Urban Contemporary Fiction

Together for the first time, 14 action-packed tales of demons, monsters, vampires, and cosmic horrors too terrible to name - and the men and women who take them all down. Oh, and toss in an interdimensional insurance salesman for good measure.

Ah, Noël ! Les vacances, les chocolats, la détente, les moments en famille. Une période magique, quoi ! Enfin, sauf quand on a la bonne idée d’être une pâtissière à Toulouse. Le dernier trimestre de l’année sonne pour moi le départ d’un marathon durant lequel je renonce au sommeil et à toute forme de vie sociale pour réussir à boucler mes commandes. Mais je ne suis pas une débutante ! Cette année j’ai paré à toutes les éventualités pour que ma pâtisserie atteigne des sommets.

For years, the Trader cities valiantly battled their enemies, the Chalcedeans. But they could not have staved off invasion without the powerful dragon, Tintaglia. In return, the Traders promised to help her serpents migrate up the Rain Wild River after a long exile at sea - to find a safe haven and, Tintaglia hopes, to restore her species. But too much time has passed, and the newly hatched dragons are damaged and weak, and many die.

Nora knows she needs to move on. And forget about magic. She's back in graduate school, and her life is going surprisingly well. She doesn't need to think about other worlds, about enchantments and demons, or about magicians - even though she once aspired to become one herself. Most of all, she really should forget the magician Aruendiel, who shared the secrets of magic with her but fiercely guarded the deepest secrets of his heart. Then a chance encounter gives Nora the opportunity to slip between worlds again - and the next phase of her magical education begins.

As a half-demon master of the dark arts, Eve Levine isn't what anyone would call "angelic." That's exactly why the Fates chose her for the job. She's their secret weapon against the forces of evil. However, after five years, Eve is tired of being the designated rebel of the angel corps, expected to break the rules, then being penalized for it. When the leaderless djinn stage an uprising, Eve sees the perfect chance to get herself fired.

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.

Matthew's life takes a crazy turn when a simple holiday visit turns into a crazy adventure. Swapping his marketing desk for an unexpected inheritance—the bookstore left behind by his uncle—he's led to a hidden portal. This isn't just any portal; it leads to a realm. A new world of dungeons, quests, and game-like mechanics. Matthew emerges on the other side to find himself not only in the realm of Dunnishire but also as a Royal Duke in the land of Inneshys. As he navigates courtly life, he inadvertently sets off ripples that threaten to disrupt the delicate balance in the new world.

Something weird is happening to the Los Angeles freeways - phantom cars, lanes from nowhere, and sometimes unmarked off-ramps that give glimpses of a desolate desert highway - and Sebastian Vickery, disgraced ex-Secret Service agent, is a driver for a covert supernatural-evasion car service. But another government agency is using and perhaps causing the freeway anomalies, and their chief is determined to have Vickery killed because of something he learned years ago at a halted Presidential motorcade. Reluctantly aided by Ingrid Castine, a member of that agency, and a homeless Mexican boy....

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.

In Wisdom, Shelter. That’s the official motto of the Scholomance. I suppose you could even argue that it’s true—only the wisdom is hard to come by, so the shelter’s scant. Our beloved school does its best to devour all its students—but now that I’ve reached my senior year and have actually won myself a handful of allies, it’s suddenly developed a particular craving for me. Even if I somehow make it through the endless waves of maleficaria that it keeps throwing at me, I haven’t any idea how my allies and I are going to make it through the graduation hall alive.

Eddie Drood is not happy about being the new head of the family, especially now that everyone believes either he or his girlfriend, Molly, was responsible for the former matriarch’s death. Since Eddie knows he didn’t do it, he doesn’t like where this is going

Quand on pense que tout est fini, les ennuis ne font que commencer... Je pensais qu’après avoir affronté Loréan, le magicien ressuscité avec son armée d’esprits, ma vie allait enfin se calmer. On avait réussi à le confronter grâce à une alliance improbable entre loups, vampires et magiciens, et, avec l’aide inattendue de Jason, mon ex, devenu un esprit, on l’a banni. Mais voilà, le jour ne se lève plus, et clairement, ça sent le grabuge à plein nez.Les esprits libérés continuent de semer le chaos, les vampires envoient des S.O.S.

Sandman. Angus. Morpheus. He is known by many names, except his true one, Adrian. When he departs his world, it is to enter the sacred space of sleep, and he is not there to sow sweet dreams. Adrian's mission is to reap the dark energy of nightmares, work that has twisted his soul as well as his once-handsome face. Now, he lives only to await the day darkness finally overcomes him...and to collect exquisite reminders of what he's lost. But there is one treasure that stands apart. Having risked everything to obtain her, Adrian soon realizes his mistake. For Kathryn has a wholly unexpected power over him,

Victor and Eli started out as college roommates—brilliant, arrogant, lonely boys who recognized the same sharpness and ambition in each other. In their senior year, a shared research interest in adrenaline, near-death experiences, and seemingly supernatural events reveals an intriguing possibility: that under the right conditions, someone could develop extraordinary abilities. But when their thesis moves from the academic to the experimental, things go horribly wrong.

In the wake of a brutal war, the archangel Raphael and his hunter consort, Elena, are dealing with the treacherously shifting tides of archangelic politics and the people of a battered but not broken city. The last thing their city needs is more death, especially a death that bears the eerie signature of an insane enemy archangel who cannot - should not - be walking the streets.

The third book in Kat Richardson's best-selling Greywalker series, Underground features heroine Harper Blaine, walker of the shadowy line between the living and the dead. Seattle's homeless are turning up dead and mutilated, and zombies have been seen stalking the Underground. Harper sets out to find the source, and soon comes to realize she's tangling with an ancient evil.

The Psy/Changeling world has undergone a staggering transformation and now stands at a crossroads. The Trinity Accord promises a new era of cooperation between disparate races and groups. It is a beacon of hope held together by many hands: old enemies, new allies, and wary loners. But a century of distrust and suspicion can't be so easily forgotten and threatens to shatter Trinity from within at any moment.

This second novel in the acclaimed Greywalker series finds PI Blaine Harper investigating a chilling case as Halloween approaches. After university researchers create an artificial poltergeist, the team leader suspects someone is faking the phenomena. When a student is murdered, Blaine is asked to investigate. Stepping into the spirit world, she realizes the haunting may be very real. But that doesn't necessarily mean a ghost did the killing.

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.

Fifteen years after losing most of his family to a devastating, pudding-related tragedy, Simon Debovar has settled into a life of self-imposed exile from the stinking, selfish morass of humanity. Content that his daily highlights will include hazelnut coffee, a long bath, and the occasional jar of olives, his life is completely upturned by the discovery that his ornate living room carpet is the deciding factor in a bet between God and Satan.