Urban Contemporary Fiction

While civil war looms in Oz, a tetchy oracle named Yackle prepares for death. Before her final hour, a figure known as Brrr - the Cowardly Lion - arrives searching for information about Elphaba Thropp, the Wicked Witch of the West. Abandoned as a cub, his path from infancy is no Yellow Brick Road. In the wake of laws that oppress talking Animals, he avoids a jail sentence by agreeing to serve as a lackey to the warmongering Emperor of Oz.

Published almost 10 years ago, Guilty Pleasures marked the debut of a writer who was destined to grow from cult favorite to a major bestselling author. Now, for long-time Anita Blake aficionados and newfound fans, Guilty Pleasures makes its debut in downloadable audio

I decided that Orion Lake needed to die after the second time he saved my life. Everyone loves Orion Lake. Everyone else, that is. Far as I’m concerned, he can keep his flashy combat magic to himself. I’m not joining his pack of adoring fans. I don’t need help surviving the Scholomance, even if they do. Forget the hordes of monsters and cursed artifacts; I’m probably the most dangerous thing in the place. Just give me a chance and I’ll level mountains and kill untold millions, making myself the dark queen of the world.

All we have is us. Those were the words that twin sisters, Raven and Lovely Towns, swore by. When Lovely’s love is put to the test after finding out Raven was violated in the worst way imaginable, she makes a call that separates them and leaves her sister to fend for herself. Fortunately, Raven runs into the likes of Silesia and Asteria, two girls who change her life as she knows it, by giving her the means to set her and her sister up to never need anyone again.

Meet Justice, the beautiful bombshell with a slick mouth and the attitude to match it. Running a drug empire is hard enough, but try being a female while doing so. In a profession that’s mostly men, she has no problem stepping up and getting it done in her stiletto heels and a Glock on her hip. Anytime she walks in the room, people notice her, and there’s nothing but respect. When the plug dies, and she has to meet with his son, she finds out that there may be more to life than being the head of an empire.

Hoe. Slut. Skank. Those were all words that Ms. Dreka Hendrix has been called over the past few months ever since she landed her a job at Sin City. Sin City is a major strip club here in Miami, Florida. While most people are there trying to showcase their talents, Dreka is there only because it is her last resort. She’s raising a six-year-old daughter by the name of Charisma, and doing whatever she has to do to provide for her and her child.

Do you remember your first love? Meagan will never forget hers because he held an important role in her life that should have prevented them from coming together as one. There were so many reasons for her and William not to be together, such as their 21 years age difference just to name one. Tragedy took the lives of those who would stand in their way and Megan was happy that it did...at first. It was those same people, may they rest in peace, that taught her the deadly game that provided her the keys to open Pandora’s Box at an early age, which sent her into William’s arms.

Gwen and her crew must cross Bifrost before the giants invade the human world. After a betrayal and nearly losing one of her stepbrothers, Gwen struggles to keep the group united. At last, they reach Asgard, but the world of the gods is not what they imagined. Torn between staying to complete the mission and returning home to a mother who needs her, Gwen faces her biggest challenges yet.

Alex Verus is part of a world hidden in plain sight, running a magic shop in London. And while Alex's own powers aren't as showy as some mages, he does have the advantage of foreseeing the possible future-allowing him to pull off operations that have a million-to-one-chance of success. But when Alex is approached by multiple factions to crack open a relic from a long-ago mage war, he knows that whatever's inside must be beyond powerful.

Ten years ago this season, Gregory Maguire wrapped up the series he began with Wicked by giving us the fourth and final volume of the Wicked Years, his elegiac Out of Oz. But “out of Oz” isn’t “gone for good.” Maguire’s new series, Another Day, is here, 25 years after Wicked first flew into our lives.

In the acclaimed first novel from short story virtuoso and Pulitzer Prize finalist Kelly Link, three teenagers become pawns in a supernatural power struggle.

In Chicago, someone has been killing practitioners of magic, those incapable of becoming full-fledged wizards. Shockingly, all the evidence points to Harry Dresden's half brother, Thomas, as the murderer. Determined to clear his sibling's name, Harry uncovers a conspiracy within the White Council of Wizards that threatens not only him, but his nearest and dearest, too.

Après leur combat victorieux contre la Pythie-Silence, Richard et Kahlan, contaminés par une mortelle souillure, sont tous deux plongés dans une inconscience proche du coma. Par bonheur, Zedd, Nicci et leurs compagnons arrivent à temps pour sortir leurs amis de la tanière de Jit. À présent, il faut les ramener le plus vite possible au Palais du Peuple, où Zedd et Nicci pourront mobiliser leur magie afin de les arracher à la mort. Mais une attaque inattendue et brutale, sur le chemin du retour, change la donne.

After being murdered by a mystery assailant, navigating his way through the realm between life and death, and being brought back to the mortal world, Harry realizes that maybe death wasn’t all that bad - because he is no longer Harry Dresden, Chicago’s only professional wizard. He is now Harry Dresden, Winter Knight to Mab, the Queen of Air and Darkness. After Harry had no choice but to swear his fealty, Mab wasn’t about to let something as petty as death steal away the prize she had sought for so long.

Welcome to Charon's Crossing. The tea is hot, the scones are fresh, and the dead are just passing through. When a reaper comes to collect Wallace from his own funeral, Wallace begins to suspect he might be dead. And when Hugo, the owner of a peculiar tea shop, promises to help him cross over, Wallace decides he’s definitely dead.

Across two parallel narratives, Murakami draws listeners into a mind-bending universe in which Lauren Bacall, Bob Dylan, a split-brained data processor, a deranged scientist, his shockingly undemure granddaughter, and various thugs, librarians, and subterranean monsters collide to dazzling effect. What emerges is a novel that is at once hilariously funny and a deeply serious meditation on the nature and uses of the mind.

Myke Cole is an expert at ratcheting up suspense and delivering pulse-pounding adventure that leaves audiences breathless. In Shadow Ops: Control Point, the world has seemingly gone mad. People are waking up with magical powers, such as the ability to raise the dead or call forth storms. The only thing staving off a plunge into chaos is the Supernatural Operations Corps, headed by Oscar Britton. But when Oscar exhibits a power of his own, the hunter becomes the hunted.

Qu'est-ce qui m'a pris de tuer mon ex, un loup-garou, et de l'enterrer à deux cents mètres de chez moi ? Je dois dire que ça n'a pas été la plus brillante de mes idées. Mais j'ai appris à me défendre dès mon plus jeune âge, et là, il l'avait un peu cherché. Je m'appelle September Jones, membre de la communauté des surnaturels et, même si je fais mon maximum pour rester discrète, il semblerait que ma nature de changeling se rappelle à moi sous la forme d'un beau spécimen de loup-garou nommé Kyle.

Dans ce troisième volume, les tensions se nouent et s'accentuent. Graffe prétend plus que jamais régenter le groupe et se heurte à la révolte de Thymara, qui n'accepte pas qu'on lui dicte sa conduite ; Sédric, après avoir volé le sang du petit dragon cuivré, tombe malade et constate avec effroi d'étranges modifications chez lui ; Leftrin découvre enfin l'agent de son maître-chanteur et se trouve désormais face à un choix terrible.

Adam Binder has the Sight. It’s a power that runs in his bloodline: the ability to see beyond this world and into another, a realm of magic populated by elves, gnomes, and spirits of every kind. Years after his brother Bobby had him committed to a psych ward, Adam is ready to come to grips with who he is, to live his life on his terms, to find love, and maybe even use his magic to do some good. Hoping to track down his missing father, Adam follows a trail of cursed artifacts to Denver, only to discover that an ancient and horrifying spirit has taken possession of Bobby’s wife.