Fantasy Realism

Quick-witted, ambitious Ji Lin is stuck as an apprentice dressmaker, moonlighting as a dance hall girl to help pay off her mother’s Mahjong debts. But when one of her dance partners accidentally leaves behind a gruesome souvenir, Ji Lin may finally get the adventure she has been longing for. Eleven-year-old houseboy Ren is also on a mission, racing to fulfill his former master’s dying wish: that Ren find the man’s finger, lost years ago in an accident, and bury it with his body. Ren has 49 days to do so, or his master’s soul will wander the earth forever.

Brooklyn beauty Delyse’s life takes an unexpected turn when an ancestral connection awakens her dormant magick, plunging her into a world where the spiritual realm intertwines with her everyday reality. Guided by the powerful Yemaya, the orisha of the seas, Delyse navigates a path filled with danger, desire, and discovery. From mysterious gifts imbued with celestial energy to profound tarot readings that reveal her destiny, Delyse must embrace her feminine power and unravel the secrets of her lineage. As she learns to wield her newfound abilities, Delyse finds herself drawn into an ...

When two teens discover that they were both sexually assaulted at the same party, they develop a cautious friendship through her family’s possibly magical pastelería, his secret forest of otherworldly trees, and the swallows returning to their hometown, in Anna-Marie McLemore's The Mirror Season....

As a little girl, Jane has no one. Her mother, Vivienne Margaux, the powerful head of a major New York theater company has no time for her. She does have one friend - Michael - but no one can see him except her. When Jane is in her 30s, working for her mother's company, she is just as alone as she was as a child. Then she finds Michael again - handsome and just the same as she remembers him, only now he's not imaginary.

It was supposed to be my first summer on my own, but then I meet Seth, Axel, Jasper, and Cody. There's something about them that drew me closer, and they seemed hell-bent on protecting me. I didn't think I needed protecting until people started showing up dead in the woods.

I’m a thief. Look, it wasn’t my first career choice, okay? But my weird little power makes it insanely easy. Samira doesn’t know why she can manipulate the air around her. It’s just something she can do. And it makes picking pockets a breeze. Literally. Snarky and irreverent, Sam doesn’t give much of a damn for anyone except her next rich target. But then she runs into trouble, the serious kind, and has to be rescued by a charming prince, no less. Wealthy and attractive, he's just her type. Except for one thing: he has an insufferable older brother who sees right through her. Dhav...

Somewhere far away - or maybe right nearby - lies an archipelago called Popisho. A place of stunning beauty and incorrigible mischief, destiny, and mystery, it is also a place in need of change. A storm is brewing. Before it comes, before the end of the day, this wildly imaginative narrative will take us across the islands, their history, and into the lives of unforgettable characters.

Bay Singer has bigger secrets than most. Not that she knows about them. Her mother, Nan, is sure that the burden of those secrets would be too much, and that's why she never told anyone the truth... not even Bay. There's a lot that Nan has kept quiet over the years, especially those times with Mavis and Ruthie - times that were dark and full of guilt. But some secrets have a power all their own, and Nan realizes she needs Mavis and Ruthie now more than ever.

Damon Ich, an introverted and lonely workaholic, lives in a paradise with power to do anything, and to go anywhere, at any time. He uses this gift to help people in need.One night, he rescues a man who is revealed to be the founder of his way of life - and suggests a rescue mission he can't refuse. The meeting and the rescue set off a train of events that shatter everything. Damon Ich realises that he isn't alone in being able to do anything. Two invincible forces collide in a torrent of bewildering, revealing and eventually catastrophic events, dramatically changing Damon Ich's life ...

“Tengdana – Rise of the High Priestess” is the seventh book in the Orisha series. In a realm where spiritual and political powers collide, a young Princess Tengdana is forced into a royal marriage that defies her fate to become the Orisha High Priestess. When her husband King Egbin dies mysteriously, his brother Olufe seizes the throne. Pregnant with Egbin’s child, Tengdana must survive his obsession in finding her and the unborn heir to the throne, fleeing his tyranny. Seeking sanctuary with the powerful Ominira tribe, Tengdana adapts to their ways and gives birth to a daughter, ...

Karen Russell’s comedic genius and mesmerizing talent for creating outlandish predicaments that uncannily mirror our inner in lives is on full display in these eight exuberant, arrestingly vivid, unforgettable stories. In “Bog Girl”, a revelatory story about first love, a young man falls in love with a 2,000-year-old girl that he’s extracted from a mass of peat in a Northern European bog. In “The Prospectors”, two opportunistic young women fleeing the depression strike out for new territory, and find themselves fighting for their lives. Plus much more.

Alec began his 18th birthday with the temple monks. By day's end, he discovers he possesses magical abilities. Except his magic is unique. He doesn't require grimoires and incantations to cast spells. Alec's magic is entirely natural. He can, somehow, absorb the elements from objects and manipulate them according to his will. This power is incredible, but difficult to master. If he's going to learn how to use his natural magic, it'll take the tutelage of Archmage Diamondspear, one of the most adept magic users in the kingdom.

One spring afternoon after school, Amber arrives home on her bike. It’s just another perfectly normal day. But when Amber’s mom sees her, she screams. Because Amber died seven years ago, hit by a car while on the very same bicycle she’s inexplicably riding now. This return doesn’t only impact Amber. Her sister, Melissa, now seven years older, must be a new kind of sibling to Amber. Amber’s estranged parents are battling over her. And the changes ripple farther and farther out.

Heroes rise from the most unlikely places. For, what others might view as unusual or irrelevant, just might be the surprising weapons needed to defeat an enemy. If Ruby existed in today's world, she would possibly be labeled with learning disabilities and perhaps a slight case of social anxiety. She is unusual in many ways. With radiant pink wings and unruly hair, Ruby stands out. But never in the way she wanted to. It is the peculiarity that draws attention to her; from her vivid imagination to her misunderstood sense of humor; Ruby is a rare fairy indeed. But even in a mysterious world ...

'EPICS 4' is the fourth collection of S.E. McKenzie's epic poems. This collection includes poems #44-#59. The kindle version includes photographs.

They've shared our planet with us since the dawn of History, but they want us out. To reclaim lordship over the Earth, they mean to steer us into self-annihilation. As the secret War of the Shadows unravels under our very noses, we who are mere flesh and blood cannot fathom the real causes behind our many wars and the economic powers that would senselessly lead the world into an environmental apocalypse. Nevertheless, we’re here, and we have our part to play in this multi-millennial conflict that began before recorded History. Understand me when I say that every time you’ve heard of ...

Koschei the Deathless is to Russian folklore what devils or wicked witches are to Western European culture: a menacing, evil figure; the villain of countless stories that have been passed on through story and text for generations. But Koschei has never before been seen through the eyes of Catherynne Valente, whose modernized and transformed take on the legend brings the action to modern times, spanning many of the great developments of Russian history in the 20th century.

Darren Shan and his best friend, Steve, get tickets to the Cirque du Freak, a wonderfully gothic freak show featuring weird, frightening half human/half animals who interact terrifyingly with the audience. In the midst of the excitement, true terror raises its head when Steve recognizes that one of the performers - Mr. Crepsley - is a vampire! Steve confronts the vampire after the show finishes - but his motives are surprising!

From the town’s founder, a brave young woman from England who has no fear of blizzards or bears, to the young man who runs away to New York City, the characters in The Red Garden are extraordinary and vivid: a young wounded Civil War soldier who is saved by a neighbor, a woman who meets a fiercely human historical character, a poet who falls in love with a blind man, a mysterious traveler who comes to town in the year when summer never arrives.

Warlock Anna Atticus Stone is on her final year at the academy. As head of student council, academic prodigy, and champion arena dueler, she seems the perfect pupil. In reality, Anna is grieving, overwhelmed, and so lonely she talks to herself. Above all, she fears assassination if people find out her father’s dying gift to her was a scion. Only seven of these powerful artifacts exist, one in each kingdom—a precarious balance that maintains peace.