|
|
"She has already become a legend. The beautiful, headstrong girl I knew is gone forever, her life transformed into myth." ~ from Elizabeth Blackwell's While Beauty Slept
|
|
|
A study in sable
by Mercedes Lackey
Psychic Nan Killian and Medium Sarah Lyon-White along with their clever birds, the raven Neville and the parrot Grey have been agents of Lord Alderscroft, the Elemental Fire Master known as the Wizard of London, since leaving school. Now, Lord Alderscroft assigns them another commission: to work with the famous man living at 221 Baker Street but not the one in flat B. They are to assist the man living in flat C. Dr. John Watson and his wife Mary, themselves Elemental Masters of Water and Air, take the occult cases John s more famous friend disdains, and they will need every skill the girls and their birds can muster!
Nan and Sarah’s first task: to confront and eliminate the mysterious and deadly entity that nearly killed them as children: the infamous Haunt of Number 10 Berkeley Square. But the next task divides the girls for the first time since they were children. A German opera star begs Sarah for help, seeking a Medium’s aid against not just a single spirit, but a multitude. As Sarah becomes more deeply entwined with the Prima Donna, Nan continues to assist John and Mary Watson alone, only to discover that Sarah’s case is far more sinister than it seems. It threatens to destroy not only a lifelong friendship, but much, much more.
Elemental Masters #11
|
|
|
Dreams of Distant Shores
by Patricia A. McKillip
Featuring three brand-new stories and an original introduction by Peter S. Beagle, author of "The Last Unicorn."
Bestselling author Patricia A. McKillip ("The Riddle-Master of Hed") is one of the most lyrical writers gracing the fantasy genre. With the debut of her newest work, "Dreams of Distant Shores" is a true ode to her many talents. Within these pages you will find a youthful artist possessed by both his painting and his muse and seductive travelers from the sea enrapturing distant lovers. The statue of a mermaid comes suddenly to life, and two friends are transfixed by a haunted estate.
Fans of McKillip’s ethereal fiction will find much to delight them; those lucky enough to be discovering her work will find much to enchant them.
|
|
|
Reliquary
by Sarah Fine
Mattie Carver s engagement party should have marked the start of her own personal fairy tale. But when her fiance, Ben, is violently abducted the next morning, her desperate quest to find him rips her away from small-town life and reveals a shattering truth: magic is real and Ben is hooked. It’s not the stuff of storybooks. It’s wildly addictive, capable of producing everything from hellish anguish to sensual ecstasy almost beyond human endurance.
Determined to find out who took Ben and why, Mattie immerses herself in a shadowy underworld and comes face-to-face with the darkly alluring Asa Ward, a rogue magic dealer, infamous hustler and her missing fiance’s estranged brother. Asa has the power to sense magic, and he realizes Mattie is a reliquary, someone with the rare ability to carry magic within her own body, undetected. Asa agrees to help find Ben on one condition: Mattie must use her uncommon talent to assist his smuggling operations. Now, from magic-laced Vegas casinos to the netherworld clubs of Bangkok, Mattie is on a rescue mission. With Asa by her side, she’ll face not only the supernatural forces arrayed against her but the all-too-human temptation that she fears she can’t resist.
Reliquary #1
|
|
|
Spells of blood and kin : a dark fantasy
by Claire Humphrey
"Where we love, we ruin"
Some families hand down wealth through generations; some hand down wisdom. Some families, whether they want to or not, hand down the secret burdens they carry and the dangerous debts they owe.
Lissa Nevsky's grandmother leaves her a big, empty house, and a legacy of magic: folk magic, old magic, brought with Baba when she fled the Gulag. In the wake of her passing, the Russian community of Toronto will depend on Lissa now, to give them their remedies and be their koldun'ia. But Lissa hasn't had time to learn everything Baba wanted to teach her let alone the things Baba kept hidden.
Maksim Volkov's birth family is long dead, anything they bestowed on him long turned to dust. What Maksim carries now is a legacy of violence, and he does not have to die to pass it on. When Maksim feels his protective spell fail, he returns to the witch he rescued from the Gulag, only to find his spell has died along with the one who cast it. Without the spell, it is only a matter of time before Maksim's violent nature slips its leash and he infects someone else if he hasn't done so already.
Nick Kaisaris is just a normal dude who likes to party. He doesn't worry about family drama. He doesn't have any secrets. All he wants is for things to stay like they are right now, tonight: Nick and his best buddy Jonathan, out on the town. Only Nick is on a collision course with Maksim Volkov, and what he takes away from this night is going to crack open Nick's nature until all of his worst self comes to light.
Lissa's legacy of magic might hold the key to Maksim's salvation, if she can unravel it in time. But it's a legacy that comes at a price. And Maksim might not want to be saved
|
|
|
Age of myth
by Michael J. Sullivan
Since time immemorial, humans have worshipped the gods they call Fhrey, truly a race apart: invincible in battle, masters of magic, and seemingly immortal. But when a god falls to a human blade, the balance of power between humans and those they thought were gods changes forever.
Now only a few stand between humankind and annihilation: Raithe, reluctant to embrace his destiny as the God Killer; Suri, a young seer burdened by signs of impending doom; and Persephone, who must overcome personal tragedy to lead her people. The Age of Myth is over. The time of rebellion has begun.
|
|
|
Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet
by Charlie N. Holmberg
Maire is a baker with an extraordinary gift: she can infuse her treats with emotions and abilities, which are then passed on to those who eat them. She doesn’t know why she can do this and remembers nothing of who she is or where she came from.
When marauders raid her town, Maire is captured and sold to the eccentric Allemas, who enslaves her and demands that she produce sinister confections, including a witch s gingerbread cottage, a living cookie boy, and size-altering cakes.
During her captivity, Maire is visited by Fyel, a ghostly being who is reluctant to reveal his connection to her. The more often they meet, the more her memories return, and she begins to piece together who and what she really is as well as past mistakes that yield cosmic consequences.
|
|
|
The perdition score : a Sandman Slim novel
by Richard Kadrey
The request from Thomas Abbot, the Augur of the Sub Rosa council, couldn’t come at a better time for James Stark, aka Sandman Slim. For a man who most recently met Death and death’s killer a few months of normal life is more than he can handle. He needs a little action, and now Abbott wants Stark and Candy to investigate the disappearance of a young boy and help uncover council members who might be tied to Wormwood’s power brokers.
Stark’s plans change when he meets a dying angel who gives him a vial of a mysterious black liquid that could be a secret weapon in the ongoing war between angels who want to allow human souls into Heaven and rebel angels willing to die to keep them out. When one of Stark’s closest friends is poisoned with the black liquid, Stark and Candy have to go to the only place where they might find a cure: Hell.
But standing in their way are the damned souls who, even after death, still work for Wormwood. The secret deal they’ve struck with the rebel angels is darker than anything Stark has encountered. Not only does the fate of the world hang in the balance, but also the souls of everyone in it. Stark has to find a way to break the stalemate in the angel war, score the Perdition cure for the black poison, and make it back to LA in one piece where an old enemy waits to finish him once and for all.
Sandman Slim #8
|
|
|
League of dragons : A Novel of Temeraire
by Naomi Novik
Napoleon’s invasion of Russia has been roundly thwarted. But even as Capt. William Laurence and the dragon Temeraire pursue the retreating enemy through an unforgiving winter, Napoleon is raising a new force, and he’ll soon have enough men and dragons to resume the offensive. While the emperor regroups, the allies have an opportunity to strike first and defeat him once and for all if internal struggles and petty squabbles don’t tear them apart.
Aware of his weakened position, Napoleon has promised the dragons of every country and the ferals, loyal only to themselves vast new rights and powers if they fight under his banner. It is an offer eagerly embraced from Asia to Africa and even by England, whose dragons have long rankled at their disrespectful treatment.
But Laurence and his faithful dragon soon discover that the wily Napoleon has one more gambit at the ready one that that may win him the war, and the world.
Temeraire #9
|
|
|
A green and ancient light
by Frederic S. Durbin
Set in a world similar to our own, during a war that parallels World War II, "A Green and Ancient Light" is the stunning story of a boy who is sent to stay with his grandmother for the summer in a serene fishing village. Their tranquility is shattered by the crash of a bullet-riddled enemy plane, the arrival of grandmother’s friend Mr. Girandole a man who knows the true story of Cinderella’s slipper and the discovery of a riddle in the sacred grove of ruins behind grandmother’s house. In a sumptuous idyllic setting and overshadowed by the threat of war, four unlikely allies learn the values of courage and sacrifice.
|
|
|
The root : a novel of the wrath & athenaeum
by Na'amen Gobert Tilahun
“When a secret government agency trying to enslave you isn’t the biggest problem you’re facing, you re in trouble."
Erik, a former teen star living in San Francisco, thought his life was complicated; having his ex-boyfriend in jail because of the scandal that destroyed his career seemed overwhelming. Then Erik learned he was Blooded: descended from the Gods.
Struggling with a power he doesn’t understand and can barely control, Erik discovers that a secret government agency is selling off Blooded like lab rats to a rival branch of preternatural beings in Zebub -- San Francisco’s mirror city in an alternate dimension. Lil, a timid apprentice in Zebub, is searching for answers to her parents sudden and mysterious deaths. Surrounded by those who wish her harm and view her as a lesser being, Lil delves into a forgotten history that those in power will go to dangerous lengths to keep buried.
What neither Erik nor Lil realize is that a darkness is coming, something none have faced in living memory. It eats. It hunts. And it knows them.
|
|
|
Will Do Magic for Small Change
by Andrea Hairston
Cinnamon Jones dreams of stepping on stage and acting her heart out like her famous grandparents, Redwood and Wildfire. But at 510 and 180 pounds, she’s theatrically challenged. Her family life is a tangle of mystery and deadly secrets, and nobody is telling Cinnamon the whole truth. Before her older brother died, he gave Cinnamon “The Chronicles of the Great Wanderer,” a tale of a Dahomean warrior woman and an alien from another dimension who perform in Paris and at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. The Chronicles may be magic or alien science, but the story is definitely connected to Cinnamon’s family secrets. When an act of violence wounds her family, Cinnamon and her theatre squad determine to solve the mysteries and bring her worlds together.
|
|
|
Dr. DOA : a secret histories novel
by Simon R. Green
The name is Drood, Eddie Drood, also known as Shaman Bond. My family has been safeguarding humanity for generations, facing the hidden horrors of the world so you can sleep at night and remain oblivious to the existence of the monstrous nightmares that walk and stalk among us.
Speaking of predatory night terrors, there is a man who gets away with murder. A man who specializes in removing the problems from other people s lives, by killing the people who cause those problems. He operates from the darkest shadows of the hidden world, coming and going unseen. No-one knows who he is, just his "nomme du muerte." Dr. DOA.
Somehow, this demented doc poisoned me. I don t know how he did it, when or where, but whatever is coursing through my veins seems to be immune to magic cures and treatments. But that s not going to stop me from finding him and whoever hired him and give them both a taste of their own medicine...
Secret Histories #10
|
|
|
The invisible library
by Genevieve Cogman
"One thing any Librarian will tell you: the truth is much stranger than fiction..."
Irene is a professional spy for the mysterious Library, a shadowy organization that collects important works of fiction from all of the different realities. Most recently, she and her enigmatic assistant Kai have been sent to an alternative London. Their mission: Retrieve a particularly dangerous book. The problem: By the time they arrive, it's already been stolen.
London's underground factions are prepared to fight to the death to find the tome before Irene and Kai do, a problem compounded by the fact that this world is chaos-infested the laws of nature bent to allow supernatural creatures and unpredictable magic to run rampant. To make matters worse, Kai is hiding something secrets that could be just as volatile as the chaos-filled world itself.
Now Irene is caught in a puzzling web of deadly danger, conflicting clues, and sinister secret societies. And failure is not an option because it isn t just Irene s reputation at stake, it s the nature of reality itself...
Invisible Library Novel #1
|
|
|
Hope and Red
by Jon Skovron
In a fracturing empire spread across savage seas, two people will find a common cause.
Hope, the lone survivor when her village is massacred by the emperor's forces is secretly trained by a master Vinchen warrior as an instrument of vengeance.
Red, an orphan adopted by a notorious matriarch of the criminal underworld, learns to be an expert thief and con artist.
TOGETHER THEY WILL TAKE DOWN AN EMPIRE.
Empire of Storms #1
|
|
|
The master magician
by Charlie N. Holmberg
Throughout her studies, Ceony Twill has harbored a secret, one she’s kept from even her mentor, Emery Thane. She s discovered how to practice forms of magic other than her own an ability long thought impossible.
While all seems set for Ceony to complete her apprenticeship and pass her upcoming final magician s exam, life quickly becomes complicated. To avoid favoritism, Emery sends her to another paper magician for testing, a Folder who despises Emery and cares even less for his apprentice. To make matters worse, a murderous criminal from Ceony’s past escapes imprisonment. Now she must track the power-hungry convict across England before he can take his revenge. With her life and loved ones hanging in the balance, Ceony must face a criminal who wields the one magic that she does not, and it may prove more powerful than all her skills combined.
Paper Magician #3
|
|
|
In the shadow of the gods : a bound gods novel
by Rachel Dunne
A breathtaking talent makes her debut with this first book in a dark epic fantasy trilogy, in which a mismatched band of mortals led by a violent, secretive man must stand against a pair of resentful gods to save their world.
Eons ago, a pair of gods known as the Twins grew powerful in the world of Fiatera, until the Divine Mother and Almighty Father exiled them, binding them deep in the earth. But the price of keeping the fire lands safe is steep. To prevent these young gods from rising again, all twins in the land must be killed at birth, a safeguard that has worked until now.
Trapped for centuries, the Twins are gathering their latent powers to break free and destroy the Parents for their tyranny to set off a fight between two generations of gods for control of the world and the mortals who dwell in it.
When the gods make war, only one side can be victorious. Joros, a mysterious and cunning priest, has devised a dangerous plan to win. Over eight years, he gathers a team of disparate fighters Scal, a lost and damaged swordsman from the North; Vatri, a scarred priestess who claims to see the future in her fires; Anddyr, a drug-addled mage wandering between sanity and madness; and Rora and Aro, a pair of twins who have secretly survived beyond the reach of the law.
These warriors must learn to stand together against the unfathomable power of vengeful gods, to stop them from tearing down the sun . . . and plunging their world into darkness.
Bound Gods #1
|
|
|
Ordination
by Daniel M. Ford
For generations, warlords fought bitterly for dominance in a land without a king, leaving a fractured, war-torn country plagued by thieves, slavers, and the servants of dark gods and darker magic. Allystaire Coldbourne travels a treacherous path toward his Ordination as a holy knight of legend, a Paladin, a savior of the people. But to fulfill this role, he and the unexpected allies he finds along the way must face the demonic, sorcerous evil that stalks the land, the wrath of gods and men, and his own dark past.
Paladin Trilogy #1
|
|
|
Penric's Demon : A Fantasy Novella in the World of the Five Gods
by Lois McMaster Bujold
On his way to his betrothal, young Lord Penric comes upon a riding accident with an elderly lady on the ground, her maidservant and guardsmen distraught. As he approaches to help, he discovers that the lady is a Temple divine, servant to the five gods of this world. Her avowed god is The Bastard, "master of all disasters out of season," and with her dying breath she bequeaths her mysterious powers to Penric. From that moment on, Penric's life is irreversibly changed, and his life is in danger from those who envy or fear him. Set in the fantasy world of the author's acclaimed novels The Curse of Chalion, Paladin of Souls, and The Hallowed Hunt, this novella has the depth of characterization and emotional complexity that distinguishes all Bujold's work.
|
|
|
The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror 2016
by Paula Guran
Macabre meetings, sinister excursions, and deadly relationships; uncanny encounters; a classic ghost story featuring an American god; a historical murderer revived in a frightening new iteration; innovative Lovecraftian turns; shadowy fairy tales and weird myths; strange children, the unexpected, the supernatural, the surreal, and the all-too real . . . tales of the dark. Such stories have always fascinated us, and modern authors carry on the disquieting traditions of the past while inventing imaginative new ways to unsettle us. Chosen from a wide variety of venues, these stories are as eclectic and varied as shadows. This volume of 2015’s best dark fantasy and horror offers more than five hundred pages of tales from some of today’s finest writers of the fantastique sure to delight as well as disturb.
|
|
|
Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge
by Paul Krueger
Bailey Chen is fresh out of college with all the usual new-adult demons: no cash, no job offers, and an awkward relationship with Zane, the old friend she kinda-sorta hooked up with during high school.
But when Zane introduces Bailey to his monster-fighting bartender friends, her demons become a lot more literal. It turns out evil creatures stalk the city streets after hours, and they can only be hunted with the help of magically-mixed cocktails: vodka grants super-strength, whiskey offers the power of telekinesis, and tequila lets its drinker fire blasts of elemental energy. But will all of these powers be enough for Bailey to halt a mysterious rash of gruesome deaths? And what will she do when the safety of a real world job beckons?
|
|
| While Beauty Slept: A Novel by Elizabeth BlackwellFairy Tale Fantasy. "The truth is hardly a story for children," explains the narrator of this Gothic retelling of Sleeping Beauty. Leaving her family's farm to become a lady-in-waiting at the castle of St. Elsip, young Elise witnesses Queen Lenore's struggles with infertility as well as her desperate plan to produce an heir to the throne. The queen's bargain with malevolent Millicent results in the birth of the lovely Princess Rose, but also sets in motion a curse that will come back to haunt everyone in the castle and nearly destroy the kingdom. Fans of Delia Sherman's The Porcelain Dove may appreciate this bittersweet and atmospheric tale of love, loyalty, and hard lessons learned over the passage of time. |
|
| Mirror Mirror: A Novel by Gregory MaguireHistorical Fantasy. Set in Renaissance Italy, this revisionist version of "Snow White" casts as its heroine young Bianca de Nevada. Her widowed father is a minor nobleman with loyalties to the Borgia family, particularly Cesare and his sister (and lover) Lucrezia. But when the lecherous Cesare begins to pay too much attention to Bianca, jealous Lucrezia orders a young hunter to lead the girl into the forest and kill her. The girl escapes and is taken in by seven dwarves, who are on a quest to retrieve their special mirror. If you enjoy this novel by Wicked author Gregory Maguire, you may also want to read his Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, a retelling of "Cinderella" set in 17th-century Holland. |
|
| Raven Girl by Audrey NiffeneggerFairy Tale Fantasy. Hatched from an egg, the half-human, half-raven heroine of this illustrated novel looks like an ordinary young woman, yet speaks the language of birds. Though she has no wings, she yearns to fly, a dream that may be possible through experimental surgery. However, not everyone in her life is in favor of such a drastic transformation, which sets in motion a series of tragic events. Reminiscent of Swan Lake in both storyline and overall tone, The Raven Girl appropriately began life as collaboration with London’s Royal Ballet. |
|
| The Fairest of Them All: A Novel by Carolyn TurgeonFairy Tale Fantasy. This "dark and twisted fairy tale" (Publishers Weekly) is, in fact, two intertwined stories: an inventive mash-up of "Rapunzel" and "Snow White," in which the former escapes her tower (and cruel adoptive mother) and becomes the wicked stepmother of the latter. Flawed yet sympathetic characters lend poignancy to this dark, melancholy tale that explores the sometimes complicated, emotionally fraught bonds between mothers and daughters. Fans of this novel will be pleased to know that author Carolyn Turgeon has also tackled "Cinderella" (in Godmother) and "The Little Mermaid" (in Mermaid). |
|
| Six-Gun Snow White by Catherynne M. ValenteWeird Western. In this witty retelling of the classic fairy tale, Snow White is the daughter of a Nevada silver baron and a Crow woman who died in childbirth. Mocked for her mixed-race heritage by her cruel stepmother, Snow White dons men's clothing and sets out for "Indian Territory" with a Pinkerton detective in hot pursuit. Fortunately, she finds allies in the form of seven female outlaws as well as a pony named Charming. With its Old West setting and gunslinger heroine, Six-Gun Snow White should enchant fans of fractured fairy tales. |
|
Contact your librarian for more great books!
|
|
|
Prince George's County Memorial Library System 9601 Capital Lane Largo, Maryland 20774 301-699-3500www.pgcmls.info/ |
|
|
|