Fiction

In April 1994, Zahara watched her twin sister, Annica, get hustled into a stranger's car and disappear--only to return to a world where no one remembers Annica ever existed. Not her mother. Not the police. Now, as the world braces for the looming Y2K crisis, Zahara finds evidence that proves her sister was real. Determined to uncover the truth, she hires a private investigator and begins digging into her family's shadowed past. When the investigation leads to two charismatic men who once served with her father in Vietnam, Zahara realizes she and her sister may be pawns in a dangerous power struggle. Zahara learns her reunion with Annica will come at a price, one with unthinkable implications.

Verdella "Dell" Rodgers is at the top of her game. She's a chef at San Francisco's hottest restaurant and on the cusp of marrying the mayor's son in the social event of the season. Then the week before her wedding she wakes up and find herself dead. Cole, a bumbling clerk in Afterlife Administration, has confused Dell for a 95-year-old woman with the same name, reaping the wrong soul. When he tries to fix his mistake, their worlds collide in life--and death--changing ways. Now in the city as a ghost only visible to Cole, Dell is frantic to get back to her life but soon learns some awkward facts, particularly when it comes to her fiancé and his high-profile family. And Cole has no memory of who he was before working for the Afterlife Administration. With time running out, they race to uncover Cole's past and remedy Dell's future, they realize the mistake that brought them together might just be the twist of fate she didn't know she needed.

Death pays well for Olive Hunt, a crime scene cleaner who channels her traumas into erasing the suffering of others. After nearly ten years, she's seen it all. Nothing rattles her anymore. Until now. Two back-to-back suicides, one at a seedy motel, the other a fancy Atlanta hotel. Apparently no connection, except Olive finds the same strange item at each scene. Then a third body appears. Olive knows these aren't suicides, they're murders staged to perfection. Then a vase of blood red blooms on her doorstep with an anonymous note: "Thank you." A serial killer is been leaving breadcrumbs for her. A killer who knows she'll clean up after him. A killer who wants her to follow. And follow she must, no matter how terrifying the trail becomes.

Jesuit priest Avelyn Brocken came from a mining family in Hreodwater, an isolated salt town in England. At 16, after a mining disaster killed his family, he left. When a fellow priest is miraculously healed only to then be turned to salt after a visit to Hreodwater, Avelyn is sent to investigate. The town's doctor, Jericho, tells him that there have been more strange cures, and he thinks people are in danger from something in the mine that they call "salt light." And strange happenings are occuring at mines around the world. At an archaeological dig on the Dead Sea, electrical devices froth salt, while at a huge salt works in Poland, communication is lost. As salt light devastates cities around the world, Avelyn must decide what to believe--and whether his faith is strong enough to withstand an apocalypse.

Cyprin grows perfect apples. But sick of living in a megacity where she's never alone, she dreams of a job in the Divine Gardens, tending to the plants overseen by God. The way in is winning an annual flower pageant, which has been dominated by the Divine Gardens' head gardener for five years running. When Cyprin plays dirty and wins, she jumps headfirst into the gardens, and her rivalry with the head gardener. Pranks, backstabbing, and a lot of heated glaring unite them, until they're both drawn into a plot to take down God. As they spiral through layers of the city's history and a rebel group, Cyprin and her rival will find they understand each other like no one else does.

Gwen Wexloff might be able to see the future, but not when it's useful. Which means--unlike most oracles--she's spent her life predicting for humans instead of power brokers. After a clutch of zombies escapes from their compound, Gwen experiences her first genuinely world-altering vision. Now she needs help. But that help comes from Hugh Blacke, the same demon who watched her bomb her oracle verification test decades ago. The two of them will need to work together to unravel the deadly conspiracy behind the zombie breach, despite their past and their secrets. But the clock is ticking, and with the fate of humanity at stake, Gwen and Hugh will have to decide how much they're willing to risk for a future that might prove very short indeed.

Steamy, seedy, swampy south-central Florida once again serves as the backdrop for the duo of tattooed, trash-talking Maggie Moore and laconic Detective Silas Gabriel Jackson, genius detective. Now operating their own agency and using their skills in forensic semiotics, and good old-fashioned observation, the pair decode clues embedded in words and symbols to uncover a sadistic criminal who preys upon unsuspecting men. The troubled and painful pasts of them both come into play as they try to track down bad guys and old friends, figuring out how to trust, and who to love.

Is home the place where we are born? Or is it the place where we die? These questions haunt Magnolia, a Haitian American real estate agent in Miami. Hearing gunfire at a shopping mall, she takes shelter in a restaurant, cowering with fellow shoppers and diners. Safely home, she keeps this experience from everyone. But now she sees everything more clearly: her bond with her daughter Z︠o︡; her relationship with Z︠o︡'s father; her troubled mother's mental health; her father's affair resulting in a child. Magnolia must come to terms with the losses that day, and nearly every day by her parents and sibling in Haiti. Can love protect us? Does optimism or fear win? These questions involve high-stakes choices, and Magnolia is a narrator flitting and shimmering between different worlds.

Jemma can't stop herself from thinking about murdering her stepmother, Marianne Upton. She decides to confess before she snaps and does the unthinkable. But while Jemma is still giving her statement, a call comes in: Marianne has just been found stabbed to death, killed in exactly the way Jemma described. The woman desperate to prevent a murder has an unshakeable alibi--as well as a disturbingly accurate description of the crime she couldn't have committed. Is Jemma an innocent bystander? Or a brilliant, cold-blooded killer who planned everything down to the minute?

Decades ago, Tess Wynne was attacked and at the brink of death. Desperate, she vowed she would do anything to live. The devil heard her and offered a bargain: she would be ageless, but tethered to the land at the edge of Burrsville in Appalachia. She turned her new home into a wildlife sanctuary, weaving spells to keep it safe. But when Tess saves a strange fawn, her protection of it puts her at odds with Burrsville's residents. Then a new pastor arrives, and he begins to chip away at the little trust she's gained. The sanctuary is now threatened, and Tess's world is beginning to fray. The devil, returns, offering another bargain, and Tess is caught between trusting her magic, or surrendering to his will.

Spring of 1985. Emil Wilson's father, Donald, invites his coworker Jim and his two Pomeranians, Henny and Penny, to move into his family's home. What he doesn't tell his family is that Jim has AIDS. Months before Rock Hudson's diagnosis ushered in a new era of awareness for the crisis, AIDS is a news story that happens in faraway places, and Jim's presence in the house turns this small-town Oregon family upside down. As Annemarie's fear and resentment grows, resulting in fights with the gentle and stubborn Donald, so too does Lou's unlikely friendship with Jim and the dogs, a friendship that buoys Jim through his illness, and is a catalyst for Lou to pursue her truest self in the world. The Nightingales is a portrait of an imperfect family grappling with extraordinary circumstances, and an example of how confronting the unknown with compassion is the first step to building a better world.

Berry has it figured out, juggling her vice principal role while raising her sixteen-year-old autistic son, Leo. When a promotion opportunity conflicts with her family's needs, she must confront whether she's been fighting the wrong battles all along. And college student McKenna is drowning, caught between caring for her grandmother with dementia, losing her swimming scholarship, and facing homelessness. Her only lifeline is teaching swim lessons to children with autism, including Leo. As the two women's paths converge in the most unexpected way, they discover that sometimes the people who need saving the most are the ones who end up saving you.

Venice, Italy, 1800's. The only survivor on a ship, Mercy disembarks in Italy, carrying two precious possessions: the first-ever daguerreotype camera and a letter from a dead slave holder. It takes her to Umberto, an Anatomist, and in his basement, she learns he hired the man who formally owned her to capture images of dissected corpses. Now he's dead, Mercy takes up the position. Then Umberto takes her to the home of the Contessa, and charmed by Mercy, she invites the young woman to stay for the season to take pictures. Mercy finds this life of freedom heady, becoming a photographer and guest in a house of aristocratic pleasure, bonding with friendly and strange individuals. But something stalks the canals of the city, biting at her heels. The death that rode the waves with her now surrounds her in this strange place. She finds herself grappling with the fear that what endangers her friends is herself.

An archaeologist travels to a distant planet to study the mysterious Mulai, descendants of a forgotten human space mission who have lived in isolation from Earth for centuries. Their long separation has transformed nearly every aspect of their society, including their language, food, writing, reproduction, burial practices, and understanding of gender. As the archaeologist attempts to document and make sense of their unfamiliar world, he confronts difficult questions about translation, meaning, cultural change, identity, and the fragility of civilization.

Thought-provoking, heartbreaking, and wonderous are some of the many ways the tales in this collection will engage readers, from the titular story about a painter who fears she’s failing as an artist to the twelve other examples of captivating science fiction. Ken Liu continues to delight and challenge your perceptions as one of the most accomplished and lauded American short story writers of our time.

1941, London. When DCI Lilian Wyles finds a young woman murdered at King's Cross Station, she needs the help of someone she can trust, but Richard Davidson, her former Scotland Yard partner, has joined MI5 and is busy tracking black market routes outside of London, so she is on her own. Having met the four queens of crime during a murder investigation two years earlier, DCI Wyles has kept in touch. But Agatha, Dorothy, Margery, and Ngaio are all involved in the war effort and have problems of their own. Agatha is volunteering at the University Hospital Pharmacy, where a dangerous anesthetic has been stolen. Dorothy has heard unsettling information from her connections at the BBC regarding members of the Royal Navy. Margery, who has been in the countryside helping families escape the city from the bombing, is worried about one of her charges whose older sister has gone missing. And Ngaio, who has relocated to New Zealand has begun gathering secret intelligence from wounded soldiers and sailors that may put her in danger.

Marlowe Jenkins and Priscilla Covington-French hated each other in high school. Sixteen years later, Marlowe is barely scraping by, while Priscilla is wildly successful. Their rivalry should be dead, but they remain connected through their mutual mentor, drama teacher Dallas Winthrop. When Dallas goes missing, each believes she can figure out where he is. But Dallas has found a way to explore alternate versions of reality, and while trying to follow him, Marlowe and Priscilla find other versions of themselves instead and learn not all of them are fueled by hate. The more Marlowe and Priscilla are forced to rely on each other, the harder it becomes to ignore their attraction. But with each alternate reality, they get further from their real lives. Do they play it safe and hide behind their rivalry or take a chance that could permanently change the world as they know it?

It's 1916. President Woodrow Wilson sits in the Oval Office. Racial tensions, economic inequality, support for unionization, and the rise of both a reactionary far right militia and a radical opposition shake the foundations of America. A group of real political cartoonists is working for the magazine The Masses, as well as a fictional German immigrant from Cleveland. They rub elbows with opposition voices of the day, like Max Eastman and John Reed, and Emma Goldman. What they note in their illustrations is a country spiraling into darkness, under attack by German saboteurs and private militias, plagued by racism, and rocked by class war. For the crime of documenting what they see, the cartoonists are indicted for sedition and put on trial by the U.S. government.

Ruth Pearl has lived in the small New England town of Wells, Connecticut on the shore of Lake Topaqua for much of her adult life. Decades back, she and her parents fled German-occupied Amsterdam after the murder of her beloved older sister Sophia. Her view of Lake Topaqua, in the wake of such loss, has long been a deep comfort to Ruth. But in the winter of 2000, Ruth's neighbor builds an addition to his home that blocks Ruth's lake view, disrupting her peace and sense of control. She seeks a legal resolution and finds none. Her helplessness sparks fear that her past is happening again. Ruth heads out one day to skate on the lake only to spot a boy, in the distance, falling through the ice. County judge Arthur Cantrell also witnesses the fall, and together Ruth and the judge save sixteen-year-old Ian Lima's life. The act is, for all of them, redemptive. Over the days to come Ruth and Arthur help to heal Ian, both physically and mentally, and all three find unexpected solace. Ruth even feels able, at long last, to share the story of her life during the Holocaust with her adult daughter.

As an acolyte on the Isle of Apples, Braithe never dreamed she'd become a handmaid to Morgana, the most powerful priestess in all Camulod. When the two learn the king is cursed by powerful magic, they journey to the White City deep in fae country to investigate. The magical city is nothing like Braithe imagined. The fae are cold and callous and quick to bewitch. Moreover, Morgana's magic is unreliable, and it falls to Braithe to uncover who is behind the curse. But she will have to believe herself capable of more than she ever imagined.

At a glitzy gala in the ballroom of the Ritz Hotel in pre-War Paris, American tourist Maisy Bell meets an intriguing man and accepts his offer to take her on a day-trip. When Maisy doesn't return the following day, alarm bells ring and Maisy's aunt Clementine files a missing persons report. Plenty of tourists have 'disappeared' in foolish flings. But weeks pass with no sign of Maisy. Then Clementine receives telegrams and ransom notes. Investigative reporter Charlotte 'Charlie' James is a young Australian journalist who came to Paris to reinvent her life. She feels a kinship with this missing American graduate, and as she follows Maisy Bell's footsteps around Paris, Charlie is plunged headlong into the heady world of the wealthy in Paris, before being pulled headlong into its sordid underworld.

On the eve of Talia Morgan's neuroscience startup's major acquisition, a glitch in her app leads to catastrophe, and everything she's worked for crumbles in a single night. Then Talia wakes up with a mysterious watch that lets her rewind the last twenty-four hours. Suddenly, she can prevent the glitch, ace that crucial meeting, and savor perfect Sunday afternoons with Sam, her brilliant best friend who's quietly loved her for nearly two decades. But what starts as a tool for good soon becomes a dangerous temptation to turn back every messy moment and optimize her life until it's flawless. When one rewind goes too far, Talia begins to see that the imperfect version of her life might be the only one worth living.

Maya Davis is terrible at dating, so bad that she turned her dating experiments into a full-time podcast job. She's dating "offline" for her second podcast season, so travels to Ireland to meet a renowned matchmaker. And promptly endures slew of horrible meet-ups that are comedy gold. But even Maya is not prepared for the fully apocalyptic date of her life when she wins a blind date with a local sheep farmer Tadhg at the town's annual Matchmaking Festival. Then the matchmaker talks her into a dating adventure, but fails to mention that it's with her blind date catastrophe. Trapped together, Maya and Tadhg trapse through the countryside for hours--leading her to wonder if their constant verbal sparring is more like chemistry.

It's routine for Ship Leader Parnell Shi-Sawahla and the crew of the corvette Sassafras: ride a Massif to a new system, fight the enemy. For centuries humans have been riding the sentient, starfaring mountain ranges, colonising planets, and exporting an on and off again war between Earth and Mars. Why do the Massifs carry humans to the stars? Why do they help export our wars? Ship crews aren't supposed to ask or think about these questions. And they aren't supposed to talk to Massif avatars. But now Parnell and his crew need the answers, to save themselves and the future of humanity.

A man sits in a cafe, sipping a green juice and watching the world go by. A calico cat jumps onto a wall; a white butterfly flutters through the air; cherry blossom petals fall, softly, to the ground. Life stands still, as our unnamed narrator prepares to visit his terminally ill wife in hospital, and reminisces on the life they have shared together. An intimate story that looks with honesty and tenderness at the journey towards the end of a life. It explores what family means, how we think about death, and the lasting power of small acts of love.

When a superstorm strikes Minneapolis, it bonds three people and shapes their lives over the next twenty five years. Naomi--lawyer by day, amateur MMA fighter by night--searches for the meaning after migrating from Hawai'i. Amař is an investment banker with grand plans for the money he'll make. Raheem, a diesel mechanic nearly paralyzed by the storm, struggles to save his business. Naomi finds that energy companies are responsible for the climate-induced superstorm, and she initiates a legal battle, culminating in a political office in D.C. Amař's own ambitions test Naomi's ethics, and Raheem's fate becomes dependent on the couple's growing power.

When Margrethe Cullberg-Franzén falls to her death during the celebration of her eightieth birthday, Ian Ahmed is convinced it's murder. Trapped in a wintery landscape of muted colors and creeping shadows, he and novelist Berit Gardner struggle to unravel the toxic family secrets behind Margrethe's imposing legacy. As winter deepens and the ice seals the islands in silence, the question echoes louder: who stood to gain the most from the matriarch's fall? And how long before the killer strikes again?

The wolf Blacktail is faithful to his Forest God, but in these times, faith is not enough. Soon his territory will be overrun, and when his mate, a house dog, is killed, Blacktail rebels. He invades the house of her owners, seeking vengeance. Blacktail's fury catches the notice of a feline witch, who makes an offer. If Blacktail finds and wakes the Forest Godmust, he could end the human race altogether. Blacktail knows that his north woods are dwindling to nothing, so sees no other choice. As he travels far from his wild home, he encounters strangers who want to help him rid the world of humans. And it becomes clear that he is more than just a wolf.

Jamie Newcross' wife and baby girl have abandoned him, and now his only wish is to retreat from society. He acquires a Lion, the world's most advanced, fully autonomous car that helps him hide away from the world. But when he wakes up in the Lion as it is speeding down a dark road, he sees that there is something that looks like blood on the dented hood. And the car will not respond, or stop, or let him out.

In the late 19th century in California, two young hoboes, Paulette and Kenneth, threaten to kill her father, Rodney Eligon. Several years later, the town of Anzar has become the home of numerous cults, eccentrics, earth religions, and communal living. Ruling town from their manor, the Hasleys have controlled Anzar for generations, but their grip is threatened by the rise of the working class in league with the itinerant population. Paulette resides in the home of Johnny Hasley, a wealthy faux-socialist poseur, hoping to marry him. But her plans are complicated by the arrival of Kenneth, carrying a dark secret.