Metaphysical Fiction

" Transparent Things revolves around the four visits of the hero - sullen, gawky Hugh Person - to Switzerland.... As a young publisher, Hugh is sent to interview R., falls in love with Armande on the way, wrests her, after multiple humiliations, from a grinning Scandinavian and returns to NY with his bride.... Eight years later - following a murder, a period of madness and a brief imprisonment - Hugh makes a lone sentimental journey to wheedle out his past...." (Martin Amis)

Joan Cooper is a 17-year-old genius who was traumatized by the death of her older sister and who tries to rebuild her shattered world by studying string theory and the efforts to unify the laws of physics. But as she tackles the complex equations, she falls prey to disturbing visions of a divine being who wants to help her unveil the universe’s mathematical design. Joan must enter the battle between science and religion, fighting for her sanity and a new understanding of the cosmos.

Pregnant with her father's child, 19-year-old Courtney is a girl on the run, willing to do anything to make her way on the road. When a car accident leaves her wounded by the side of a desolate highway, she is taken in by an environmentalist doomsday cult led by the enigmatic Saint Ambrose, a charismatic preacher and ex-environmental scientist who gave up everything after claiming to see the face of God. When he meets the seemingly vulnerable Courtney, he is taken by her beauty and her wounded soul.

In this brilliant retelling of the classic tale about the transcendent power of love, author Stephen Mitchell writes, "There are two kinds of women: those who marry princes and those who marry frogs.” While the frogs never become princes, over the course of an ordinary marriage, a prince may turn into a frog. However, Mitchell tells of a different kind of love story. This adult fairytale is the story of a meditative frog's love for a rebellious princess, how she came to love him in spite of herself, and how her refusal to compromise helped him become what he was truly meant to be.

In this enchanted family saga, Kate is a neuroscientist who reveres logic and order, unless she’s sleeping with her married lab director and then logic goes out the window. So does Kate’s orderly life in Manhattan after she takes the fall for their affair and Kate’s mother presses her to accept responsibility for her nephew, Teague, an orchid child who hears voices and talks to trees but rarely people. To salvage her career, Kate agrees to conduct a study in West Ireland.

"Je chanterai maintenant la beauté de ce monde qui est notre tout fragile, passager, fluctuant et qui est notre seul trésor pour nous autres, pauvres hommes, aveuglés par l'orgueil, condamnés à l'éphémère, emportés dans le temps et dans ce présent éternel qui finira bien, un jour ou l'autre, par s'écrouler à jamais dans le néant de Dieu et dans sa gloire cachée."

Just as Krista’s summer plans are almost ready, she is suddenly plagued by strange dreams and intense feelings of déjà vu. Feeling like she’s losing her mind, Krista visits a psychic, only to feel more confused. When she arrives in England, her dreams persist, and she finds herself at the doorstep of another psychic. She needs clarity. Finally, the words Krista was afraid to say out loud are spoken. Now, she has to figure out what it all means. Promised Soul is a story of the past, present, and future of two souls, bound together by eternal and transcending love.

Robert Baxter once reveled in the intoxicating delights of Atopia - the man-made island where humans lose themselves in a world of boundless virtual realities. Now, Bob has returned to immerse himself in this mind-altering, consciousness-sharing refuge from the eroding Earth. But something is very wrong. Bob feels a tidal wave of doom cresting above the pleasure dome that is Atopia. As alternate universes perish, the salvation of all he loves - and all that exists - rests with Bob alone.

Penelope Drayton Spence made a choice years earlier, and picked marriage and family over a promising career as an investigative reporter. Now, divorced and with her children spread around the country, she is having second thoughts. A mysterious call from the Managing Editor of the Washington Post, offers her a second chance at big time journalism. He has a story so sensitive that the President of the United States personally asked the Post to leave it alone.

When a repairman accidentally finds a parallel universe, everyone sees it as an opportunity, whether as a way to ease Earth’s overcrowding, set up a personal kingdom, or hide an inconvenient mistress. But when a civilization is found already living there, the people on this side of the crack are sent scrambling to discover their motives. Will these parallel humans come in peace, or are they just as corrupt and ill-intentioned as the people of this world?

A down-to-Earth sci-fi road trip, *The Book of Constellations* is a story about Rael, who claims to be the sole survivor of an alien race, as told by Simon, the man who went with him. On a quest to save humanity from the same malevolent force that destroyed his own people, Rael believes this “Darkness” resides in the Governor of the state.

This is probably the most extraordinary book that you have ever read. Why? Because I can read the people who read me and that is very, very strange.

When Vivienne Le Faye, a girl with profound intuitive powers, inherits a priceless family amulet, her life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn. Unaware of her hidden heritage, an ancient family curse suddenly haunts her and in her dreams, a mysterious young man with blazing golden eyes and supernatural gifts appears to protect her. Convinced he's real and positive she has fallen in love with him, Vivienne begins a dangerous inter-dimensional journey to a destiny in a mystical world of wizardry and magic.

The Gods of Pegana is the first book by Anglo-Irish fantasy writer Lord Dunsany, published on a commission basis in 1905. The book is a series of short stories linked by Dunsany's invented pantheon of deities who dwell in Pegana, and was a huge influence on authors such as Lovecraft and Tolkien. This is one of my favorite works of weird fantasy fiction by Lord Dunsany, and is a masterful cosmological piece of indulgent prose that actually contains some sublime wisdom between the lines.

إن لكتاب "دمعة وابتسامة" مذاقٌ خاصٌ للقارئ، فهو بمثابة أول نغمة من نوعها في العالم العربي الحديث، فقد خالف بتراكيبه ودقّة بيانه المألوف آنذاك من حيث الكتابة الأدبيّة العربيّة، وقد جاء كتمهيد وبداية للحركة العربية الرومانسية الجديدة، والتي ابتدعها جبران خليل جبران، ومن خلالها استطاع أن يقدم للقارئ العربي لونًا جديدًا من أجمل ألوان الأدب، له تطرب آذان القارئ من جمال لفظه، وترقى لجلال معانيه القلوب، وتذهل لروعة خياله العقول.

The survivor writing to us is an empathic 18-year-old named Tommy. He’s been sealed in a three-acre biosphere with just one other person, and the outside world has been radio-silent for the three years of their enclosure. Tommy is in telepathic contact with someone living during our time who may hold the key to an evolutionary metamorphosis. The journals, entitled Parallel Journeys, have been sent back in time to inspire you to create your own metamorphic butterfly effects to help our species avoid extinction and survive in a new form.

When a blip appears on the Ogg-Estarian military radar monitoring the Outer System, things in the system are set to change forever. Molly and her crew face one of their biggest challenges yet, and the problem isn’t the supposed threat from outside. It’s from the planet itself. Molly rallies the troops for a particularly dangerous encounter, but also needs to call in some favors from some old friends. Will she be able to stop things from boiling over in time?

A surreal theme park where nothing is as it seems. Jade and her sister Louise are in the Belle Epoque, a twisted and strange version. For fans of Poor Things and Westworld, this novella is delightfully absurd.

Who knew the path to enlightenment could start with a cup of tea? Learn the hidden significance behind the deceptively simple Zen tea ceremony - one which can lead directly to Buddhahood and its absolute truth. D.T. Suzuki, once Japan's leading authority on Zen Buddhism, describes the tearoom and the tea ceremony and explains the guiding principles of harmony, reverence, purity, and tranquility.

Curious? This thought-provoking and original novel blends humor, philosophy, science, and history into a captivating story that celebrates the beautiful mess of being human. A novel that promises to touch your heart, make you laugh, and leave you thinking.