Urban Contemporary Fiction

"Mom seems off." Her brother's words echo in Sam Montgomery's ear as she turns onto the quiet North Carolina street where their mother lives alone. She brushes the thought away as she climbs the front steps. Sam's excited for this rare extended visit, and looking forward to nights with just the two of them, drinking boxed wine, watching murder mystery shows, and guessing who the killer is long before the characters figure it out. But stepping inside, she quickly realizes home isn’t what it used to be.

Essun - once Damaya, once Syenite, now avenger - has found shelter, but not her daughter. Instead there is Alabaster Tenring, destroyer of the world, with a request. But if Essun does what he asks, it would seal the fate of the Stillness forever.

New York Times best-selling author Charlaine Harris thrills listeners with the fourth book of her spectacular Sookie Stackhouse series. Driving home from work, barmaid and telepath Sookie Stackhouse discovers vampire and area sheriff Eric on the side of the road missing his shirt, his shoes and his memories. Featuring vampires, werewolves and magic galore, Dead to the World will satisfy any listener's craving for the supernatural.

I’ve always wanted to conquer the Big 5 dungeons ever since one of them took the life of my father nearly fifteen years ago. Nobody ever said the Path of Progression was easy, but my burning desire to dive can’t be quenched. I just never thought I’d be prohibited from getting a diving license just because I tried to help a bratty blonde girl get hers. Soon, we’re joined by a lovely brunette bookworm, and we start diving the dungeon on our own terms. As it turns out, I have a few abilities that greatly increase our chances of actually finishing the Path, leading to a life of fame and luxury.

Every year when the deep cold of winter sets in, unbeknownst to humanity, dangerous visitors arrive from another world. Disguised as humans, the Nafikh move among us in secret, hungry for tastes of this existence. Their fickle, often-violent needs must be accommodated at all times, and the price of keeping them satisfied is paid most heavily by servs.

Galina is a young woman caught, like her contemporaries, in the seeming lawlessness of the new Russia. In the midst of this chaos, her sister Maria turns into a jackdaw and flies away - prompting Galina to join Yakov, a policeman investigating a rash of recent disappearances. Their search will take them to the underground realm of hidden truths and archetypes, to find themselves caught between reality and myth, past and present, honor and betrayal... the secret history of Moscow.

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.

The city is abuzz with an international sorcerer's conference, and the mayor is cracking down hard on anything that might make him look bad. But Vince is out to get that bag. That means fulfilling his enforcer contract for the mob, police crackdown be damned.

The local wolffolk mafia longs for their glory days, and their alluring don, Alessia Lionetti, wants a powerful enforcer to bring them back. That's Vince. This is his big break from his days as a hired thug. Working for the mafia has a short life expectancy, though. Especially in a world where the masquerade shattered long ago. Demons run banks, birdfolk ferry people across town, and the police possess crack teams of sorcerers to keep the peace. Bad news for Vince and his dreams of mafia wealth.

In Scarborough, a low-income urban neighborhood, three kids struggle to rise above poverty, abuse, and a system that consistently fails them. The adults in their lives either rise to the occasion or fall by the wayside; together, they make up a troubled yet inspired community that refuses to be undone.

But for Matthew Carver, it’s just a pit stop. Lazarus and his mysterious corporation have come up with a plan for Matt to rescue the fragment of his sister’s soul that languishes in the Devil’s grasp. But to do it, he’ll have to die—at least for a while. To pull off the most dangerous heist imaginable, Matt must find his way to the depths of the Underworld and back before his time truly runs out.

For centuries, generations of Everlys have seen their brightest and best disappear, taken as punishment for a crime no one remembers, for a purpose no one understands. Their tormentor, a woman named Penelope, never ages, never grows sick–and never forgives a debt. Violet Everly was just a child when her mother Marianne vanished on a stormy night, determined to break the curse. And when Penelope cannot find her, she issues an ultimatum: Violet has ten years to find Marianne, or she will take her place.

The End Times are coming. In the warrens of Skavenblight, a new power is rising. The verminlords walk the earth and they plan to lead the skaven to their destiny as rulers of the world. But for Queek Headtaker, the only destiny that matters is his own, as he plans his final assault on Karak Eight Peaks. In the depths of that ancient city, two rival kings - the goblin Skarsnik and the dwarf Belegar - prepare to meet the onslaught. And in Karaz-a-Karak, High King Thorgrim Grudgebearer presides over what he knows, in his heart, is the end of the dwarf empire.

Across the country and in every nation, people are waking up with magical talents. Untrained and panicked, they summon storms, raise the dead, and set everything they touch ablaze. Army officer Oscar Britton sees the worst of it. A lieutenant attached to the military's Supernatural Operations Corps, his mission is to bring order to a world gone mad. Then he abruptly manifests a rare and prohibited magical power, transforming him overnight from government agent to public enemy number one.

Anita Blake has the highest kill count of any vampire executioner in the country. She’s a US Marshal who can raise zombies with the best of them. But ever since she and master vampire Jean-Claude went public with their engagement, all she is to anyone and everyone is Jean-Claude’s fiancée. It’s wreaking havoc with her reputation as a hard ass - to some extent. Luckily, in professional circles, she’s still the go-to expert for zombie issues. And right now, the FBI is having one hell of a zombie issue.

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.

When a vampire serial killer sends Anita Blake a grisly souvenir from Las Vegas, she has to warn Sin City's local authorities what they're dealing with. Only it's worse than she thought. Ten officers and one executioner have been slain - paranormal style. Anita heads to Vegas, where's she's joined by three other federal marshals, including the ruthless Edward. It's a good thing he always has her back, because when she gets close to the bodies, Anita senses "tiger" too strongly to ignore it.

When Eddie Brock becomes biologically linked to a bizarre alien symbiote, the two share a common goal. At first, they seek to squash their arch-foe Spider-Man. But after repeated attempts, Venom reaches an uneasy truce with the web-spinner. Brock leaves New York and heads west to San Francisco, the city of his birth, eager to put trouble behind him, but trouble has different ideas. Brock commits himself to becoming a defender of the innocent, but he's a six-foot-three-inch, 260 lb. figure with bulging muscles and fangs like a shark. Venom quickly draws attention.

Born before man recorded time, I lived for thousands of years believing myself to be something I’m not. Someone I’m not. Lied to and betrayed by gods, Daimons, and Dark-Hunters, I’ve struggled to find my way. Trained as a slayer and predator, I learned to fit in and stay low. Until I was sent to kill the one woman I couldn’t. My hesitation cost her her life. Or so I thought. I’ve learned that this world is an illusion and that my Phoebe still lives. Now I will have to travel into the very pits of Hades to try and save her.

Ici Séréna, chasseuse de catastrophes. Ma vie était déjà un joyeux bazar, mais depuis que j'ai découvert l'existence des vampires, des loups-garous et des magiciens, les choses ont pris une tournure légèrement apocalyptique. Entre un boss ressuscité (oui, Tyler est de retour), des magiciens furieux et une drogue mystérieuse qui circule parmi les vampires, je ne sais plus où donner de la tête. Et pour couronner le tout, Alexander, mon vampire garde du corps, et Bénédict, le loup-garou insupportable qui l’accompagne, sont tous les deux blessés.