Fantasy Realism

Longlisted for the National Book Award Longlisted for the 2024 National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism Shortlisted for the 2025 Housatonic Book Award for Nonfiction Shortlisted for the Reading the West Book Award in Memoir A brilliant, singular collection of essays that looks to music...

Once dubbed "The Deadliest Man Alive", Jarrod Torrealday is a former Olympic saber hopeful and medieval-weapons expert banned from competition for killing another fencer in a duel. Despondent, volatile, alcoholic, yet still one of the greatest swordsmen alive, he now works for third-rate fantasy films as a technical consultant and stuntman. When Jarrod accepts the gig of a lifetime from a sorcerer looking for a hero, he finds himself facing an invading army in a world inhabited by creatures from Earth's mythical past.

Having a superpower is ordinary. Your power determines your entire life. But 17-year-old Ugene is powerless. He can’t read minds or enhance his strength. He can’t manipulate natural matter or heal injuries. Determined to find out why he is different, Ugene submits himself as a test subject at Paragon. But nothing is as it seems. All exits from the testing floor are sealed. Subjects endure brutal and sometimes deadly injuries. No amount of power can save them.

Once upon a time, there was a forgotten era of magic and monster. But the remnants—and all memory—of the old world have been replaced by the sane, the scientific, and the rational. But sometimes the magical past isn’t content to stay past. That’s where Jack Damian comes in. It’s his joy to protect our present from the supernatural remnants of an earlier time, a different history. It’s his job to make the past safe. Jack is called to the Tate Museum, where dozens of people have disappeared beneath the surface of a painting.

The Dragons of Serai Series continues in another gripping, sexy tale that crosses worlds. Get transported to Serai, a world populated by exciting fantasy races and ruled by Dragons searching for their eternal mates. My life wasn't going anywhere, but it was still my own. Until the day a light appeared on a Hawaiian beach and swallowed me whole. It spat me out into a deadly underwater world full of monsters and magic. But I was saved from the monsters by the greatest monster of all—a Sea Dragon. A monster who is also a man. A king, no less. And having saved my life, he claimed it as his. ...

A divorced librarian. A magical bookshop where every book is a portal. A Scottish stone gargoyle on the roof who comes alive at sunset. When forty-six-year-old librarian Diane Winters signs her divorce papers, she expects wine with friends. Not inheriting a magical bookshop where each book is a portal to another world. But that's exactly what she gets. Between the Lines isn't just a bookshop. It's a gateway between dimensions, and Diane's the new Keeper. Too bad the job comes with powers that surge with every hot flash, a mysterious enemy stealing books from all realities, a friend squad ...

Welcome to Newford: to the music clubs, the waterfront, and the alleyways where ancient myths and magic spill into the modern world. Gemmins live in abandoned cars and skells traverse the tunnels below, while mermaids swim in the gray harbor waters and fill the cold night with their song. Come meet Jilly, painting wonders in the rough city streets; and Geordie, playing fiddle while he dreams of a ghost; and the Angel of Grasso Street gathering the fey and the wild and the poor and the lost.

Living in a peaceful, prosperous African-American neighborhood in Los Angeles, Mack Street is a mystery child who has somehow found a home. Discovered abandoned in an overgrown park, raised by a blunt-speaking single woman, Mack comes and goes from family to family, a boy who is surrounded by boisterous characters and yet deeply alone.

In the wake of the tragedy, 17-year-old Franny found solace in a group of friends whose experiences mirrored her own. The group calls themselves The Ordinary, and they spend their free time investigating local ghost stories and legends, filming their exploits. It's silly, it's fun, and it keeps them from dwelling on the sadness that surrounds them. Until one evening, when the strange and dangerous thing they film isn't fiction - it's a bright light, something massive hurtling toward them from the sky. And when it crashes and the teens go to investigate...everything changes.

Death walks beside me… and desire isn’t far behind. Two weeks ago, I was hired by the Dragon Prince of Zaru to help his brother, the King, with a problem no one else could solve—their dead won’t stay buried. As a necromancer, I can lay the restless to rest and uncover what’s driving them to rise. As a Raltven, I’m even better at it. Good enough to be summoned across the sea. But the dead aren’t my only complication. From the moment I met Prince Racmar, the pull between us was instant—and on the journey to Zaru, it only grew stronger. Now it’s on the verge of combustion, ...

Come enjoy this action-packed roller-coaster ride in Jina S. Bazzar’s Shadow Walker series, now compiled into a single volume. From a shattered world ruled by mage Houses to a deadly game of survival, follow Melaina as she fights against impossible odds. Faced with blackmail, hunted by ruthless adversaries, and torn between loyalties, she must navigate a treacherous path to protect her loved ones. For fans of Shannon Mayer, Kelly St. Clare, Jennifer Estep, K. M. Shea, Lindsay Buroker, and many more!

The future has amazing technology. Our alien allies have magic. Together, we are building a training system to teach the best of humanity to go to the stars. But the training is monumentally expensive. Stephanie Morgana is a genius, she just doesn't know it. The Artificial Intelligence which runs the Virtual World is charged with testing Stephanie, a task it has never performed before. The Earth and their allies may never be the same again.

"A gorgeous, aching love letter to stories, storytellers, and the doors they lead us through...absolutely enchanting." —Christina Henry, bestselling author of Alice and Lost Boys A young woman in the early 1900s embarks on a fantastical journey of self-discovery after finding a mysterious book...

Alec began his 18th birthday with the temple monks. By day's end, he discovers he possesses magical abilities. Except his magic is unique. He doesn't require grimoires and incantations to cast spells. Alec's magic is entirely natural. He can, somehow, absorb the elements from objects and manipulate them according to his will. This power is incredible, but difficult to master. If he's going to learn how to use his natural magic, it'll take the tutelage of Archmage Diamondspear, one of the most adept magic users in the kingdom.

Dr. Joselyn Vasquez studies fertility for a living; she never expected to become the subject. But when she ventures into Verdani breeding grounds, she encounters Thaxon - a Wild Guardian whose massive frame and primal intensity awaken needs she didn't know she had. He's ancient, powerful, and built for one purpose: ensuring the continuation of his species. And he's chosen her to help him do it. Now her body is synchronizing with alien rhythms. Her needs are overwhelming. And her destiny is growing inside her, one seed at a time. Fated mates. Breeding instincts. One claiming that plants the ...

Three-time Hugo Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author N.K. Jemisin crafts her most incredible novel yet, a "glorious" story of culture, identity, magic, and myths in contemporary New York City. In Manhattan, a young grad student gets off the train and realizes he doesn't remember...

A Goodreads Editors’ Pick | A Boston Globe Best Book of the Summer | A Time and LitHub Most Anticipated Book of the Year | A People Most Anticipated Summer Read A spellbinding story collection from Booker Prize finalist Ruth Ozeki, about the lives we almost lived, the people we can’t quite...

The Castle Point Witch Series weaves the enchanting tale of Alexandra Heale, a hypnotherapist and closeted witch. With her friends they navigate the challenges of balancing everyday life with their extraordinary abilities in Castle Point. The series kicks off with Alexandra coming to terms with her witch heritage, learning to harness her powers with the help of her ghost mentor, Waldo Cress, and her familiar, a mischievous cat named Blackjack. Each book introduces a new supernatural mystery or threat, from ancient curses and mysterious artifacts to magical misadventures which Alexandra and ...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A woman risks everything to end her family’s centuries-old curse, solve her mother’s disappearance, and find love in this mesmerizing novel from the author of Spells for Forgetting. “Come for the fresh twist on time travel; stay for the love story.”—Good...

"[Narrator Julia] Whelan's performance is unforgettable in this darkly romantic fantasy about one young woman cursed always to be forgotten...Her depiction of the darkness is smooth with a low cadence, capturing listeners' attention and their heart strings." –Booklist In the vein of The Time...