Bathroom scales were not an appropriate gift for his fiancée’s birthday … apparently. Adam Maxwell isn’t a bad man—he’s just a man who doesn’t stop and think. Ever since he ate seven pickled gherkins for lunch at school, and subsequently shat himself during a maths lesson, Adam has been cursed by a lack of common sense. Now in his early thirties, that lack of common sense is about to throw Adam’s life into turmoil after one particularly ill-judged decision backfires … with disastrous consequences. After a rapid descent towards rock bottom, a strange little man by the name of Mungo Thunk then enters Adam’s life. However, not everything about Mungo Thunk is as it first seems. After insisting Adam can rediscover his common sense by agreeing to an unorthodox brand of therapy, the two set about dealing with the raft of challenges Adam has to face. Can Adam trust the mysterious stranger to fix his thinking and get his life back on track? Or will he come to rue the day he invited Mungo Thunk into his life?

    Now it’s time for Harry to learn to let go…Thirty-four-year-old Harry Crane, lifelong lover of trees, works as an analyst in a treeless US Forest Service office. When his wife dies in a freak accident, devastated, he makes his way to the remote woods of northeastern Pennsylvania’s Endless Mountains, intent on losing himself. But fate intervenes in the form of a fiercely determined young girl named Oriana. She, too, has lost someone—her father. And in the magical, willful world of her reckoning, Oriana believes that Harry is the key to finding her way back to him. As Harry agrees to help the young girl, the unlikeliest of elements—a tree house, a Wolf, a small-town librarian and a book called The Grum’s Ledger—come together to create the biggest sensation ever to descend upon the Endless Mountains…a golden adventure that will fulfill Oriana’s wildest dreams and open the door to a new life for Harry.Harry’s Trees is an uplifting tale about love, loss, friendship, and redemption. Fans of Fredrik Backman’s A Man Called Ove and Gabrielle Zevin’s The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry will find in its relentless good humor a much-needed remedy for these fraught times

    The astonishing, beautiful new story for all readers of 10 and over from the bestselling and Costa-shortlisted author of TIME TRAVELLING WITH A HAMSTER.There are stories about people who want to live forever.This is not one of those stories.This is a story about someone who wants to stop…Alfie Monk is like any other nearly teenage boy – except he’s 1,000 years old and can remember the last Viking invasion of England.Obviously no one believes him.So when everything Alfie knows and loves is destroyed in a fire, and the modern world comes crashing in, Alfie embarks on a mission to find friendship, acceptance, and a different way to live…… which means finding a way to make sure he will eventually die.Obviously no one believes him.

    An enchanting story from Maggie Stiefvater featuring Opal, Ronan, and Adam from her bestselling Raven Cycle, taking place after the events of The Raven King.

    There, she is determined to find her mother, the bird. In her search, she winds up chasing after ghosts, uncovering family secrets, and forging a new relationship with her grandparents. And as she grieves, she must try to reconcile the fact that on the same day she kissed her best friend and longtime secret crush, Axel, her mother was taking her own life.Alternating between real and magic, past and present, friendship and romance, hope and despair, The Astonishing Color of After is a novel about finding oneself through family history, art, grief, and love.

    When his father announces that he’s going to a reaper conference with three of his siblings, Braden is disappointed to miss out on the trip but excited about being the boss. That is until he finds out which sibling is staying behind with him. Braden and his only sister Aisling have never gotten along. Still, Braden has seniority. Aisling has to do what he says. Of course, Aisling has other ideas. Grimlock Manor is rocking with arguments (and maybe a few petty games) when someone breaks into the house. Aisling insists on staying at the family mansion because she’s got party plans. Those go out the window when the security system keeps going off. Braden thought he would be a man about town but he’s a man stuck at home … and trying to figure out a mystery. Who is going after his family? And will Aisling ever shut her mouth long enough to help him figure it out? Come along for the ride. Things are about to get loud. Note: This is a 30,000-word short set in the Aisling Grimlock world. It’s set back and can be read at any point in the timeline.

    Thus begins the story of Poonachi, the little orphan goat. As you follow her story from forest to habitation, independence to motherhood, you recognise in its significant moments the depth and magnitude of your own fears and longings, fuelled by the instinct for survival that animates all life. Masterly and nuanced, Perumal Murugan’s tale forces us reflect on our own responses to hierarchy and ownership, selflessness and appetite, love and desire, living and dying. Poonachi is the story of a goat who carries the burden of being different all her life, of a she-goat who survives against the odds. It is equally an expression of solidarity with the animal world and the female condition. The tale is also a commentary on our times, on the choices we make as a society and a nation, and the increasing vulnerability of individuals, particularly writers and artists, who resist when they are pressed to submit. Reviews for Poonachi “Murugan’s sarcasm speaks of the robustness of his spirit … As in all his novels, (his) story is rich in detail … (He) sustains the narrative tension right from the start.”- Elizabeth Kuruvilla, The Hindu Literary Review

    When Mum heads off for provisions, and then doesn't return, Nate is left alone and afraid, with the dark closing in all around him.But comfort can come from the most unexpected of places - a mysterious girl trying to solve the clues of a treasure hunt and the reappearance of an old friend from his past.Will Nate find the bravery needed to face the troubles of his present and ultimately illuminate the future?

    A water rat swims upriver in quest of the cloud god. A fisherman named Karl hunts for tuna in partnership with a seal. And a father takes form from fire. The answers to these riddles are to be found in this tale of grief and love and the bonds of family, tracing a journey across the southern island that takes us full circle.Flames sings out with joy and sadness. Utterly original in conception, spellbinding in its descriptions of nature and its celebration of the power of language, it announces the arrival of a thrilling new voice in contemporary fiction.

    All of that flies out the window when his girlfriend Maya insists on a double date with her brother and his sister. And, to make matters worse, she picks the activity … and it’s a Shakespeare in the Park event. Culture and the Grimlocks? Uh-oh. In short order, Cillian finds himself saddled with his drunk sister, his girlfriend’s intense brother, and a murder that didn’t show up on the reaper list. Oh, it also happened in public, and there are suspects around every corner. Unsure where to turn, Cillian calls his father and it’s up to the Grimlock family to solve the murder, track down the errant soul, and somehow keep his sister Aisling from causing his father to explode. So, basically, it’s a normal summer night … as long as no one gets hurt in the process, that is. Note: This is a 28,000-word short set in the Aisling Grimlock world. It’s set in the past so it can be read at any time.

    According to their father, it's the devil's place, a place that's been cursed and forgotten. But Mississippi Delta summer days are scorching hot and they can't resist cooling off in the dark, bottomless water. Until the day six-year-old Pansy disappears. Not drowned, not lost . . . simply gone.After years with no sign, no hope of ever finding Pansy alive, Bert and Willet have tried to move on. But as surely as their mother died of a broken heart, they can't let go. So when clues surface drawing them to the remote tip of Florida, they drop everything and drive south. Deep in the murky depths of the Florida Everglades they may find the answer to Pansy's mysterious disappearance . . . but truth, like the past, is sometimes better left where it lies.Perfect for fans of Flannery O'Connor and Dorothy Allison, The Past Is Never is an atmospheric, haunting story of myths, legends, and the good and evil we carry in our hearts.

    It centers around a young Nigerian woman, Ada, who develops separate selves within her as a result of being born "with one foot on the other side." Unsettling, heartwrenching, dark, and powerful, Freshwater is a sharp evocation of a rare way of experiencing the world, one that illuminates how we all construct our identities.Ada begins her life in the south of Nigeria as a troubled baby and a source of deep concern to her family. Her parents, Saul and Saachi, successfully prayed her into existence, but as she grows into a volatile and splintered child, it becomes clear that something went terribly awry. When Ada comes of age and moves to America for college, the group of selves within her grows in power and agency. A traumatic assault leads to a crystallization of her alternate selves: Asụghara and Saint Vincent. As Ada fades into the background of her own mind and these selves--now protective, now hedonistic--move into control, Ada's life spirals in a dark and dangerous direction.Narrated by the various selves within Ada and based in the author's realities, Freshwater dazzles with ferocious energy and serpentine grace, heralding the arrival of a fierce new literary voice.

    Her story "Pleiades" was called "a masterpiece" by Dave Eggers. Sachdeva has a talent for creating moving and poignant scenes, following her highly imaginative plots to their logical ends, and depicting how one small miracle can affect everyone in its wake.The world by night --Glass-lung --Logging lake --Killer of kings --All the names for God --Robert Greenman and the mermaid --Anything you might want --Manus --Pleiades

    It is the same every year. Across the city, when children wake to see ferns of white stretched across their windows, or walk to school to hear ice crackling underfoot, the whispers begin: the Emporium is open! It is 1917, and London has spent years in the shadow of the First World War. In the heart of Mayfair, though, there is a place of hope. A place where children’s dreams can come true, where the impossible becomes possible – that place is Papa Jack’s Toy Emporium.For years Papa Jack has created and sold his famous magical toys: hobby horses, patchwork dogs and bears that seem alive, toy boxes bigger on the inside than out, ‘instant trees’ that sprout from boxes, tin soldiers that can fight battles on their own. Now his sons, Kaspar and Emil, are just old enough to join the family trade. Into this family comes a young Cathy Wray – homeless and vulnerable. The Emporium takes her in, makes her one of its own. But Cathy is about to discover that while all toy shops are places of wonder, only one is truly magical...

    After all, what’s more fun than a town bearing your own name?Nestled in the beautiful Texas Hill Country, the ‘town’ isn’t much — a dozen or less buildings in various stages of disrepair—but it comes with a dedicated pair of caretakers, a menagerie of farm animals, a surprisingly generous trust fund, enough stipulations to make her head spin, and a handsome but maddening attorney to oversee the handling of the estate.Originally a stagecoach stop, Hannah, Texas resolves around the historic and rather charming Spirits of Texas Inn. The old inn comes with a colorful past, the mystique of hidden treasure, loyal guests who still book summer vacations there, and three surprise residents: true spirits of the past, who didn’t cross over as expected.Now Hannah has her hands full, coming to terms with her unexpected status as an innkeeper, adjusting to life in the country, fighting her attraction to attorney Walker Jacoby, plus dealing with ghosts!To top it off, two fortune hunters arrive to search for the hidden treasure, and they don’t care who stands in their way. They’ll stoop to any means—including murder—to get their hands on the legendary stash of gold.Don’t miss out on the excitement, right from the beginning. Book your visit to Hannah, Texas today!

    And no occasion is more important than the annual Dia de los Muertos festival.Leo hopes that this might be the year that she gets to help prepare for the big celebration—but, once again, she is told she’s too young. Sneaking out of school and down to the bakery, she discovers that her mother, aunt, and four older sisters have in fact been keeping a big secret: they’re brujas—witches of Mexican ancestry—who pour a little bit of sweet magic into everything that they bake. Leo knows that she has magical ability as well and is more determined than ever to join the family business—even if she can’t let her mama and hermanas know about it yet.And when her best friend, Caroline, has a problem that needs solving, Leo has the perfect opportunity to try out her craft. It’s just one little spell, after all…what could possibly go wrong?

    Drusilla Midnight, a successful children’s book author, returns home to the sleepy little riverside village of Ames Crossing, Illinois. Recently divorced, she is planning to take some personal time to put her life in order, and to reconnect with her grandmother and two sisters. Descended from a long line of herbalists and wise women, Dru is determined to reclaim her family’s traditions and practices. While she was away, the family property has become overgrown and fallen into a state of disrepair. Drusilla resolves to take on the task of restoring the grounds herself, and to bring back to life the enchanting gardens that have inspired her books. However, a troubled, angry young girl and her attractive guardian, Garrett Rivers seem to constantly interrupt Dru’s master plan for solitary soul searching. The last thing Dru was looking for was love, and it will take a touch of the garden’s natural magick to make her learn to trust again. For even the wisest of women must learn that love can spring up unexpectedly into their life, take the strongest of hearts by surprise, and change their path forever.

    Her husband, Martin, still unforgiving for having been abandoned by his father years ago, confesses that he never knew the old man had died. So Omar asks Isabel for the impossible: persuade Omar’s family—especially his wife, Elda—to let him redeem himself.Isabel and Martin settle into married life in a Texas border town, and Omar returns each year on the celebratory Day of the Dead. Every year Isabel listens, but to the aggrieved Martin and Elda, Omar’s spirit remains invisible. Through his visits, Isabel gains insight into not just the truth about his disappearance and her husband’s childhood but also the ways grief can eat away at love. When Martin’s teenage nephew crosses the Mexican border and takes refuge in Isabel and Martin’s home, questions about past and future homes, borders, and belonging arise that may finally lead to forgiveness—and alter all their lives forever.

    . . Georgina Fernweh waits with growing impatience for the tingle of magic in her fingers—magic that has been passed down through every woman in her family. Her twin sister, Mary, already shows an ability to defy gravity. But with their eighteenth birthday looming at the end of this summer, Georgina fears her gift will never come.An island where strange things happen . . . No one on the island of By-the-Sea would ever call the Fernwehs what they really are, but if you need the odd bit of help—say, a sleeping aid concocted by moonlight—they are the ones to ask.No one questions the weather, as moody and erratic as a summer storm.No one questions the (allegedly) three-hundred-year-old bird who comes to roost on the island every year.A summer that will become legend . . . When tragedy strikes, what made the Fernweh women special suddenly casts them in suspicion. Over the course of her last summer on the island—a summer of storms, of love, of salt—Georgina will learn the truth about magic, in all its many forms.

    But after his dad’s string of successful books, a tragedy strikes the family and now his dad is completely stuck.If only artistic talent were hereditary. Ethan is stuck on a graphic-novel project of his own at school and won’t own up to the fact that he can’t draw. When one night an ink-blot creation emerges from his father’s sketchbook, the family’s whole world begins to change.Featuring artwork by the beloved, award-winning illustrator Sydney Smith, Inkling is a timeless story that speaks to the creator in us all.

    Gbessa, exiled from the West African village of Lai, is starved, bitten by a viper, and left for dead, but still she survives. June Dey, raised on a plantation in Virginia, hides his unusual strength until a confrontation with the overseer forces him to flee. Norman Aragon, the child of a white British colonizer and a Maroon slave from Jamaica, can fade from sight when the earth calls him. When the three meet in the settlement of Monrovia, their gifts help them salvage the tense relationship between the African American settlers and the indigenous tribes, as a new nation forms around them.Moore’s intermingling of history and magical realism finds voice not just in these three characters but also in the fleeting spirit of the wind, who embodies an ancient wisdom. “If she was not a woman,” the wind says of Gbessa, “she would be king.” In this vibrant story of the African diaspora, Moore, a talented storyteller and a daring writer, illuminates with radiant and exacting prose the tumultuous roots of a country inextricably bound to the United States. She Would Be King is a novel of profound depth set against a vast canvas and a transcendent debut from a major new author.

    One of them is me.Ask anyone in Winship, Maine, and they’ll tell you the summer camp Quinn’s family owns is a magical place. Paper wishes hang from the ceiling. Blueberries grow in the dead of winter. According to local legend, a sea monster even lurks off the coast. Mostly, there’s just a feeling that something extraordinary could happen there.Like Quinn falling in love with her best friend, Dylan.After the accident, the magic drained from Quinn’s life. Now Dylan is gone, the camp is a lonely place, and Quinn knows it’s her fault.But the new boy in town, Alexander, doesn’t see her as the monster she believes herself to be. As Quinn lets herself open up again, she begins to understand the truth about love, loss, and monsters—real and imagined.

    Then Noah → gets hypnotized. Now Noah → sees changes—inexplicable scars, odd behaviors, rewritten histories—in all those around him. All except his Strange Fascinations . . .

    Aidan and Martha Connor now spend alternate months of the year working at an energy site up north to support their children, Cora and Finn. But soon the family fears they’ll have to leave Big Running for good. And as the months go on, plagued by romantic temptations new and old, the emotional distance between the once blissful Aidan and Martha only widens.Between his accordion lessons and reading up on Big Running’s local flora and fauna, eleven-year-old Finn Connor develops an obsession with solving the mystery of the missing fish. Aided by his reclusive music instructor Mrs. Callaghan, Finn thinks he may have discovered a way to find the fish, and in turn, save the only home he’s ever known. While Finn schemes, his sister Cora spends her days decorating the abandoned houses in Big Running with global flair—the baker’s home becomes Italy; the mailman’s, Britain. But it’s clear she’s desperate for a bigger life beyond the shores of her small town. As the streets of Big Running continue to empty Cora takes matters—and her family’s shared destinies—into her own hands.In Our Homesick Songs, Emma Hooper paints a gorgeous portrait of the Connor family, brilliantly weaving together four different stories and two generations of Connors, full of wonder and hope. Told in Hooper’s signature ethereal style, each page of this incandescent novel glows with mythical, musical wonder.

    The regulars are telling stories to while away the dark hours, when the door bursts open on a grievously wounded stranger. In his arms is the lifeless body of a small child. Hours later, the girl stirs, takes a breath and returns to life. Is it a miracle? Is it magic? Or can science provide an explanation? These questions have many answers, some of them quite dark indeed.Those who dwell on the river bank apply all their ingenuity to solving the puzzle of the girl who died and lived again, yet as the days pass the mystery only deepens. The child herself is mute and unable to answer the essential questions: Who is she? Where did she come from? And to whom does she belong? But answers proliferate nonetheless.Three families are keen to claim her. A wealthy young mother knows the girl is her kidnapped daughter, missing for two years. A farming family reeling from the discovery of their son’s secret liaison, stand ready to welcome their granddaughter. The parson’s housekeeper, humble and isolated, sees in the child the image of her younger sister. But the return of a lost child is not without complications and no matter how heartbreaking the past losses, no matter how precious the child herself, this girl cannot be everyone’s. Each family has mysteries of its own, and many secrets must be revealed before the girl’s identity can be known.Once Upon a River is a glorious tapestry of a book that combines folklore and science, magic and myth. Suspenseful, romantic, and richly atmospheric, the beginning of this novel will sweep you away on a powerful current of storytelling, transporting you through worlds both real and imagined, to the triumphant conclusion whose depths will continue to give up their treasures long after the last page is turned.

    She’s too preoccupied with a life she isn’t happy in—the spark in her marriage has fizzled, her career is headed nowhere and her boss is a misogynist. Her teenage daughter has grown distant, and her heart breaks daily for her teenage son with cerebral palsy. But soon Emma discovers her wishes are coming true, and she realizes that she has been given the power to change her life. Either that, or she’s going insane.Emma begins testing her newfound gift, making calculated wishes and learning one important rule—once granted, they cannot be undone. Over time, she grows bolder as she builds up to the one wish she both fears and desperately longs to make. But when Emma finally gets everything she’s asked for, will it be worth the price?

    Weighed down by decades of grief and memories, the Grapes have never moved past the tragedy. Then, on the eve of eviction from the most beautiful and dangerously unstable perch in the area, they’re uprooted by a violent storm. The disbelieving Grapes and their home take a free-fall slide into the white-capped sea and float away.As the past that once moored them recedes and disappears, Mary Rose and Harold are delivered from decades of sorrow by the ebb and flow of the waves. Ahead of them, a light shimmers on the horizon, guiding them toward a revelatory and cathartic new engagement with life, and all its wonder.

    She has a new job in a new town, and nothing can stand in her way. Except the new job. And the new town. Oh, and the fact that she’s the heir to a centuries old coven of witches, which apparently comes with a familiar—the stereotypical black cat—that spends more time licking himself than helping her learn magic. Mechanic Shane Carlson has heard the tales of witches in the small town of Whisper Grove his whole life. Did he believe them? Uh, no. Not until he was rear-ended by a beautiful girl who seems to unlock abilities in both of them. When her gifts make themselves known, Evangeline realizes Whisper Grove isn’t the sleepy little town she thought it to be. There are secrets buried beneath the picturesque surface, but even the deepest secrets have a way of rising. Especially when the new witch in town can hear them whispering.

    She tells no one, but their hum follows her as she struggles to survive against the Institute’s cold and damaging methods, as she meets an outspoken and unapologetic fellow patient named Sheffield Schoeffler, and as they run away, toward the freewheeling and accepting glow of 1960s Greenwich Village, where they create their own kind of family among the artists and wanderers who frequent the jazz bars and side streets.As Gloria tries to outrun her past, experiencing profound love—and loss—and encountering a host of unlikely characters, including her Uncle Eddie, a hard-drinking former boyfriend of her mother’s, to Madame Zelda, a Coney Island fortune teller, and Jacob, the man she eventually marries but whose dark side threatens to bring disaster, the bees remain. It’s only when she needs them most that Gloria discovers why they’re there.Moving from the suburbs of New Jersey to the streets of New York to the swamps of North Carolina and back again, Lost in the Beehive is a poignant novel about the moments that teach us, the places that shape us, and the people who change us.

    Fireside MagazineFebruary 2018Nebula Winner, Best Short Story in 2018

    His mob-connected landlord is strong-arming him out of his storefront. His therapist has concerns about his stability. He’s compelled to volunteer at the local Children’s Hospital even though it breaks his heart every week.Oh, and he’s also the guilt-ridden reincarnation of Geoffroy Thérage, the French executioner who lit Joan of Arc’s pyre in 1431. He’s just seen a woman on a Los Angeles talk show claiming to be Joan, and absolution seems closer than it’s ever been... but how will he find her?When Marvin heads to Los Angeles to locate the woman who may or may not be Joan, he’s picked up hitchhiking by Mike Vale, a self-destructive alcoholic painter traveling to his ex-wife’s funeral. As they move through a California landscape populated with “smokes” (ghostly apparitions that’ve inexplicably begun appearing throughout the southwestern US), each seeks absolution in his own way.

    The Blackmoore sisters discover their paranormal powers as they find themselves scrambling to find a real killer while they battle a crooked Sheriff, planted evidence, and a long list of suspects that all had a reason to kill. This is a box-set of the first five books in the Blackmoore Sisters Cozy Mystery series. Books include: Dead Wrong Dead & Buried Dead Tide Buried Secrets Deadly Intentions

    Mona Dunn, forever frozen at thirteen when her portrait was painted by William Orpen, has just broken that rule. Luckily twelve-year-old Sargent Singer, an aspiring artist himself, is more interested in learning about the vast and intriguing world behind the frame than he is in sharing her secret.And when Mona and Sargent suspect shady dealings are happening behind the scenes at the gallery, they set out to find the culprit. They must find a way to save the gallery—and each other—before they are lost forever. With an imaginative setting, lots of intrigue, and a thoroughly engaging cast of characters, The Frame-Up will captivate readers of Jacqueline West’s The Books of Elsewhere.Includes a 16-page full-color insert showcasing the real paintings featured in the book.

    "They sat themselves calmly and comfortably at the large dining table as if they were invited guests..."Following his savage murder in a London vicarage, Reverend Ulysses Drummond embarks on an epic odyssey in the afterlife, wrestling with his conscience and misguidedly spurning the obvious advantages of a free ticket to Paradise.His ten-year-old son, Henry, is left to muddle through life, encountering school bullies, big-hearted benefactors and cold-blooded killers on his passage to adulthood.Will Henry find love, success and happiness in his life - or will he suffer the cruel and agonising death that was foretold?

    Beautifully written and steeped in folklore - this suspenseful story is told with warmth, wit and charm." Niamh Boyce (The Herbalist) A beautiful and mysterious tale from the author of The Heirloom and The Mysterious Bakery On Rue De Paris. When Harold Krauss, an Oxford scholar, arrives in the small village of Thornwood, he finds a land full of myth, folklore and superstition. He hires a local farm girl, Anna, to help him collect stories and first-hand accounts from the locals who believe in the fairy faith. However, their discoveries will set off a chain of events that will see him accused of another man's murder murder. One hundred years later, Sarah Harper finds Anna's diary and unearths Thornwood's dark secrets, that both enchant and unnerve.Treading a line between the everyday and the otherworldly, the seen and the unseen, The Story Collector is a magical tale with unforgettable characters."The writing is bright and fluid with the warmth and charm of a fairy tale." THE IRISH TIMES"The kind of book to lose yourself in" NUDGE BOOKS MAGAZINE"An intriguing novel" HISTORICAL NOVEL SOCIETY

    With a style that blends humor and sincerity in such strange, perfect ratios, Bonnaffons reveals the mysteries inside of us, just waiting to make themselves known. The Wrong Heaven, so wondrous, will alter you in all the necessary ways." —Kevin WilsonIn The Wrong Heaven, anything is possible: bodies can transform, inanimate objects come to life, angels appear and disappear.Bonnaffons draws us into a delightfully strange universe, in which her conflicted characters seek to solve their sexual and spiritual dilemmas in all the wrong places. The title story's heroine reckons with grief while arguing with loquacious Jesus and Mary lawn ornaments that come to life when she plugs them in. In "Horse," we enter a world in which women transform themselves into animals through a series of medical injections. In "Alternate," a young woman convinces herself that all she needs to revive a stagnant relationship is the perfect poster of the Dalai Lama.While some of the worlds to which Bonnaffons transports us are more recognizable than others, all of them uncover the mysteries beneath the mundane surfaces of our lives. Enormously funny, boldly inventive, and as provocative as they are deeply affecting, these stories lay bare the heart of our deepest longings.

    Good-bye, dorky math nerd; hello, friend magnet! But her first day at Saguaro Prep starts off weird to the tenth power.When she’s dared to “make something exciting happen,” Megan is thrown into the middle of an epic power struggle between the two seventh-grade Spirit Captains. So with nothing to lose, Megan wishes for “some magic” as her classroom’s cat clock chimes 11:11—and is granted an enchanted teen magazine that promises miracle makeovers and sure-fire secrets for winning friends and crushes.But magic can have dangerous side effects, and as her social life grows exponentially worse, Megan begins to wonder if wishing was ever a purrfect idea.

    It can also be as dark, as violent, as rapturous. In the end, there may be no difference between them.A girl grows up in Nunavut in the 1970s. She knows joy, and friendship, and parents' love. She knows boredom, and listlessness, and bullying. She knows the tedium of the everyday world, and the raw, amoral power of the ice and sky, the seductive energy of the animal world. She knows the ravages of alcohol, and violence at the hands of those she should be able to trust. She sees the spirits that surround her, and the immense power that dwarfs all of us. When she becomes pregnant, she must navigate all this.Veering back and forth between the grittiest features of a small arctic town, the electrifying proximity of the world of animals, and ravishing world of myth, Tanya Tagaq explores a world where the distinctions between good and evil, animal and human, victim and transgressor, real and imagined lose their meaning, but the guiding power of love remains.Haunting, brooding, exhilarating, and tender all at once, Tagaq moves effortlessly between fiction and memoir, myth and reality, poetry and prose, and conjures a world and a heroine readers will never forget.

    At the moment of her death, Imogen Zula Nyoni – Genie – was seen to fly away on a giant pair of silver wings ...’ Said to have hatched from a golden egg, Genie spends her childhood playing in a field of sunflowers as her country reawakens after a fierce civil war. But Genie’s story stretches back much further: it tells of her grandfather, who quenched his wanderlust by walking into the Indian Ocean, and of her father, who spent countless hours building model aeroplanes to catch up with him. It is the tale of her mother, a singer self-styled after Dolly Parton with a dream of travelling to Nashville, and of her grandmother, who did everything in her power to raise her children to have character. With the lightest of touches, a cast of unforgettable characters, and moments of surreal beauty, The Theory of Flight sketches decades of history in this unnamed Southern African nation. It does not dwell on what has been lost in its war, but on the daily triumphs of its people, the necessity of art, and the power of its visionaries to take flight.

    From the perspective of those who live in Herot Hall, the suburb is a paradise. Picket fences divide buildings—high and gabled—and the community is entirely self-sustaining. Each house has its own fireplace, each fireplace is fitted with a container of lighter fluid, and outside—in lawns and on playgrounds—wildflowers seed themselves in neat rows. But for those who live surreptitiously along Herot Hall’s periphery, the subdivision is a fortress guarded by an intense network of gates, surveillance cameras, and motion-activated lights. For Willa, the wife of Roger Herot (heir of Herot Hall), life moves at a charmingly slow pace. She flits between mommy groups, playdates, cocktail hour, and dinner parties, always with her son, Dylan, in tow. Meanwhile, in a cave in the mountains just beyond the limits of Herot Hall lives Gren, short for Grendel, as well as his mother, Dana, a former soldier who gave birth as if by chance. Dana didn’t want Gren, didn’t plan Gren, and doesn’t know how she got Gren, but when she returned from war, there he was. When Gren, unaware of the borders erected to keep him at bay, ventures into Herot Hall and runs off with Dylan, Dana’s and Willa’s worlds collide.

     Two years ago, Calvin Kinsey was an up-and-coming cop at the Aurora Police Department. Then his partner was brutally murdered by a vampire who skipped away scot-free, and Cal was thrown headfirst into the supernatural world he never knew existed in the shadows. Now, Cal is a newly minted detective at the Department of Supernatural Investigations. By day, the agents of DSI are mocked as “Kooks” by local law enforcement. By night, they’re known as “Crows” and reviled by the supernatural underworld. Thrust into the middle of ancient rivalries, complex conspiracies, and budding wars, Cal has to hit the ground running in his new detective role in order to protect his beloved city from the things that go bump in the night. Because if DSI falls to the dark side of the supernatural, the human world falls with them. This box set contains the first five books in the action-packed City of Crows urban fantasy series: Soul Breaker, Shade Chaser, Wraith Hunter, Doom Sayer, and Day Killer.

    But his emotions have a way of haunting his dreams and bubbling to the surface when he least expects it. When Jake learns how to take control in his dreams, he becomes a lucid dreamer, and that’s when the battle really heats up.Using his wits to dodge bullies by day and a nefarious kangaroo hopping ever closer by night, Jake learns about loss, bravery, the power of love, and how you cannot fully heal until you face your greatest fear. This uncompromising novel is a magical yet honest exploration of emotional healing after a devastating loss.Described as a “poignant coming-of-age novel (that) offers a sensitive and honest examination of a child’s spiritual and emotional battles” by The BookLife Prize.

     Twelve-year-old Iris Sparks lives in Winteridge with her brother; her working-class Welsh mother, Llewelyna; and her blue-blooded father from England, a progressive bohemian who has brought his family to Canada for an adventure.But amid the idyllic, Edwardian setting, there are dangers lurking. A blend of Welsh and Indigenous stories of a predatory lake monster take real shape for young Iris as she begins to unravel the truth behind her mother's dark fairy tales, and watches in horror as her mother increasingly succumbs to seizures.As the First World War reaches its height, Iris must contend with the demands of a deteriorating mother and the harsh realities of a toxic love triangle. All the while, Iris's mind continues to exert its strange and awesome power, and she and her entire community must find a way to survive at the mercy of otherworldly beasts and a hungry darkness.

    For the past century, every girl has been born with a special talent, like the ability to Fix any object, Heal any wound, or Find what is missing.Best friends Rome, Lux, and Mercy all have similar talents, but to them, their abilities often feel like a curse. Rome may be able to Fix anything she touches, but that won’t help her mom pay rent or make it any easier to confide in Lux and Mercy about what’s going on at home. And Rome isn’t the only one. Lux has been hiding bigger, more dangerous secrets.As Rome struggles to keep her friendships close, she discovers the truth about life in Cottonwood Hollow—that friends are stronger than curses, that trust is worth the risk, and sometimes, what you’ve been looking for has been under your feet the whole time.

    She returns to her village naked with a monstrous snakeskin trailing behind her. One decision at a time, she reclaims her life. Each character she encounters by land and sea—brute, healer, orphan, mystic, lover—reflects an unhealed aspect of herself and plots her recovery through symbolic milestones. Serpent’s Wake is intended for adults and young adults exploring how, once fractured, we may mend. A tale that weaves around your heart in your darkest times…and points to the greatest lesson of all—that in suffering lies freedom. – Erin L. Cash, Former Queensland Police Detective It snarls and hisses at categorization, but will etch itself onto the minds and souls of anyone discerning enough to lose themselves in its embrace. – J.M. Donellan, Killing Adonis A mythic voyage full of wry humor and shy romance that recalls the fantasies of Ursula K. Le Guin. – Guy Salvidge, The Kingdom of Four Rivers The best fiction I’ve read since Keri Hulme’s Booker Prize winner, The Bone People. – Russell Darnley, Order of Australia Medalist

    It was kind of like how he used to talk about quantum physics or how he used to say ghosts haunted their overgrown golf course. But then one day, after Stuey and his best friend, Elly Rose, spend countless afternoons in the deadfall in the middle of the woods, something totally unbelievable happens. As Stuey and Elly Rose struggle to come to grips with their lives after that reality-splitting moment, all the things Grandpa Zach used to say start to make a lot more sense. This is a book about memory and loss and the destructive nature of secrets, but also about the way friendship, truth, and perseverance have the ability to knit a torn-apart world back together.

    She finds all of the joy in her life matching people with the special something that they are missing, a talisman that will help bring them just what their heart most desires. Although Jude's life is certainly not overflowing with the love she would wish for ... when she 'inherits' a niece that she never knew existed, doubling her meagre family overnight, life is set to get a lot less empty and a lot more interesting.Viola is on a quest for perfection and the top job of Head Chef at one of Cambridge's most prestigious restaurants to the exclusion of all else. When her path continues to cross that of widower and food historian Mathieu, she starts to see that there's a lot to life beyond the kitchen that she's been missing out on.

    When the dead man is reanimated, Bay gets pulled into a chilling adventure of mystery and murder, but if she digs too deep, she might risk revealing her most treasured secret: she’s a witch.

    She does not have a talking cat. She does, however, have a place in a community where she is called upon to help release the trapped soul of a dead man … oh, and a cat that’s trapped halfway up a tree. Yes, halfway. She unravels the mystery by unpicking the myth itself, exploring the old Welsh language and the complicated connections between cats, snakes and dragonflies. This short story is based on the characters that appear in The Celtic Witch Mysteries, a complete series of eight books. Jackie is a domestic witch living in a cottage overlooking the sea. She hears the Yow-Yows calling out at night, luring people to their watery doom, and the very next day, a young woman is dead. But why would they target this popular, vivacious artist? Jackie joins forces with her friend Gloria to expose the real killer. It all goes wrong as her meddling unleashes the Hurricane Curse and she is soon fighting for her own life… This short story is based on the characters that appear in The Everyday Witches of Wildham-on-Sea, a complete trilogy. This collection includes two previously published short stories. Harkin and the Snake’s Servant appeared in the now-unavailable anthology “Seven Pets for Seven Witches”. It’s Always Night at the Bottom of the Sea appeared in the now-unavailable anthology “Spell or High Water.” Both are 10,000-15,000 words long, and complete stories. You do not need to have read anything else by Molly Milligan to enjoy these stories.

    Sneak Thief by Faith Harkey is about a girl from a damaged family whose mysterious gift for taking away others' pain helps her build a new life for herself.

    Persecuted by the patriarchs of the Great Church and decimated by a plague of prayer eaters, The Sisterhood is on the verge of extinction when a white monkey appears in a snowstorm and makes a special delivery. It is a holy night like no other--complete with a wandering star, three disreputable magi, and a babe mangered in a cardboard box. Scandal alert! The endangered infant is the illegitimate offspring of two misbehaving Gods--one parent very married to her divine Hindu husband, the other a famous bachelor Jew with a tendency to covet his neighbor's consort. The mere existence of the misbegotten is a provocation. In celestial realms, the reputations of celebrity A-list Gods are at stake. On Earth, the undocumented deity is a threat to the birdmen of the Great Church--the Cardinals, Hooded Crow, Cloistered Ravens, and gay Budgies, plus a malevolent Cassowary and an ancient Hierophant: His Holiness, the Divine Mallard of All Mysteries. Luckily, a white monkey with impeccable spiritual credentials has broken out of bounds and jumped into this world! Expect literary enchantment: ...a hotbed of heresies ...a feminist insurgency ...a divine comedy. Expect his dark materials to be given a radical do-over when the Godma applies her light. ***** "WHITE MONKEY CHRONICLES shows author Isabella Ides to be a self-assured, equal-opportunity paradigm demolition expert. Storming entrenched temples of orthodoxy, shattering icons, upending conventions--the eponymous monkey blinks his eyes and worlds collide. But it's in the reconstruction that the story wins our hearts. When bohemian Sister Merry Berry fires up her pink 1959 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz convertible, top down, in preparation for heavenly ascent, readers will aspire to hitch a ride, relishing the mind-expanding experience the transit has in store." Alexandra Bonifield, CriticalRant.com, NEA/Annenberg and O'Neill Critics Institute Fellow

     Theirs. The secret to their past lies in a tale written by the author as a ten-year-old girl. Fan fiction, 80s nostalgia, and the imagination of a child combine to form a story that’s equal parts baffling and brilliant – and dangerous for anyone living through it firsthand. But as the world evolves and the story matures, author and villain grow closer to solving the mystery of how their lives have always been connected. The lines between fantasy and reality, past and future, villain and heroine, blur in a spectacular journey through a fantasy world that gradually grows darker with each twist and turn. In the end, it’s always only ever been about White Tree Sound.

    Resident alcoholic Grappa believes it’s the Far Dorocha, dark servant of the Faery queen, whose seductive music lures you into their abyss. His granddaughter Ayla has other ideas, especially once she meets the mysterious flute player she heard on the beach.Riley and his mother have moved to the island to escape their grief. But when the tight-knit community is beset by a series of strange deaths, the enigmatic newcomers quickly garner the ire of the locals. Can Ayla uncover the mystery at the heart of the island’s darkness before it is too late?Wrought with sensuousness and lyricism, D.M. Cameron’s debut novel Beneath the Mother Tree is a thrilling journey, rhythmically fierce and eagerly awaited.

    But when she follows her little brother, Bo, up the hill while chasing fireflies, she makes an incredible discovery—dinosaur bones peeking out from underneath the abandoned tractor.Esme sees the bones as a message from her grandfather; a connection beyond the grave. But when word gets out that Peach Hollow Farm is hiding something valuable, reporters, researchers, and neighbors arrive in droves. Esme must find a way to understand who has her best interests at heart—especially as the memories of her grandfather begin to slip away.From acclaimed author Suzanne Crowley, this engaging adventure set on a Texas peach farm is just right for fans of Rebecca Stead and Ann M. Martin.

    He discovers that dragons are real when Lamia, a three-headed monster, kidnaps his sister. A witch and a talking magpie help him open the portal to Dragon Village, a land he knows only from myth, a place filled with terrifying creatures. A young woodland nymph befriends him when he arrives. He must learn to trust his instincts as he searches for a way to defeat Lamia before the dragon sacrifices his sister. In his journey, he uncovers secrets that reveal that only he can save the mystical land. In this book, you will discover some of the terrifying creatures from Bulgarian and Slavic mythology. Some you may know by other names: Samodivi are Veelas from Harry Potter fame, only here they're shown as supernatural creatures of the forest. Baba Yaga, Harpies, and other creatures find their way into these pages, as well as the dreaded Lamia.

    With the flip of a coin, he decides to return to his home town of Nowhere, Oklahoma, to settle the score with his twin brother Josiah. But upon his escape, he enters a world he doesn’t recognize—one that has been overtaken by the Dust Bowl. And the gift he once relied on to guide him is as unrecognizable as the path back to Nowhere.After one jolt in Old Sparky, Jeremiah sees things more clearly and begins to question the mysterious circumstances surrounding the murders he was accused of. On his journey home, he accidentally rescues a young boy who follows him the rest of the way, and the pair arrive at their destination where they are greeted by fearful townspeople. When the Black Sunday storm hits the very next day, the residents of Nowhere finally begin to let the past few years of hardship bury them under the weight of all that dust.Unlikely heroes, Jeremiah and his new companion, Peter Cotton, try to protect the townspeople from themselves, but Jeremiah must face his nightmares and free himself from the guilt of flipping the coin on those men who died.Filled with mystery and magic, What Blooms from Dust is the story of finding hope in the midst of darkness and discovering the beauty of unexpected kindness.

    Then the dead start to visit her dreams with mysterious messages. In a secret pact with her friends Jagryn and Laki, Luskell begins to teach herself magic and discovers an apparently bottomless well of untapped power. But before she has control over this ability, her dead grandfather appears with a dire warning. With no way to send word to her parents, Luskell and her friends mount a daring rescue. Can they get to the capital in time to save the country ... and her parents' lives?

    The family outing turns tragic when Dean Drake shows up with his shotgun and fires on not only the swans, but on Lilly’s family. Unable to prevent tragedy, Lillian witnesses Drake kill her father, injure her mother, and slaughter the bevy of trumpeter swans. The sheriff, Charlie West, thinks that Lilly is reacting to the trauma and blaming Drake because of a previous conflict between Drake and her father. Lilly’s mother, sister, and her best friend, Jerome West, the sheriff’s son, all think the same thing: that Lilly is trying to make sense of a senseless accident. Left alone to bring Dean Drake to justice, Lilly’s effort is subverted when Drake woos her sister, courts her mother, and moves into their home.

     On what’s supposed to be a fun trip to New Zealand to recover from a painful breakup, Anna is kidnapped and flown away by a mythical beast bent on making her his queen. Anna’s rare blood type makes her the only viable mate in the islands, and with scores of dragons looking for her, escape isn’t likely. Joe is the youngest and smallest dragon in the competition to become king. Now that he’s found Anna, all he needs to overthrow their tyrannical monarch is to bring her back to Dragon Mount before anyone can challenge his claim. But Joe is injured and unable to fly, and each passing second increases the risk of discovery. Challenging the king means certain death, but Anna is Joe’s to lose. If the king finds her, he will bathe Dragon Mount in her blood, condemning Joe’s people to seventeen more years of brutal subjugation. The fate of the Draconi rests in the talons of their smallest dragon, and the clock is ticking.

     Now, confined to hospital following a near-fatal accident, he tells the story of his younger self and extended ‘family’, as they grapple with problems ranging from eco-friendly slug control to the mischief of a power-hungry guru. An extraordinary chronicle of a lifestyle both alternative yet remarkably viable, a microcosm of eccentricity, comedy and occasional grotesque tragedy, it is told with the unflinching eye of a child and the sympathy of a narrator who sees the humour as well as the horror of life in all its deranged glory. Praise for The Ballad of Curly Oswald: 'Funny and tragic, otherworldly and accessible - an enchanting account of growing up in a New Age Commune'. James Wheale, Founder of Nomadic Community Gardens

    These linked stories expose the seven-decade-long Palestinian diaspora in a disquieting allegory of the clash between the occupied and the occupier. In 1993, Talarigo watched two Palestinian boys playing with an injured bird with a string around its neck. The boys tossed the bird into the air, waiting for it to fly before the string ran out, and the bird fell into the boys' hands. For nearly a year, the author carried this image with him before he wrote a story about the bird. This story became his first published piece of fiction about his Gaza journey.Jeff Talarigo is the author of two novels: The Pearl Diver and The Ginseng Hunter. He has lived in Gaza and Japan, and currently resides in Oakland, California.

    Read "When Marty Met Emmet," "Jurassic Biff," "Clara's Story," and the six-part story "Continuum Conundrum," where Doc has disappeared in the time stream and Marty is the only one who can find him!Collects issues #1-12 of the Back To The Future comic series.

    THIS TITLE IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE

    The world has changed greatly in the six centuries since their banishment into the void, but the task isn't impossible. Unfortunately for Castiel, this is going to involve talking to people - especially the Knight Prince who has taken an interest in Castiel and his "costume" wings.(Destiel Cinderella AU)

    It is a voyage that navigates through family tribalism, supervisors, white-gloved Sheriffs, bullies, sex, suicide, dead prisoners, drugs, porn, middle school, and Jesus; all in search of answering one of life’s greatest mysteries: what is the point of adults? This artistic masterpiece comes from the mind of author Benjamin Davis with illustrations by Russian artist Nikita Klimov.

    "Norton, who infuses his book with the small-town eeriness found in Stephen King's work, delights in connecting the dots for well-read younger audiences...This engaging tale will challenge middle-grade readers who love mysteries and a good fright." - Kirkus Reviews"A riveting great read and the first volume of author Alex Norton's new 'Witchbone' series, "The Goblin's Winter" showcases a master of the fantasy action/adventure novel who has a genuine flair for originality and a thoroughly reader engaging narrative storytelling style. Unreservedly recommended..." - Midwest Book ReviewEleven-year-old Danny Hallow accepts his life, such as it is. His father is dead, his mother is gone. His three Keepers are the only people aware of Danny's erratic and not-very-impressive psychic powers. He has no friends, his room is disorganized and his grades are terrible.When his uncle dies under mysterious circumstances Danny and his Keepers are called to the town of Eddystone for the reading of the man's will, and everything begins to change for Danny.Arriving at the crumbling estate of Gnomewood Home, he falls into the weird web of his ancestor's secrets and begins to question everything he thought he knew. Disturbing memories come to him in dreams. His psychic abilities begin to grow stronger. Strangest of all, a horde of cryptic creatures is plaguing the town of Eddystone, seemingly drawn out by the spell of an unusually cold February. Toothy little goblins that are sneaky, vicious and hungry. Goblins that take an interest in Danny.Will the emergence of the alien, and potentially dangerous, traits he's inherited from his peculiar family tree help Danny survive a goblin infested winter, attempts to befriend the town's most feared bully, and the sixth grade?Only if he learns to control them before they put him and everyone around him in danger. Before they convince some people he should never have been allowed to exist. Before he becomes just another twisted tale in his family's bizarre history, kept hidden for centuries within the walls of Gnomewood Home.

    Clark.A boy washes up on a mysterious, seemingly uninhabited beach. Who is he? How did he get there? The boy can’t remember. When he sees a light shining over the foreboding wall of trees that surrounds the shore, he decides to follow it, in the hopes that it will lead him to answers. The boy’s journey is a struggle for survival and a search for the truth—a terrifying truth that once uncovered, will force him to face his greatest fear of all if he is to go home.This gripping adventure will have readers hooked until its jaw-dropping and moving conclusion. Samantha M. Clark’s first novel heralds the arrival of an exciting new voice.

    

    Qualities of magic realism permeate her writing as characters navigate problems in a world where tumultuous emotions may literally burst into flight. In "Now They Would Behave" a family's discord manifests as an escaped dragon they must tame. In "It Grew to a Certain Size," a mother blames herself for her daughter's death and finds solace conversing with her talking pet pig. In "New Wavelengths" a woman harnesses unexpected natural power to seek revenge on her harasser. Gehan also lasers her insight to critique narrow definitions of female beauty, ultimately inviting us to envision a more glorious society.

     At least, that's what the brochure said ... Stacy and Jake are united not only by matrimony but by the bonds of their intimacy laces, which allow them to feel each other's eternal devotion. However, after six years of wedded "bliss," the spark has died, and the once healthy laces have dimmed to weak spider threads of light. Determined to reignite the flame, Stacy drags Jake to the Emotional Intimacy Clinic to get their laces refurbished. When the clinic insists on a full consultation and evaluation of their relationship, Jake is reluctant, but Stacy knows they're perfect for each other. What could possibly go wrong?

    Outwardly, their lives appear normal, but they’re not ordinary people. The Lereux family is cursed with something that has claimed their ancestors many years. When Ravine Lereux receives a distressing letter from her Uncle Edward, she must return to a place she swore never to return, a place that’s haunted by something, an abnormal presence she feared as a child. Now she must face it again. As she races to the aid of her aunt and uncle, she makes an unsettling discovery about herself and her family.

    And, while the author excels at getting inside the heart and soul of her readers, the connection garnered by what remains unsaid is remarkable. The writing is descriptive and artistic, without being flowery or overdone, and leaving just enough room to incorporate snippets of one’s own imagination. Some things are just not taught and Koerber’s writing is one of those things–she has a gift. " Reader ViewsAndy thought of flying. She imagined the air under her arms, her hair lifting and floating. She felt her heartbeat separate from the faraway beat and form its own rhythm: light, quick, a dancing thrum. When she opened her eyes, her yard was dusky and her mood had lightened. Andy let her gaze drift across the darkening landscape and her heart filled with exultation. She raised her arms, fanned out her fingers, and arched her feet until she was on her toes. The light exploded into a ring of fire in a black sky: total eclipse. She gently rose up into the warm, dark air and began to dance.

    On the TV, a preacher speaks of a God who looks nothing like her—back in her bedroom, the spirit of an ancestor speaks of a life that can never be Arit’s. Running by Itoro Udofia tells the story of a first generation Nigerian-American, straddling the line between present and past, the life Arit wants, and the life others want for her.

    He's also the only one who has been able to see and hear her since the accident. But now she's got a mystery to solve, a mystery that will hopefully remind her detective father that he is still alive, that there is a life after Beth that is still worth living.Who is Isobel Catching, and why is she able to see Beth, too? What is her connection to the crime Beth's father has been sent to investigate--a gruesome fire at a home for troubled youth that left an unidentifiable body behind? What happened to the people who haven't been seen since the fire?As Beth and her father unravel the mystery, they find a shocking and heartbreaking story lurking beneath the surface of a small town, and a friendship that lasts beyond one life and into another...

    All they know is that each package is the best thing that’s ever happened to them…or the worst.In one box is a packet of seeds that allows you to grow your perfect date. In another there’s a cupcake that causes anyone who eats it to grow eyeballs all over their skin. There’s also a parcel with a mousetrap that turns all your enemies tiny. Or you could receive your autobiography, which when signed, makes your every thought famous. Or maybe even a key to a secret door that leads to another dimension where all your unfinished and abandoned projects exist. But with each package received comes both fortune and misfortune that will surely result in unexpected consequences.Like a season of episodes from The Twilight Zone or Friday the 13th The Series, comes a collection of dark and humorous stories from the premier British female author of bizarro fiction.

    True, her parents own a cadaver lab where they perform surgeries on dead bodies. And yes, that makes her gross by association, at least according to everyone in seventh grade. And sure, Fovea's stuck working at the lab now that her summer camp plans have fallen through. But she is by no means Dr. Frankenstein's snuffling assistant!That is, until three disembodied heads, left to thaw in the wet lab, start talking. To her. Out loud. What seems like a nightmare, or bizarre hallucination, is not. Fovea is somebody's Igor, all right. Three somebodies, actually. And they need a favor.

    This vulnerable mixtape of prose and spoken word reveals a young woman's sexual awakening, blossoming through the desert of childhood abuse into life on her own terms. Culminating in magic and metaphor, this proheaux womanists' unfinished journey from fear into peace is riveting. An odyssey through sex, loss, and painful self-awareness through the eyes of sensitive stone goddesses, vulnerable dragons, traumatized witches, and curious nymphettes, libra season gives us a glimpse into a queer Black woman's grieving-and-healing process.

    one, two, three. Ten-year-old Immy and her family run away from their storm cloud of problems to a tiny village in Cambridgeshire, England. When they find an adorable thatched cottage to begin a perfect new life in, the only downside is the ancient, dark and fierce-looking mulberry tree in the back garden. And the legend that comes with it - the villagers say the tree steals away girls living in the cottage on the eve of their eleventh birthday. Of course, Immy thinks this is ridiculous. Then she starts to hear a strange song in her head...Allison Rushby's new novel for middle-grade readers is a captivating, spooky mystery.

     Who is Wyatt Flint? Not covered in debrief. Cooperation in what? Not covered in debrief. Purpose of objects? Not covered in debrief. Obscure directives are just another day at the office for Section X agent Jesse Talon. She’s used to it. As long as she’s got a strong drink and her magic gun Sweetcheeks, she’s got this. Sure, Wyatt isn’t cooperating, despite her resorting to seduction techniques. Sure, she’s got some other issues, like trying to win a gun fight in a tight, sequined dress, or her partner trying to gamble away the magic crystals they need, or the rogue British agent who’s got it out for all of them. Or—oh, yeah—the fact that the apocalypse might have started. But definitely, she’s, um, got this.

    One is about a girl trying to get to school and the second is about a girl staring at a house.

    Now Adrienne's being held captive by the family she was convinced didn't exist, and her best hope for escape is to act like she cares about them, even if it means wooing the youngest son.

    In the ashen clouds and the falling snow. In the stories of four animals on a quest to become town musicians. But Michelle knows better.After returning from a thrilling study abroad program, Michelle no longer finds joy in her hometown, in her university lectures, or in her life. The spark of magic is gone, and she has lost all energy to look for it. But one winter day, a mysterious cat drops into her world and shatters it to pieces. Will Michelle find hope among the ruins?A contemporary fairytale from the author of the Nightfall series.

    Written for lovers of the work of Patricia Highsmith and Cordwainer Smith, these stories are brutal and honest and strange.

    This terrible war to end all wars had consumed an endless stream of men—all shot, gassed, or obliterated by artillery in the trenches. Dieter, a German farmer, has no idea how his sons met their fate. He knows only that they are dead, and his wife, Gerda, refuses to accept it. After he brings home a golden bird, still miraculously alive after being rescued from an iron box, Gerda declares she will go find the truth about their third son, Karl, whose body was never found. In a desperate attempt to keep his wife home, Dieter volunteers to search instead. The bird guides Dieter safely to the front, but once they reach the battleground, they find only chaos. Exploding shells pepper the muddy ground as far as the eye can see. The fighting is so savage and constant that many bodies are never recovered for burial. As his chances of finding his son’s grave tumble from slim to none, Dieter becomes trapped on the battlefield. It seems likely he will share his sons’ fate. But the bird has other plans… *** The Golden Key, by Cathleen Townsend, is a historical novelette that blends the harsh realities of war with a touch of magic and a heaping dose of heart. Stacie Eirich Townsend’s novelette The Golden Key starts off with the feel of a German folktale as Dieter finds a magical golden bird buried in a chest at the base of a tree. The plot’s tension builds at a steady pace…a quick read with plenty of action and a warm message. Diana Peach

    . . and not the predictable ones. Because Margie, Katherine, and Abra are feeling a new kind of power inside of them - literally. Of all the things they thought they might have to contend with as they got older, not one of them considered they'd be exploding a few gender roles by becoming superheroes.At once a delightful and surprising adventure and a thoughtful examination of a woman's changing role through life's passages, THE SUPER LADIES is larger-than-life fiction at its very best. PRAISE FOR SUSAN PETRONE'S THROW LIKE A WOMAN: "While, on the surface, this is a novel about a woman battling to make her way in the man's world of professional baseball, debut author Petrone presents a stirring and humorous story of a woman doing considerably more than that--trying to rediscover herself, provide for her family, and perhaps find a little love along the way." - Booklist "Throw Like a Woman is that rare baseball novel, both a paean to the game and a deeper exploration of character. Susan Petrone has a fan's heart and a scout's eye. Read it now. Don't wait for the movie." - Stewart O'Nan, co-author of Faithful and A Face in the Crowd "Someday there will be a woman who plays Major League Baseball. And when it happens, I suspect it will be an awful lot like Susan Petrone's fun Throw Like a Woman. Susan knows baseball and so the novel - and her hero Brenda Haversham - crackles with authenticity. You can hear the pop of the ball hitting the catcher's mitt." - Joe Posnanski, author of The Soul of Baseball, NBC Sports National Columnist "For baseball fans who yearn for a female Jackie Robinson, reading Susan Petrone's fun and absorbing novel Throw Like a Woman becomes a kind of prayer. 'Please, Lord! Give talent a chance. Let this dream come true!'" - Mary Doria Russell, author of The Sparrow "Petrone's storytelling is first-rate, and she weaves a credible baseball tale with well-defined characters throughout." - The Wave

    Mass hysteria and terror sweeps through her community in the year 1692 when the village children complain of being tormented by witches. The arrival of Marcus Wiseman, an intimidating Puritan nicknamed the "Hammer" (Malleus Maleficarum), strikes fear into the hearts of many. His mission is to help the reverend find those who have signed the Devil's Book. Lily avoids the fearsome man at all costs-until a shocking dream reveals the truth. Her life changes drastically after that fateful night, for she knows that their destinies are intertwined. Together, they must combat the Puritanical tyranny threatening Salem Village. This riveting supernatural thriller combines historical facts with romantic suspense and magical realism.

    Herbie Hunter’s life has been turned upside down. After his father died, he and his mother had no choice but to go and live with Herbie’s grandmother in Paradise Rift. But Herbie quickly learns that this is no normal town—a UFO worshipping cult known as the Light Seekers have made it their headquarters, and strange happenings have plagued the town since their arrival.On his first night in the rift, Herbie sees mysterious lights floating in the sky followed by a frantic woman running into the desert. But what Herbie meets in the darkness is no normal woman, but a shadowy creature with hands drenched in blood. After barely escaping with his life, Herbie is desperate to uncover whose blood was on the beast’s hands, and what role the Light Seekers played in its creation. With the help of his friends, family and a secret order of occult scholars, Herbie must reveal the truth despite the odds being stacked against him.

    Here are authors ranging from Kathy Acker to James Baldwin, Truman Capote to Stanislaw Lem and George Orwell to Shirley Jackson; essays radical and inspiring; poems moving and disturbing; stories surreal and fabulous; taking us from the deep South to modern Japan, New York's underground scene to the farthest reaches of outer space.

     SYNOPSIS: "This Soul'd World is the trial, tribulation and revelation of space-time scientist, Callison Trebla, who has a destiny calling him from a parallel dimension. Upon retirement from his life-long employer, Quanta Laboratories, Callison 'steals' an as-yet unproven time-portal and takes it home to 'go solo' on the project. And he thinks he's got away with it: until the day he actually makes it work. Quanta soon come knocking, revealing their dark, conspiratorial, lethal intentions. They claim the portal is their intellectual property to do with as they please, including keeping it a secret. The only route of escape for Callison becomes wherever the portal leads. He makes the leap and unwittingly falls down a rabbit hole of infinite depth, exploring behind the inter-dimensional veil and in the process learning how to get around Quanta Laboratories. He also learns how to deal with the mystery of life itself and the loss of his young son 30 years previous. This Soul'd World is a story of hope for the coming age, that aims to challenge our inherited paradigms about life. It pulls the reader down alternate timelines and explores all the space between. It's a medley of Science Fiction, Mystery, Forgotten Philosophies and Adventure. and readdresses the balance between the search of the world for answers, and the search of the self for questions. Waking up is like breathing again, for those caught in a nightmare..."

    In OUR COLONY BEYOND THE CITY OF RUINS, an insomniac will do anything for sleep, crones released from a buried heart take over a town, a woman chooses to live her last days in a cave overlooking the sea, earthquake survivors establish a colony in a remote forest. With unwavering imagination and heart, Janalyn Guo delivers a cast of characters who find their own unusual ways to endure."These stories take the gestures of new wave fabulism and make it newer and even more wavy, by being genuinely international. Here's a book that shivers with possibility and wonder and surprise, where plants grow from people's bodies, where ghosts exist even before someone is dead. Guo isn't afraid to take on even the thoroughly weird in the most delightful way. This is what it's like to see a genre revivified."--Brian Evenson"OUR COLONY BEYOND THE CITY OF RUINS is an absolute delight, a wild collection that unsettles as much as it entertains. Guo shows an impressive range and deep emotional intelligence--this is a rare book of both strangeness and heart."--Kelly Luce

    They might think differently if they knew my secret. It’s something I’ve never shared with anyone, and I mean no one.Every once in a while, since I was eight, I’ve had a dream. The same one, every time. I dream of a man hidden by shadows, who never fails to save me from the searing flames that threaten to devour me.He is always there for me.Always!That’s the dream…this is now. I have a new classmate, and instinctively I know, something seems strange. In a matter of hours, dark rumors abound, labeling him an outcast. Even before he has the chance to become one of us, my classmates turned against him.My heart tells me there’s more to him than his frown and this specific expression he has. That’s what my heart says, but I saw something I shouldn’t have. That night, in the park by the willow I saw him covered in blood.I should keep my distance, but I can’t. Something mysterious draws me to him.He has secrets of his own.However, one secret could destroy us both.

    Muller, editor of the award-winning Nightscript anthology series. These stories first appeared in venues such as Shadows & Tall Trees, Supernatural Tales, and Weirdbook.“The writing here is so assured it’s hard to believe it’s a debut.” —David Longhorn, editor of Supernatural Tales“An author of strange fiction to keep a close eye on.” —Simon Strantzas, author of Everything is Nothing“Muller’s stories are sorrowful and stay in my head like folk tales I once heard but couldn’t place in any specific time…they haunt me long after finishing them.”—Christopher Slatsky, author of Alectryomancer

    It would be filled with trees trained to grow in such a way that children could easily climb them. To this end, he bought bought two acres of land, hired Alonso Hannah, a one-armed arborist, and began to turn his dream into the reality. After five years, Alonso and Sam had created a small, privately-owned park in a big publicly-run city. Sam married Ghita, bought an apartment across the street from his park, and had five children. People fell in love at the Samuel Swerling Park. Painters painted pictures; dogs chased Frisbees; pretty girls basked in the sun; and time stood still. Most of all, though, children did what the park had been built for them to do: They climbed trees.The narrator of this book is one of Sam's climbing trees.He thrives on human contact, and in his long and happy life, he has had few disappointments. Lately, however, he is being subjected to life-threatening injuries by Jarvis Larchmont, a power-hungry politician who was thrown out of the park for bullying when he was twelve-years old.Time passes.Sam's grandchildren, particularly Esther Swerling, are now in charge of the park. Esther is young, beautiful, and like her grandfather, an inventor. She is also ferociously protective of her heritage. When a hurricane floods the area, she and her family provide food, warmth, and shelter in the park to those seeking refuge. At the same time, the City's beloved mayor is hospitalized, and Jarvis Larchmont is put in charge of the Department of Parks. Still bitterly resentful at having been thrown out of the park as a child, he joins forces with ecco-terrorists to destroy Sam's creation. Suddenly, our narrator and his fellow climbing trees are separated from people. Separated from all that they know and love. Separated from children. They cry...and they begin to die.Then Esther, her friends, and her family organize.And they fight back.

    A family of matriarchs collects recipes for the dead. A woman gains an unexpected child in the midst of a bunny apocalypse. An outcast finds work in a magical slaughterhouse. Julie C. Day’s debut collection is rife with dark and twisted tales made beautiful by her gorgeous prose and wonderfully idiosyncratic imagination. Melding aspects of Southern Gothic and fabulism, and utilizing the author’s own scientific background, Day’s carefully rendered settings are both delightful and unexpected. Whether set in a uniquely altered version of Florida’s Space Coast or a haunted island off the coast of Maine, each story in this collection carries its own brand of meticulous and captivating weirdness. Yet in the end, it is the desperation of the characters that drives these stories forward and their wild obsessions that carry them through to the end. It is Day’s clear-eyed compassion for the dark recesses of the human heart and her dream-like vision of the physical world that make this collection a standout.

    People think she's psychic... Tamsin belongs to a hidden community of Witches, Faeries and Elementals.Always hovering around and interfering in Tamsin's life, part father-figure, part thorn in her side, Detective Jackson, is an old-school cop. Childhood friend to her deceased mother, Tamsin wonders could her mother have let an outsider in on the truth?Newcomer, rookie cop Scott Gale is forced to team-up with Tamsin when they investigate the disappearance of a newborn baby and a bizarre crime scene--satanic ritual or hoax?More and more the blame starts to point towards Tamsin...Tamsin must uncover who's framing her, find the baby before it's too late, unravel the mystery behind her elder brother's disappearance, and stop Scott from entering a world not meant for human eyes.But Scott has family secrets of his own and Tamsin doesn't know who to trust.But can you trust Tamsin? What if the person who saved your life is about to frame you for murder?

    Contributors include: Christian Loriel, Desiree Evans, Avi-Yona Israel, Wandeka Gayle, L.M. Bennett, DiAnne Malone, Muli Amaye, Tatiana Taylor, Kourtnie Rodney, Jacquese Armstrong, Candice Lola, Preslaysa Williams, and Ilisha Nicole.In "Let It Be Me," a woman falls in love with her childhood friend, carrying his tragedies and weaknesses on her shoulders. But if she breaks, who will be there to carry her? We witness remnants of the often complicated relationship between mothers and daughters in "Holding Pattern". Lenaya must learn to move forward even as she carries the weight of her history into her present day."Fear of Fear" places us in a car with a woman headed to her ex-boyfriend's wedding - with her current boyfriend as her date. What could possibly go wrong? "Finding Joy" chronicles the experiences of a Black Jamaican immigrant who, as a freshman at a university in Louisiana, grapples with her religious upbringing, homesickness, and the decision to make when a white graduate student impregnates her. A fortune teller sets up shop in a laundromat in "Burn the Witch" because...these sweaters won't dry themselves.In "On the Occasion of A Pending Departure" a mother reckons with her son's pending departure to college in Baton Rouge and whether she's taught him enough. "Stripped" tells the story of Kaya, who is at a crossroads in her life and is traveling through rural France looking for something to help her piece her life together. After spending fourteen years in prison, another mother is finally heading home in "The Dearest Ones"."Babe?" is a story about a couple affected by a miscarriage, and how they each bring their personal traumas into the relationship. In the 1950s, a girl and her siblings listen to Miss Daisy recount the story of her childhood friend's rape and eventual murder in "tea at miss daisy's". Are those on the top lucky or are they trapped? "Golden Girl" examines the underbelly of fame and celebrity. Single mother Rayna escapes from her abusive boyfriend in "Finding My Way Home". When she arrives at her grandmother's home with her young daughter, she must rethink how to live.Lastly, "This Is How You Deal With Grief" is a reminiscent exploration of how grief is handled by those who can and cannot cry. Teri Wright just lost her father-in-law, who was more affectionate with her than he was with his own son. She should be mourning, but she can't conjure up the pain.

    At night, within its darkened galleries, an unseen and surreal world comes alive—a world witnessed only by the small family of cats that lives in the attic. Until now…Translated by Tekkonkinkreet film director Michael Arias.

    She couldn’t wait to graduate from high school and move away for college. All she had ever wanted was a “normal” life. It’s only when she must return home to see a gravely-ill friend that Livy realizes she left behind more than the silly festivals and small-town gossip. There are still pieces of her in Stratford—ones stemming from missed opportunities and misunderstandings. And now might be her chance to resolve the conflicts that have been buried deep inside her, especially those involving her complicated relationship with Hunter. Maybe Livy’s life is more like a Shakespeare comedy than she realized. Can she embrace summer tales of love, friendship, and bad acting by amateur thespians in exchange for a happily ever after? Or will she continue to reject who she is, letting her tale turn tragic? **Previously released as Remembering Summer**