Urban Contemporary Fiction

It is the late 21st century, and due to the economic breakdown and rising crime rate, nearly every citizen has fled Toronto. The city is a slum, populated by the homeless, the poor, and criminals like Rudy, who uses the power of voodoo to help him control the booming drug market. But also left behind are people like Ti-Jeanne, who hope to use voodoo to help rebuild the city, even as Canada's privileged population turns to Toronto to begin harvesting human organs.

The first rule of a supernatural fight club? Don't kill your opponent. When the fighters come with lethal spells, werewolf strength, and half-demon powers, that can be a lot tougher than it sounds. It's hard to attract talent if they know they might not leave the ring alive. So when fighters at a California club start dying, it's bad for business. Witch detectives Paige Winterbourne and Savannah Levine take the case.

Gary Leger thought life after college would bring great things. Instead, he's stuck in a dead-end job and finding that the real world isn't all it's cracked up to be. But when he walks into the woods behind his house one day, Gary finds a world beyond the "real world"---a realm of elves and dwarfs and witches and dragons. There he discovers that he is the only one who can wear the armor of the land's lost hero---and wield a magical spear. And if he doesn't, he can never go home again.

When children go missing, and the Humans have no leads, I’m the one they call. I am their last hope in bringing home the lost ones. I salvage what they cannot. Underestimating demons is a bad idea, and it’s a mistake that may cost me not only my own life but the life of a missing child. If I can swallow my pride, and allow Agent O’Shea to help me find a way to deal with the demon, we might be able to save the child.

Wizard Lily Singer is kept busy managing library archives, studying magic, and trying to keep her witch friend Sebastian from dragging her into trouble. Unfortunately, he loves adventure even more than she loves being left alone. She doesn't want to investigate a malignant spell in a haunted house, but Sebastian is promising rare books as the reward. She also doesn't want to hurt her family but is tired of being lied to about her past. And she definitely doesn't want to get stuck in a dangerously unstable time loop, but Sebastian is in trouble - again....

Zacriah Trovirn is concerned with two things in life: hunting and dodging Petrer, the boy who broke his heart. Heartbreak becomes a distant concern when Zacriah is taken to the Elven capital of Thessolina, where he is forced into King Dalior's new legion of shapeshifters. But Zacriah isn't a shapeshifter. In truth, he doesn't know what he is. Zacriah joins forces with new friends and they soon find themselves embroiled in a clash between the three Elven continents. With war on the horizon, Zacriah must learn to use his latent power to fight and protect those he loves before they are destroyed.

Abby has been through hell and has survived one of the most brutal childhoods imaginable. To the outside world, she is just a loner with an attitude. When her grandmother dies in a tragic explosion, Abby is left with questions - and nothing else. Homeless, sleeping in a junkyard, and on the run from a system that has failed her over and over again, she meets Jake, a tattooed, blue-eyed biker with secrets that rival her own. Two broken souls that can't be healed. They can't be saved.

Working as a quality-assurance grunt in the gaming industry sounds like fun, right? You get to play the coolest new games before anyone else. And all you have to do is to find, reproduce, and report bugs before the last pixel is locked in and the games are launched to an eager public. Sure, there’s the unpaid overtime, the office politics, and the ever-present threat of layoffs. But you get to game!

When bizarre magical disappearances disrupt shows around the city, Esther receives a mysterious warning not to go on with her off-Broadway show. Desperate to stay on stage rather than resort to waiting tables, Esther turns to her new BFF, Dr. Maximillian Zadok, a 350-year-old mage whose day job is protecting New York from Evil. Determined to get to the bottom of this mystery without losing her job, Esther and Max team up with a conjuring cowboy, a banker with stage aspirations, and a flock of fearless drag queens.

Kandri Hinjuman was never meant to be a soldier. His brother Mektu was never meant for this world. Rivals since childhood, they are drafted into a horrific war led by a madwoman-Prophet, and survive each day only by hiding their disbelief. Kandri is good at blending in, but Mektu is hopeless: impulsive, erratic - and certain that a demon is stalking him. Is this madness or a second sense? Either way, Kandri knows that Mektu's antics will land them both in early graves. But all bets are off when the brothers' simmering feud explodes into violence, and holy blood is spilled.

The ratings and views are off the chart. The fans just can't get enough. The dungeon gets more dangerous each day. But in a grinder designed to chew up and spit out crawlers by the millions, Carl and Princess Donut need to work harder than ever just to survive. They call it the Over City. A sprawling, once-thriving metropolis devastated by a mysterious calamity. But these streets are far from abandoned. An undead circus trawls the ruins. Murdered prostitutes rain from the sky. An ancient spell is finally ready to reveal its dark purpose.

The winner of multiple Hugo Awards, Charles Stross is one of the most highly regarded science fiction writers of his time. In The Apocalypse Codex, occasionally hapless British agent Bob Howard tackles a case involving an American televangelist and a supernatural threat of global proportions.

An ordinary Russian guy, Sergei, picks a fight in his neighborhood, defending a little boy. Problem is, the guy he's just defeated vanishes into thin air, leaving Sergei to discover he now possesses the ability to turn time around. On top of that, Sergei can now travel between worlds. He acquires even more mysterious new skills and abilities. And he discovers there're many others just like him in our world. Sergei finds his own place in the secret community of the Seekers - creatures with superpowers.

A god has died, and it’s up to Tara, a first-year associate in the international necromantic firm of Kelethras, Albrecht, and Ao, to bring him back to life before his city falls apart. Her client is Kos, recently deceased fire god of the city of Alt Coulumb. Without him, the metropolis’ steam generators will shut down, its trains will cease running, and its four million citizens will riot. Tara’s job: resurrect Kos before chaos sets in.

When children go missing, and the Humans have no leads, I'm the one they call. I am their last hope in bringing home the lost ones. I salvage what they cannot. The FBI wants me on their team. Bad enough that they are dangling bait they know I can't resist. The catch? It’s on the other side of the ocean. And if I want what they’re offering, I have to help them with a salvage gone terribly, terribly wrong. But this time, I have no back up. I have no Plan B. And I have no O’Shea.

Welcome to Newford: to the music clubs, the waterfront, and the alleyways where ancient myths and magic spill into the modern world. Gemmins live in abandoned cars and skells traverse the tunnels below, while mermaids swim in the gray harbor waters and fill the cold night with their song. Come meet Jilly, painting wonders in the rough city streets; and Geordie, playing fiddle while he dreams of a ghost; and the Angel of Grasso Street gathering the fey and the wild and the poor and the lost.

Mila Ali's fiance Warren is killed in a corporate plane crash. Grief wraps around her heart and soul - cushioning her to the outside world and the reality that is now her life. Nothing could have prepared her for such a devastating loss, yet the fragile bubble she has built around her heart is shattered when Mila comes face to face with Blake Baldwin - billionaire, womanizer, Warren's boss, and the owner of that fateful airplane. Mila is not looking for love - been there, done that, but Blake will not rest until Mila Ali is his.

Loup Garron was born and raised in Santa Olivia, an isolated, disenfranchised town next to a U.S. military base inside a demilitarized buffer zone between Texas and Mexico. A fugitive "Wolf-Man" who had a love affair with a local woman, Loup's father was one of a group of men genetically manipulated and used by the U.S. government as a weapon. The "Wolf-Men" were engineered to have superhuman strength, speed, sensory capability, stamina, and a total lack of fear.

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.

Avery Castle carries the weight of a thousand moments of sorrow. Donavan Hardy carries enough anger for them both. When they were young, Donavan learned sign language so he could talk to the deaf beauty. He cared, even when Avery's influential father couldn't be bothered with her "flaw." In spite of things, the bad boy made her fall in love with sound...with music. And then, Avery's world came crashing down when the love of her life disappeared without a trace.