Dark Ages Fiction

Life is precious and precarious on the islands of Belene. Besieged by a capricious ocean full of malicious spirits, the people of the islands seek joy where they can. Mayara, one of the island’s fearless oyster divers, has found happiness in love. But on the day of her wedding to the artist Kelo, a spirit-driven storm hits the island with deadly force. To save her loved ones, Mayara reveals a dangerous secret: She has the power to control the spirits. When the storm ends, she is taken into custody by the queen’s soldiers and imprisoned with other women like her.

King Arthur is probably the most famous and certainly the most legendary medieval king. From the early ninth century through the middle ages, to the Arthurian romances of Victorian times, the tales of this legendary figure have blossomed and multiplied. And in more recent times, there has been a continuous stream of books claiming to have discovered the "facts" about, or to unlock the secret or truth behind, the "once and future king". Broadly speaking, there are two Arthurs.

Finding himself alone in a posh New York City hotel room for the night, Aidan does what any red-blooded 17-year-old would do - tries to hook up with someone new. But that lapse in judgement leads him to a room with a dead guy and a mysterious flash drive...two things that spark an epic case of mistaken identity that puts Aidan on the run - from the authorities, his friends, his family, the people who are out to kill him - and especially from his own troubled past.

To survive, Connor Magnuson must become a man with no equal. The path ahead is a deadly one. His end of the bargains he made to get this far have come due, and his debts take him back to a homeland he's been trying to forget. Kirkwall is an island of ancient secrets, and the magic in its soil will topple empires if he doesn't get to it first. His legend has begun to spread through the pubs, and others begin taking credit. Imposters pop up along the coast, and they threaten to undermine everything he has worked for.

Mallory is a freshman in college when she meets the woman. She sees her for the first time at the university’s gym, immediately entranced by this elegant, older person, whom she later learns is married and works at the school. Before long, they begin a clandestine affair. Self-possessed, successful, brilliant, and aloof, the woman absolutely consumes Mallory, who is still reeling from her mother’s death a few months earlier.

Beyond the reach of the nuclear infernos, the masterminds survived and continue their assault on outposts across the Allied States. Timothy Temper and Sergeant Ruckley narrowly escaped one of those attacks. On the run from hostile forces, they fight to get an urgent message to command - the monsters aren’t the only threat. Their human allies have a nuclear weapon. Refusing to hide underground, President Jan Ringgold heads to New York. Doctor Kate Lovato and her team are there working to infiltrate and sabotage enemy communications.

At 27, Naomi is just trying to be a normal person. A normal person who works at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, who cares for lost things, found things, sacred things and her family. A person who finds herself going on bad blind dates, having cringe-worthy sex, a tumultuous, toxic affair, and falling for a man called Moses.

Lace, white, everything frilly and pretty. The theme to Sara’s life used to be that of a princess, one she romanticized. But when her previously perfect world turned upside down, Sara became convinced that she was cursed. She hid herself in the shadows to spare others from the agony she brought along. The only person she could never hide from was her adopted brother.

"There’s nothing there." The words may as well have been a death sentence to young Declan. Without mana, there could be no studying at the sky-piercing Pinnacle Towers, there could be no great monster hunts, and there could be no following in his father’s legendary footsteps. He’d be a cripple. But when a terrible accident forces him to flee, Declan learns the true nature of his mana. Just because it doesn’t resonate at any known frequency doesn’t mean it isn’t magic. Just because he can’t cast the same spells as everyone else doesn’t mean he isn’t a mage.

Faye Bright always felt a little bit different. And today she’s found out why. She’s just stumbled across her late mother’s diary which includes not only a spiffing recipe for jam roly-poly, but spells, incantations, runes and recitations...a witch's notebook. And Faye has inherited her mother’s abilities. Just in time, too. The Crow Folk are coming. Led by the charismatic Pumpkinhead, their strange magic threatens Faye and the villagers.

Maggie Young had the market on normal. Normal friends, normal parents, normal grades...normal life. Until him. Clayton Reed was running from his past and an army of personal demons that threatened to take him down. He never thought he had a chance at happiness. Until her. Maggie thought their love could overcome anything. Clay thought she was all he needed to fix his messy life. That together, they could face the world. But the darkness is always waiting.

When her brother is murdered, a petty thief from the slums of Longhill sets out to discover who killed him and why. But the more she discovers about him, the more she learns about herself, and the truths she finds are more dangerous than knives....

Moonhallow harbours a dreadful secret, and it keeps the populace in a perpetual state of anxiety – not that the town's ruthless arbiter is prepared to do anything about it. Across the great forest to Moonhallow's east, Galen and Doralia Ven Denst return from a gruelling mission for the Order of Azyr, seeking shelter in the mysterious Temple of Silence. However, the two witch hunters won't get much in the way of a warm welcome from the strange priests that reside there as the temple has its own secret, the ramifications of which are inextricably tied to the fate of Moonhallow.

I offered to do anything to save my father’s life when he was captured by the devil he owed a debt to. A three-million-dollar debt. So, I became the devil’s spy as I entered the lair of the Cartel King to take a job as a live-in nanny for his niece. My orders were simple; all I needed to do was this: get close to the Cartel King and be his...to do anything he wanted me to do. I was to make him trust me enough to tell me the secrets his enemies need. Do that, and I would save my father. I just never expected to fall in love.

I'm done playing by my father's rules. Lex Edwards may rule the business world, but he no longer controls me. We did, however, come to one agreement—I'm allowed to take a gap year before college to travel through Europe. But, one year to the day, I must return home. On my travels, I met April. She's like me—escaping life back home until we're both forced to go back. April offers me a place to stay, and since I'm broke and in dire need of a job, I'll take anything over going back to my controlling father. That's when I'm offered an opportunity I can't possibly refuse.

West Golden - fierce protector. The one. The cocky jock I once wanted to kill with my bare hands is now the only one I trust with my heart. In a city full of corruption and dark secrets, knowing who’s on your side gets harder to determine every day. Especially now that Vin’s on the warpath, passing out threats he fully intends to see through to the end. His power here in Cypress Pointe seems limitless, and I don’t have time to see if that’s true. I’m prepared to make sacrifices to keep my family safe. Even if what’s sacrificed is my own happiness.

Nyssa Volari is dying. But that is impossible, because she is a Soulblight vampire, blessed by Nagash with blood-fuelled immortality. More than that, Nyssa is a fighter – one of the handful of Kastelai vampires not dissolved into true death when the Crimson Keep abandoned them a century ago. With her blades and her will, she carved a kingdom out of the Broken Plains of Aqshy. These things matter little, for Nyssa's blood is cursed. It destroyed the vampire she called father, and as it threatens to do the same to her, Nyssa's allies abandon her one by one.

In a futuristic world nearly destroyed by religious extremists, Justin March lives in exile after failing in his job as an investigator of religious groups and supernatural claims. But Justin is given a second chance when Mae Koskinen comes to bring him back to the Republic of United North America (RUNA). Raised in an aristocratic caste, Mae is now a member of the military's most elite and terrifying tier, a soldier with enhanced reflexes and skills. When Justin and Mae are assigned to work together to solve a string of ritualistic murders, they soon realize that their discoveries have exposed them to terrible danger.

Darkness reaches forth its taloned hands, and the shadows dance and caper in anticipation of the long night to come. A night that, should it have its way, will destroy the light and those who serve it and will leave nothing but the cold, empty darkness in which the nightlings roam and feast.

Lenny Marks is excellent at not having a life. She bikes home from work at exactly 4pm each day, buys the same groceries for the same meals every week, and owns thirty-six copies of The Hobbit (currently arranged by height). The closest thing she has to a friendship is playing Scrabble against an imaginary Monica Gellar while watching Friends reruns. And Lenny Marks is very, very good at not remembering what happened the day her mother and stepfather disappeared when she was still a child. The day a voice in the back of her mind started whispering, You did this.