Dark Ages Fiction

Orchid & the Wasp brings to life the charged, compulsive voice of Gael Foess - daughter of a self-interested investment banker and a once-formidable orchestral conductor, and sister to a vulnerable younger brother - as she strives to build a life raft in the midst of economic and familial collapse. Moving by wits alone, Gael cuts a swathe through the leather-lined, coke-dusted social clubs of London, the New York gallery scene and birth-throes of the Occupy movement.

After the death of her father and her own serious issues, Kara Maven decides to move back to her hometown to complete her senior year at Belman University. She settles into life on campus when her world is shaken by a handsome bad boy with a knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Dominic Benenati is a half-demon Damamah, or whisperer, whose role on earth is to ensure Hell’s population thrives by pushing humans to act upon their sinful thoughts. To complicate matters, enter Cayden Adams who is an angel determined to save Kara from Dominic’s influence. But does Kara really want to be saved?

After the performance of a lifetime at the sold-out Stade de France, comic Édouard Bresson decides to vanish. Très drôle. His estranged son Arthur isn’t laughing. Édouard has sent him a letter and instructions to a puzzle - a treasure hunt for the son he ignored and misses and loves. If Arthur is willing to find out everything there is to know about his father and to understand the choices he made, all he has to do is put the pieces together. As the trail of clues winds its way through the past, what unfolds is a surprising journey of forgiveness, family, and self-discovery.

Twenty-eight-year-old Lana Green has never been good at making friends. She’s perfectly happy to be left alone with her books. Or at least that’s what she tells herself. Nancy Ellis Hall was once a celebrated writer. Now 80, she lives alone in her North London house and thinks she’s doing just fine. But dementia is loosening Nancy’s grip on the world. When Lana and Nancy become unconventional housemates, their lives will change in ways they never expected. But can an unusual friendship rescue two women who don’t realise they need to be saved?

It's Valentine's Day, and Ellie Knight finds herself eating Nutella in the bar stock after a no-show date. But single doesn't have to be the loneliest number, does it? She goes back home to her flatshare and weird flatmates. It's okay there's black mould everywhere, right? With a hangover from hell, she goes to the office job she thought she would have quit by now. Doesn't everyone hate their job? Maybe Ellie isn't following the official life plan, but perfect is overrated.

Logan Ragsdale and his younger sister, Ariana, have been marked, chosen to be unwilling participants in a war between angels and demons. Logan can sense something's not quite right. Like an unexpected chill on a summer's day, he can feel the unseen closing in. He's had these feelings before, and each time, someone close to him died. He's afraid this time it might just be Ariana. Logan's fears are soon confirmed when he discovers their new friends aren't human, but rather representatives from Heaven and Hell sent to Earth to ensure he and Ariana accept their roles.

Nina does not have a drinking problem. She likes a drink, sure. But what 17-year-old doesn't? Nina's mum isn't so sure. But she's busy with her new husband and five-year-old Katie. Nina's almost an adult, after all. And if Nina sometimes wakes up with little memory of what happened the night before, then her friends are all too happy to fill in the blanks. Nina's drunken exploits are the stuff of college legend. But then one dark Sunday morning, even her friends can't help piece together Saturday night.

Victor Standish: Urban legend, abandoned child, mocker of monsters: “I learned to walk on cat-feet by living on the streets of too many hard cities for six years...since I was seven. I know why dogs howl at the dark and why cats prick up their ears after midnight. All too often I hear the beating of black wings and the scratching of half-seen shapes on the pavement hidden by shadow. I have always known I am an outsider, a stranger no matter where I roam among those who are still men".

Joining the Seven is not what Yua always imagined. They are the most powerful sorceresses in the world, but Yua still doesn’t have any magic, she still can’t control the Mist demon in her blackened veins, she’s barely controlling her thirst for blood, and she’s definitely not a sorceress or powerful. She’s nothing but a curiosity that fascinates the Seven, offered this position so they can better study her. When another Blood Wisp arrives at the coven, newly turned and terrified, Yua needs to push herself further still.

Harald Sigurdsson has risen through bravery and glory in battle to become the commander of the legendary Varangian guard, the oath-sworn protector of the Roman throne in Constantinople; The wielder of the emperor’s axe. With the estranged Emperor and Empress consumed in a deadly palace war for sole control of the empire, Harald must somehow keep the peace. In a city where everything is taken by subterfuge, violence and deceit, what must an honourable man do to protect the empire from both its enemies and itself?

Meet Sonny Anderson, funny failed LA Galaxy hopeful, recovering misophonic meth-head and Shaun of the Dead-obsessed survivor. On his 21st birthday, gifted the opportunity of inheriting a life-changing sum of money, Sonny needs answers to a few important questions. For instance, where is his mother? He last saw her age five when his dad kidnapped him and took him to live on a commune in Brazil. His dad claimed to be a spiritual guru, but what kind of man was he really? To find his answers Sonny must leave his home in California and return to the UK, his country of birth.

Nina is a struggling writer, a college dropout, a liar, and a cheater. More than anything she wants love. She deserves it. From the burned-out suburbs of Florida to the anonymous squalor of New York City, she eats through an incestuous cast of characters in search of it: her mother, a narcissistic lesbian living in a nudist polycule; Odessa, a single mom with even worse taste in men than Nina; Seth, an artist whose latest show is comprised of three Tupperware containers full of trash; Brian, whose roller-coaster affair with Nina is the most stable "relationship" in his life; and more.

It would be easier for Thomas Mullen to move on from what he'd seen if Sarah stopped calling. It would be even better if she stopped appearing to him, and only him, to remind him of what he was powerless to stop. But months later, after Thomas loses his phone and the random woman who recovers it arranges to return it to him, his predicament intensifies. This woman tells him that while she's had his phone, his mother has called. His mother really needs him to call her back. And who is Sarah?

A clever but obnoxious teen (think Youth in Revolt's Nick Twisp) is stuck in his parents' basement during a uniquely literary yet crowd-pleasing apocalypse. It involves not zombies but a breakdown in general logic and order. Lloyd's mother, a William Blake scholar, goes mad in a flurry of Blakean invective. Lloyd's neighbor clips toenails on her lawn. An acting group believes a tribute to Dennis Hopper might save the world.

Life is short. Jimmy's life may prove shorter. His gang mates have grown up and shipped out, and the nine to five is grinding Jimmy into a person he no longer recognizes. There has to be more to existence than waking up every Saturday with a half-eaten kebab and empty wallet. The wide blue skies of America sing a siren's song, and Jimmy decides he's ready to give life a do-over - even if it means leaving his childhood sweetheart Kelly behind.

This is a touching coming-of-age tale about a young man struggling to deal with his father's cancer diagnosis. As Dad edges ever closer to his destiny, the relationship with his son reaches boiling point, but how will their final encounter pan out? Gently fusing the humorous with the tragic, this London-based drama will have you crying both tears of joy and sadness.

Spokane, Washington, is nearly perfect for most people, but Jack Fitzpatrick is not one of them. Hours after graduation and armed with his final paycheck from his nemesis, Jack heads for Southern California. Dreams are a dime a dozen in the City of Angels. Broke, barely scraping by, and hating his life as a temp, L.A. is definitely not what Jack expected. But after reading "Best Paying Jobs of 1987" in Time magazine, he decides to go after the only one he thinks he has a shot at: institutional bond broker.

When a demonic parasite turns her classmates into an army of sleepwalkers, 16-year-old Jo must confront her celestial identity and reveal the mystery of existence. With the help of her best friends and a Galactic Compass, Jo unleashes the cosmic powers of creation to prevent the Lord of Darkness from enslaving all of humanity into obscurity. Will she be able to decode the artificial system in time to save her friends and the sacred Light?

Contains books three and four of Descendants of the Fall. Age of Gods: Pursued by the inhuman Tangata, Lukys flees on foot through the wilderness. He and his companions make for the ocean, a stolen ship their only hope - but even that may prove fleeting. For should they reach the island of Perfugia, a war is brewing between the kingdoms of humanity. Dreams of Fury: On the distant shores of Perfugia, Lukys and Sophia have finally found sanctuary - and an unexpected power left by their ancestors. But their refuge cannot last.

Archer is a semi-celebrated novelist and sex-toy heir. His best friend, John, is as earnest as Archer is feckless. John's girlfriend, Sara, envies Archer's writing career. And Sara's roommate, Lucas, wishes he'd never lost his girlfriend to the man. Money, friendship, and resentment unspool in the conversations we have as we're coming of age and coming to grips.