New World Fiction

From master anthologist Ellen Datlow comes an all-original of weird tales inspired by the strangeness of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Between the hallucinogenic, weird, imaginative wordplay and the brilliant mathematical puzzles and social satire, Alice has been enjoyed and savored by every generation since its publication. Datlow asked 18 of the most brilliant and acclaimed writers working today to dream up stories inspired by all the strange events and surreal characters found in Wonderland.

Imagine a world with no countries, no religion, and no democracy. Imagine the fall of the Great Western Empire. Historically, most Empires created by man have risen and fallen during a period of around 500 years. The Romans, Greeks, Egyptians, the Moors, and the Ottomans all, in their turn, reigned supreme until apathy, arrogance, and laziness led to their downfall. However, mankind would never become extinct as new societies inevitably replace existing social structures sooner or later.

Imagine a world where everyone knows everything about everybody. Where what a person "feels" and "truly believes" is protected under the law, while what is rational, even provable is condemned as heresy. A world where to question ignorance and intolerance is to commit a Crime against Faith. Imagine it. Or just wait until After the Flood.

In March 1986, while living in Brooklyn, Chris Bohjalian and his wife were cab-napped on a Saturday night and taken on a forty-five-minute joy ride in which the driver ignored all traffic lights and stop signs. Around midnight he deposited the young couple on a near-deserted street, where police officers were about to storm a crack house. Bohjalian and his wife were told to hit the ground for their own protection. While lying on the pavement, Bohjalian's wife suggested that perhaps it was time to move to New England.

Because Yumi Ruíz-Hirsch has grandparents from Japan, Cuba, and Brooklyn, her mother calls her a poster child for the 21st century. Yumi would laugh if only her life wasn't getting as complicated as her heritage. All of a sudden she's starting eighth grade with a girl who collects tinfoil and a boy who dresses like a squid.

A dazzling debut about family, home, and grief, The Floating World takes listeners into the heart of Hurricane Katrina with the story of the Boisdores, whose roots stretch back nearly to the foundation of New Orleans. Though the storm is fast approaching the Louisiana coast, Cora, the family's fragile elder daughter, refuses to leave the city, forcing her parents, Joe Boisdore, an artist descended from a freed slave, and his white "uptown" wife, Dr. Tess Eshleman, to evacuate without her, setting off a chain of events that leaves their marriage in shambles and Cora catatonic.

A portal ripped open, thrusting me into a strange new world. And then, I met her. I must return to my guard post at once, but she ignites a fire in me strong enough to threaten the sacred vow I've made to protect the Crown.

Lucas and Margo are fed up. Margo is a brilliant programmer tired of being talked over as the company’s sole black employee, and while Lucas is one of many Asians at the firm, he’s nearly invisible as a low-paid customer service rep. Together, they decide to steal their tech startup’s user database in an attempt at revenge. The heist takes a sudden turn when Margo dies in a car accident, and Lucas is left reeling, wondering what to do with their secret—and wondering whether her death really was an accident.

Elliot is eager to pass the bar exam and embark on the path he’s laid out for his future—one that’s far from the life he would’ve had on his home planet as a dragon prince. With a schedule as busy as his, the last thing on his mind is finding his mate. But when his dragon cousins force him to blow off some steam with them at a club, fate throws a massive curve ball at Elliot. The powerful, unyielding attraction he feels toward a certain mysterious beauty has his dragon reeling to claim what’s his.

Finn may be dragon prince from a distant planet, but he’s blending in well on Earth. His future looks bright, but life takes a sudden turn when his ex tells him she’s having his baby, and unless he takes full custody, the shifter child will be put up for adoption. He never expected to be a single dad to adorable little Phoenix. Nor did he think he’d ever find a mate willing to raise another woman’s baby. Until he met Aurora.

In this captivating collection from the Shaanxi region, considered the cradle of Chinese civilization, twenty disparate and unique voices come together to show a China caught between new-world advancements and old-world traditions. From the homeland of China’s first dynasty and the world-famous terra-cotta warriors, these tales show rugged rural life colliding with fast-paced city life; hollow arranged marriages juxtaposed with torrid forbidden love affairs; and the vanity of newly minted millionaires clashing with the desperation of the poor.

Betrayal: The Ethel Rosenberg Story follows the case of the “Atomic Spy” Julius Rosenberg and his wife, Ethel. In this historical fiction novel, Alisa Parenti takes listeners from the tenement halls of the Lower East Side to the walls of Sing Sing as the United States is engulfed by the “Red Scare”. Ethel, the first woman on death row for conspiracy to commit espionage, speaks with Mary Wurth, a young reporter from Queens looking to prove her worth.

Ruth Amundsen grew up poor in Michigan’s rural Upper Peninsula during the 1920s and 1930s. As she ventured beyond the village of Big Bay, she left her real home - the shores of Lake Superior. After nursing training, she joined the US Army Nurse Corps, serving during the last year of World War II in the war-torn Philippines. When she returns to postwar America, she finds her independence, sense of contribution, and hard-earned status as a war nurse of little value to a country seeking to get back to an outdated normal, whatever the cost.

It is February 1983, and Berlin is a divided city with a miles-long barricade separating east from west. But the city isn't the only thing that is divided. Ada lives among the rebels, punkers, and immigrants of Kreuzberg in West Berlin. Stefan lives in East Berlin, in a faceless apartment bunker of Friedrichshain. Bound by love and separated by circumstance, their only chance for a life together lies in a high-risk escape. But will Stefan find the courage to leap? Or will forces beyond his control stand in his way?

Good-natured and garrulous, Švejk becomes the Austro-Hungarian army's most loyal Czech soldier when he is called up on the outbreak of the First World War - although his bumbling attempts to get to the front serve only to prevent him from reaching it. This story of a "little man" caught in a vast bureaucratic machine combines dazzling wordplay and piercing satire to create a hilariously subversive depiction of the futility of war. Please note: This audiobook is in Russian.

As the Second World War ends, Sophie Daniels quits the WAAF with nowhere to go. She wanders around the country searching for a place where she can settle, living in bedsits, barns and small guesthouses in the meantime. Eventually she finds Badgers Brook, where she meets and befriends nine-year-old Bertie, neglected and running wild. The neighbours warm to her, the place is welcoming and Sophie knows she has found her home. Friendly local Ryan Treweather is a welcome distraction - and potentially more - if she can just trust him with one big guilty secret.

Many people feel anxious about today’s barrage of alarming events (COVID, economy, inflation, supply chain risk, cultural, political, climate disruption, resource scarcities, war, etc.). Older people are wondering what world they are leaving behind for their (grand) children. While younger folks are anxious and worried about the future and diminishing possibilities to live a full life on a vibrant planet.

The natural course our planet Earth has taken is in sheer and utter devastation. Global warming has awakened with full force and over half of the population is in third world poverty or dead already. Lucky for some of us our one world government, known as Grendel had a secret plan. They had discovered years prior of a habitable sister planet in our galaxy that they called Genesis. In the last days before Earths final destruction Grendel allowed a few hundred of us to board the shuttle and begin our journey to repopulate and thrive on Genesis. Everything went according to plan and I was grateful to have my family included in that plan.

When Jewish Holocaust survivors Eidel and Dovid Levi arrive in the United States, they believe that their struggles are finally over. Both have suffered greatly under the Nazi reign and are ready to leave the past behind. They arrive in this new and different land filled with optimism for their future. However, acclimating into a new way of life can be challenging for immigrants. And, not only are they immigrants but they are Jewish.

In a world where consumerism and greed are the main staples of life, where the fundamentals of living - working the land, ethics, and peace - are a thing of the past, and selfishness, an unquenchable thirst for money, and fame seem to be the only goals in life, a young couple dreams up a plan to start again from scratch. How will they acquire the land they need to do this? They don’t know if they will ever make anyone else believe in their dream for humanity. They can’t be sure. All they know is that they must give it a shot.