Book picks similar to
Notes from the Shadow City by Gary William Crawford
poetry
05-words
dark
04-words
The Postmortal
Drew Magary - 2011
Immortality, however, comes with its own unique problems-including evil green people, government euthanasia programs, a disturbing new religious cult, and other horrors.Witty, eerie, and full of humanity, The Postmortal is an unforgettable thriller that envisions a pre-apocalyptic world so real that it is completely terrifying.
All That Remains
Al Barrera - 2015
Kyle, Sara, and Tim are scavengers, hiding in the remains of human civilization from the hungry things that destroyed it. Living on the few items that haven’t rotted in the thirteen years since civilization was wiped out. But something has shown itself: A terrible creature that betrays an intelligence in the madness of the beings that rule the planet. When the group finds Kaylee, a little girl who claims to know of a safe haven somewhere in Tennessee, they embark on a desperate journey to find it. Memory and loss, depravity and salvation— their last run will put them face to face with horrors of both man and monsters the likes of which they’ve never seen.
My Love for You is the Sun
Julie Hedlund - 2014
"This book belongs on the shelf right between GOODNIGHT MOON and GUESS HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU." -- NYT-Bestselling Author Emma Walton HamiltonWith soothing verses evoking the beauty and wonder of the natural world, combined with stunning, hand-sculpted clay illustrations, parents and children will cuddle up with this book and read it again and again.
Above
Isla Morley - 2014
At first, she focuses frantically on finding a way out, until the harrowing truth of her new existence settles in—the crushing loneliness, the terrifying madness of a captor who believes he is saving her from the end of the world, and the persistent temptation to give up. But nothing prepares Blythe for the burden of raising a child in confinement. Determined to give the boy everything she has lost, she pushes aside the truth about a world he may never see for a myth that just might give meaning to their lives below ground. Years later, their lives are ambushed by an event at once promising and devastating. As Blythe’s dream of going home hangs in the balance, she faces the ultimate choice—between survival and freedom.
God Particles: Poems
Thomas Lux - 2008
A satiric edge, tempered by profound compassion, cuts through many of the poems in Lux’s book. While themes of intolerance, inhumanity, loss, and a deep sense of mortality mark these poems, a lighthearted grace instills even the somberest moments with unexpected sweetness. In the title poem Lux writes, “there’s no reason for God to feel guilt / I think He was downhearted, weary, too weary / to be angry anymore . . . / He wanted each of us, / and all the things we touch . . . / to have a tiny piece of Him / though we are unqualified, / of even the crumb of a crumb.” Dark, humorous, and strikingly imaginative, this is Lux’s most compassionate work to date.
The Reapers are the Angels
Alden Bell - 2010
A young girl named Temple is on the run. Haunted by her past and pursued by a killer, Temple is surrounded by death and danger, hoping to be set free.For twenty-five years, civilization has survived in meager enclaves, guarded against a plague of the dead. Temple wanders this blighted landscape, keeping to herself - and keeping her demons inside. She can't remember a time before the zombies, but she does remember an old man who took her in and the younger brother she cared for until the tragedy that set her on a personal journey toward redemption. Moving back and forth between the insulated remnants of society and the brutal frontier beyond, Temple must decide where ultimately to make a home and find the salvation she seeks.
Forget Tomorrow
Pintip Dunn - 2015
A world-class swimmer. A renowned scientist.Or in Callie’s case, a criminal.In her vision, she sees herself murdering her gifted younger sister. Before she can process what it means, Callie is arrested and placed in Limbo―a prison for those destined to break the law. With the help of her childhood crush, Logan, a boy she hasn’t spoken to in five years, she escapes the hellish prison.But on the run from her future, as well as the government, Callie sets in motion a chain of events that she hopes will change her fate. If not, she must figure out how to protect her sister from the biggest threat of all.Callie herself.
Erotic
J.H. Wolfe - 2022
As the years went by I craved answers, but my mother wouldn't give them to me. Now I'm done with depending on other people. I packed up everything and moved to the town I knew my father still lived in: Birmingham, Alabama.You see, my father's the President of the Sons of Gods MC.I was going to get my answers, and I'd do whatever I needed to. I just never expected to fall in love with one of the men in his club while I sought closure.ConnorMy life was centered around the club. As a prospect I had to prove it to everyone, and then one day when I proved myself enough I'd get patched in. Until then, I did what I was told, backed up the club when needed and life went on as usual.Proving myself to the club would happen in a variety of ways, even helping a friend's sister with some issues at her house. That's where I met her: Callista. She was more beautiful than any woman I saw before, and her eyes showed me she felt true pain.It made me curious and I soon came to discover the heart underneath the shell.I thought we were near perfect for each other. It didn't matter what happened, whether it was a threat to Callista or the club, we overcame it.Until I found out something that changed everything.***The Sons of Gods MC is a darker mythology-themed MC series by J.H. Wolfe and Elizabeth Knox. This series is not paranormal romance. These books are intended for mature audiences only (18+) and do go over triggering subjects. Please proceed with the utmost caution.
Promised to the Killer: A Dark Mafia Romance
B.B. Hamel - 2022
She's the cast-off traitorous daughter of a minor mafia family with deliciously pouty lips and a wicked tongue.But after we spend one unforgettable night of sin in a hotel room, I can't walk away.I pull her from her family's clutches and make her my own. I save her from punishment and torture—and drag her into my world.She's my toy. My plaything. Nothing more. Never more.I'm too wrecked and twisted to ever let myself get too close to a woman—especially a woman like Siena.Until I get a peek beneath her ice-cold surface and taste the heat bubbling up from her core.My father will never approve of this arrangement. He'll cut my throat before he lets me take a traitor as my bride.But I can't get enough, and I might tear apart my family in the process.Welcome to the first steamy book in the Novalov Bratva series! You're going to fall in love with Maxim and Siena's gut-wrenching story, just like I did. Promised to the Killer is a full-length standalone novel with no cliff-hanger and a gauranteed HEA. Enjoy!
BZRK
Michael Grant - 2012
No wars, no conflict, no hunger. And no free will. Opposing them is a guerrilla group of teens, code name BZRK, who are fighting to protect the right to be messed up, to be human.This is no ordinary war, though. Weapons are deployed on the nano-level. The battleground is the human brain. And there are no stalemates here: It’s victory . . . or madness.
Everything Else in the World: Poems
Stephen Dunn - 2006
In his fourteenth collection of poems, Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen Dunn reveals his concerns, ranging from meditations on salvation and time to the difficulties and pleasures of loving in this "already brutal century." In language that Gerald Stern has called "unbearably fearless and beautiful," Dunn continues to probe the elusive in the lives we live.
The Bones of the Earth
Scott Hale - 2015
Those who survived are now hunted by the Night Terrors. Vrana is one of these hunters. Her tribe has made killing humans, the Corrupted, its purpose—to “keep the balance”—to stop them from rising to power once more.Despite this, the Night Terrors cannot help but worry when, overnight, ten thousand vanish from the Corrupted city-state of Geharra. If so many can disappear so quickly, what’s to stop it from happening again, or to Vrana’s own?When Vrana is tasked to investigate this disappearance, she accepts, because at night, in her dreams, she is haunted by a witch who knows and craves nothing but pain. And the answer to stopping these dreams before they become her terrifying reality might just be within Geharra itself.
The Iron Thorn
Caitlin Kittredge - 2011
The necrovirus is blamed for Lovecraft's epidemic of madness, for the strange and eldritch creatures that roam the streets after dark, and for everything that the city leaders deem Heretical—born of the belief in magic and witchcraft. And for Aoife Grayson, her time is growing shorter by the day.Aoife Grayson's family is unique, in the worst way—every one of them, including her mother and her elder brother Conrad, has gone mad on their 16th birthday. And now, a ward of the state, and one of the only female students at the School of Engines, she is trying to pretend that her fate can be different.
100 Tiny Tales: Short Stories Told in Exactly One Hundred Words
K. Kris Loomis - 2019
Why not try some microfiction short stories instead? These bite-sized, slice-of-life short stories are crafted with only one hundred words, so they go by in a flash. Perfect for time-challenged fiction lovers, these humorous yet thought-provoking stories can be read when you’re waiting in line, riding the bus, or whenever you need a short mental break. Go on. Try some flash fiction. Grab your copy of 100 Tiny Tales today! 100 Tiny Tales: Short Stories Told in Exactly One Hundred Words is written by K. Kris Loomis, a native South Carolinian and the author of the novels, The Sinking of Bethany Ann Crane and The Murder of Leopold Beckenbauer, as well as the short story collection, The Monster In the Closet and Other Stories. Kris is also a nonfiction author who writes books about yoga, meditation, and the time she spent living in South America, including After Namaste: Off-the-Mat Musings of a Modern Yogini and Thirty Days in Quito: Two Gringos and a Three-Legged Cat Move to Ecuador. When Kris isn’t at her standing desk writing, she can be found playing chess, folding an origami crane, or practicing a Beethoven sonata on the piano. She lives in Rock Hill, South Carolina with her husband and two cats. You can connect with Kris at her website, www.kkrisloomis.com or her Amazon Author page, or find her on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram @kkrisloomis.