Book picks similar to
Foxes for Christmas by Ben Aaronovitch


short-stories
fantasy
urban-fantasy
ebook-wanted

Blocked (InCryptid, #2.1)


Seanan McGuire - 2014
    She likes her high school, she likes her friends—even if none of them really know her as anything more than another face in the halls—and most of all, she likes her place on the cheerleading squad, where she understands what's expected of her, and delivers with grace, style, and a viciousness that has done a lot for her team's reputation.Too bad it's time to graduate.Now adrift in a world that doesn't have the rules she's used to or the protections she had worked so hard to shape, Antimony has to find something else to keep herself busy...and her cousin, Elsinore, has a few ideas about what that something might be.It's time for Antimony to meet the wide, wonderful world of roller derby. Let's hope that she survives the experience—and that everyone else survives her.

A Fire Within The Ways


Robert Jordan - 2019
    As some of you know, during the revision process of A Memory of Light, two lengthy sections ended up on the cutting room floor. The first, which we titled River of Souls, was included in the first Unfettered Anthology. The second, I assumed, would never see the light of day.However, Grim Oak press (and Shawn Speakman, who runs it) has continued the Unfettered anthologies—the income of which is used to help pay medical fees for authors and artists in need. I thought the arrival of the third anthology would be a great chance to use this other deleted scene. (Which involves Perrin traveling into the Ways.) Harriet has graciously agreed to let it be published, so I’m thrilled to be able to announce its inclusion in the anthology.I’ve long been fond of this sequence, and it was quite difficult to cut from the book. (In the anthology itself, I’ll explain why we eventually decided that the sequence needed to go.) I do have to warn you that-unlike River of Souls, which we consider canon to events in the Wheel of Time—this as-of-yet untitled sequence is NOT canon. You’ll want to read it in the same way you’d watch an unfinished, alternate film scene that ended up not being used.Still, I think it’s an exciting and interesting chunk of writing. It’s quite big, as long as a novella, and it addresses one of the big unanswered questions we left hanging at the end of the Wheel of Time. So I think you’re in for a treat.Look for Unfettered Three March 19th, 2019.Brandon

Warrior


Terry Brooks - 2018
    Now he returns to that Word and Void mythos with a novella sure to delight his readers and a story as powerful as that previous trilogy. Sinnissippi Park, in Hopewell, Illinois, has long been a place of magic. Jack McCall learned this at a young age when confronted with a deadly childhood disease. He overcame that threat with aid from the unlikeliest of companions -- the woodland creature Pick and his trusted owl Daniel -- and the magic that existed within his own heart. Now grown, Jack has graduated from college, leaving behind that terrible time and having never witnessed magic again. That is about to change. Lacking direction in life, he is summoned by the Lady, who recruits men and women to the service of the Word. For she is in dire need of Jack's unique history to help preserve the world's future -- a service that will be needed only once but on which all things hinge.

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency


James Goss - 2016
    In Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, Dirk finds himself on the trail of a gruesome murderer who is somehow involved with the works of Coleridge, quantum physics, and the enigmatic study of the Cambridge Professor of Chronology. Ultimately, the stakes of the case are far greater than a single murder, but go to the fate of life on Earth. Confused? Don't be - everything is connected.

Goddess at the Crossroads


Kevin Hearne
    

Three Tales from the Laundry Files


Charles Stross - 2014
    Originally published on Tor.com, these stories by Charles Stross continue the adventures of the Laundry, a secret division of the British government dedicated to tracking down and containing breaches of reality by occult and otherworldly threats.

Joined


Mel Todd - 2021
    But a wedding for your best friend has it's own certain brand of joy. Jo and Sable are getting married and I'm going to be their Person of Honor.Easy, right?Between defending my dissertation, dealing with wedding plans gone wild, freaking out brides, and my own miss givings, it's going to take a miracle to get us all to the altar.But sometimes just loving someone is enough. If I have to use magic to make it perfect, I will.This is a novelette set in the Twisted Luck series. It is best read between Inherited Luck and Drafted Luck. Get ready for some tears and remembering that love doesn't have a defined form.

Diary of an AssCan


Andy Weir - 2015
    Read on for more from this exceptional character. Please note: This story includes language that some might find offensive.

The Market Arcanum


Margaret Dunlap - 2015
     When a mysterious invite arrives in the mail and Father Menchu responds by whisking Sal off to Lichtenstein, the former cop is left on very new ground as she gets more than a glimpse at the broader world of magic users. Unfortunately, they are immediately confronted by a wealthy business man who is less upset about them blowing up his boat two episodes ago, as he is about them stealing his (sludge-demon releasing) book. When the three remaining Team members back in Rome suddenly find themselves under attack, Sal and Menchu are left scrambling for how to help and have to turn to the peculiar techno-cultists whose computers run on seahorses and have a pointed interest in the cop sister of their acquaintance Perry. Welcome to the Market Arcanum. This episode is brought to you by team-writer Margaret Dunlap who shows us that the Society is far from the only fish in the magic-hunting sea—and certainly isn’t the biggest. "Bookburners is sheer enormous fun! Energetic, intense, vivid prose. More soon please." --Naomi Novik, author of Uprooted and the New York Times bestselling Temeraire series "Bookburners is the breathless, hallucinogenic love child of Torchwood, the Librarians, and the Laundry Files. More soon, please." --Ian Tregillis, author of The Mechanical and Bitter Seeds "Bookburners is an exciting new take on urban fantasy. Love the premise, love the characters, love the unique (and sometimes wonderfully disturbing) spin on the dangers of magic!" --Cassandra Rose Clarke, author of The Assassins Curse "Bookburners has everything I want from episodic storytelling - strong writing, a rich premise, and memorable characters that will keep me coming back week after week." --Mike Underwood, author of the Ree Reyes Geekomancy series "Bookburners satisfies my craving for pulpy, demonic chaos with sharp writing, deliciously sinister magic, stellar black humor, and a kick-ass cast. The serialized story perfectly suits a sorcerer’s codex of baddies while the plucky Sal digs for deeper truths in her work with the Black Archives squad." --Lindsay Smith, author of the Sekret Series

Two's Company


Joe Abercrombie - 2016
    With the King of the Northmen and the High Priestess of Thond in pursuit, can Shevedieh, the greatest thief in Styria, persuade either one of these proud heroes to step aside?

New Frontiers: A Collection of Tales About the Past, the Present, and the Future


Ben Bova - 2014
    Frontiers of time and space, as well as frontiers of courage, devotion, love, hate, and the outer limits of the human spirit. This outstanding collection of stories by one of science fiction's premier talents spans the length and breadth of history and the universe, while exploring thought-provoking new ideas and dilemmas.From the Baghdad of the Arabian Nights to a vast interstellar empire thousands of years in the future, from the Vatican to a one-man vessel drifting in the vast emptiness of the Asteroid Belt, from virtual reality duels to the subtle intricacies of time travel and a golf tournament on the Moon, here are tales of scoundrels and heroes, scientists and explorers, aliens and artificial intelligences, and even a young Albert Einstein. Each of them stands at the border of a new frontier and must venture out into unexplored territory—thanks to the limitless imagination of Ben Bova.

Joe Golem and the Copper Girl: A Short Story


Mike Mignola - 2012
    In Joe Golem and the Copper Girl, hard-nosed private detective Joe Golem and his employer are faced with one of their strangest cases yet. When a young mother named Rachael Blum arrives on their doorstep, frantic about the bizarre changes in her daughter's appearance and the terrible dreams plaguing the girl, it's up to Joe to separate nightmare from reality. But Joe Golem knows better than anyone that sometimes, the two are one and the same.

Black Wolf


Jade Buchanan - 2008
    He's virtually penniless, is being threatened by his landlord, and now he's late for work at his new job. Expecting to be chastened by his boss, Adam doesn't expect Cody to provide him with a protector instead. He definitely doesn't expect his minder to be a big, bad wolf with attitude. Marcus Black has just arrived at Del Fantasma after his latest black ops mission. He's ready for some R and R, but Marcus won't refuse Cody when he asks him to help a little tabby cat. When Adam is threatened by his landlord in front of Marcus, his alpha wolf won't let him stand by and let it happen. Adam is about to find strength in submission, and his own set of claws. Marcus is about to find the mate he's been searching for in a deceptively small tabby. Now, if only they can hold on long enough to survive.

Atomic


C. Gockel - 2016
    Instead she marries a fool. Centuries after his chaos destroys their marriage, the fallout really begins ...

The Road To Vanador: A Travelogue


Terry Mancour - 2019
    But instead of using magic to transport himself to his new lands, Minalan decides to leave cross-country, in a wagon with his father. Down the Bontal River, Min and his dad make a stop at Robinwing, get snowed in at Barrowbell, and enjoy a few days as guests of Baron Astyral. Along the way Minalan comes to terms with many things in his life, and with his father's advice and some introspection he prepares for the great challenge ahead in distant Vanador. No one knows what the future holds, but as the stakes for Callidore grow higher, and weigh more heavily on Minalan's shoulders, it might be possible for Min to find inspiration on the Road to Vanador!