Modern Fiction

At a safe distance from the intrigues of courtly life at Louis XIV’s Versailles, an intellectual crowd of mostly women have been gathering in a Parisian home to share what hostess Marie D’Aulnoy herself has christened contes de fées: fairy tales. Recently ousted from court and still raw from the death of his beloved wife, Charles Perrault finds companionship and creative camaraderie at the salon, where he eagerly joins the storytellers. Their hostess is impressive, fiercely intelligent, but somehow unreadable. She is harboring secrets of her own.

Paris, near the turn of 1933. Three young friends meet over apricot cocktails at the Bec-de-Gaz bar on the rue Montparnasse. They are Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir and their friend Raymond Aron, who opens their eyes to a radical new way of thinking. Pointing to his drink, he says, 'You can make philosophy out of this cocktail!'

If I’m to restore the druids to their former glory, I’ll need a safe place to train my recruits. Ideally, someplace where they won’t get curb-stomped by the gods. I can’t think of a better place to hide out than an alternate timeline where the gods and fae are too busy fighting a civil war to bother with little old me. So, it’s time to head back, settle old scores, clear the alternate timeline Earth of the undead, and plant some new druid groves.

Hidden away in the Record Department of the sprawling Ministry of Truth, Winston Smith skilfully rewrites the past to suit the needs of the Party. Yet he inwardly rebels against the totalitarian world he lives in, which demands absolute obedience and controls him through the all-seeing telescreens and the watchful eye of Big Brother, symbolic head of the Party. In his longing for truth and liberty, Smith begins a secret love affair with a fellow worker, Julia, but soon discovers the true price of freedom is betrayal.

The battle lines have been drawn, and Mari, an Earth Walker, and Nik, a Companion, who were once from rival clans now find themselves fighting to save each other and their people from destruction. Thaddeus betrayed his own people, killing Nik's father and destroying their entire clan. But he wants more. He wants the power he believes Mari has stolen from him and his people, and he will do anything he must to get them back, even if it means destroying everything in his path.

This chilling tale of greed, lust, and deception opens on a midwinter night when Felix Canaris, a despairing writer about to take his own life, is saved by a knock at the door. The mysterious visitor, a Jasper Helwyze, promises Felix fame and fortune in return for his complete devotion.

El Cid is the oldest Spanish epic poem preserved. It is based on the true story of Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, known as El Cid, and it takes place during the Spanish Reconquest. This is the story of a brave man who took on the challenge of recovering his home country after it had been besieged. This poem has been completely reworked and carefully adapted in modern English to allow for easy listening. Enjoy!

Annie Adams is days away from her 32nd birthday and thinks she has finally found some happiness. She visits the world's most interesting places for her syndicated travel column and she's happily cohabiting with her movie director boyfriend Nick in Los Angeles. But when Nick comes home from a meeting with his therapist (aka "futures counselor") and announces that he's taking a break from their relationship so he can pursue a woman from his past, the place Annie had come to call home is shattered.

When things go bump in the night, there's only one federal agency that stands between the supernatural and humankind...CERBERUS. C.E.R.B.E.R.U.S. stands for “Clandestine Enforcement and Reconnaissance Bureau, Extranormal Rampart Division of the United States”—the American law enforcement unit that was created to deal with all things magical and unexplained. Follow along as Deputy Marshal Tony Mendoza is inducted into the supernatural underworld by the shadowy agency and its enigmatic leader, Director Strickland.

EMP: Equipping Modern Patriots is a harrowing story of survival after the destruction of the electric grid and nearly every electronic device in the country. Jonathan Hollerman paints a vivid and disturbing picture of society falling apart after an Electromagnetic Pulse attack against our nation.

This collection includes all three novels in The Shadow Changeling Series, a Colin McCool Junkyard Druid spin-off series set in M.D. Massey's Druidverse® urban fantasy setting. If you enjoy dark urban fantasy books featuring haunted antiheroes in the tradition of Snape, Walker Boh, and Constantine, you'll love this story about a shadow wizard who's searching for his long lost human family.

The White Monkey is the fourth of the nine novels in The Forsyte Chronicles and marks the opening of the second trilogy in the series, called A Modern Comedy. In this new chapter, Fleur and Michael Mont begin to question their marriage when their good friend, author Wilfred Desert, can no longer contain his passion for Fleur. Fleur finds herself torn between her love for Michael and passion for Wilfred.

As the pace of modern life accelerates, the old ways wither and die. But to the Society for Magickal Heritage, that just isn’t good enough.

The time has come for Roiben's coronation, and pixie Kaye is sure of one thing – she loves him. When she declares herself to Roiben during the celebration, he's forced to send her on a seemingly impossible quest to find a faerie who can tell a lie. But Kaye's adventure soon leads to danger when she finds herself caught up in the games of the Seelie Court. Queen Silarial wants Roiben's throne, and she will use any means necessary to get it. Can a pixie outplay a queen?

My mother's New Year's resolution for me was simple: make a serious effort at putting myself out there and dating again and do it for one full year. Or, until I fell in love. Whichever came first. How hard could one year of swipes and matches and awkward first dates be? In a word: bad. In nine words: bad and also hilarious, demoralizing, exhausting, and ridiculously amusing.

Set in the wide-open spaces of the American West, The Power of the Dog is a stunning story of domestic tyranny, brutal masculinity, and thrilling defiance from one of the most powerful and distinctive voices in American literature. The novel tells the story of two brothers—one magnetic but cruel, the other gentle and quiet—and of the mother and son whose arrival on the brothers’ ranch shatters an already tenuous peace.

These three short works show Austen experimenting with a variety of different literary styles, from melodrama to satire, and exploring a range of social classes and settings. The early epistolary novel Lady Susan depicts an unscrupulous coquette toying with the affections of several men. In contrast, The Watsons is a delightful fragment whose spirited heroine, Emma Watson, finds her marriage opportunities limited by poverty and pride....

Melanie has a destiny, though it isn’t the one everyone assumes it to be. She’s delicate; she’s fragile; she’s dying. Now, truly, is the winter of her soul. Harry doesn’t want to believe in destiny, because that means accepting the loss of the one person who gives his life meaning, who brings summer to his world.

The end of one story is often the beginning of another. Hollywood heartthrob Brian Oliver and his Cinderella princess Ellamara Rodriguez have finally found love outside the digital world. But leaving their anonymity behind creates a whole new set of obstacles for the nation's new favorite sweethearts. With the stress of Brian's fame, Ella's disapproving family, and the pressures of a new relationship weighing down on them, the It Couple quickly begins to wonder if they can hold on to their newfound joy, or if maybe happily ever after is only a fairy tale.

Maya was a rising star in the political world until her ex-husband’s high-profile sex scandal nearly derailed her career. Landing a gubernatorial candidate is the fresh start she desperately needs–a chance to focus on meaningful work and leave the drama behind. But then an email from her past sends her world spinning: Charlie, former lead singer of Mischief, the boy band that fueled her teenage obsession, is staging a solo comeback and wants Maya’s help to make it happen. Turns out, she likes the grown-up Charlie and his genuine engagement with the world.