Fantasy Realism

With the same deadpan mania and genius for dislocation that he brought to his internationally acclaimed novels A Wild Sheep Chase and Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, Haruki Murakami makes this collection of stories a determined assault on the normal. A man sees his favorite elephant vanish into thin air; a newlywed couple suffers attacks of hunger that drive them to hold up a McDonald's in the middle of the night; and a young woman discovers that she has become irresistible to a little green monster who burrows up through her backyard.

For Thaniel Steepleton, an unexpected posting to Tokyo can’t come at a better moment. The London fog has made him ill and doctor’s orders are to get out. His brief is strange: the staff at the British Legation have been seeing ghosts, and his first task is to find out what’s going on. But staying with his closest friend, Keita Mori, in Yokohama, Thaniel starts to experience ghostly happenings himself. For reasons he won’t say, Mori is frightened. Then he vanishes.

In this explosive sequel to Blessed Child, Jewish soldier-turned-archaeologist Rebecca Soloman leads a team deep into the Ethiopian desert to find the one man who may know the final resting place of the Ark of the Covenant. Such a discovery would bring hope back to her people. Her search brings excitement and danger - including unexpected love and a discovery far more powerful than even the holy artifact.

This collected edition includes all three books of the Channeler Trilogy—Moon & Shadow, Sun & Dream, and Death & Dragon—published together in one volume. A moon misplaced. A girl who dreams too well. A world beginning to bend. Sebastian never asked to be the hero of his village. But when nightmare creatures rise from the shadows, he finds himself gathering strange objects—gifts he doesn’t understand—to stand against the dark. What he doesn’t know is that the magic behind those gifts comes from a quiet girl named Anise, whose dreams stir ancient forces: Moon, Sun, and Death. As ...

In a village at the edge of the wilderness of Northern Russia, where the winds blow cold and the snow falls many months of the year, a stranger with piercing blue eyes presents a new father with a gift - a precious jewel on a delicate chain, intended for his young daughter. Uncertain of its meaning, the father hides the gift away, and his daughter, Vasya, grows up a wild, willful girl, to the chagrin of her family. But when mysterious forces threaten the happiness of their village, Vasya discovers that she may be the only one who can keep the darkness at bay.

Faeries are out and proud on Earth and things are finally settling down for them. Vervain and her husband, Azrael, have worked hard to open fey embassies around the world and require faeries to follow the laws of the lands they visit. But the Gods aren't happy. It's bad enough that humans forgot about most of them, but now, they're practically worshiping faeries. Many gods have started impersonating faeries to get a taste of the worship they once had, but one group of gods is too bitter for that. They're pretending to be fey but only to make the Fey look bad. As their assaults grow more and...

Grace, as her friends call her, has a Ford Motor Company tattoo running down her leg and grease worked deep into her hands. She works at Sanchez Motorworks customizing hot rods. Finding the line in a classic car is her calling. Now Grace has to find the line in her own life. Grace loves John, and John loves her, and that would be wonderful, except that John, like Grace, has unfinished business: He's haunted by the childhood death of his younger brother. He's never stopped feeling responsible.

Acclaimed fantasist Mary Robinette Kowal has enchanted many fans with her beloved novels featuring a Regency setting in which magic--known here as glamour--is real. In Valour and Vanity, master glamourists Jane and Vincent find themselves in the sort of a magical adventure that might result if Jane Austen wrote Ocean's Eleven. After Melody's wedding, the Ellsworths and Vincents accompany the young couple on their tour of the continent. Jane and Vincent plan to separate from the party and travel to Murano to study with glassblowers there, but their ship is set upon by Barbary corsairs while en route. It is their good fortune that they are not enslaved, but they lose everything to the pirates and arrive in Murano destitute.

This fierce and beautiful story charts the histories of two women: Rae, young, unmarried, and far from home, awaits the birth of her first child. Lila, a fortune-teller with no interest in the future, lost her own daughter more than a quarter of a century earlier in New York. When these two women meet in Southern California, it's earthquake weather - the time when unexpected things happen.

In the winter of 1953, Boy Novak arrives by chance in a small town in Massachusetts, looking, she believes, for beauty - the opposite of the life she' s left behind in New York. She marries a local widower and becomes stepmother to his winsome daughter, Snow Whitman. A wicked stepmother is a creature Boy never imagined she' d become, but elements of the familiar tale of aesthetic obsession begin to play themselves out when the birth of Boy' s daughter, Bird, who is dark-skinned, exposes the Whitmans as light-skinned African Americans passing for white.

Charlie Rhodes is at a crossroads in her life. Her big secret is out - at least with the most important person in her life Jack Hanson - and now they have to deal with a whole new reality. Things are going relatively well when the Legacy Foundation is sent on a mission to Charleston. It seems women are dying under strange circumstances. Charleston is a new environment and Charlie and Jack are embracing a brand new world. Things are going to be fine...as long as they live to tell the tale.

Twenty-year-old Aerie hates running collateral recovery for her father’s magical supply shop. Repossession is a nasty business, even when you’re good at it. Her dream job? The store’s new acquisitioner, but Pop says that job’s for someone who finds things, not loses them. When a mysterious amulet must be found, Aerie sees an opportunity to prove her worth to him.

There isn't anything I can't steal. So when a soldier in the Dragon King's army comes looking for a thief on behalf of the King, I volunteer. The danger of the mission didn't bother me. I knew I could steal anything the Dragon King desired. But the job was the just the beginning. I've been drawn into a deadly world of Dragon intrigue, politics, and assassination. The King asked me for help, and I agreed. I should have just walked away, but I couldn't. Not after speaking with the Dragon King. He's more than I expected. A good king, but an even better man. I can't leave him to face liars, ...

Jon thought it was over...he was wrong. It was just the beginning. When he defeated the beast tide, he thought peace would come. But whatever he thinks never happens. The expansion he triggered attracted a much larger threat that he can't control.

A killer has come to Isle, and suddenly the grand reopening of Tilly Hudgins' family hotel has gone from celebration to crime scene. Tilly Hudgins has poured her heart and soul into restoring her family's historic beachfront hotel. With her sassy familiar, Smudge, offering commentary at every turn, and her well-meaning but meddlesome Aunt Pearl "helping" in her own chaotic way, Tilly's grand reopening weekend should be perfect. That is, until a local real estate developer turns up face-down on the hotel’s lawn—very much dead and very much on Tilly's property. With the local paper ...

Step into a universe where the impossible becomes reality, and every story leads you to uncharted realms. From forgotten worlds awakening after centuries of silence to mythical creatures guarding legendary treasures, "Worlds Unseen" is a collection of short stories that explores the boundaries of imagination. Each tale unveils a different facet of the extraordinary—whether through time-manipulating invaders, magical libraries with worlds within pages, or the complex emotions of sentient machines and hidden realms. Journey across dimensions, through mystical landscapes and futuristic ...

When a sacred standing stone vanishes from the Isle of Lewis, enchantress and investigator Elle Chambers is called in to solve the impossible. A seven-ton artifact has disappeared without a trace, and the theft threatens to destabilize the magical balance of Scotland. Complicating matters, Elle's former coven mentor, Rebecca, arrives at her doorstep battered, broken, and on the run. Tortured for refusing to carry out a deadly mission, Rebecca reveals secrets that shake Elle to her core—including the truth about Elle’s father. As Elle dives into the case, she must navigate a tangled web ...

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...

The mages push Earth closer to a war that no one can win. Kristen and her team are all that stands between them and the utter annihilation of everyone she loves. But the mages may not be the worst threat she has to face! In the shadows, someone lurks, manipulating others for his own gain. The Mage assassins are no longer content to hide in the shadows. Their day has arrived, and they will rise to remake the world into a place without dragons.

Three best friends, all with the same birthday, are about to turn 40. They plan to share this momentous occasion together at a summerhouse in Maine, taking stock of their lives and loves, their wishes and choices. But none of them expect the gift that awaits them at the summerhouse: the chance for each of them to turn their "what might have beens" into reality.