Metaphysical Fiction

Antoine, la quarantaine, est expert en assurances. Depuis longtemps, trop longtemps, il estime, indemnise la vie des autres. Une nuit, il s'intéresse à la valeur de la sienne et nous entraîne au cœur de notre humanité. Du nord de la France à la côte ouest du Mexique, "On ne voyait que le bonheur" offre aussi une plongée dans le monde de l'adolescence, pays de tous les dangers et de toutes les promesses.

In a Berlin rooming house filled with an assortment of serio-comic Russian émigrés, Lev Ganin, a vigorous young officer poised between his past and his future, relives his first love affair. His memories of Mary are suffused with the freshness of youth and the idyllic ambience of pre-revolutionary Russia. In stark contrast is the decidedly unappealing boarder living in the room next to Ganin’s, who, he discovers, is Mary’s husband....

After losing his wife and two young sons in an airplane crash, professor David Zimmer spends his waking hours in a blur of alcoholic grief and self-pity. Then, watching television one night, he sees a clip from a lost film by the silent comedian Hector Mann. Zimmer soon finds himself embarking on a journey around the world to study the works of this mysterious figure who vanished from sight in 1929.

Almost anyone who has read or written science fiction or fantasy has been inspired by the work of Michael Moorcock. His literary flair and grand sense of adventure have been evident since his controversial first novel Behold the Man, from the stories and novels featuring his most famous character, Elric of Melniboné, to his fantasy masterpiece, Gloriana, winner of both the Campbell Memorial and World Fantasy awards for best novel.

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.

A moving story of one man, deeply troubled by the circumstances of his life, who travels to the islands of Hawaii hoping to find peace. Here, he is befriended by two intriguing people who speak in ways that mystify yet fascinate him. Thus begins a spiritual journey into a world of extraordinary feelings, which bring him understanding and an answer beyond anything he had ever dreamed possible. In this novel, set in a world of soft tropical beauty, the author shares his quiet philosophical knowledge in a comprehensible yet profound manner.

The Essential Revolution by Michael McGinnis is a transformative tale that will not only leave you questioning how you perceive the issues in your life but the ones the whole world is facing right now. Follow the story of Marcus Ogabi, a policeman whose life is turned upside down when he shoots a young man, Dimitri Tanomeo, in the toughest part of town known as the Pit. Little did he know, this encounter would lead him to join forces with Zach Markland, a technological genius, and Dimitri himself, to start a movement that would change the course of humanity.

This novel is visionary fiction. While the plot is a gripping thriller, there is a subliminal message being transmitted to listeners, which will make them more perceptive, and more effective, as human beings.

At the heart of the book is Bill Gray, a famous reclusive writer who escapes the failed novel he has been working on for many years and enters the world of political violence, a nightscape of Semtex explosives and hostages locked in basement rooms. Bill's dangerous passage leaves two people stranded: his brilliant, fixated assistant, Scott; and the strange young woman who is Scott's lover - and Bill's.

The Actual Star takes listeners on a journey over thousands of years and six continents—collapsing three separate timelines into one cave in the Belizean jungle. An epic saga of three reincarnated souls, this novel demonstrates the entanglements of tradition and progress, sister and stranger, love and hate. The book jumps forward and backward in time among a pair of twins who ruled a Maya kingdom, a young American on a trip of self-discovery, and two dangerous charismatics in a conflict that will determine the fate of the few humans left on Earth after massive climate change.

Nathaniel Moon is the reluctant messiah. He has powers that define the word miraculous. But when he used those powers to help others, he brought about a world of trouble. Now Nathaniel lives a life of quiet obscurity, performing anonymous miracles. But, his anonymity has to end, because evil is coming to Middle Falls, Oregon, and threatens the people Nathaniel loves most. It's going to take a reluctant messiah to put things right.

Greta Wells embarks on a radical psychiatric treatment to alleviate her suffocating depression. But the treatment has unexpected effects, and Greta finds herself transported to the lives she might have had if she'd been born in different eras. During the course of her treatment, Greta cycles between her own time and alternate lives in 1918, where she is a bohemian adulteress, and 1941, which transforms her into a devoted mother and wife. As her final treatment looms, questions arise: What will happen once each Greta learns how to remain in one of the other worlds?

In Vita Nostra, Sasha Samokhina, a third-year student at the Institute of Special Technologies, was in the middle of taking the final exam that would transform her into a part of the Great Speech. After defying her teachers’ expectations, Sasha emerges from the exam as Password, a unique and powerful part of speech. Accomplished and ready to embrace her new role, she soon learns her powers threaten the old world, and despite her hard work, Sasha is set to fail.

"It is fitting that I'm beginning a new notebook up here. New surroundings and new ideas, a new beginning. Fresh air." This passage is from the first entry of a journal kept by the narrator of Daniel Kehlmann's spellbinding new novel. It is the record of the seven days that he, his wife, and his four-year-old daughter spend in a house they have rented in the mountains of Germany - a house that thwarts the expectations of the narrator's recollection and seems to defy the very laws of physics.

"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."

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.

After the death of his estranged father, Amit takes his parent's ashes to the Ganges to fulfill a deathbed promise. Instead of returning home, he wanders, his pain and grief leaving him confused about his future. Almost broke, unsure about his direction in life, and running from memories, he is led by fate to the Camino de Santiago, an ancient 550-mile pilgrimage route across northern Spain.

Raffi works in an observational cosmology lab, searching for dark matter and trying to hide how little they understand their own research. Every chance they get, they escape to see Britt, a queer sculptor who fascinates them for reasons they also don’t—or won’t—understand. As Raffi’s carefully constructed life begins to collapse, they become increasingly fixated on the multiverse and the idea that somewhere, there might be a universe where they mean as much to Britt as she does to them…and just like that, Raffi and Britt are thirteen years old, best friends and maybe something more.

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.

Rescued from unscrupulous breeders who plan to destroy him because of his floppy ear, when the Queen’s littlest corgi arrives at Windsor Castle, he finds himself in a world of red carpets, gilded chambers - and not a pile of dirty laundry to be seen. Charming his way into the affections of the royal household, Nelson offers a dog’s-eye view of life with the Queen. He eavesdrops on her encounters with celebrities, philanthropists and advisers, catching rare insights into the secrets of a purposeful life.