Collection: Fantasy

The Cryptid Catcher is the first book in a monstrously fun middle-grade duology by Lija Fisher about a boy who inherits a job hunting legendary creatures.

After Clivo Wren's archaeologist father dies mysteriously, the newly orphaned thirteen-year-old finds out the truth: his dad was no archaeologist. He was actually a cryptid catcher, known for finding elusive beasts like the bloodsucking chupacabra. His goal: discover the one extraordinary cryptid whose blood grants immortality--before the knowledge falls into the wrong hands. The mission remains unfinished, and now there's only one person who can take the renowned cryptid catcher's place: Clivo. He may not know the first thing about monster hunting, but he's willing to give it a try--because anything beats staying home with his salsa-crazy aunt and her neurotic cats.

Praise for The Cryptid Catcher:

"[Fisher] dishes up an action-oriented romp, puts a resourceful but not superhuman protagonist at the head of a colorful, diverse (of species as well as race) supporting cast, and salts the plot with tantalizing hints that the stakes are about to broaden." --Booklist, starred review

"Fisher's debut, the first half of a duology, delivers adventure and laughs. . .readers will be ready for the sequel when they turn the final page." --Kirkus Reviews

The Witch's Heart meets The Foxglove King in this debut novel about a woman who can bring people back from the dead, and the princess--and only heir to the throne--that she must protect, no matter the cost.

The first time Hellevir visited Death, she was ten years old...

Since she was a little girl, Hellevir has been able to raise the dead. Every creature can be saved for a price, a price demanded by the shrouded figure who rules the afterlife, who takes a little more from Hellevir with each soul she resurrects.

Such a gift can rarely remain a secret. When Princess Sullivain, sole heir to the kingdom's throne, is assassinated, the Queen summons Hellevir to demand she bring her granddaughter back to life. But once is not enough; the killers might strike again. The Princess's death would cause a civil war, so the Queen commands that Hellevir remain by her side.

But Sullivain is no easy woman to be bound to, even as Hellevir begins to fall in love with her. With the threat of war looming, Hellevir must trade more and more of herself to keep the Princess alive.

But Death will always take what he is owed.

The Azathé Tea Room is a strange place, indeed.

There are no servers, no menus - do mind our hostess, though, she can get a bit underfoot! Help yourself to a book while you wait, and be sure to shuffle your tarot deck well before placing your order.

Harper Hollingsworth wasn't looking for a friend. She wanted peace and quiet. Someplace to lose herself in a book and not think about her grief, not think about her coven or her disconnect from the craft, not think about being the odd goth out everywhere she went. She didn't want to think about her lack of magical ambition, as she was regularly told by her mother's poison-tongued familiar, and how her life had fallen apart since the death of her father. More than that - she didn't want to feel. Anything.

To the strange, seldom seen owner of one of Cambric Creek's oddest businesses, tea is more than just a beverage. They take pride in both their blends and their unorthodox method of teasing out the order each guest needs to sate more than their thirst. Azathé brews more than a fine cup of tea - they steep the smell of memories, the anticipation of the future, pain and loss, hope and longing, an elixir of health and comfort and feeling in every cup.

Residing unseen in the shadows gets a bit lonely at times, an undignified emotion for one as old as themselves, and so they have made it their business to get to know their unwitting neighbors one cup of tea at a time. Guests may not know what to expect when they step over the shop's threshold, but the owner guarantees they will feel something before they leave.

Companionship wasn't Harper's aim the day she stepped into the odd little tea room, just off Cambric Creek's bustling Main Street. She wanted to settle into the shadows and get lost there, and if she had to talk to anyone, it would be to herself.

She didn't expect the shadows to talk back.

The shadowy proprietor of the Azathé Tea Room isn't content to watch Harper sink into depression day after day within the walls of their establishment. Once they intervene, Harper is drawn into their world of oddity and emotions, where the darkest shadows can reside in the light, and even the most mildly macabre witch can find her place.

Two For Tea is a human/monster romance featuring a bi demisexual F witch and a non-binary (and very non-human) shadow creature. It is set in the world of Cambric Creek, but can be enjoyed as a standalone, but will best be appreciated read as part of the series. Themes included: ALL the creepy/cozy aesthetic, acceptance of grief, working through depression, why choose appendages, finding one's place. This is a high heat romance intended only for mature audiences.

Begin the adventure of a lifetime in this classic fantasy series set in the world of the legendary Dragon Quest video games!

Raised by monsters in a world scarred by battle, Dai has the heart of a hero! But it will take a grand world-spanning adventure and the help of some great friends for Dai to master the powers within him and become the hero he was always meant to be.

Dai and his new companion Popp run into trouble after setting out for Romos. The magical gun-wielding warrior priest Maam lends unexpected help, but that isn't her only surprise--she also has a history with Avan! The trio must learn to work together or face defeat at the hands of Furfang Legion commander Crocodine...

Begin the adventure of a lifetime in this classic fantasy series set in the world of the legendary Dragon Quest video games!

Raised by monsters in a battle-scarred world, Dai has the heart of a hero! He sets off on a grand journey with brave friends, traveling the world to take down the Dark Lord's minions. Along the way, Dai must awaken the hero he was meant to be and master his dormant powers.

After facing Hadlar, Dai and his companions must rescue Princess Leona from Flazzard. The combined forces of Flazzard and Mystvearn may pose a threat greater than even the Dark General! Can Dai call upon Avan's teachings to defeat the evil duo? Meanwhile, the deadliest danger yet lurks at Sovereign Rock Castle.

The first three Heidi Heckelbeck books are now available in one bewitching bind-up!

In this collection of the first three Heidi Heckelbeck stories, read about Heidi Heckelbeck's first day at school and learn Heidi's big secret...she's actually a witch! Then read along as Heidi casts a spell on Melanie right before the school play. Plus, Heidi enters a cookie contest and uses a little magic to make her cookies extraspecial.

Included in this chapter book bind-up are:
#1 Heidi Heckelbeck Has a Secret
#2 Heidi Heckelbeck Casts a Spell
#3 Heidi Heckelbeck and the Cookie Contest

Sawako "Sadako" Kuronuma is the perfect heroine...for a horror movie.

With her jet-black hair, sinister smile and silent demeanor, Sawako "Sadako" Kuronuma always had trouble fitting in. But her whole life changes when she befriends the most popular boy in class, Shota Kazehaya. Can love trump her cursed life?

A misunderstanding causes Sawako and Kazehaya to distance themselves from each other. Unable to stand the tension, Sawako decides she needs to reveal her true feelings to him. Will this awkward girl and well-liked guy become a couple?!

Sawako "Sadako" Kuronuma is the perfect heroine...for a horror movie.

With her jet-black hair, sinister smile and silent demeanor, Sawako "Sadako" Kuronuma always had trouble fitting in. But her whole life changes when she befriends the most popular boy in class, Shota Kazehaya. Can love trump her cursed life?

A new school year begins happily when Sawako and her friends Chizu and Ayane--as well as her crush, Kazehaya--are all in the same homeroom. But when another popular guy in the class shows an interest in Sawako, will it push Kazehaya and Sawako apart?

When Nanami inherits a shrine, it comes with divine powers and a hot fox spirit!

Nanami Momozono is alone and homeless after her dad skips town to evade his gambling debts and the debt collectors kick her out of her apartment. So when a man she's just saved from a dog offers her his home, she jumps at the opportunity. But it turns out that his place is a shrine, and Nanami has unwittingly taken over his job as a local deity!

Himemiko and Kotaro's happy ending has triggered some confusing flashbacks for Tomoe, and his memories are affecting more than just his mood. The shrine has started to collapse because Tomoe isn't strong enough to maintain it, and things have gotten so bad that the kami Mikage returns. He explains to Nanami that Tomoe is dying from a 500-year-old curse, and there's nothing she can do to save him!

Back from the future, it's Miguel O'Hara - the Spider-Man of 2099! But he's become stranded in the present day, when the omnipresent future corporation Alchemax has only just been formed - and Miguel has a chance to stop its corruption before it starts! But all his plans are derailed when the vicious Inheritors attack the Spider-Verse - and by the time Spidey returns to the cusp of the 22nd century, the malicious Maestro has taken charge! To save tomorrow, Miguel will have to visit today all over again. Now, heroes from both eras - including the time lost Captain America 2099 - must join his fight to prevent the disaster that left 2099 in ruins! Collecting SPIDER-MAN 2099 (2014) #1-12; SPIDER-MAN 2099 (2015) #1-25; CAPTAIN MARVEL (1999) #27-30; SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN (2013) #17-19; SECRET WARS 2099 #1-5; and material from 2099 UNLIMITED #1-3 and #8-10, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (2014) #1, and AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (2015) #1.

"Life is full of crossroads, Alex. Full of choices."

Returning for a second year at Akarnae Academy with her gifted friends, Alexandra Jennings steps back through a doorway into Medora, the fantasy world that is full of impossibilities. Despite the magical wonder of Medora, Alex's life remains threatened by Aven Dalmarta, the banished prince from the Lost City of Meya who is out for her blood. To protect the Medorans from Aven's quest to reclaim his birthright, Alex and her friends seek out the Meyarin city and what remains of its ancient race. Not sure who--or perhaps what--she is anymore, all Alex knows is that if she fails to keep Aven from reaching Meya, the lives of countless Medorans will be in danger. Can she protect them, or will all be lost?

Strange new talents... Jake is a scrappy orphaned pickpocket living by his wits on the streets of Victorian London. Lately he's started seeing ghosts and discovers he can move solid objects with his mind! He has no idea why. Next thing he knows, a Sinister Gentleman and his minions come hunting him. On the run for his life, Jake is plunged headlong into a mysterious world full of magic and deadly peril. A world that holds the secret to who he really is: the long-lost heir of an aristocratic family - with magical powers! But with treacherous enemies closing in, it will take all of his wily street instincts and the help of his friends - both human and magical - to solve the mystery of what happened to his parents, and defeat the foes who never wanted the Lost Heir of Griffon to be found... (292 pages / 100,409 words)

Dolls can't move by themselves. . . . Or can they?

This special anniversary edition of the hair-raising mystery that's kept readers up at night for thirty-five years features a foreword by Goosebumps creator R.L. Stine.

Amy is terrified. She hears scratching and scurrying noises coming from the dollhouse in the attic, and the dolls she was playing with are not where she left them. Dolls can't move by themselves, she tells herself. But every night when Amy goes up to check on the dollhouse, it's filled with an eerie light and the dolls have moved again! Are the dolls trying to tell her something? Could this all be connected to the murders of her great-grandparents?

Sinister secrets unravel as Amy gets closer to revealing the mystery of the dolls in this haunting novel that combines complicated family relationships with a bone-chilling mystery. Even readers who love scary stories will want to keep the lights on after finishing!

The all-new foreword and jacket art make this spooky classic, an Edgar award nominee, perfect for sharing with a new generation.

Part parable, part fantasy novel, part laugh-out-loud satire, American Desert is the story of Theodore Street, a college professor on the brink of committing suicide. When the decision is taken out of his hands--he's hit by a car and his head is severed from his body--he must come to terms with himself. At his funeral, he sits up in his own coffin with the stitches that bind his head to his body clearly visible. Everyone is horrified by this resurrection. He becomes a source of fear and embarrassment to his daughter, and an object of derision and morbid curiosity to the press and the scientific communities, and is anointed as a sort of devil by an obscure religious cult. In the process, Theodore manages to reestablish his relationship with his estranged wife and family and to rediscover the value of his life. In this experimental, satirical, and bizarre novel, critically acclaimed author Percival Everett once again takes on the assumptions of a culture whose priorities have gone out of whack. He lampoons the press, religion, and academia while offering, ultimately, an existential meditation of what constitutes being alive.

In a small town in Appalachia, people paint their doorways blue to keep spirits away.

Black ferns grow where death will follow.

And Weatherly Opal Wilder is a Death Talker.

When called upon, she can talk the death out of the dying and save their lives; only once, never twice. But this truly unique gift comes at a price, rooting Weatherly to people who only want her around when they need her and resent her backwater ways when they don't.

Weatherly's cousin Adaire also has a gift: she's a Scryer and can see the future reflected back in dark surfaces. Right before she is killed in an accident, Adaire saw something unnerving, and that's why Weatherly believes she was murdered--never thinking for a moment that it was an accident. But when Weatherly, for the first time, is unable to talk the death out of the mayor's son, the whole town suspects she is out for revenge, that she wouldn't save him.

With the help of clues Adaire left behind and her family's Granny Witch recipe box, Weatherly sets out to find the truth behind her cousin's death, whatever it takes.

Imbued with magic, witchery, and suspense, Dana Elmendorf's In the Hour of Crows is a thrilling tale of friendship, identity, and love.

"This is fantasy served with a twist of Monty Python, parody that works by never taking itself too seriously." --Publishers Weekly

Murder! Mahem! Bacon sandwiches! People are dying suspiciously in Ankh-Morpork, and Sam Vimes of the City Watch will find the truth. Another brilliant and hilarious Discworld adventure from beloved New York Times bestselling author Terry Pratchett

For Commander Sam Vimes, Head of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, life consists of trouble . . . and more trouble: a werewolf with pre-lunar tension, a dwarf with attitude, a golem who's begun to think for itself. Now he's got the unusual deaths of three elderly Ankh-Morporkians on his hands. It's murder in Discworld!--which ordinarily is no big deal. The problem is, the deaths do not bear the clean, efficient marks of the Assassins' Guild; there's an apparent lack of motive, and there's no trace of anything alive having been at the crime scene. What Vimes does have are some tracks of white clay and more bothersome "clue" thingies that muck up his investigations.

The anger of a fearful populace is already targeting the city's small community of golems--those mindless, absurdly industrious creatures of baked clay, who can occasionally be found toiling in the city's factories. And certain highly placed personages are using the unrest as an excuse to resurrect a monarchy--which would be bad enough even if their would-be "king" wasn't as empty-headed as your typical animated pottery.

In addition to quieting the restless populace, Vimes has to find out whodunit--and howdunit too. He's not even sure what they dun. But as soon as he knows what the questions are, he's going to look for some answers.

The Discworld novels can be read in any order, but Feet of Clay is the 3rd book in the City Watch collection and the 17th Discworld book.

The City Watch collection in order:

Guards! Guards!Men at ArmsFeet of ClayJingoThe Fifth ElephantNight WatchThud!Snuff