Urban City

For fifty years “Detroit” has been shorthand for all that's wrong with urban America: crime, corruption, decay, racial tension, struggling businesses, failing schools, a declining tax base, and more. Since 1950 Detroit has lost two-thirds of its population, falling from fifth place in the U.S. (just behind Los Angeles) to twenty-fourth (just behind Nashville). Between 2000 and 2017 alone, its population fell 28%, a steeper drop than any other major American city.

Cities rather than individual pioneers have been the driving force in the settlement and economic development of the western half of North America. Throughout the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, western urban centers served as starting points for conquest and settlement. As these frontier cities matured into metropolitan centers, they grew from imitators of eastern culture and outposts of eastern capital into independent sources of economic, cultural, and intellectual change.

In 1925, earthquakes and a rising sea level left Lower Manhattan submerged under more than 30 feet of water, so that its residents began to call it the Drowning City. Those unwilling to abandon their homes created a new life on streets turned to canals and in buildings whose first three stories were underwater. Fifty years have passed since then, and the Drowning City is full of scavengers and water rats, poor people trying to eke out an existence, and those too proud or stubborn to be defeated by circumstance. Among them are 14-year-old Molly McHugh.

Fortunetellers. Demotivational speakers. Disillusioned shapeshifters. You never know quite who—or what—you'll run into in Psychic City, but that's what makes life interesting for a PsyOps agent.

What does it mean to be truly human? When an orphaned kit fox named Tom is transformed by a witch’s spell into a 12-year-old boy, he’s given a deadline of summer’s end to become fully human. Befriended by fellow orphan Nora, he spends the summer enjoying normal human activities, always fearing that he won’t discover how to become fully human in time, and unaware that soon he and Nora will be fighting for their lives....

Still, in the City is a collection of stories about the practice of urban Buddhism - when a New York City subway becomes a mobile temple, when Los Angeles traffic becomes a vehicle for awakening, when a Fifth Avenue sidewalk offers a spiritual path through craving, generosity, and sorrow. Practicing in the city comes with its own set of challenges and opportunities, and this book is attuned to both.

A year after the death of her husband, Emerald Vasquez runs into his mistress Akira when leaving the cemetery. The sight of the woman he impregnated and left his fortune to reignites the flames of fury within her, sending Emerald down a path of Revenge.

Mein Leben drehte sich einst um Gerechtigkeit. Als ausgebildete Kriegerin für das Volk von Shadow City habe ich nie infrage gestellt, was mir beigebracht wurde … bis jetzt. Mein vorbestimmter Partner und ich stehen endlich auf derselben Seite – und die Liste unserer Feinde wird immer länger. Alles, was wir gelernt haben, hat sich verändert und uns beide zur Angriffsfläche gemacht.

Sam Flint lives in a world of monsters and magic, and as a quasi-immortal, he is King. Well, King of a hole in the wall apartment infested with more rats than the politicians shiny offices up in Standard Heights. The life of a private eye in Necrotown isn't glamorous, but Sam has all he as ever wanted wrapped up in the sexy embrace of his kitsune wife, Fox. Unfortunately, landlords and rent wait for no man and Sam needs to get paid fast. When big bellied and bigger pocketed Lloyd Burgess hires Sam for a quick snatch and grab of his wayward daughter, Sam is all in.

Ich hätte nie erwartet, mich zu verlieben... besonders nicht in meinen Feind. Als ich über eine Gruppe entflohener Dämonen stolpere, ändert sich alles. Mir fällt die Verantwortung zu, Shadow City zu schützen. Als der Kampf tobt, spüre ich einen Impuls in meiner Seele, der mich zu einem sexy Dämon mit mokkabraunen Augen zieht. Er ergibt sich freiwillig... aber ich traue ihm nicht. Ich hätte ihn auf der Stelle töten sollen. Er wird zum Auslöser für noch mehr Dämonenangriffe, aber ich kann ihn nicht aufgeben.

Just before my wedding on the planet called Kifirin, I decided I wasn't going to marry someone I'd never met. Kordevik Weth was a stranger to me, and I wasn't willing to accept him. That's why I asked Aunt Bree for help. She had one condition: I had to live on Earth and take a job with Rome Enterprises in San Francisco.

When New York City unveils a program to roast supernaturals, I wonder if I should be sweating. The bloodthirsty Arnaud thinks so, and he's insisting that our survival depends on a wizard-vampire alliance. Never mind his history of wanting me dead. Or undead. Meanwhile, the mayor wants me on his team - an offer that's only slightly less unnerving given our recent clash. So who's really behind the purge? City Hall? The werewolves? Or is it the brainchild of the fae, whose newest advisor to the mayor slipped from my bed and life four months ago?

Because of the disaster that was her last job, Zoe is searching for a fresh start as a travel book editor in tourist-centric New York City. After stumbling across a seemingly perfect position though, Zoe is blocked at every turn because of the one thing she can't take off her resume—human. Not to be put off by anything—especially not her blood-drinking boss or death-goddess coworker—Zoe delves deep into the monster world. But her job turns deadly when the careful balance between human and monsters starts to crumble—with Zoe right in the middle.

Kal Hakala is the Bureau of Supernatural Investigation’s best agent, but even he needs a break after his last case, which brought him a hair’s breadth from death and killed the fiancée of his best friend, a Mescalero Apache agent named Canton Asate. Kal’s temporary desk-job is nothing less than leadership of the entire BSI. Now it is on his head to assemble teams of agents to fight the latest Supernatural incursions and man up if they fail.

Lily Harper narrowly survived her first mission as a Soul Retriever in the first level of the Underground City. After that harrowing trip, she wants nothing more than some downtime, but as with most things involving the afterlife, nothing ever quite works out the way Lily wants it to. Her newest mission will see her traveling to the sewer aqueduct of the Underground City and later, the prison. But, luckily for Lily, she’s got the hunky yet antisocial bladesmith Tallis Black by her side. And quite possibly unluckily for her, she’s also got her guardian angel, Bill, who’s up to his old, foul-mouthed antics.

With a new afterword covering the two decades since its first publication, two of Washington, D.C.'s most respected journalists expose one of America's most tragic ironies: How the nation's capital, often a gleaming symbol of peace and hope, is the setting for vicious contradictions and devastating conflicts over race, class, and power. Jaffe and Sherwood have chillingly chronicled the descent of the District of Columbia.

Jon Steele's electrifying new novel brings together his unforgettable characters from The Watchers in an action-packed romp that easily stands alone, even as it reveals more of the earthly - and cosmic - mysteries of the Angelus trilogy.

Life is supposed to be easy and carefree when you are young, but if you live in Washington, DC, that's not always the case. Flashing back to the 1990s, listeners enter the lives of four black men looking to gain money, power, and respect. These four brothas come from different walks of life, but they have one thing in common: They are trying to make fast money in the harsh inner city. However, when the money comes too easily, there's usually a price attached...the ultimate price.

Vampire Anna Strong never expected to find the witch Sophie Deveraux on her doorstep, asking for a favor. But Sophie needs help, even if it's from the vampire who killed her sister. Anna, driven both by guilt and obligation, agrees to help Sophie and her psychic alter-ego, Jonathan. So begins an adventure that takes them to Leadville, Colorado. All too soon, Anna wonders whether Sophie is truly a victim of circumstance...or the author of a clever plot to rid herself of her unwanted psychic twin.

December 2008. A heavy snowstorm is blowing through Manhattan and the economy is on the brink of collapse, but none of that matters to a handful of guests at a posh holiday party. Five years after their college graduation, the fiercely devoted friends at the heart of this richly absorbing novel remain as inseparable as ever.