Historical Fiction Science History

Abby Thomas is spending the summer in a run-down old house with a bratty pre-teen named Merrideth she is supposed to tutor. Not a dream job. But it does come with perks. There's John Roberts, a devastatingly attractive neighbor who is almost too wonderful to be real. And there's the new computer program Beautiful Houses - also too amazing to be real. No one knows how it works, but with it she can rewind and fast-forward the lives of all the people who ever lived in the house, including Charlotte Miles.

The United States endured a bitter civil war and embarked on the complex process of Reconstruction, aiming to eliminate slavery and secure civil rights for African Americans in the South. Despite the ratification of constitutional amendments guaranteeing these rights, their full realization would not come for another century. Johnson, who assumed the presidency only after Lincoln's assassination, bears significant responsibility for this delay. His actions enabled the growth of Jim Crow laws and entrenched racial inequality throughout the South in Reconstruction's aftermath.

In the province of Caldon, where women train in wifely duties and men pursue collegiate education, 16-year-old Rhen Tellur wants nothing more than to become a scientist. As the poor of her seaside town fall prey to a deadly disease, she and her father work desperately to find a cure. But when her mum succumbs to it as well? Rhen decides to take the future into her own hands - through the annual all-male scholarship competition. With her cousin, Seleni, by her side, the girls don disguises and enter Mr. Holm's labyrinth, to best the boys and claim the scholarship prize.

In this alternate history adventure set in WW2's early days, a crippled US military struggles to defend vulnerable Australia against the unstoppable Japanese forces. When a Japanese regiment lands on Australia's desolate and undefended Cape York Peninsula, Jock Miles, a US Army captain disgraced despite heroic actions at Pearl Harbor, is ordered to locate the enemy's elusive command post.

The Crown and Key Society face their most terrifying villain yet: Gaios, a deranged demigod with the power to destroy Britain. To avenge a centuries-old betrayal, Gaios is hell-bent on summoning the elemental forces of the earth to level London and bury Britain. The Crown and Key Society, a secret league consisting of a magician, an alchemist, and a monster-hunter, is the realm’s only hope—and to stop Gaios, they must gather their full strength and come together as a team, or the world will fall apart.

China: 1200 AD. Guo Jing has confronted Apothecary Huang, his sweetheart Lotus' father, on Peach Blossom Island, and bested the villainous Gallant Ouyang in three trials to win her hand in marriage. But now, along with his sworn brother, Zhou Botong of the Quanzhen Sect, and his shifu, Count Seven Hong, chief of the Beggar Clan, he has walked into a trap. Tricked by Huang into boarding an unseaworthy barge, they will surely drown unless Lotus - who has overheard her father's plans - can find a way to save them.

Featuring 18 trailblazing Black women in American history, Little Leaders educates and inspires as it relates true stories of breaking boundaries and achieving beyond expectations. Among these biographies, listeners will find heroes, role models, and everyday women who did extraordinary things - bold women whose actions and beliefs contributed to making the world better for generations of girls and women to come.

“Short stories have to accomplish a nearly impossible magic trick: to introduce a world often much stranger than our own and make you care about it in a matter of pages,” writes R. F. Kuang in her introduction. “The most important part of this magic trick is just a willingness to get weird.” The stories in The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2023 are brimming with bizarre and otherworldly premises.

The Oversight of London has been sworn for millennia to prevent the natural and the supernatural worlds from preying on each other. Now, at its lowest ebb, with its headquarters destroyed and its last members scattered far and wide, this secret society will battle for survival and face the harshest foe it has ever met: itself.

Nell Birks longs for a life outside of crime and poverty. When she rescues the wealthy Mr. Kentworthy from a gang of thieves, her life takes one surprising turn after another. Nell soon finds herself immersed in a glittering new social sphere, full of magic, luxury, and exciting possibilities. As she searches for her place in the world, she finds new friends and, ultimately, herself.

Laurence and Temeraire made a daring journey across vast and inhospitable continents to bring home a rare Turkish dragon from the treacherous Ottoman Empire. Kazilik dragons are firebreathers, and Britain is in greater need of protection than ever, for while Laurence and Temeraire were away, an epidemic struck British shores and is killing off her greatest defence - her dragon air force is slowly dying. The dreadful truth must be kept from Napoleon at all costs.

The advent of the Prophet Muhammad SAW changed the face of the history of mankind in a manner that this world has never seen before. Since the first man and Prophet Adam (Pbuh) was sent down to Earth, Allah SWT sent many prophets and messengers to guide mankind to the truth and to the straight path. Soon after the deaths of these prophets, their followers deviated from the teachings and corrupted the religion of Allah.

The Aaruans may have magic, but they have seen nothing like the Earthlings' guns. Hunted by the Remulan Empire for their knowledge, Ben, Louisa, Abu, and the soldiers of the 13th Bengal Lancers must find a way home or become pawns in the struggle for ultimate power. All they need to do is survive being guests of a race of immortal pseudo-humans known as the welves, outwit a Remulan Emperor who descends from Julius Caesar, and decipher the cryptic language of a long-vanished alien race, all before the threat of the world-ending Lamentations becomes a reality.

British flyer Will Laurence and his extraordinary Celestial dragon, Temeraire, gratefully anticipate their voyage home from China. But before they set sail, they are waylaid by urgent new orders. The British government, having purchased three valuable dragon eggs from the Ottoman Empire, now requires Laurence and Temeraire to make a more perilous overland journey instead, stopping off in Istanbul to collect and escort the precious cargo back to England. And time is of the essence if the eggs are to hatch upon British shores.

The year is 1631. Charles d’Artagnan flees the ashes of his life in Gascony, seeking better opportunities in Paris. With his land seized by armed peasants and his family among the countless dead, he has nothing left to lose and little to gain beyond mere survival. Magic — once a useful tool for those rare individuals who still possess it — has become a weapon of incomparable power and destructiveness employed by France’s bitter rival, Spain.

Unholy conspiracy or scientific sensation?For centuries, the occult society AETERNA has guarded an incredible secret: The Shrine of the Black Flame, an artifact as old as the Earth and as sinister as the apocalypse in the darkest prophecies. Now, the supernatural power of the shrine seems unleashed — with fatal consequences for all life on earth. Interpol investigator Isabella Cassini is on the trail of the secret circle and tries to prevent the worst, while quantum physicist Dr. Daniel Slovak hunts the source of a mysterious burst of neutrinos. Yet, he has no idea that these are the ...

The long-dreaded war between Britain and France has finally begun. French soldiers have landed on English soil, and the British Army - and the Royal Sorcerers Corps, led by Lady Gwen - is moving to meet them. But when an inexperienced major disobeys her orders and sends two hundred hussars to their deaths, Gwen accidentally uses her magic to permanently damage his mind and sparks a political crisis at the worst possible time. In the aftermath of the battle, Lord Mycroft suggests she leave Britain and head to the North American colonies.

Tales of My Ancestors is like watching the History Channel broadcast via "The Twilight Zone." It will take you on a journey through time with historical figures like Bat Masterson, Queen Elizabeth, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Cochise, Saint Margaret of Scotland, and players from the last Chicago Cubs team to win a World Series. You'll be there to witness the Salem Witch Trials, the Civil War, the signing of the Magna Carta, and the first steps onto colonial American soil. You'll run into William the Conqueror and a pale horse of death, learn how Shakespeare might have been inspired to ...

256 BC: When a patrol boat of butchered Legionaries washes up on a beach, Lance Corporal Alerio Sisera volunteers to be the scout for the Legion's response. But, he runs into complications and is forced to exceed his assignment. Suddenly, he finds himself in a blood feud with a powerful enemy, posted at a besieged harbor garrison, and fighting for his life against overwhelming odds. Reinforcements are not coming. Surrounded by enemies, it's up to Alerio to battle with his gladius while standing in bloody water.

Fallon is the daughter of a proud Celtic king and the younger sister of the legendary fighter Sorcha. When Fallon was just a child, Sorcha was killed by the armies of Julius Caesar. On the eve of her 17th birthday, Fallon is excited to follow in her sister's footsteps and earn her place in her father's war band. She never gets the chance. Fallon is captured and sold to an elite training school for female gladiators - owned by none other than Julius Caesar himself.