Metaphysical Fiction

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.

The new audiobook from number one best-selling author Jodi Picoult, with the biggest of themes: birth, death, and responsibility. When a newborn baby dies after a routine hospital procedure, there is no doubt about who will be held responsible: the nurse who had been banned from looking after him by his father. What the nurse, her lawyer and the father of the child cannot know is how this death will irrevocably change all of their lives, in ways both expected and not.

This book was previously published as Wild Fairy Moonshine by Katharine Sadler. Meeting potential future in-laws is never easy, especially when they can sprout fangs and claws. When Frost’s mother asks him to return to the pack to prove his ex is innocent of murder, Chloe can’t let him go alone. She’s his partner, and a damn good one, even if she’s not sure she can be the mate he needs. There’s nothing ordinary about this case, and Frost’s pack and its problems may be more than his and Chloe’s fledgling relationship can handle. Romance becomes the least of their worries when ...

I've been living in a small town working for the vampires for the last six months. All I want is to save up enough to open an apothecary so I don't have to heal the neckers anymore. Of course, nothing in my life can be that simple. Two detectives show up at my door asking questions about a dead girl and trying to pin the murder on my employer. Next thing I know, I'm dodging fireballs in parking lots.

Newly elected President John Harrison Henry is fighting to save the nation from nefarious forces that are hell-bent on chaos and destruction. While a brave few fight against the might of the Global Meteor Response Council that rules the world with an iron fist, in distant lands old forces shift and new powers arise, for word has it that something is coming that is going to change everything....

It begins with Peter, a devoted man of faith, as he is called to the mission of a lifetime, one that takes him galaxies away from his wife, Bea. Peter becomes immersed in the mysteries of an astonishing new environment, overseen by an enigmatic corporation known only as USIC.

When novice monk Tenzin Dorje is told by his lama that the Red Army is invading Tibet, his country's darkest moment paradoxically gives him a sense of purpose like no other. He accepts a mission to carry two ancient, secret texts across the Himalayas to safety. Half a century later, in a paradox of similarly troubling circumstances, Matt Lester is called upon to convey his own particular wisdom as a scientist, when Matt's nanotech project is mysteriously moved from London to a research incubator in Los Angeles.

Growing up in the chaos of Menzoberranzan, one young drow elf tries to make sense of the conflict between the traditions he must serve and the protestations of his own conscience. To lay bare the injustices he sees and to strengthen his own resolve to follow the ethical call of his heart, Drizzt Do'Urden is both an agent of action and self-reflection.

In this story, a wealthy Indian Brahmin casts off a life of privilege to seek spiritual fulfillment. Hesse synthesizes disparate philosophies—Eastern religions, Jungian archetypes, Western individualism—into a unique vision of life as expressed through one man's search for meaning. Herman Hesse's classic novel has delighted, inspired, and influenced generations of listeners, writers, and thinkers.

A woman in her 30s begins to question the routine and predictability of her days. In everybody's eyes, she has a perfect life: happy marriage, children, and a career. Yet what she feels is an enormous apathy. All that changes when she encounters a successful politician who had, years earlier, been her high school boyfriend. As she rediscovers the passion missing from her life, she will face a life-altering choice.

Following the tragic death of his sister, 1-year-old Dill's life changes forever. In an attempt to escape their grief, Dill and his parents move to his grandmother's remote cottage in the countryside. Isolated from his family, who are struggling to come to terms with their loss, Dill spends his time exploring the wild landscape with his trusty spaniel, Bramble. He soon learns that life in his new home, the Dip-n-Dells, is anything but lonely.

Clockmaker is quite content making timepieces in his little cottage within the world of Everpath, until a terrible shadow from the forest begins to threaten him. Leaving all that he knows behind, Clockmaker escapes with the Road-Men so he can find a new home, far from the cruel shadow that haunts him. Instead, he discovers that the world is not at all what it seems, and he embarks upon a strange adventure beyond his wildest expectations.

Meanwhile, Gillan McArdle’s academic career is ending because of one stupid lapse of judgement. Offered a short-term contract, he lands on the Hebridean island of Harris to investigate obscure animal bones. Quickly dismissing the unicorn skull as a thinly disguised fake, he can’t deny there’s something unusual about these bones. Baited by rumors of a majestic tusked horse roaming the uplands, Gill begins to suspect someone is manipulating him. As he gradually unravels the mystery of the skull, he grasps a disturbing conclusion: If this creature does exist, the evidence suggests it’s a killer.

"I very much need to be dead." These are the chilling words left behind by a man who had everything to live for - but took his own life. In the aftermath, his widow, Jane Hawk, does what all her grief, fear, and fury demand: find the truth, no matter what. People of talent and accomplishment, people admired and happy and sound of mind, have been committing suicide in surprising numbers. When Jane seeks to learn why, she becomes the most-wanted fugitive in America. Her powerful enemies are protecting a secret so important - so terrifying - that they will exterminate anyone in their way.

In 2074, all Alex Sheppard wanted was to explore the cosmos. But instead, he got Disgardium—a game realm more dangerous than space's darkest corners.

Hailed by Thomas Pynchon as "graceful, dark, authentic, and funny," George Saunders gives us, in his inventive and beloved voice, this best-selling collection of stories set against a warped, hilarious, and terrifyingly recognizable American landscape.

"Highly recommended!" — The Prairies Book Review. Young runaway Mig isn't like the other children. When Mary Ellen catches him stealing eggs from her henhouse, she decides to help him hide from his pursuers. Little does she know that her simple act of kindness will change the Universe forever.

Doing the right thing can land you in a whole heap of trouble, or so Natalie Swift discovers on her Florence vacation. When she interferes with the soul collection of a child, she inadvertently opens the gates to Heaven and Hell and finds herself in the midst of a struggle between good and evil that she could never have foreseen. Now she is a target for those from the dark side, it seems the only way for her to survive is to form an alliance with the man she has been trying to avoid since everything went so horribly wrong. Drawn in is a thrilling and unsettling adventure for readers with a ...

In 1986, twenty-year-old Syvert Løyning returns from the military to his mother’s home in southern Norway. One evening, his dead father comes to him in a dream. Realizing that he doesn’t really know who his father was, Syvert begins to investigate his life and finds clues pointing to the Soviet Union. What he learns changes his past and undermines the entire notion of who he is. But when his mother becomes ill, and he must care for his little brother, Joar, on his own, he no longer has time or space for lofty speculations.

For Dr. Siena Dupont and her ambitious team, the Alpenglow glacier expedition is a career-defining opportunity. But 30 miles into the desolate Deadswitch Wilderness, they discover a missing hiker dangling from a tree, and their satellite phone fails to call out.