Urban City

Rare gemstones in a casino is catnip to criminals. Ruby Achera will need Idryll the tiger-woman and Morrigan the archer to suit up and protect the exhibit at Spirits Casino. But who is the mysterious figure leading the criminal enterprise? Can Ruby get back to Oriceran in time to fulfill a prophecy? Being in two places at once will take a team. Diana Sheen, Rath the troll, and the Federal Agents of Magic are back for tech support.

Magic City is full of hustlers, con men and magicals just out for a good time. The perfect mix of glamour and gangsters. But underneath it all, a con man is scheming to pull it all apart. Can Ruby and her weretiger, Idryll, find a way to save her hometown before time runs out? Or will her quest lead her to her own unforeseen destiny? New challenges can also bring new allies. A Drow trader with an eclectic set of resources offers to help. A purple-haired troll who offers to teach her to fly or the hooded archer whose help Ruby can't decline. Are they really friends or foes?

The Mist Casino sits just above a kemana with an interior that would make a ghost feel right at home. Of course it does. After all, Magic City has to compete with nearby Vegas. Ruby is just back from University for the summer, catching up with an old friend, when everything changes with a bang! A series of small blasts are exploding all around her. Chips are flying through the air. Someone wanted to announce their arrival in town. But who? Ruby is about to get drawn into a battle for control of Magic City. They just made the fight personal. Is the Ebon Dragon Casino next?

When Michael Matthews first visited Detroit, he was grimly fascinated by the place. Over dozens of visits, he got to know the people - cops, reporters, and gang members as well as ordinary Detroiters trying to live their lives in peace, and formed deep bonds with them, which led him into places and situations, no writer has ever seen before. American Ruin is the story of Michael’s journey into the soul of this broken city - a shocking, violent, and heartbreaking portrayal of a modern tragedy.

Never Ran, Never Will tells the story of the working-class, mostly black neighborhood of Brownsville, Brooklyn; its proud youth football team, the Mo Better Jaguars; and the young boys who are often at the center of both. Oomz, Gio, Hart, and their charismatic, vulnerable friends come together on a dusty football field. All around them, their community is threatened by violence, poverty, and the specter of losing their homes to gentrification. Their passionate, unpaid coaches teach hard lessons about surviving American life with little help from the outside world.

The kingpins of Oklahoma City, one from the north side and one from the south side, push pounds of weed, gallons of PCP, and kilos of cocaine through the corridors of the OKC, using very different methods to keep their people in line. King is the leader of the north side crew. Along with his protégé, Tippi, he runs his crew with deadly force. Each member knows there is no room for error when it comes to getting money on the north side. Flamboyant, the leader of the south side crew, is the opposite.

Billy Sothern's Down in New Orleans illustrates, in very human and heartbreaking ways, how the horrors that emerged during and following Hurricane Katrina existed long before the storm. These beautifully composed stories not only reveal the dignity—and amazing grit and grace—of the hurricane's survivors; they also illuminate larger truths about the urgent issues of our day.

When Rodney Mason, an ex-con drug dealer from Newark's rough South Ward, was shot and paralyzed, he vowed to turn his life around. A former high-school pitching ace with a 93-mph fastball, Mason decided to form a Little League team to help boys avoid the street life that had claimed his youth and mobility. Predictably, the players struggle but through the fists and tears, lopsided losses and rare victories, this bunch of misfits becomes a team, and in doing so gives the community something to root for.

While waiting for brain surgery, high school grad Chad Wilde's otherwise carefree world of video games and pizza takes a necromantic turn for the worse when an old Latin spellbook is used to summon zombies. Joined by fellow-gamer and best friend Ricky Sharp and intellijock frenemy Mark Lloyd, Chad must take on the daunting undead legions and nethermagics of an angst-ridden, psycho, community college coed.

In Black on the Block, Mary Pattillo - a Newsweek Woman of the 21st Century - uses the historic rise, alarming fall, and equally dramatic renewal of Chicago’s North Kenwood-Oakland neighborhood to explore the politics of race and class in contemporary urban America.

The Cherry Spot dives into the lives of dancers Apache, Tropics, and Tamara, along with madam Ja'kiera and her stable Erika, Paisley, and Serena. We witness firsthand the battles they won as well as those they lost. Throw in a demented serial killer and you have the perfect recipe for disaster. Who lives and who dies all depends on how hard they fight to survive. Listen to the minutes of this full-length novel to find out the outcome of their tribulation and trials.

In the spring of 1981, Parker City is rocked by a series of brutal murders. Unthinkable crimes the likes of which are unheard of in the close-knit community. Under great pressure from the powers-that-be, it is made clear to newly minted Parker City Police Detectives Ben Winters and Tommy Mason that their first case could very well be their last if they can't catch the killer. Decades later, after distinguished careers in law enforcement, Ben and Tommy find themselves on the eve of retirement. But in their final days on the job, their very first case comes back to haunt them.

Seventeen-year-old Tyler lives in one of Edinburgh’s most deprived areas. Coerced into robbing rich people’s homes by his bullying older siblings, he’s also trying to care for his little sister and his drug-addict mum. On a job, his brother Barry stabs a homeowner and leaves her for dead, but that’s just the beginning of their nightmare, because the woman is the wife of Edinburgh’s biggest crime lord, Deke Holt.

Говорят, магов больше нет. Их истребили тогда, в Великую магическую смуту, под корень. Они сами уничтожили друг друга, а уцелевших добили разъяренные люди, уставшие от бесконечных войн. Человечество воспряло, без гнета одарённых чудовищ прогресс двинулся вперед семимильными шагами. Наивная провинциалка оказывается дочерью президента. Воспользуется ли она шансом изменить мир или же соблазнится красивой жизнью элиты? Говорят, женщин-магов толпа казнит с особой жестокостью…

In this uproarious memoir/tongue-in-cheek guide to leaving the cool city in which you "found" yourself and moving somewhere far more ordinary, author Erin Clune regales listeners with priceless stories of her own experiences leaving New York for her hometown in Wisconsin and provides a jocular but useful guide - for anyone leaving, or thinking about leaving, their own personal mecca - to finding contentment while staying true to yourself in a place far, far away from The City.

Vampires have become weak, and I'm one of the only people who sees it. Now, I just have to prove it. I'll rule with an iron fist and sharpened fangs. I will usher in a new era. Welcome to the City of Blood, where I'm going to make every vampire's paradise.

Americans are loud. Amsterdam equals sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Mexicans are lazy and Germans are boring, but punctual. Paris is romantic, Wuhan infectious, Ukrainians heroic, and New Zealand untouched.

This is the story of New York City, told through the prism of one block, bordered by 23rd Street to the south, 24th Street to the north, Fifth Avenue and Broadway to the east and Sixth Avenue to the west. It’s a story of forest and cement, bird cries and taxi horns, theatres and factories, gambling dens and gourmet foods. It’s also the story of high life and low life, immigrants and tourists, farmers and aristocrats, crooked cops and moral reformers, toy stores and social climbers

Blamed for a heinous crime and banished from his tribe of Jaguar shifters, Adriano will do anything to buy back his rightful place - even steal a priceless artifact. First, he'll have to seduce Sophie Martin, an archaeologist researching the temple ruins and the one person who stands in his way.

Well, back from delivering the dead to the afterlives, anyway. The political and social landscape of Limbo City has gone through quite the makeover since the Throne of Eternity was broken and the souls in the sea took charge of their own destinies. But progress is a journey on the road less traveled. Which means potholes are inevitable. And who better to pave the way than the reaper who set all this upheaval into motion? Return to Limbo City with Lana and the gang! They'll have a cold ale waiting for you at Purgatory Lounge.