen, Technicolor view of a century in the throes of profound cultural change -- frorn the first chilly blasts of the Cold War and McCarthyism to the Vietnam era and the Reagan years; from Miles and Kerouac to the Beatles, the Stones, and beyond. And always at the center of the whirlwind was Terry Southern -- outrageous, unpredictable, charming, erudite, and eternally cool; a brazen innovator and unappreciated genius; and most of all, A Grand Guy.
The Weaver: A Novel
by Emmi ItärantaThe author of the critically acclaimed Memory of Water returns with this literary ecological tale in the vein of Ursula K. Le Guin and Sheri S. Tepper, in which an innocent young woman becomes entangled in a web of ancient secrets and deadly lies that lie at the dark center of her prosperous island world.Eliana is a model citizen of the island, a weaver in the prestigious House of Webs. She also harbors a dangerous secret—she can dream, an ability forbidden by the island’s elusive council of elders. No one talks about the dreamers, the undesirables ostracized from society.But the web of protection Eliana has woven around herself begins to unravel when a young girl is found lying unconscious in a pool of blood on the stones outside the house. Robbed of speech by her attackers, the only clue to her identity is one word tattooed in invisible ink across her palm: Eliana. Why does this mysterious girl bear her name? What links her to the weaver—and could she hold Eliana’s fate in her hand?As Eliana finds herself growing closer to this injured girl she is bound to in ways she doesn’t understand, the enchanting lies of the island begin to crumble, revealing a deep and ancient corruption. Joining a band of brave rebels determined to expose the island’s dark secrets, Eliana becomes a target of ruthless forces determined to destroy her. To save herself and those she loves, she must call on the power within her she thought was her greatest weakness: her dreams.
Dawn of Legacy: The Monsters And Men Trilogy, Book Three (The Monsters and Men Trilogy)
by Lawrence DavisA wizard turned private security agent takes on crime in Cleveland in the conclusion to The Monsters and Men urban fantasy trilogy.Unexpected crucibles, gut-wrenching loss, and time in prison . . . The last few years have not been kind to Janzen Robinson. His tenure as the unelected Champion of Cleveland was rough, but it’s hard not to catch glimpses of hope as tides of change have rippled throughout the city. Now out of prison, the Artificer is surprised to see just how much his mission and influence have taken root. Full Circle Protection grew from being an operation run out of a beatdown truck to needing a fully functional office. Their ragtag crew of castaways are only a uniform away from seeming professional. And all that ugly that went bump in the night? It began to see that there are no easy meals in the land of Clev. This newfound order is put to the test, though, as a new kind of enemy emerges, launching an attack that isn’t motivated by old vendettas or orchestrated by some secret manipulator. This is an assault that threatens to blur the lines between this world and the sleepy mask it wears, and to take not only their lives but the world Balance with it. The Monsters And Men Trilogy by Lawrence Davis is fast-paced, heart-pounding urban fantasy at its best and no one will see this twist coming.Praise for Blunt Force Magic, book one of the Monsters and Men trilogy;“A modern fantasy with a touch of noir, a dash of detective thriller, and a sprinkling of humor throughout.” —Steve Jackson, New York Times bestselling author of Monster
Maggie Sweet: A Novel
by Judith Minthorn StacyMaggie Sweet has had it! For nineteen years, she's kept house, raised a pair of battling twin daughters, put up with her frugal husband, Steven, humored his impossible mother, and kept her mouth shut. But when Steven spends their life savings on a cemetery plot, it's time for Maggie to take control.With her twenty-year high school reunion just around the corner and her long-lost high school boyfriend back in town, it's Maggie's turn to start turning heads. In the face of small-minded gossips, a surly family, and a meddling grandmother, Maggie must reach deep inside her Southern-housewife soul to become the woman she's always wanted to be.
The Importance of Being Kennedy: A Novel
by Laurie GrahamFrom the fictitious diary of the equally fictitious Kennedy nanny comes an inside look into the early years of the dynasty—with all the juicy bits intact. Newly arrived from Ireland, Nora Brennan finds a position as nursery maid to the Kennedys of Brookline, Massachusetts—and lands at the heart of American history. In charge of nine children practically from the minute they're born—including Joe Jr., Jack, Bobby, Teddy, vivacious "Kick," and tragic Rosemary—she sees the boys coached at their father's knee to believe everything they'll ever want in life can be bought. She sees the girls trained by mother Rose to be good Catholic wives. With her sharp eye and her quiet common sense, Nora is the perfect candidate to report on an empire in the making. Then World War II changes everything.
Shifting Through Neutral: A Novel
by Bridgett M. DavisNot yet a woman yet more than a little girl, Rae Dodson is caught up in her family's drama. Her hip older sister, Kimmie, whom her mother favors, has moved from New Orleans to join them in Detroit, a city that moves as if in synch with the Stevie Wonder tunes that play giddily from new automobiles fresh off the factory lots. Her bid whist–playing mother is as nervous as ever, and her father's chronic migraines seem less responsive to medication. And while they all occupy the same house, they might as well be living separate lives. When the tenuous peace finally breaks, Rae must decide where her loyalties lie: should she choose her emotionally distant mother, whom she adores, or her affectionate but needy father? Rae does choose and launches into a rich, loving relationship with her dad, for whom she shows a fierce, undying loyalty. But as she matures, she must find a way amid her own budding sexuality to be both Daddy's girl and her own woman.
Blackthorn Winter (The Fallow Sisters)
by Liz WilliamsFour sisters are drawn from their ordinary lives into darker realms: &“Combines stellar character work with exploration of British folklore and fairy tales.&” —The Fantasy Hive Bee, Stella, Serena, and Luna are preparing for Christmas, but all is not merry and bright when fashion designer Serena&’s new collection is maliciously destroyed on the eve of its debut. A wealthy man miraculously comes to the rescue—but he may be hiding something. Meanwhile, Bee has met a frightened, green-skinned child in a churchyard and offered her shelter. Is any of this connected to the magpie changeling who claims to be an angel sent to watch over Stella, or the increasingly frequent timeslips a pregnant Luna is experiencing? Something is coming for the Fallow sisters and those they love, but they don&’t know what—and the siblings can&’t turn to their mother for help since she&’s gone wandering again. . . . Rediscover your sense of wonder in this follow-up to Comet Weather that &“matches the charm, magic and lyricism of its predecessor&” (The Fantasy Hive).Praise for the Fallow Sisters novels &“The coolest sisters in contemporary fantasy.&” —Locus &“I&’m on board for anything Liz Williams writes.&” —SciFi Mind