Paranormal Adventure

The city of Celum is not much like Liscor at all. While Erin is surrounded by familiar, human faces, she’s far from home and without her inn. At the same time, a certain ill-tempered Lyonette is squatting in Erin’s inn, and Goblins are on the move. The Goblin Lord’s threat reaches across the entire region, and the Redfang tribe has rallied against him with the Floodplains tribe, although their Chieftains do not agree on some crucial matters. This winter, there is only snow, Goblins, magic, and iambic pentameter.

Raysha will do whatever it takes to fix her broken soul, even if it means venturing into the unknown with nothing but her brother, an enchanted water bottle, and her fierce determination. The only one without the ability to cultivate aeon from the world, Raysha has been ostracized her whole life for her weakness. In a world where true masters of aeon have slaughtered gods, Raysha's future in her village is limited to babysitting pre-awakened children.

After ten years together, Jeremy “Jem” Creed and his wife, Crystal, are looking to give their marriage a fresh start on Paradeisos, a mysterious island off the coast of Oregon. What they find is stranger than they could have imagined: the locals are named after Greek gods, horned thugs lurk in back alleys, and the women are strangely friendly.

After facing war, death, unruly gods, and unmitigated evil, Minalan the Spellmonger is forced to return to Farise, the site of his earliest battles, with the simple assignment to conquer the subtropical city-state and expel the pirates that plague the kingdom’s shipping. Tired of warfare, Minalan embarks on a clandestine campaign to do so, assuming an alias and setting up shop in Farise as a mere Practical Adept as cover for his operation. Recruiting a cadre of talented agents to assist, he reluctantly begins the task of infiltrating and observing Farisian society.

Unbeknownst to him, Ray is about to partake on an adventure filled with magical beasts, warring factions, and a leveling-up system out of this world. He'll encounter filthy bandits, musty crypts, and friendly werewolves. Oh, you heard us right. If only he wasn't given negative charisma points around women, he might have a chance, but you can't win them all.

Tyrant magus Edrin Walker destroyed the monster sent by the Skallgrim, but not before it laid waste to Setharis, and infested their magical elite with mind-controlling parasites. Edrin's own Gift to seize the minds of others was cracked by the strain of battle, and he barely survives the interrogation of a captured magus. There's no time for recovery though: a Skallgrim army is marching on the mountain passes of the Clanhold. Edrin and a coterie of villains race to stop them, but the mountains are filled with gods, daemons, magic, and his hideous past.

Max Best is not living his—ahem—best life. His job's a drag, his home's a shooting gallery, his hopes are nil, and lately, even his beloved game of football has devolved from a chaotic, ecstatic delight into a cold, calculating equation complete with stats, tech terms, and mindless lingo. But then Max rescues a mysterious old man from a mugging. "Nick" seems friendly enough . . . until he innocently asks his savior, "Would you sell your soul to be a top football manager?" Naturally, Max says yes, and in that instant, everything changes.

Following the guidance of a mysterious blue prompt, Sylas journeys to the town of Ember Hollow to breathe new life into a quaint local pub. Along the way, he meets a clever apothecary named Mira, who helps him acclimate to the ins and outs of the realm, and Patches, a corpulent cat who’s slightly . . . shall we say, unusual. Dubbing the pub “The Old Lamplighter,” Sylas hopes it will be a safe haven for other weary souls. Of course, it doesn’t feel that safe when the prompt reappears with a warning: [You have 89 days until the invasion.]

Shrubley, the Hero Adventurer, has vanquished the serpentii threat. Everything he ever wanted is within his twiggy grasp: fame, fortune, adoration, and the love of the people who had once shunned him for being a monster. But Shrubley is an adventurer at heart. Along with his monstrous friends, Cal, Slyrox, and Smudge, Shrubley embarks on a long journey to the fabled monster city of Pandaemonium. Guided by Countess Haalften, Shrubley seeks to master his Sage Knight essence healing powers even as vampyrs, monsters, and bandits ambush the party along the way.

Hugo Award-winning author Charles Stross is renowned for his cutting-edge science fiction. This third entry in his “edgy … spoof of Cold War spy thrillers” ( Booklist) finds covert agent Bob Howard learning about a top-secret dossier that vanishes with his boss. Determined to discover the contents of this memorandum, Howard runs afoul of Russian spies, ancient demons, and apostles of a hideous cult planning to raise the Eater of Souls from the undead.

Only 1 percent of the population is blessed with magic affinity at birth. Fewer still have high enough affinities to rule. Ian’s decemancy eclipses all, granting him ultimate control over Death. He conquers cities with a thought and turns them into ruins with a gesture. But overwhelming power isn’t enough to escape the time loop or reveal its purpose.

After incursions of demons from another plane of existence changed the course of history, humanity learned one undeniable truth: traditional weapons wouldn't cut it. Those strong enough to resist cultivated their Ki and emerged as heroes of Ascension to combat the demonic threat. For two hopeful Ascendants, J and Alex, this journey begins at Wyvern Academy. But surviving in one of the world's top battle academies isn't the only thing they have to worry about. Fellow students and rivals, beautiful girls, and treacherous exams stand in the way of their first steps on the path of ascension.

Lilith has been dying since the day she was born. While she long ago came to terms with her own imminent death, the deaths of everyone she loves are an entirely different matter. As her town slowly withers in the clutches of a mysterious god-cursed illness, she takes matters into her own hands. Desperate to find a cure, Lilith strikes a bargain with the only thing the gods hate more than her village: a vampire, Vale. She offers him six roses in exchange for six vials of vampire blood—the one hope for her town's salvation.

Having survived their journey into the Dark Heart, Arthur and his dragon, Brixaby, have a new goal: complete their Legendary card sets. Unfortunately, the next Legendary card is locked away in Blood Moon, a hive with a reputation for chaos, lawlessness, scourgling eruptions, and—rumor has it—dedicated dragon hunters. Still, Arthur and his retinue feel they have little to fear. Then again, they also don't have much knowledge of what actually lies ahead.

Kat Richardson excels at creating vivid, fast-moving novels that blend urban fantasy with paranormal mystery. In Greywalker, Seattle P.I. Harper Blaine is viciously attacked and murdered - but after exactly two minutes, somehow she returns to life. Now she's seeing strange things all around her - dark visions from the shadow world - and living a normal life may no longer be possible no matter how hard she tries.

Mercy O'Malley hates killing people. So when she's assigned to take out Vampire-Demon Logan Kyllwood, she lures him to a seedy bar in Scotland, then decides to kidnap him instead. How can she cold-bloodedly end all that heat, those green eyes, that ripped body? Unfortunately for Mercy, attempted murder and kidnapping are just foreplay for the Kyllwood brothers.

Gideon's planning a heist, to steal the only thing that matters from the worst man in the world. To get past his security, he's going to need a crew who can do the impossible...but luckily, he has the right people in mind. The Damned, the Ghost, the Wild Card...and his ex-girlfriend, Annie Anybody. A woman who can be anyone, with the power to make technology fall in love with her. If things go well, they'll all get what they want. And if they're lucky, they might not even die trying.

Erin Solstice trusts a lot of people—even some lost Redfangs survivors of Esthelm—but can she handle being friends with Goblins when every hand is turned against them and the tribes are on the rampage? Liscor is in the path of Goblin Lord's inexorable march north, and the fates of Rags, Garen Redfang, and Tremborag's Goblin tribes are all tied to an impending war. Who will survive?

Death and reincarnation. Kuroe Makoto, the tomboyish ace of her high school track-and-field club, never spared a thought for these things before. However, when she falls asleep in her Tokyo home after an exhausting marathon and wakes up in a fantasy world, those concepts become her reality. Unlike common light novel settings, she isn't reincarnated as the naturally good-looking and talented human hero who gathers a harem effortlessly. In fact, she isn't reincarnated as a human at all. She is reborn as "Chaos", child of the demon queen and heir to a kingdom at war with humanity.

Arthur Leywin's quest for the power he knows only as Fate becomes even more pressing as his most dangerous foes gain a terrible new power. When the war between the dragons of Epheotus and the basilisks of Alacrya erupts across Dicathen, the people Arthur cares about most find themselves trapped in a clash of deities. The only way to master Fate and protect them, though, is to place them directly in harm's way in the ultimate gambit.