Science Fiction City

In I Wear the Black Hat, Klosterman questions the very nature of how modern people understand the concept of villainy. What was so Machiavellian about Machiavelli? Why don't we see Batman the same way we see Bernhard Goetz? Who's more worthy of our vitriol - Bill Clinton or Don Henley? What was O.J. Simpson's second-worst decision? Masterfully blending cultural analysis with self-interrogation and limitless imagination, I Wear the Black Hat delivers perceptive observations on the complexity of the anti-hero.

It is a mysterious city whose sun is switched on in the morning and switched off at night, bordered by an abyss on one side and an impossibly high wall on the other. Its inhabitants are people who were plucked from twentieth-century history at various times and places and left to govern themselves, advised by Mentors whose purpose seems inscrutable.

Marcie thought preventing a war was tough. That’s because she’s never been to Prime City. To many, Marcie Hugo is a hero for the part she played in preventing a war between The Blind Spot and Scala City, but to The Eye and her best friend Sal, she’s a liar and a traitor. She manipulated The Eye to get what she needed from him, which led to the murder of a connected man. Being Wrench’s daughter, she’s untouchable, but because of her, The Eye now has a price on his head. He might be safely hidden, but time’s running out.

Jason Blum invited 16 cutting-edge collaborators, filmmakers, and writers to envision a city of their choosing, and let their demons run wild. The Blumhouse Book of Nightmares: The Haunted City brings together all-new, boundary-breaking stories from such artists as Ethan Hawke (Boyhood), Eli Roth (Hostel), Scott Derrickson (Sinister), C. Robert Cargill (Sinister), James DeMonaco (The Purge), and many others.

Fierce and ambitious, Aina Solís as sharp as her blade and as mysterious as the blood magic she protects. After the murder of her parents, Aina takes a job as an assassin to survive and finds a new family in those like her: the unwanted and forgotten. Her boss is brutal and cold, with a questionable sense of morality, but he provides a place for people with nowhere else to go. And makes sure they stay there.

Lief, Barda and Jasmine - companions with nothing in common but their hatred of the enemy - are on a perilous quest to find the seven lost gems of the magic Belt of Deltora. Only when the Belt is complete once more can the evil Shadow Lord be overthrown. They have succeeded in finding the golden topaz and the great ruby. The two gems' mysterious powers have strengthened them and given them the courage to move on in their search for the third stone. But none of them can know what horrors await them in the forbidden City of the Rats.

A deadly virus killed every adult on Earth, leaving only the kids behind. With her parents gone, Lisa is responsible for her little brother, Todd. She has to make sure they stay alive. Many kids are sick or starving, and fierce gangs are stealing and destroying everything they find. Lots of people have given up, but on Grand Avenue, some kids are surviving. Because of Lisa. Lisa figured out how to give the kids on Grand Avenue food, homes, and protection against the gangs.

Savannah has fallen to the vampires, and it’s up to Grier to take out their leader, Gaspard Lacroix, and restore peace. Lacroix might be more powerful and immune to her magic, but she’s got a plan. Too bad it’s got holes big enough for a new threat to waltz through while the city is on her knees. Now Grier must risk her very soul if she hopes to slay her enemies and prevent her world from going up in flames. But salvation comes at a steep price, and she’s not the only one who will pay. The cost just might break her, and the man who owns her heart.

Tor is adjusting to life with the power of the Night Witch, especially with his best friends, Engle and Melda, by his side. But when a mysterious girl washes up on shore claiming a band of cursed pirates is on their way to Emblem Island, life changes fast. The girl, Gemma, is from an underwater city that was destroyed by the terrible Calavera pirates, and she warns Tor they are now on their way to his home. The trio of friends must come up with a plan to stop the pirates from getting an ancient relic that would give them the ability to control the high seas.

They have but one purpose—slay the pirate Vrykhan at any cost. They expect to give their own lives in pursuit of their revenge, but they never expected her.

In the magical realm of Mystic City, Aria Rose, daughter to one of the city's ruling families, is betrothed to Thomas Foster, the son of her parents' enemies. With the unwanted marriage drawing closer, Aria encounters a rebel mystic from the Depths - and begins to question everything she knows about her world.

In 1911 New York City, 17-year-old Frances Hallowell spends her days as a seamstress, mourning the mysterious death of her brother months prior. Everything changes when she’s attacked and a man ends up dead at her feet - her scissors in his neck, and she can’t explain how they got there.

The heartbeat of the land thrums louder and faster, like soldiers charging into war. Finn drew a line in the sand when she used the faie to attack her enemy. There is no going back from what she has become. And she’s done running.

Having narrowly escaped with their lives from the redoubt near Cornerstone, the Deathlands survivors known as the Companions arrive via mat-trans at a destination they presume to be North Dakota, if the mysterious codes given them while in Cornerstone are accurate. That assumption is soon put in doubt as they discover a devastated city covered in continual ashfall, a sky perpetually obscured by black clouds illuminated only by sporadic lightning. The former metropolis is not deserted, however, but densely populated with ravening hordes of barely human creatures.

You've got to be careful when you're chasing a murderer through Bulikov, for the world is not as it should be in that city. When the gods were destroyed and all worship of them banned by the Polis, reality folded; now stairs lead to nowhere, alleyways have become portals to the past, and criminals disappear into thin air. The murder of Dr Efrem Pangyui, the Polis diplomat researching the Continent's past, has begun something, and now whispers of an uprising flutter out from invisible corners.

Fleeing from Paris and the Reign of Terror in 1793, Manfred von Bek once a valued revolutionary heads towards Switzerland and then onto Mirenburg in Waldenstein, the seat of the von Bek family. Shortly after crossing the border, von Bek meets Libussa, the Duchess of Crete, who assists him in escaping from a tricky situation of mistaken identity, and von Bek becomes smitten with her. Intending to follow Libussa, von Bek meets the Chevalier de St Odhran, an aeronaut and confidence man. After several unsavory adventures, the pair decide that they must flee Mirenburg, via airship.

Luca Matius has one purpose—to carry on the family name, maintaining its presence in the Forum once his powerful and cruel uncle dies. But his noviceship with the city's Philosopher places him in the middle of a catastrophe that will alter the destiny of his people. Maris Casperia was raised amidst the strategic maneuvers of the Citadel's inner workings, and she knows what her future holds—a lifetime of service to a corrupt city.

Clara is an Obligate, an indentured servant of the fae. If she ever wants to see home again, she must survive ten more years of servitude, developing her newly-discovered magic and battling powerful nightmare monsters in the Doomed City Library. She can’t afford any distractions. Distractions like Danny—her handsome childhood sweetheart—who longs to free her from her Obligation. Or Lord Ivor—the devastatingly beautiful fae lord—who desires to whisk her away to his own bright court of intrigue and danger.

Family is everything. So when my sister ran away to be with her new boyfriend, I chased after her. A strange, crimson-eyed man attacked me within minutes of my arrival. Alex, an arrogant, handsome flirt, saved me. No matter how hard we try to fight our connection, we're drawn to each other. While he reluctantly agrees to help me, I discover a terrifying new world filled with creatures that shouldn't be real; shifters, vampires, angels, witches, and so much more. Every minute I'm in Shadow Terrace becomes increasingly more dangerous, but I’ll risk everything to save my sister.

In this thrilling collection of original stories, some of today’s hottest paranormal authors delight, thrill and captivate readers with otherworldly tales of magic and mischief.