Urban Contemporary Fiction

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.

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.

Bookish high school student Rintaro Natsuki is about to close the secondhand bookstore he inherited from his beloved bookworm grandfather. Then, a talking cat appears with an unusual request. The feline asks for — or rather, demands — the teenager’s help in saving books with him. The world is full of lonely books left unread and unloved, and the cat and Rintaro must liberate them from their neglectful owners.

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.

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.

At last, in the novel every Kelley Armstrong fan will need to own, all the major heroines and heroes of Otherworld are united. It's been 10 years since Bitten, the first novel in Kelley Armstrong's New York Times best-selling Otherworld series. In that time hundreds of thousands of fans have ravenously devoured the adventures of Armstrong's witches, demons, and werewolves. Now, in Spell Bound, she brings them all together for her most sweeping tale yet.

A cozy home in a small town, a lake for fishing, and a few friendly neighbors — that's all Sean needs. And that’s exactly what he’s hoping to find in the quiet town of Waycross. But when he discovers a mysterious book in the attic of his new home, strange things start to happen. Strange and magical things.

My life definitely wasn’t going according to plan, but that all changed the moment I died unexpectedly. Now I’ve been reborn into the fantasy metropolis of Dragonmont City, where I get a second chance to flourish. A twist of fate brings me into contact with Paulina, the proud but troubled owner of Goblin Girl Maid Service. Together with her slightly crazy best friend Kennedi, these two insanely beautiful goblin girls are trying to get their struggling business off the ground.

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.

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.

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.

In what is widely hailed as the best of his many novels, Charles Bukowski details the long, lonely years of his own hardscrabble youth in the raw voice of alter ego Henry Chinaski. From a harrowingly cheerless childhood in Germany through acne-riddled high school years, and his adolescent discoveries of alcohol, women, and the Los Angeles Public Library's collection of D. H. Lawrence, Ham on Rye offers a crude, brutal, and savagely funny portrait of an outcast's coming-of-age during the desperate days of the Great Depression.

Les sorcières sont parmi nous. Dans l'ombre, elles nous protègent de dangers que nous, simples mortels, pouvons à peine imaginer. Et cela dure depuis des siècles. Pourtant, le plus grand péril viendra de l'intérieur, de leur cercle même, le Royal Coven. Car un jeune sorcier aux capacités extraordinaires a été capturé par les autorités et semble menacer l'existence du cercle. Niamh, Ciara, Helena, Leonie et Elle, amies depuis l'enfance et puissantes sorcières, sauront-elles empêcher le monde de sombrer ? La vie d'une sorcière moderne n'a jamais été simple... mais elle est sur le point de devenir apocalyptique.

Every facet of Ivy Pierce's life is meticulously planned out. Cynical and jaded by 16, Ivy's only hope is to escape the legacy she was born into. She has a plan, a carefully thought out escape plan. She just has to play by the rules until everything falls into place. Unfortunately, as predictable as her life can be, she never sees Ryder Sutton coming. He tumbles into her life, unimpressed and untouched by her and the rules she's forced to live by. He's an enigma to her. A gorgeous, frustrating, sincere mystery in the ugly prison of her life.

Hogwarts pasa por tiempos oscuros. Después del ataque de los Dementores contra su primo Dudley, Harry Potter sabe que Voldemort no se detendrá ante nada para encontrarlo. Hay muchos que niegan el regreso del Señor Oscuro, pero Harry no está solo: una orden secreta se reúne en Grimmauld Place para luchar contra las Fuerzas Oscuras. Harry debe permitir que el Profesor Snape le enseñe cómo protegerse contra los salvajes ataques de Voldemort en su mente, pero estos son cada vez más fuertes y a Harry se le acaba el tiempo...

Achaeos the seer has finally tracked down the stolen Shadow Box. But he has only days before this magical artefact will be lost to him forever. Meanwhile, the Empire's dread forces are mustering for their next great offensive. Stenwold and his followers have only a short time to gather allies, before the enemy's soldiers march again – to conquer everything in their path. If Stenwold cannot hold them back, the hated black and gold flag will fly over every city in the Lowlands before the year's end.

The Alexandrian Society, caretakers of lost knowledge from the greatest civilizations of antiquity, are the foremost secret society of magical academicians in the world. Those who earn a place among the Alexandrians will secure a life of wealth, power, and prestige beyond their wildest dreams, and each decade, only the six most uniquely talented magicians are selected to be considered for initiation. Enter the latest round of six: Libby Rhodes and Nico de Varona, unwilling halves of an unfathomable whole, who exert uncanny control over every element of physicality.

Robyn Peltier moved to Los Angeles after her young husband's sudden death. Though she's still grieving, the challenges of her new life as the PR consultant to Portia Kane - the world's most famous celebutante wannabe - can sometimes be amusing, even distracting. But when her client is gunned down in a nightclub, Robyn is suddenly on the run as the prime suspect in the murder. And as more bodies pile up around her, it seems like only Hope Adams, Robyn's best friend, and Hope's somewhat spooky boyfriend Karl are on Robyn's side. But it's not the police Hope is worried about, and the only way Hope can keep her friend alive is by letting her enter a world she's safer knowing nothing about.

In modern-day Manhattan where we lay our scene, two rival witch families fight to maintain control of their respective criminal empires. On one side of the conflict are the Antonova sisters—each one beautiful, cunning, and ruthless—and their mother, the elusive supplier of premium intoxicants, known only as Baba Yaga.

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.