To study magic at the University, Siobhan sacrificed her name. She sacrificed her body, and her past. Magically disguised as a boy named Sebastien, she is learning wondrous secrets of the thaumaturgic sciences. As Sebastien, she mingles with the young nobles who will one day rule their country. But danger is closer than ever, and she cannot escape her past. The coppers investigating the theft of Siobhan's priceless transformation artifact have given her a new name. The Raven Queen. As Siobhan does favors for the gang that loaned her the University tuition, the Raven Queen's mystique only grows. And keeps growing... ...Snowballing out of control until Siobhan's other identity takes on a life of its own, a fear-inducing bogeyman well beyond the truth of her real capabilities. With the whole city out to get her and trouble hounding both sides of her double life, how will Siobhan ever survive to become the world's most powerful sorcerer?

Of Blood and Fire is a classic Epic Fantasy adventure. It takes all the familiar fantasy tropes - elves, dwarves, giants, and dragons - and adds a fresh, contemporary twist.

While working on a project translating letters from sixteenth-century Prague, high school senior Nora Kane discovers her best friend murdered with her boyfriend the apparent killer and is caught up in a dangerous web of secret societies and shadowy conspirators, all searching for a mysterious ancient device purported to allow direct communication with God.

In a world where magic is a science, Siobhan is a genius. But even geniuses need schooling. Siobhan has just been banned from the country's only magical university. As the unwitting accomplice to the theft of a priceless magical artifact, she has suddenly become a wanted criminal. There are fates worse than death, and if caught, she will face them. Unwilling to give up on her dream of becoming the world's most powerful sorcerer, she resolves to do whatever it takes to change her fate. Even if it means magically disguising herself as a man and indebting herself to a gang of criminals to pay for University tuition. With the coppers after her, the pressure of trying to keep her spot in the devilishly competitive magic classes, and the gang calling in favors to repay her debts, Siobhan will need every drop of magic she can channel. Search terms: magepunk, progression fantasy, hard fantasy, unique magic system, realistic magic system, magic university, academy fantasy, magic lessons, gender bender, gender switch, gaslamp, spellcasting, sorcerers, witches, scp, alternate universe fantasy, alternate world fantasy, historical fantasy, magical creatures

Belladonna Johnson and Steve discover a girl who has been waiting two thousand years for someone to rescue her, and they find themselves involved with Old Magic and people and spirits unknown to even the mighty Queen of the Abyss. This time they are on their own, and to make things even more complicated, it's Halloween, the one time of year when ghosts can go wherever they want.

The Grammy- and Academy Award- nominated singer-songwriter's haunting, lyrical memoir, sharing the story of an unthinkable act of violence and ultimate healing through art Mobile, Alabama, 1986. A fourteen-year-old girl is awakened by the unmistakable sound of gunfire. On the front lawn, her father has shot and killed her mother before turning the gun on himself. Allison Moorer would grow up to be an award-winning musician, with her songs likened to "a Southern accent: eight miles an hour, deliberate, and very dangerous to underestimate" (Rolling Stone). But that moment, which forever altered her own life and that of her older sister, Shelby, has never been far from her thoughts. Now, in her journey to understand the unthinkable, to parse the unknowable, Allison uses her lyrical storytelling powers to lay bare the memories and impressions that make a family, and that tear a family apart. Blood delves into the meaning of inheritance and destiny, shame and trauma -- and how it is possible to carve out a safe place in the world despite it all. With a foreword by Allison's sister, Grammy winner Shelby Lynne, Blood reads like an intimate journal: vivid, haunting, and ultimately life-affirming.

Winter Mulcahy is a wizard physician who has found herself holding the political reins of a city falling apart around her ears. She is exhausted, in over her head, and has turned to stimulants just to get by. Two sidhe lords come into her life telling her that a faerie prince has been kidnapped and they need her help to get him back.

This acclaimed post-apocalyptic novel of hope and terror from an award-winning author "pairs well with 1984 or The Handmaid's Tale" and includes a foreword by N. K. Jemisin (John Green, New York Times). When global climate change and economic crises lead to social chaos in the early 2020s, California becomes full of dangers, from pervasive water shortage to masses of vagabonds who will do anything to live to see another day. Fifteen-year-old Lauren Olamina lives inside a gated community with her preacher father, family, and neighbors, sheltered from the surrounding anarchy. In a society where any vulnerability is a risk, she suffers from hyperempathy, a debilitating sensitivity to others' emotions. Precocious and clear-eyed, Lauren must make her voice heard in order to protect her loved ones from the imminent disasters her small community stubbornly ignores. But what begins as a fight for survival soon leads to something much more: the birth of a new faith . . . and a startling vision of human destiny.

Ruthless dragon king Ladon Ormarr must keep his throne—and his people—safe from the cruel High King at all costs. With war on the horizon, he’ll need a miracle to protect his clan. Luckily, the fates have dropped the irresistible Skylar Amon right into his lap. Or so he thought. Because the last thing this phoenix wants is him. A phoenix mate is the ticket to securing his throne, but this fiery Amon sister detests Ladon, doesn’t stick to protocols, and regularly offends his warriors and advisers. Skylar also has no intention of sticking around, nor does she believe in the whole destined-mates thing. But if it means taking out the High King who murdered her parents, she'll put up with the too-sexy-for-her-sanity Ladon...temporarily. Their mating bond may make them want to tear off their clothes, but outside the bedroom...well, Ladon is positive the fates hate him. Just as he starts to win over the mercurial phoenix, everything goes to hell when the High King makes his final move. And Ladon will burn down the world to keep the mate he is unwilling to live without. Each book in the Inferno Rising series is STANDALONE: * The Rogue King * The Blood King * The Warrior King * The Cursed King

A vivid portrayal of the Civil War. Johnny, fourteen, convinces his mother to let him join a wagon train carrying food to Confederate soldiers. He has been brought up to believe that all blacks are stupid; thus, when captured by a black Union soldier who insists that Johnny teach him to read, he deliberately tricks him. The boy is surprised the soldier saves him from imprisonment and their relationship grows throughout the book.