Fans of Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book will embrace this darkly funny novel! Crow isn't like the other kids. He stinks. He’s got maggots. His body parts fall off at inopportune moments. (His mom always sews them back on, though.) And he hasn’t been able to sleep in years. Not since waking up from death. But worse than the maggots is how lonely Crow feels. When Melody Plympton moves in next door, Crow can’t resist the chance to finally make a friend. With Melody around he may even have a shot at getting his life back from the mysterious wish-granting creature living in the park. But first there are tests to pass. And it will mean risking the only friend he’s had in years. Debut author Laurel Gale’s story about friendship fulfilled may be the most moving—and most macabre—yet. Praise for Dead Boy “A stinky, creepy tale for anyone who’s ever felt like an outsider.” —Kirkus Reviews “Gale takes readers on a dark and surprisingly funny journey. . . . A great recommendation to middle grade fans of dark humor.” —School Library Journal

In the desert town of Richland, Washington, there stands a giant sycamore tree. Horribly mutated by nuclear waste, it feeds on the life energy of boys that it snags with its living roots. And when Teddy Matthews moves to town, the tree trains its sights on its next victim. From the start, Teddy knows something is very wrong with Richland-every kid he meets disappears before his eyes. A trip to the cemetery confirms that these boys are actually dead and trying to lure him to the tree. But that knowledge is no help when Teddy is swept into the tree's world, a dark version of Richland from which there is no escape . . .

Where We See Tragedy, God Sees Possibility . . . Few American epics of tragedy, intrigue, friendship, and faith will entertain and challenge the soul like the narrative inspired by the events in the real life of David Ring--a boy literally born dead who survives with sobering consequences. Living with the harsh realities of cerebral palsy, Ring faces impossible odds yet stumbles into an improbable life of inspiration and influence in the small, unassuming town of Liberty, Missouri, in the 1960s. As a teenage boy, Ring finds himself tragically orphaned and being shuffled about to various homes. Along this journey, he faces secret, unspeakable atrocities that eventually plunge him into the depths of depression and attempted suicide. But amid the harsh troubles of life, he encounters another boy his age named David, the son of a local pastor. Their unlikely friendship begins on the rocks, but eventually develops into something extraordinary and unique that alters the trajectory of both of their lives--and the whole town of Liberty--forever.

A decade dead, Jacob Campbell is a preservationist, providing a kind of taxidermy to keep his clients looking lifelike for as long as the forces of entropy will allow. But in the Land of the Dead, where the currency is time itself and there is little for corpses to do but drink, thieve, and gamble eternity away, Jacob abandons his home and his fortune for an opportunity to meet the man who cheated the rules of life and death entirely. According to legend, the Living Man is the only adventurer to ever cross into the underworld without dying first. It's rumored he met his end somewhere in the labyrinth of pubs beneath Dead City's streets, disappearing without a trace. Now Jacob's vow to find the Living Man and follow him back to the land of the living sends him on a perilous journey through an underworld where the only certainty is decay. Accompanying him are the boy Remington, an innocent with mysterious powers over the bones of the dead, and the hanged man Leopold l'Eclair, a flamboyant rogue whose criminal ambitions spark the undesired attention of the shadowy ruler known as the Magnate. An ambitious debut that mingles the fantastic with the philosophical, Dead Boys twists the well-worn epic quest into a compelling, one-of-a-kind work of weird fiction that transcends genre, recalling the novels of China Miéville and Neil Gaiman.

'If they ever come here,' his father had warned, 'drop everything. Just run and hide!' And now they were here. God's Freedom Army or whatever their name was. Bringers of blood and suffering. Rebels! Killers! Every one of them. Hundreds of thousands of children are abducted from their homes and used as boy soldiers. This is the story of one them. 12-year-old Sam is ripped from his village in Uganda and forced to march with rebel soldiers to their training camp in southern Sudan. A weapon is thrust into his innocent young hands and his life becomes that of enemies and battles, violence and death, as he's turned into a soldier. With no escape, danger is around every corner, the threat of death is everywhere. But there are ways to survive. Sam becomes friends with a fellow boy soldier and together their dreams of escape become a strength. Together, they are ready to fight.

These hard-hitting, deeply felt stories follow straight arrows and outlaws, have-it-alls and outcasts, as they take stock of their lives and missteps and struggle to rise above their turbulent pasts. A salesman re-examines his tenuous relationship with his sister after she is brutally attacked. A house painter plans a new life for his family as he plots his last bank robbery. A drifter gets a chance at love when he delivers news of a barfly's death to the man's estranged daughter. A dissatisfied yuppie is oddly envious of his ex-con brother as they celebrate their first Christmas together. Set in a Los Angeles depicted with aching clarity, Lange's stories are gritty, and his characters often less than perfect. Beneath their macho bravado, however, they are full of heart and heartbreak.

The Wild Boys is a futuristic tale of global warfare in which a guerrilla gang of boys dedicated to freedom battles the organized armies of repressive police states. Making full use of his inimitable humor, wild imagination, and style, Burroughs creates a world that is as terrifying as it is fascinating.

Fans of Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book will embrace this darkly funny novel! Crow isn't like the other kids. He stinks. He’s got maggots. His body parts fall off at inopportune moments. (His mom always sews them back on, though.) And he hasn’t been able to sleep in years. Not since waking up from death. But worse than the maggots is how lonely Crow feels. When Melody Plympton moves in next door, Crow can’t resist the chance to finally make a friend. With Melody around he may even have a shot at getting his life back from the mysterious wish-granting creature living in the park. But first there are tests to pass. And it will mean risking the only friend he’s had in years. Debut author Laurel Gale’s story about friendship fulfilled may be the most moving—and most macabre—yet. Praise for Dead Boy “A stinky, creepy tale for anyone who’s ever felt like an outsider.” —Kirkus Reviews “Gale takes readers on a dark and surprisingly funny journey. . . . A great recommendation to middle grade fans of dark humor.” —School Library Journal

Dead Boy’s Game and The Broken Vow is the first book of Magical Rome Universe. Late at night in Magical Rome, an elderly druid plunges two baby boys into a cauldron bubbling with a mysterious potion. One boy is alive; the other, dead. Instantly, a spectacular magic begins inside the cauldron — life diffuses from the living boy to the dead. Thirty-seven years pass … and the two boys, oblivious of their magical past, grow up believing that their beloved Rome will outlive time itself. But when the ancient powers commanding their bygone adventure come calling, carnage rains upon the great city. And our heroes’ lives intertwine once again. Will the two men defend the city of their birth or hurl Rome into a never-ending abyss? Thirty-seven years after a feat of impossible magic, a deadly game begins in Magical Rome.

'Haunting' Independent 'A powerful story of loss, malice and deception' Ann Cleeves 'A splendidly macabre thriller' Andrew Taylor 1920. Scotland Yard detective DI Albert Lincoln is still reeling from the disturbing events of the previous year when he's called away from London to a new case in the North West of England. Before the War he led the unsuccessful investigation into the murder of little Jimmy Rudyard in the village of Mabley Ridge. Now a woman has been murdered there and another child is missing, the sole witness being a traumatised boy who lives in a cemetery lodge. Albert is determined that this time him he will find the truth . . . and the missing child. When Albert delves into the lives of the village residents he uncovers shocking secrets and obsessions. Then, as more bodies are discovered, he realises that his young witness from the cemetery lodge is in grave danger, from somebody he calls 'the Shadow Man'. As Albert discovers more about the victims he finds information that might bring him a step closer not only to Jimmy's killer but to solving a mystery of his own: the whereabouts of his lost son. The second historical thriller in the Albert Lincoln series by award-winning crime writer Kate Ellis. An atmospheric, spellbinding mystery set in the aftermath of the Great War. What readers are saying about The Boy Who Lived with the Dead: 'Outstanding' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars 'A fantastic read whichkept me guessing right until the last few pages' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars 'Superb!' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars 'Compulsivereading . . . very cleverly constructed withplenty of twists' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars 'Hard to put the book down' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars '[Kate Ellis] must be a genius' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars 'Excellent' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars