Lucio Seguila lives on a tiny island in the middle of the Rio Grande, which he claims is independent from both the United States and Mexico - convenient for a coyote guiding illegal immigrants across the border. He rules this small kingdom, Republica Libre de Seguilandia, in a firm but generous patriarchal style, sitting on his La-Z-Boy and enjoying the devotion of his three daughters, the companionship of his grandson, and a reluctant partnership in the criminal forays of his amoral son-in-law. Yet, Seguila and his family cannot escape the rush of the Rio Grande and the unusual gift it brings them. In the wake of an unexpected flash flood, Simon Tucker, an American teenager who nearly drowns while on a marijuana border run, washes up on the shores of Seguilandia. Severely battered during the violent storm, Simon awakes to find that he has not only lost his memory but must fulfill the various contradictory expectations of his newfound family. Considered an angel, a long-anticipated boyfriend, and a high-stakes kidnap victim, the confused youth steals their serenity, the love of the youngest daughter, and eventually the life of the family patriarch. But even as the family is destroyed, we discover the seeds of its rebirth in a future that combines the swirling cultures that have disastrously collided.

Entries from the long-lost journal of Ven, a Nain youth, relate his adventures as he faces pirates and is rescued by a mermaid and a kindly sea captain who sends Ven to an inn, where he encounters fairies, ghosts, and other strange boarders.

A normal walk to school takes a fantastical turn when Damien, Landon, and Elena are drawn to a magical mirror in a local park! When a message in the glass transforms into a portal, they instantly find themselves in the world of Kendryll, where they discover that they are part of an ancient prophecy that foretold the restoration of the Floating Islands. Kendryll is a place with a deep history and exciting future, but to reach that future, the three kids need to defeat the Evil King and his army of magical creatures. To aid them, some special animals who believe in the ancient prophecy rise up, even at the risk of their lives. Guiding them all is the Great Creator, the White Wizard, who makes the ultimate sacrifice for his beloved creation. In this first book of a seven-part series, The Land Beyond the Mirror, Jason Thomassen has crafted an engaging story that will not only entertain readers but will challenge them to consider their own lives—in this world and the next.

After her mother's mysterious death, a young woman is summoned to the floating city of Sky in order to claim a royal inheritance she never knew existed in the first book in this award-winning fantasy trilogy from the NYT bestselling author of The Fifth Season. Yeine Darr is an outcast from the barbarian north. But when her mother dies under mysterious circumstances, she is summoned to the majestic city of Sky. There, to her shock, Yeine is named an heiress to the king. But the throne of the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is not easily won, and Yeine is thrust into a vicious power struggle with cousins she never knew she had. As she fights for her life, she draws ever closer to the secrets of her mother's death and her family's bloody history. With the fate of the world hanging in the balance, Yeine will learn how perilous it can be when love and hate -- and gods and mortals -- are bound inseparably together.

From the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature and author of the Booker Prize–winning novel The Remains of the Day In the face of the misery in his homeland, the artist Masuji Ono was unwilling to devote his art solely to the celebration of physical beauty. Instead, he put his work in the service of the imperialist movement that led Japan into World War II. Now, as the mature Ono struggles through the aftermath of that war, his memories of his youth and of the "floating world"—the nocturnal world of pleasure, entertainment, and drink—offer him both escape and redemption, even as they punish him for betraying his early promise. Indicted by society for its defeat and reviled for his past aesthetics, he relives the passage through his personal history that makes him both a hero and a coward but, above all, a human being.

Floating Islands in science, history, the arts and any number of sightings elsewhere

The adventures of two teenaged cousins who live in a place called the Floating Islands, one of whom is studying to become a mage and the other one of the legendary island flyers.

Venice, 1468. Sosia Simeon, a free-spirited sensualist, is the lover of many men in the fabled city, though married to one she despises. On the edge of the Grand Canal, Wendelin von Speyer sets up the first printing press in Venice and looks for the book that will make his fortune. When he tempts fate by publishing Catullus, the poet whose desperate and unrequited love inspired the most tender and erotic poems of antiquity, a scandal is set in motion that will change all their lives forever.

The best-selling author of Gang Leader for a Day takes his next sociological study to Manhattan, where he travels through the underground economy utilized by prostitutes, madams, drug dealers, immigrants, hedge fund traders, hipster artists and nannies.