Visionary Fiction

Beloved for the lens of the strange he places on small-town life, Steven Millhauser further reveals in Voices in the Night the darkest parts of our inner selves to brilliant and dazzling effect. Here are stories of wondrously imaginative hyperrealism, stories that pose unsettling what-ifs or that find barely perceivable evils within the safe boundaries of our towns, homes, and even our bodies.

Unbeknownst to his adoring pupils, William Silver, a talented and charismatic young teacher, proves incapable of living up to the ideals he encourages in others. Emotionally scarred by failures in his personal life and driven to distraction by the overpowering carnality and beauty of Paris, Silver succumbs to a temptation that will change the course of his life. His fall will render him a criminal in the eyes of some and all too human in the eyes of others.

"If a fable is a legendary story of supernatural happenings," Mr. Swann says, "or a narration intended to enforce a useful truth, then these four are fables - which shouldn't be confused with fairy tales targeted only for children. These, then, are tales for kind and loving people of all ages." These fables came to Ingo Swann as a gift from a part of himself: He awoke four mornings in a row and literally had to write them.

Skyward Inn, within the high walls of the Western Protectorate, is a place of safety, where people come together to tell stories of the time before the war with Qita. But safety from what? Qita surrendered without complaint when Earth invaded; Innkeepers Jem and Isley, veterans from either side, have regrets but few scars. Their peace is disturbed when a visitor known to Isley comes to the Inn asking for help, bringing reminders of an unnerving past and triggering an uncertain future.

During the day, he’s a South Chicago high school janitor, slopping a mop around from nine o’clock to three o’clock, five days a week. At night, hiding out in a boarded-up factory, he attends to his damaged interstellar spacecraft, making repairs and counting the days until he can return to his homeworld of Calunoth. All he needs to do is mind his own business and avoid any messy human dramas for just a few more weeks. But it is on one of those quiet nights when he hears them outside: the MP140s. Named for a police radio code for murder, they're among the most ruthless killers.

Feminism fuels fantasy in this genre-busting collection by "master of the fantastic" (Roxane Gay) Amber Sparks. Exciting fans of such writers as Kelly Link, Karen Russell, and Carmen Maria Machado with prose that shimmers and stings, Amber Sparks holds a singular role in the canon of the weird. Now, she reaches new, uncanny heights with And I Do Not Forgive You.

Lady Firebird Angelo Caldwell has been sentenced to death "in absentia" for treason, sedition, and heresy. The last thing she expects is a summons to return home and be confirmed as an heiress of her royal house. But merciless foes are destroying entire cities of the Federate worlds. These renegades are trying to wipe out the messianic Caldwell bloodline, and they have almost eradicated the royal Angelos.

Late one night, fate brings together DJ Aspirin and 10-year-old Alyona. After he tries to save her from imminent danger, she ends up at his apartment. But in the morning sinister doubts set in. Who is Alyona? A young con artist? A plant for a nefarious blackmailer? Or perhaps a long-lost daughter Aspirin never knew existed? Whoever this mysterious girl is, she now refuses to leave. A game of cat-and-mouse has begun. Claiming that she is a musical prodigy, Alyona insists she must play a complicated violin piece to find her brother.

Becoming Forest opens with Aishling—the young Irish woman at the heart of this story—as she visits her grandmother in California following her grandfather’s death. Aishling finds her grandfather’s journal and reads about a trip he made to India years ago to visit the original Bodhi Tree, the place where the Buddha found enlightenment. At the end of the journal, she finds a letter addressed to her from her grandfather asking for her help passing along his message of “deep security” to her generation as they deal with the climate crisis and the uncertain future ahead.

On the verge of adulthood, Rafi attends the Lyceum, a school for the psionically gifted. Rafi possesses mental abilities that might benefit people . . . or control them. Some wish to help Rafi wield his powers responsibly; others see him as a threat to be contained. Rafi’s only freedom at the Lyceum is Wallrunning: a game of speed and agility played on vast vertical surfaces riddled with variable gravity fields. Serendipity and Ntenman are also students at the Lyceum, but unlike Rafi they come from communities where such abilities are valued.

Born of guilt and grief, a colossal tower rises from the ruins of Andy Cate's shattered mind. He is the sole captive of a prison filled with countless rooms housing the memories of his life. Hoping answers and escape hide within, he investigates the rooms, moving ever upward toward the tower’s pinnacle. Across each threshold, scenes from his past are revealed. As he pieces experiences together, Andy discovers every observed event set another of his prison’s stones into place.

Soulwaves is a metaphysical and cosmological adventure across space and time. Soulwaves are the missing dark energy and dark matter that cosmologists can’t find. They bond people to people, moons to planets, planets to stars, and stars to other stars to form galaxies. When this book proper begins in 2059, China has become the predominant force on the world stage. You will discover that events on planet Earth, and all other sentient planets, are nano-managed by greater and even more pervasive forces.

The chaotic confines of the hospital kept Creed occupied, even as he felt something change within. The embattled physician's dreams were more frequent, and oddities were becoming the norm in an otherwise pedestrian existence. Following a tumultuous turn of events, Creed awakens in another world, one which he slowly remembers to be his home, as the past and present collide.

I just sped across the galaxy to a strange planet, upgraded my first alien racer girl, and now will race to my inevitable death. I, Lorean Michaels, a budding stunt driver, just travelled back home after my father's passing to find I was left a unique vehicle. Never did I think that very car would take me places beyond my wildest dreams. Now, I must protect a team of high-octane women, unlock transformations, and ultimately win their freedom.

Hope was playing five-card draw with undead Elvis when the world ended. Before the world ended, Hope was a down-and-out virgin stripper. Now she's pregnant with a baby prophesied to be the world's salvation. Undead Elvis promises her that Graceland is the only safe place left even though the rest of the world has become sand and ash. Hope must undertake the perilous journey across a broken, unfamiliar landscape to reach it.

The Gods of Pegana is the first book by Anglo-Irish fantasy writer Lord Dunsany, published on a commission basis in 1905. The book is a series of short stories linked by Dunsany's invented pantheon of deities who dwell in Pegana, and was a huge influence on authors such as Lovecraft and Tolkien. This is one of my favorite works of weird fantasy fiction by Lord Dunsany, and is a masterful cosmological piece of indulgent prose that actually contains some sublime wisdom between the lines.

When we left Sophie Edwards at the end of Savy Wisdom 2, Sophie had earned her joy: loving husband, beautiful baby, successful career. The only gray cloud in Sophie’s life was the death of her dear friend and mentor, Savy, also known to the world as billionaire Stephen Alexander Vaughan.

During the violent 1920s Irish Liberation War, Tom Sutton becomes a sought-after revolutionary. After his wife was viciously assaulted, raped and murdered by Black & Tans, he leaves his homeland, thinking his son also suffered the same fate. Arriving by coincidence in Africa, he relapses into alcoholism after being broken-hearted and penniless. By a quirk of fate, a little girl with a bowl of soup brings him back from a living hell.

Rainer Maria Rilke was a giant of twentieth-century writing who remains a rare visionary voice for our own time. This audio edition of Dr. Stephanie Dowrick's acclaimed book allows you literally to "hear" how and why Rilke's extraordinary words continue to captivate readers, not least through his profound understanding of the depth and beauty of human existence.

The prophecy brought them together. But the Wolf has risen, and now their greatest battle begins. The four members of Warriors Riding have learned to wage war in the supernatural, to send their spirits inside people’s souls, to battle demonic forces, and to bring deep healing to those around them. But their leader Reece is struggling with the loss of his sight.