Metaphysical Fiction

Bound together by a single ancient text, the unforgettable characters of Cloud Cuckoo Land are dreamers and outsiders figuring out the world around them: 13-year-old Anna and Omeir, an orphaned seamstress and a cursed boy, on opposite sides of the formidable city walls during the 1453 siege of Constantinople; teenage idealist Seymour and octogenarian Zeno in an attack on a public library in present-day Idaho; and Konstance, decades from now, who turns to the oldest stories to guide her community in peril.

Time's Arrow tells the story, backwards, of the life of Nazi war criminal, Doctor Tod T. Friendly. He dies and then feels better, breaks up with his lovers as a prelude to seducing them and mangles his patients before he sends them home.

Jesus of Nazareth has been dead for some 65 years. The eyewitnesses to this extraordinary life have died, often as martyrs, and only a scattered handful remain. Might anyone have resolved to interview those last few before it was too late, it being a matter of mind-boggling importance? What if someone had? Mysterium I: Rome presents the story of a young Roman scholar who determines to do precisely that.

It was a hard sell, but Cameron had convinced Heather to return to the exoplanet Sang-Morang - where he had hoped they could experience the wonder of this majestic corner of the universe, together. The spacecraft Primion was flight-ready and the immense creature - the Minal Loth - seemed content to follow him wherever he went. And he still had the old Ford pickup truck, gassed up, and ready to explore more of that alien landscape. But Cameron’s well-intentioned plan turns out to be one of his very worst.

Are there Clan Battleships in the Central Authority Zone?Things are not adding up.Simone’s story doesn’t jibe with the facts.Prime Minister Aeon is publishing lies as he arrests dissenters.The Central Authority Fleet has disappeared.Hamilton Zenos is on the run, members of his family held hostage.The Science Vessel which disappeared near Valla Cappos is the subject of debate and more lies. Phony pictures of a debris field are published by the Central Authority.Captain Trey Clarke, Chairman Vermillion, and Drake must sort this out, but time is short. If the Clan has infiltrated the ...

Allison Moore is making it. Barely. The Seattle area architecture firm she started with her best friend is struggling, but at least they’re free from the games played by the corporate world. She’s gotten over her divorce. And while her dad’s recent passing is tough, their relationship had never been easy. Then the bomb drops. Her dad had a secret life and left her mom in massive debt. As Allison scrambles to help her mom find a way out, she’s given a journal, anonymously, during a visit to her favorite coffee shop.

Thomas Mann was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize laureate. His novel The Magic Mountain was first published in 1924, and is considered to be one of the most significant works of 20th century German literature. Mann uses a sanatorium in the Swiss Alps as a microcosm for Europe, which in the years leading up to 1914 was already displaying symptoms of its destructive and irrational mindset. Hans Castorp, an ordinary young man, arrives for a short visit to the sanatorium and ends up staying for seven years.

A former pro-footballer fallen from grace and bitter with his eventual fate, Johnny Bullet commits a horrible crime in the name of revenge. Running from his demons through a foreboding countryside, he hopes to escape his future, only to find it at the very far away ends of it all. He did a bad thing and then he wished himself away. Be careful what you wish for.

Lisa and Elliot have been best friends ever since the day they met as children. Popular, bright and sporty, Lisa was Elliot's biggest supporter when the school bullies made his life a misery, and for that, he will always be grateful. Twenty years later, life has pulled the pair apart, and Lisa is struggling. Her marriage is floundering, her teenage kids are being secretive and she's so tired she can't think straight. So when Elliot knocks on the door, looking much better than she remembers, she can't help but be delighted to see her old friend again.

Paxton Michaels’ life is going to hell. Her husband, Robert, is having an affair. Alex, her 16-year-old daughter, is rebellious and disrespectful. Suicide crosses her mind, but then she finds solace at the ocean, watching the pounding waves, screaming at a God she barely believes in, and then asks Him for help. Leaving the beach, she speeds through Southern California canyons in the rain. When her car skids off the road, down a hill, and into a tree, she sees a bright light, and moves toward it, which starts her on a life changing adventure.

"All good heroes are insane." Was that really a joke? Jonathon Hunter hasn't the time to ponder the labels people try to put on him. The war shifts from defensive to offensive. The stakes get higher, as the means to fight the aggressors finally become available. But has he risen too high? Or are the consequences of his own actions interfering with his judgement? As fast as you move, the past is faster and always catches up with you when you least expect it. This is not a game, and being a hero has its own price tag.

The author of 30 critically acclaimed works, Walter Mosley has had his novels translated into 23 languages. The Tempest Tales, an Essence Book Club Recommended Read, features Tempest Landry, a black man shot down by an over-eager cop. But that's not the end of the line for Tempest. Unwilling to accept St. Peter's judgment that he spend eternity in Hell, Tempest is sent back to Harlem - guardian angel in tow - to make things right.

Mistakes. Everyone in the New England beach town of Stony Point has made one. Some mistakes are as big as the blue depths of Long Island Sound. Others, as small as a speck of sand. Some mistakes make their presence known, like the call of the gulls feeding on the bluff. Then there are the mistakes that whisper like the slightly swaying marsh grasses. More than anyone, Jason Barlow is ready to admit his mistake. But is it too late?

Not yet 16, Bellamy Larson - or Beam, as she'd rather be called - remembers everything. Truthfully, there's a lot she'd just rather forget. Beam never knew her father and doesn't ever want to. Her little brother died while saving her. And her mother self-medicates, leaving Beam to fend for herself. She doesn't need friends. She just needs to get away. Buzz Donovan is on a journey across America. Luckily for him, he has a friend - a dog named Hush. It's because of Hush, though, that Buzz is homeless. But that's his choice, because if it weren't for Hush, he'd be dead.

How did Hank Boyd get his start in the world of archaeology? The Hank Boyd Origins will give readers a look into the years preceding the events of BLOOD & SAND, starting with THE CURSED PHARAOH. Renowned historian, Dr. William Boyd, and his rebellious son, Hank, are called in to investigate an exciting discovery after the tomb of an Egyptian monarch is located. What they find is equal parts perplexing and alarming as Hank contracts a long-dormant virus hidden within the crypt, one that is warned to be a "scourge against humanity." Now, the father and son duo, along with a close friend and ...

Almost anyone who has read or written science fiction or fantasy has been inspired by the work of Michael Moorcock. His literary flair and grand sense of adventure have been evident since his controversial first novel Behold the Man, from the stories and novels featuring his most famous character, Elric of Melniboné, to his fantasy masterpiece, Gloriana, winner of both the Campbell Memorial and World Fantasy awards for best novel.

In The Second Rule of Ten, Norbu investigates the unexplained death of his former client, Hollywood mogul Marv Rudolph, and searches for the sister, lost during World War II, of wizened Los Angeles philanthropist Julius Rosen. With two cases and an unforeseen family crisis that sends him back to Tibet, Ten finds himself on the outs with his best buddy and former partner, Bill, who is heading the official police investigation into Marv's death.

For decades, the singular and provocative paintings by Cree artist Kent Monkman have featured a recurring character—an alter ego of sorts, a shape-shifting, time-travelling elemental being named Miss Chief Eagle Testickle. Though we have glimpsed her across the years in films and on countless canvases, it is finally time to hear her story, in her own words. And, in doing so, to hear the whole history of Turtle Island anew.

Rejoice! A new messiah has come, and her name is Julie. Born to Murray Katz, the solitary (and celibate) keeper of an abandoned lighthouse on the Jersey shore, our protagonist arrives on Earth boasting supernatural abilities evocative of her divine half-brother, Jesus. As a child, she revels in her talent for walking on water, resurrecting dead crabs, and treating fireflies as luminous alphabet blocks. But after she reaches adolescence, her life becomes as challenging and ambiguous as any mortal’s.

On the occasion of the centenary of Mata Hari's execution for espionage in 1917, Paulo Coelho reconsiders her life and character in a fictional memoir. In a series of letters written from prison on the eve of her death, Mata Hari reflects on the choices she has made to always pursue her own truth - from her childhood in a small Dutch town to unhappy years as the wife of an alcoholic diplomat in Java to her calculated and self-fashioned rise to celebrity in Paris and across Europe as an exotic dancer.