Fantasy Realism

To-do: Stop the bad guys. Rescue the wizard. Find the perfect outfit for New Year's Eve. At last, Owen Palmer, the dreamboat wizard at Magic, Spells, and Illusions, Inc., has conjured up the courage to get Katie Chandler under the mistletoe at the office holiday party. But just when it looks like Katie has found her prince, in pops her inept fairy godmother, Ethelinda, to throw a wand into the works. Ethelinda's timing couldn’t be worse. A plot hatched by MSI's rogue ex-employees, Idris and his evil fairy gal pal Ari, threatens to expose the company's secrets - and the very existence of magic itself.

Marietta Stelle longs to be a ballerina but, as Christmas draws nearer, her dancing days are numbered - she must marry and take up her place in society in the New Year. But, when a mysterious toymaker, Dr Drosselmeier, purchases a neighbouring townhouse, it heralds the arrival of magic and wonder in Marietta’s life. After Drosselmeier constructs an elaborate theatrical set for her final ballet performance on Christmas Eve, Marietta discovers it carries a magic all of its own - a magic darker than anyone could imagine.

Two men while away the days in an Antarctic research station. Tensions between them build as they argue over a love letter one of them has received. One is practical and open. The other surly, superior and obsessed with reading one book - by the philosopher Kant. As a storm brews and they lose contact with the outside world, they debate Kant, reality and the emptiness of the universe. The come to hate each other, and they learn that they are not alone.

The tales in Mark Haddon's lyrical and uncompromising new collection take many forms - Victorian adventure story, science fiction, morality tale, contemporary realism - but they all showcase his virtuoso gifts as a stylist and the deep well of empathy that made his three best-selling novels so compelling. The characters here are often isolated physically or estranged from their families, yet they yearn for connection.

The future has amazing technology. Our alien allies have magic. Together, we are building a training system to teach the best of humanity to go to the stars. But the training is monumentally expensive. Stephanie Morgana is a genius, she just doesn't know it. Join her on the first half of her adventure with this collected edition, including the first three megabooks in the Federal Histories series.

Karen Russell’s comedic genius and mesmerizing talent for creating outlandish predicaments that uncannily mirror our inner in lives is on full display in these eight exuberant, arrestingly vivid, unforgettable stories. In “Bog Girl”, a revelatory story about first love, a young man falls in love with a 2,000-year-old girl that he’s extracted from a mass of peat in a Northern European bog. In “The Prospectors”, two opportunistic young women fleeing the depression strike out for new territory, and find themselves fighting for their lives. Plus much more.

Everything's bigger in Texas - including romance, magic, and danger! Katie Chandler has fled fast-paced Manhattan and returned home to a simpler life, working at her family's feed-and-seed store in Cobb, Texas. In a painfully selfless gesture, Katie had left the sexy wizard Owen Palmer to battle his demons in the magical realm–after all, Katie just seemed to attract evil, which only made Owen's job a lot harder.

Linus Baker è un assistente sociale impiegato al Dipartimento della Magia Minorile. Il compito che esegue con scrupolosa professionalità è assicurarsi che i bambini dotati di poteri magici, cresciuti in appositi istituti in modo da proteggere quelli "normali", siano ben accuditi. La vita di Linus è decisamente tranquilla, per non dire monotona: vive in una casetta solitaria in compagnia di una gatta schiva e dei suoi amati dischi in vinile. Tutto cambia quando, inaspettatamente, viene convocato nell'ufficio della Suprema Dirigenza.

For generations, the Olivares women have sought to control their daughters’ destinies, starting with their names. In life, Olvido constantly clashed with her carefree daughter. Then teenage Angustias discovered she was pregnant and left her mother’s home in search of her own. Ten years later, Felicitas finally meets her estranged grandmother and is terribly disappointed when Olvido is nothing like a grandmother should be. She is strict, cold, and…dead. Now, Olvido is convinced the only way her spirit will cross over is if she resolves her unfinished business.

I uncover an ancient secret society formed over two hundred years ago to keep me safe—me! I never asked these people to die for me, and I don't want it. I must win this fight on my own. Prepared or not, I'll face my fate and become the Chosen I've been destined to be all along.

Jon successfully killed Belphegor...but he forgot that everything comes with a cost. The cost may need to be paid with money...or life. With his archenemy alive in the game, Jon's days are going to be troublesome. But killing Kurush in-game is not simple as killing Kurush was in real life. Here, Kurush holds power. The power of a whole second-tier guild. With his puny prowess, can Jon go against a second-tier guild and complete his mission that put him in prison in real life? Find out where Jon's life will take him next.

In this explosive sequel to Blessed Child, Jewish soldier-turned-archaeologist Rebecca Soloman leads a team deep into the Ethiopian desert to find the one man who may know the final resting place of the Ark of the Covenant. Such a discovery would bring hope back to her people. Her search brings excitement and danger - including unexpected love and a discovery far more powerful than even the holy artifact.

Tens of thousands of crows invading Auburn, Pennsylvania, is a problem for everyone in town except 17-year-old Leighton Barnes. For Leighton, it’s no stranger than her house, which inexplicably repairs itself every time her father loses his temper and breaks things. Leighton doesn’t have time for the crows - it’s her senior year, and acceptance to her dream college is finally within reach. But grabbing that lifeline means abandoning her sisters, a choice she’s not ready to face.

Eleanor Zarrin has been distanced from her family for years. When she returns home after a violent incident at boarding school, trying to fit back into the space she left becomes even more difficult when their headstrong matriarch unexpectedly dies. Eleanor's bloodthirsty family is left unchecked for the first time in decades, and when her Grandmere arrives to help the family adjust, it's clear that something dark is lurking beneath her genteel exterior.

Lou feels like she is stuck on the wrong path: alone, in a city far from home, watching other people be happy. When the man she’s in love with announces his engagement to someone else, Lou is consumed by what-ifs. That’s when she finds herself slipping back in time to a night two years ago, where one small decision changed everything …

Magic most definitely resides in the Maine summerhouse where the mysterious Madame Zoya has granted the innermost wishes of its visitors. Now, three women have come to this special place with one thing in common: a painful past they would each like to rewrite. Amy, who hides a heartbreaking loss behind her seemingly perfect marriage and family...Faith, a widow in her 30s whose deepest grief is for a man from years ago...and Zoe, an artist shunned by her hometown for reasons she doesn’t know after a traumatic night erased her memory.

When Nathan goes to visit his grandma, Nali, at her mobile summer home on the Navajo reservation, he knows he’s in for a pretty uneventful summer, with no electricity or cell service. Still, he loves spending time with Nali and with his uncle Jet, though it’s clear when Jet arrives that he brings his problems with him. One night, while lost in the nearby desert, Nathan finds someone extraordinary: a Holy Being from the Navajo Creation Story - a Water Monster - in need of help.

Aurora and Leela have succeeded in their quest to balance work and family. Aurora has risen in the ranks at her company and has become a well-known environmental advocate. Leela’s business has grown and is the president of the farmers’ market. They have done this all while raising their conceived-by-magic eleven-year-old daughter, Kari. However, the time has come for them to tell Kari about her mystical origins, as Kari’s mind and body start to evolve in powerful ways.

Life has gone according to plan for Anna—she stays in the background, letting her sister, Emily, shine in the spotlight. But on Emily’s wedding night, Anna learns that her sister is moving away, abandoning her—and all their shared dreams. Devastated, Anna leaves the reception in the middle of a raging storm, taking shelter in a hotel she’s never seen before: the Houdini. The Houdini is a hotel unlike any other, with sumptuous velvet couches, marble tiled floors, secret restaurants, winding passageways, and an undercurrent of magic in the air.

Aila Quinn's mother, Juliet, has always been a mystery. Vibrant yet guarded, she keeps her secrets beyond Aila's reach. When Juliet dies, Aila and her younger brother, Miles, are sent to live in Sterling, a rural town with mysteries of its own. In Sterling, the experiences that weave life together - scents of flowers and food, reflections from mirrors and lakes, even the ability to dream - vanish every seven years. No one knows what causes these Disappearances or what will slip away next.