Best of
Low-Fantasy
2014
Armageddon Outta Here
Derek Landy - 2014
Featuring two AMAZING novellas and fourteen GRIPPING short stories - including three new stories written exclusively for this edition.We all know that doors are for people with no imagination so smash the glass, climb through the window and enter the awesome world of Skulduggery Pleasant with this ultimate story collection.For the first time, every Skulduggery Pleasant short story, plus two novellas – Get Thee Behind me, Bubba Moon and The End of the World – is collected into one magnificent volume. But that's not all…This collection includes fourteen short stories – three of which are AWESOME NEW stories written exclusively for this edition. Two of them delve into the things that our old friend Billy-Ray Sanguine gets up to between books, while the third pits Skulduggery and Valkyrie against a serial killer, a desperate ghost, and a swarm of very nasty insects.So it’s business as usual, then.Introduced by Derek, these are the hidden stories of the skeleton who saves the world… and the girl who's destined to destroy it.
Apex Magazine Issue 56, January 2014
Sigrid Ellis - 2014
New issues are released on the first Tuesday of every month. We are a 2013 Hugo Award nominee for Best Semiprozine! FICTION Pale Skin, Gray Eyes by Gene O'Neill Jackalope Wives by Ursula Vernon [pseudonym: T. Kingfisher]Dispatches from the Revolution by Pat Cadigan NONFICTION Women in Pre–1947 Chinese and Indian Horror Fiction and Film by Jess Nevins Interview with Gene O'Neill Interview with incoming Editor-in-Chief Sigrid Ellis Resolute: Notes from the Editor-in-Chief by Sigrid Ellis Cover art by Emma Rios. Edited by Sigid Ellis.
New Beginnings
Victoria Schwab - 2014
Bold rising star, Victoria Schwab, makes her whimsical, inspiring, and clever middle-grade debut.At a first glance, Aria seems like your average twelve-year-old girl. She has coppery hair, colored shoelaces, and a passion for cupcakes. But there's more to Aria than meets the eye. She can dream things into existence, use her own shadow like a door, and change the world in small, important ways. Aria is a guardian angel. She's been sent here to earn her wings. But to do that, she'll have to help three different girls.Aria's first mission is Gabby Torres. Gabby's always been quiet, but ever since her brother got sick, she's barely said a word.When a new school offers her a fresh start, Gabby wants badly to be someone new, but she quickly learns it's hard to make friends while keeping half her life a secret.And then Aria shows up. Aria, who knows exactly what to say and do to make Gabby feel better. Will she be able to help Gabby find her voice? And will Gabby still trust Aria when she finds out exactly what she is?
Death Vigil #1
Stjepan Šejić - 2014
Gifted? Join the Death Vigil in their ongoing war against the ever-growing power of the Primordial Enemy! The only catch is you have to die first. Become a corporeal immortal Death Knight and obtain reality-altering weaponry in the never-ending battle between good and evil.
One Wish
Michelle Harrison - 2014
. .The Spinney Wicket Wishing Tree can grant your heart’s desire – just wish out loud, or hang a message from its branches. It sounds as though the Wishing Tree is just a sweet old tradition, but Tanya is only too aware how real its magic could be.Tanya can see fairies, and would love to meet someone else can see them too. When she meets Ratty and his cheeky fairy, Turpin, it seems at last she’s found them. But Ratty has a secret, and a dangerous enemy who'll stop at nothing to get to him.Tanya must use her one wish to save her new friend - but wishes should be used wisely . . .
The Wolf and the Bear
Martyn J. Pass - 2014
The prize? She stands to inherit his entire fortune, from the fertile fields he owns to the lucrative mining and coal trade with which he controls the feudal lands around him. But the way is dangerous and she cannot hope to make it safely there without a guide. When a chance meeting with a mysterious Dalesman known only as 'Bear' provides her with one, it sets Alex Hogg firmly on her quest, confident that she'll return to claim her inheritance and enjoy riches beyond her imagination. But this giant of a man has a past that's marked by the Old Days; the time before when mankind teetered on the brink of destruction, and it's this past that Alex soon learns stands directly in her way. An army is being built and rumors are rife that an ancient vault has been opened; that a new world order is being born that will see the weapons of a forgotten past used to create a terrifying new future. Strange ships are flying again and weapons that can kill from far away are being used to force villages and towns into submission. Behind it all is a man from Bear's past who, as their journey takes them deeper into his plans, threatens to bring about a new apocalypse for a people who barely survived the last.
Of Fear and Faith
N.D. Jones - 2014
For legends tell of a powerful Fire Witch and a legendary shapeshifter who will one day rid the world of the wrath of the Water Witch of Legend, and restore the world to peace and balance. However, for Sanura Williams and FBI Special Agent Assefa Berber, their destinies will not be so easily won, as fear and faith will ultimately determine their fates. In the heat of battle and the chill of prophecy, Sanura and Assefa will weather the dual storms of lust and love. Are they prepared for the intoxicating swirl of danger and attraction? Can they overcome their fears of such a powerful prophecy? In the face of their foes, these legendary warriors must embrace their roles as heroes, side-by-side, and defend humanity against the coming doom.
The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window, Vol. 1
Tomoko Yamashita - 2014
Rihito Hiyakawa, an exorcist whose supernatural powers are as strong as his social graces are weak, doesn’t seem to fear anything, mortal or otherwise. When this odd couple gets together to solve the bizarre cases that come their way, their work methods may not be entirely safe for work!
The Fates
Ahna - 2014
Cloe is graduating college; Lacey is getting married; Atria is bar-hopping and breaking hearts. Today, they are human. But they are also the three Fates—the all-powerful directors of human destiny. And they don't even know it.Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos did not always take mortal form. They dwelt in the Cave, working the Loom, till something happened on Olympus that changed everything one day. Since then, they've roamed the earth and led thousands of lives throughout its history. The Fates may not remember who they are, for now... but their legacy is not to be forgotten. And their story is just begging to be told.
Midnight Escape
Zanna Davidson - 2014
The Fairy Ponies series is part of the Usborne Reading Programme developed with reading experts at the University of Roehampton.
Kate Triumph
Shari Arnold - 2014
At least that's what seventeen-year-old Kate Triumph tells herself everyday. But the truth is she lives in constant fear that someone will discover how not normal she really is. With her startling speed and her unusual ability to heal, Kate believes she's something of a freak. Then Andrew Shore arrives. He claims he's her father, sticks around for a few days and leaves her a plane ticket. “Come to Mercer Island,” he says. “Give me a chance to get to know you.” Soon Kate is floundering in a world of new: new address, new car, new high school and, of course, new father. Not to mention Zack, her intriguing new neighbor, who makes her want to abandon her steadfast rule of never allowing anyone to get too close. But when she discovers someone is trying to kill her, life for Kate gets a bit more complicated. And a lot less normal.
Things Are Not What They Seem
Anne Rothman-Hicks - 2014
She soon learns that the bird is actually a man named Arthur Whitehair, a 19th-century Englishman who had been turned into an eternally-lived pigeon by misreading an ancient spell that was supposed to give him eternal life as a human. Likewise, an unscrupulous colleague of his, named Malman, had been turned into a hawk by Whitehair’s blunder. After years of searching, Whitehair claims (half-truthfully) that Malman has found him hiding in Central Park and is now out for revenge. On top of all this strange business, Jennifer has recently begun having weird dreams in which a crazy-looking man with curly red hair speaks cryptic phrases in Latin. Are they random phrases, or messages? And why would some sketchy guy be sending her messages in her dreams?
Traces
Betty Bolté - 2014
Keep it? Not a good idea. Sell it? Better. Turn it into a memorial park? Better yet. But can she go against her family traditions and the hunky but irate lawyer?Max Chandler needs two things to complete his life plan: become a senior partner and find his soul mate. He's due a promotion once his legislation to protect the county's historic properties is approved. The wife part he finds more challenging, having never met the right woman. If only the talented, attractive, aloof Meredith didn't want to destroy the very property he's grown to cherish.While Meredith struggles to reconcile her past and future, she learns a lesson from the spectral Lady in Blue that may save both her family and home from destruction.(Updated and revised edition; originally published in 2014 as Traces.)
Reapers
Bryan Davis - 2014
Taking place in a futuristic, urban setting, this first book in a planned trilogy will appeal to readers of The Hunger Games and similar fast-paced stories for young adults.Along with a blend of real life and imagination, it delivers action, danger, and suspense through the adventures of three teenagers: Phoenix, Singapore, and Shanghai, Reapers who collect the souls of the dying or already dead and transport them to the Gateway where they will travel to their final destination ... or so they are told.