Urban Contemporary Fiction

Surrounded by secrecy, it is home to the wildest dreams and darkest nightmares. Incredible amounts of money have been lavished on it. The best minds of two generations have labored to build it. And somehow, bit by bit, it is claiming the Earth's most valuable resource - its children.

In this dark and gritty collection - featuring short stories from Jim Butcher, Seanan McGuire, Kevin J. Anderson, and Rob Thurman - nothing is as simple as black and white, light and dark, good and evil.... Unfortunately, that's exactly what makes it so easy to cross the line.

Charlie Hall has never found a lock she couldn’t pick, a book she couldn’t steal, or a bad decision she wouldn’t make. She's spent half her life working for gloamists, magicians who manipulate shadows to peer into locked rooms, strangle people in their beds, or worse. Gloamists guard their secrets greedily, creating an underground economy of grimoires. And to rob their fellow magicians, they need Charlie Hall.

Young Erich’s quest for an invincible character build will require more than his decades as a number-crunching munchkin, though. Even with power-leveled skills, feudal life is no cakewalk—especially when you keep drawing more attention than you can handle. Can Erich adapt to his strange new world before his worst impulses take the campaign of a lifetime completely off the rails?

Years ago, after their blood brother ritual, Gage, Fox, and Caleb emerged from the woods, each with a piece of bloodstone. Now, it will become their weapon in the final fight against the demon they awakened. Winner take all...Shared nightmares, visions of blood and fire, and random violence begin to plague the longtime friends and Quinn, Layla, and Cybil, the women bound to them by fate. None of them can ignore the fact that, this year, the demon has grown stronger.

Fantasy fans rejoice! Seven years after writer and editor Robert Silverberg made publishing history with Legends, the acclaimed anthology of original short novels by some of the greatest writers in fantasy fiction, the long-awaited second volume is here.

Uctebri’s long search for the Shadow Box is finally over. Now the vampiric sorcerer can begin his dark ritual. The Wasp-kinden’s emperor believes this will grant him immortality, but Uctebri has his own plans - for the emperor and the empire. The mighty Wasp armies are on the march. And now war is imminent, spymaster Stenwold can finally separate allies from false friends. For the empire won’t stop until a black and gold flag hangs over Collegium, Stenwold's home city.

The Wasp Empire’s armies are on the move – and the city of Tark will be first to feel their might. Salma and Totho prepare for battle, alongside their Ant-kinden brethren. And within Tark’s walls, they’ll face a force greater than any Lowlander has ever seen. Stenwold Maker predicted this threat, and the Empire's secret service now deems him too dangerous to live. So he’s to be eliminated, and his beloved city of Collegium destroyed. For if this centre of learning is lost, it will crush Lowland resistance.

Even though Brynlee is a hood girl at heart, getting out the hood has always been number one on her to-do list. Now at the age of 25, she has done just that. Big house, dream job, and even engaged to her college boyfriend. She has it all, but she is consistently left wondering, am I really happy? Is my life complete? After getting into it with her fiancé Troy about the one thing she desires so desperately, she decides that it is time to let her hair down and escape reality for a while.

Un secret ancestral a été dévoilé. Et rien ne sera jamais plus comme avant. Alors que le voile entre les mondes vient tout juste d’être refermé, Aileen n’a pas une seconde à perdre. Munie de sa détermination sans faille et de ses connaissances de druidesse, elle entreprend de réunir une équipe afin d’affronter la plus grande menace qui soit. Le tout en jonglant avec l’arrivée inopinée de son géniteur, ses histoires de coeur et la protection de son petit frère. Tic tac tic tac.

Phil Hastings was a lucky man - he had money, a growing reputation as a screenwriter, a happy, loving family with three kids, and he'd just moved into the house of his dreams in rural of magic - and about to be altered irrevocably by a magic more real than any he dared imagine. For with the Magic came the Bad Thing, and the Faerie, and then the Fool...and the resurrection of a primordial war with a forgotten People - a war that not only the Hastings but the whole human race could lose.

Once upon a time in a land far, far away, a wish-granting spirit rapidly approaches burnout. Meanwhile, a banished fairy answers a Craigslist ad, a Victorian orphan navigates an occult situationship, and a multiverse assassin contemplates the one who got away. With both iconic fan-favorite stories and entirely original pieces, Januaries features modified fairy tales, contemporary heists, absurdist poetry, and at least one set of actual wedding vows. Escape the slow trudge of mortality by diving into these enchanting new worlds with a master of imagination.

Unchained from fate, the Norse gods Loki and Hel are ready to unleash Ragnarok, a.k.a. the Apocalypse, upon the earth. They’ve made allies on the darker side of many pantheons, and there’s a globe-spanning battle brewing that ancient Druid Atticus O’Sullivan will be hardpressed to survive, much less win.

From best-selling author Neal Stephenson and critically acclaimed historical and contemporary commercial novelist Nicole Galland comes a captivating and complex near-future thriller combining history, science, magic, mystery, intrigue, and adventure that questions the very foundations of the modern world.

Something really strange is happening in the City by the Bay. People are dying, but their souls are not being collected. Someone - or something - is stealing them. No one knows where they are going or why, but it has something to do with that big orange bridge. Death merchant Charlie Asher is just as flummoxed as everyone else.

Artémis, le vampire légendaire, a des ennuis. Mais Kyle, le loup-garou sexy qui a fait de moi sa compagne, refuse que je me lance sur la piste du suceur de sang. Son argument ? Ça pue les ennuis à plein nez. Bien sûr, je ne l'écoute pas. Je ne suis pas du genre à laisser mes amis dans le caca.

A shadow is falling over Collegium. Despite the tenuous peace, Stenwold Maker knows that the Empire will return for his city. Even as he tries to prepare for the resurgence of the black-and-gold army, a hidden threat is working against his people. Ships that sail from Collegium's harbour are being attacked, sunk by pirates. Some just go missing.

Et si tomber amoureuse était plus compliqué que de combattre les créatures des ténèbres ? Cordélia Carstairs imaginait son avenir tout tracé : s'entraîner dur pour devenir une Chasseuse d'Ombres et protéger le monde. L'arrestation de son père va tout remettre en question. Accompagnée de son frère, la voilà à Londres pour tenter de le tirer d'affaire. Là-bas, elle renoue avec James et Lucie Herondale, ses amis d'enfance. Bientôt, Cordélia se retrouve entraînée de bals en missions secrètes.

With accomplished precision and gentle eloquence, Jhumpa Lahiri traces the crosscurrents set in motion when immigrants, expatriates, and their children arrive, quite literally, at a cultural divide. The nine stories in this stunning debut collection unerringly chart the emotional journeys of characters seeking love beyond the barriers of nations and generations.

No matter how much the paranormal politics of Atlanta change, one thing always remains the same: If there' s trouble, Kate Daniels will be in the middle of it. As the mate of the Beast Lord, Curran, former mercenary Kate Daniels has more responsibilities than it seems possible to juggle. Not only is she still struggling to keep her investigative business afloat, she must now deal with the affairs of the pack, including preparing her people for attack from Roland, a cruel ancient being with god-like powers.