Showing results for "By the Book" in Fantasy

Pixies are supposed to be petite, beautifully lithe creatures with gossamer wings. Sporting luscious, ombre pink hair and fluttering pink wings, Phil meets two out of three of those criteria. At over six feet tall, no one would dare call Phil petite. As a home-and-hearth pixie, Phil yearns to find a home and family he can bond to. When no one's willing to hire a pixie of his stature, Phil is forced to find work elsewhere. Turns out, pixies make terrible bouncers.

The streets have been my home for as long as I can remember. To get by, I use my magic tricks, bringing smiles to the faces of adults and children alike. As a warlock, my powers are limited. Nothing like a witch's magical skills. Basically, I'm a glorified magician as well as a second-class citizen. Fine. It doesn't get me down. I have my cat Fizz and Kylie Minogue's music to keep me going as I dream big. I know there's a better life out there for me.

In the Prime Kingdoms, the system dominates everything. It dictates one’s strength, skills, and power. It spawns dungeons and guides the actions of their monsters. But every system has its limits, and it’s about to push four oddball adventurers to theirs.

Five short stories that give glimpses into the lives of Griffin, Jorie, and the other characters from Second Nature.

A year has passed since the Dark Wizard Myrin attempted to take control of the Kingdom of Verania. Though the scars of the final battle remain, Veranians have come together in unity in order to rebuild. Good King Anthony sits on the throne once more, with Morgan of Shadows at his side. However, a king is not immortal. One day, Anthony will step down, paving the way for his son, Grand Prince Justin, to assume the throne. And Justin wants anything but. Unfortunately for him, he finds himself with bigger things to worry about than just becoming the ruler of a country.

When it first gets announced, the Leteo Institute's memory-alteration procedure seems too good to be true to Aaron Soto; miracle cure-alls don't tend to pop up in the Bronx projects. Aaron can't forget how he's grown up poor, how his friends all seem to shrug him off, and how his father committed suicide in their one-bedroom apartment. Then Thomas shows up. The love Aaron discovers may cost him what's left of his life. But since Aaron can't suddenly stop being gay, Leteo may be the only way out.

My whole life, I’ve been taught to despise shifters. So when I’m hired to track two escaped convicts, I’m suddenly thrust into the world I hate - or thought I did. Yet I’m inexplicably drawn to the alpha of the pack, whose land the convicts may be hiding on. He’s different than any shifter I've ever met - laidback and quick to laugh, caring, and protective. As secrets are revealed, I start to wonder if everything I’ve been raised to believe was a lie, though it may not matter, because it seems like someone wants us dead.

As a necromancer, Shae loses a little more of himself every time he uses his magic. Always cold, always touch-starved, the only thing that helps is human contact. But that's hard to come by when those same dark powers scare everyone away from him. Nobody likes a necromancer. Arthur's still bitter and broken after his last lover stabbed him in the back, and the last thing he needs is another brush with evil. When he agrees to escort the wandering necromancer north, he's just doing a public service. But he never expected Shae to be so clingy. Or distractingly attractive.

Seeing the dead has never been easy, but the last thing I expected was to be a pawn in a serial killer’s game. Moving in with Maddox was supposed to be the only thing we needed to worry about. Not a dead teacher, and not the fact that a serial killer knows my abilities. Following the trail left behind leaves us racing against time to figure out how to stop the murders before the final victim falls.

As Rune Saint John grapples with the challenges of assuming the Sun Throne, a powerful barrier appears around New Atlantis’ famed rejuvenation center. But who could have created such formidable magic...what do they want from the immortality clinic...and what remains of the dozens trapped inside? Now, the rulers of New Atlantis must confront an enemy both new and ancient as the flow of time itself is drawn into the conflict. And as Rune finds himself drawn back to the fall of his father’s court and his own torture, the secrets that he has guarded will be dragged into the light.

Benigno “Benny” Caldera knows an orphaned Boricua blacksmith in 1910s New York City can’t call himself an artist. But the ironwork tank he creates for famed Coney Island playground, Luna Park, astounds everyone, especially the eccentric side-show proprietor who commissioned it. Benny’s work earns him an invitation to join the show’s eclectic crew of performers—his first welcome in the city—and share in their astonishing secret: the tank Benny built is a cage for their newest exhibit, a living, breathing, in-the-flesh merman stolen from the banks of the East River under a gleaming full moon.

When the light-magic users known as Casters took everything from me, I vowed to make them pay. Little did I know the perfect opportunity would show up in the form of a sweet Caster the moment I took his arrow to the heart…literally. Bastian knows that I’m made of dark magic, the very thing he’s been taught to destroy. But instead of turning away from me, he takes a chance on me, leading me behind the walls of the group out to kill me.

Smart men never dabble with demons. I never claimed to be smart, but at least, I’m powerful enough to control them. When I bound Havoc to me nearly 300 years ago, I never realized how difficult he’d make my life, although “accidentally” lighting him on fire every now and then does bring a smile to my face. Havoc is handsome, mysterious, and somehow, my closest companion, even if we don’t always get along.

With the plot against them foiled and the city of Qi-Katai in safe hands, newlywed and tentative lovers Velasin and Caethari have just begun to test the waters of their relationship. But the wider political ramifications of their marriage are still playing out across two nations, and all too soon, they're summoned north to Tithena's capital city, Qi-Xihan, to present themselves to its monarch.

Alexander Benedict is a misanthropic thirty-something magical consultant, working with the Agency's top homicide detective, and perfectly content with his life, thank you very much. Julian St. Albans is the youthful heir to his family's fortune and affiancéd to his beloved Cecil Mandeville, a family friend as well as Julian's lover. When Mandeville is murdered using magical means, Alex is brought in on the case. It's the worst day of Julian's life, but until they meet, it's just another case for Alex. Neither of them have any idea how their lives are about to change.

Kiram Kir-Zaki may be considered a mechanist prodigy among his own people, but when he becomes the first Haldiim ever admitted to the prestigious Sagrada Academy, he is thrown into a world where power, superstition and swordplay outweigh even the most scholarly of achievements. But when the intimidation from his Cadeleonian classmates turns bloody, Kiram unexpectedly finds himself befriended by Javier Tornesal, the leader of a group of cardsharps, duelists and lotharios who call themselves Hellions.

Sei's power isn't truly his. As a grail, his role is to serve a mage by augmenting their magic. He's equally nervous and excited about his arranged betrothal. After a life without intimacy, Sei will finally fulfill his true purpose as a treasured, valuable grail. There's only one problem: Sei's new betrothed is the legendary Marek Dire.

There's a disturbance in the Prime Kingdoms. The system that everyone depends on is generating errors. The gods are in danger. Magic itself is fluctuating and becoming less reliable. Meanwhile, four adventurers seem to be the only ones to realize the night sky shouldn't be empty. Outcasts all, this foursome has become a family. Together, they are on a diplomatic mission for their guild, traveling to the kingdom of Elyra to provide emergency relief as magic continues to malfunction and crops fail to grow.

A 2023 AUDIOFILE EARPHONES AWARD WINNER A murder has Seattle on edge, and it falls to a pacifist empath—and a notorious empath hunter—to find the killer before it's too late It’s the middle of the night when part-time police consultant and full-time empath Reece gets an anonymous call...

The monstrous Void continues to ravage the Prime Kingdoms, leaving one of them in ruins. Dungeons everywhere run amok, and refugees from around the continent flee to find safety. In a desperate attempt to end the chaos, four heroes from the Adventurers' Guild scour the world for its final secrets. Fortunately, they won't fight alone. Their journey so far has earned them loyal allies, from stray bandits to lost peoples and even forgotten gods. The world itself has united against the encroaching Void. But when their opponent is the end of all things . . . that may not be enough.