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Fantasy and Science Fiction July 2020
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A User's Guide to Make-believe : An All-too-plausible Thriller That Will Have You Gripped
by
Jane Alexander
A virtual reality programme that lets you live out your fantasy. It sounds like the dream, doesn't it? But Cassie's not so sure.
Cassie is an addict who has hit rock bottom. But unlike the other attendees at her support group, it's not substance abuse that has ruined her life and severed her from her family. Most importantly, she can't talk about her addiction: she's legally gagged. Cassie had a high-flying marketing job at Imagen, the tech giant behind the cutting-edge virtual reality experience Make-Believe (TM), and she got to know the product she was selling well. Too well. When Lewis joins the support group, Cassie knows instantly that he's recovering from addiction to Make-Believe too. Perhaps they could find solace together. But while her developing relationship with Lewis is a welcome escape from the real world, Imagen and Cassie are not done with each other yet, but what hope does Cassie have against that colossal company?
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Burn the dark
by
S. A. Hunt
The star of an online indie series about witch-hunting across America harbors a secret burning desire for revenge against a coven of witches who sentenced her mother to a dire fate.
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Monstrous Heart
by
Claire McKenna
A sensational debut novel perfect for fans of Outlander and The Binding. This is gothic, epic, romantic fantasy at it's very best; a tale of magic, intrigue on dangerous waters and a love story for the ages.
Arden Beacon arrives in the salt-swept port of Vigil with a job to do. Tasked with using the magic in her blood to keep the lighthouse burning, she needs to prove herself worthy of her family name and her ancestors' profession.
But the coastline Arden must keep alight - battered by a sea teeming with colossal, ancient beasts - is far from the cultured, urban world she knows. It is a place of secrets, rumours and tight-lipped expectations of a woman's place. More than anyone, the town folk whisper about Arden's neighbour, Jonah Riven, the hunter of leviathans. They say he murdered his wife. They say he is as much a monster as his prey. Amidst all her determination and homesickness Arden cannot get this shadowy stranger out of her head. A plot swirls around the lighthouse keeper, the hunter and the authorities.
Arden must make sense of these dark waters - before they wash her away.
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The God Game
by
Danny Tobey
Win and All Your Dreams Come True ! Charlie and his friends have entered the G.O.D. Game. Tasks are delivered through their phones and high-tech glasses. When they accomplish a mission, the game rewards them. Charlie's money problems could be over. Vanhi can erase the one bad grade on her college application. It's all harmless fun at first. Then the threatening messages start.
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The Throne of the Five Winds
by
S. C. Emmett
Two queens, two concubines, six princes. Innumerable hidden agendas.
Yala, lady-in-waiting to the princess of a vanquished kingdom, must navigate their captors' treacherous imperial court. The Emperor's palace - full of ambitious royals, sly gossip, and unforeseen perils - is perhaps the most dangerous place in Zhaon. A hostage for her conquered people's good behavior, the lady Komor Yala has only her wits and her hidden maiden's blade to protect herself - and her childhood friend Princess Mahara, sacrificed in marriage to the enemy to secure a tenuous peace. But the Emperor is aging, and the Khir princess and her lady-in-waiting soon find themselves pawns in the six princes' deadly schemes for the throne - and a single spark could ignite fresh rebellion in Khir.
And then, the Emperor falls ill, and a far bloodier game begins...
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Atlas alone
by
Emma Newman
Emma Newman returns to the captivating Planetfall universe with a novel about vengeance and the lengths to which one will go to save the future of humanity.
Six months after she left, Dee is struggling to manage her rage toward the people who ordered the nuclear strike that destroyed Earth. She's trying to find those responsible, but she's not getting very far alone. A dedicated gamer, Dee is endeavoring to discover a mersive good enough to enable her to escape her trauma. When she is approached by a designer who asks her to play test his new game, she hopes it will be what she needs--but it isn't like any mersive she's played before. When a man suddenly dies in the real world, she realizes that at the same time in the game, she killeda character who bears a striking resemblance to the dead man--a man she discovers was one of those responsible for the death of millions on Earth. Disturbed, but thinking it must be a coincidence, Dee continues the hunt for information.
But when she finds out the plans for the future colony, she realizes that to save what is left of humanity, she might have to do something that risks what remains of her own.
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Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire Welcome to: Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children, an unorthodox boarding school for young people who’ve returned, often unwillingly, from journeys to fantasy realms.
What happens: New student Nancy longs to return to the Underworld, but when a killer starts stalking the school, she has to put aside her dreams of death to keep her friends alive.
What sets it apart: Asexual Nancy is just one of several LGBTQIA characters in this intriguing dark fantasy, the 1st in a series. | | The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow Introducing: January Scaller, who rebels against her wealthy and eccentric guardian by secretly exploring doorways to other realms with her companion Bad, a very good dog.
Want a taste? "There's only one way to run away from your own story, and that's to sneak into someone else's."
Does the dog die? No! It's all good! | | A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab A tale of four cities: Red London is rife with magic. Grey London has none at all. White London may soon destroy itself in its attempts to steal the powers of its rivals. And Black London? Well, that city no longer exists except as a cautionary tale to magic abusers.
Starring: Kell, an inter-dimensional royal ambassador with a sideline in smuggling; and Delilah, a cutpurse with piratical ambitions.
Series alert: This trilogy opener continues with A Gathering of Shadows and A Conjuring of Light. | | The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern What happens: A mysterious book leads graduate student Zachary Ezra Rawlins on a magical quest to another world, hidden in plain sight.
Why you might like it: A puzzle box narrative and dreamlike prose distinguish this atmospheric novel by the author of The Night Circus.
Want a taste? "Zachary Ezra Rawlins stares at the miniature versions of the same symbols he once contemplated in an alleyway behind his mother's store and wonders how, exactly, he is supposed to continue a story he didn't know he was in." | |
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