Fantasy and Science Fiction March 2026 |
|
|
|
| Snake-Eater by T. KingfisherSelena is desperate to escape her horrid past. With nothing but her dog in tow, she flees to her late aunt's homestead in Quartz Creek. But strange ancient spirits linger along the edges of Selena's home. One of them, known as "Snake-Eater," has come to collect a debt from Selena's aunt; with Selena being the new owner of the home, his attention -- and obsession -- turns to her. Fans of strange and intriguing horror-adjacent fantasy such as Chuck Tingle's Camp Damascus and Jennifer Thorne's Diavola will thrill at T. Kingfisher's latest. |
|
|
|
The Magic of Untamed Hearts
by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland
Like her sisters, Sage and Teal, Sky Flores has a touch of magic, and it's caused nothing but heartache. Not only did she disappear into the woods years ago and reappear with no rational explanation, she's also more comfortable talking to animals than to people. Different and misunderstood, Sky is shunned in the small town of Cranberry. Sky's neighbor, Adam Noemi, has his own problems. After being laid off from a prestigious newspaper, Adam, ever the ambitious reporter, needs a big headline to redeem his career. Enter Sky, a girl with a story that news outlets have been chasing for years. Sky agrees to grant Adam an exclusive interview on one condition: that he befriend Sky, in a very public way, to prove to everyone in Cranberry that she's not an outcast. As Sky shares her experiences with Adam, something much bigger than a simple agreement begins to grow between them. But for love to take root, Adam will have to take a leap towards a life that defies expectations, and Sky must open her heart - full of flora and fauna and mystical energies - to his curious mind.
|
|
|
|
Operation Bounce House
by Matt Dinniman
All colonist Oliver Lewis ever wanted to do was run the family ranch with his sister, maybe play a gig or two with his band, and keep his family's aging fleet of intelligent agriculture bots ticking as long as possible. He figures it will be a good thing when the transfer gate finally opens all the way and restores instant travel and full communication between Earth and his planet, New Sonora. But there's a complication. Even though the settlers were promised they'd be left in peace, Earth's government now has other plans. The colossal Apex Industries is hired to commence an eviction action. But maximizing profits will always be Apex's number one priority. Why spend money printing and deploying AI soldiers when they can turn it into a game? Why not charge bored Earthers for the opportunity to design their own war machines and remotely pilot them from the comfort of their homes? The game is called Operation Bounce House. Oliver and his friends soon find themselves fighting for their lives against machines piloted by gamers who've paid a premium for the privilege. With the help of an old book from his grandfather and a bucket of rusty parts, Oliver is determined to defend the only home he's ever known.
|
|
|
|
The Midnight Taxi
by Yosha Gunasekera
Siriwathi Perera doesn't quite know where she's going in life. She never expected to be a taxicab driver in New York City, struggling to make ends meet and still living with her parents at twenty-eight. The true-crime podcasts that keep Siri company as she drives don't do much to make up for the legal career she imagined for herself, or the brother she's grieving. When public defender Amaya Fernando gets into her cab, they make a quick connection through their shared Sri Lankan roots. Siri, whose social circle is limited to her grade-school best friend, Alex, thinks things might finally be looking up with this new potential friendship. But she's suddenly dropped into her own true crime when she discovers her next passenger murdered in the backseat, and she has to call Amaya sooner than she'd expected. Pinned as the obvious and only suspect, and desperate to clear her name, Siri chases down leads across the boroughs of New York City with Amaya's help. But with her court date looming, they have just five days to find out who really killed the midnight passenger--or Siri's life will be over before she can even truly live it.
|
|
|
|
The Astral Library (Standard Edition)
by Kate Quinn
Alix Watson has learned one lesson from her barren childhood in the foster-care system: unlike people, books will never let you down. Working three dead-end jobs to make ends meet and knowing college is a pipe dream, Alix takes nightly refuge in the high-vaulted reading room at the Boston Public Library, escaping into her favorite fantasy novels and dreaming of far-off lands. Until the day she stumbles through a hidden door and meets the Librarian: the ageless, acerbic guardian of a hidden library where the desperate and the lost escape to new lives...inside their favorite books.The Librarian takes a dazzled Alix under her wing, but before she can escape into the pages of her new life, a shadowy enemy emerges to threaten everyone the Astral Library has ever helped protect. Aided by a dashing costume-shop owner, Alix and the Librarian flee through the Regency drawing rooms of Jane Austen to the back alleys of Sherlock Holmes and the champagne-soaked parties of The Great Gatsby as danger draws inexorably closer. But who does their enemy really wish to destroy--Alix, the Librarian, or the Library itself?
|
|
|
|
The Red Winter
by Cameron Sullivan
In 1785, Professor Sebastian Grave receives the news he fears most: the terrible Beast of G vaudan has returned, and the French countryside runs red in its wake. Sebastian knows the Beast. A monster-slayer with centuries of experience, he joined the hunt for the creature twenty years ago and watched it slaughter its way through a long and bloody winter. Even with the help of his indwelling demon, Sarmodel - who takes payment in living hearts - it nearly cost him his life to bring the monster down. Now, two decades later, Sebastian has been recalled to the hunt by Antoine Avenel d'Ocerne, an estranged lover who shares a dark history with the Beast and a terrible secret with Sebastian. Drawn by both the chance to finish the Beast for good and the promise of a reconciliation with Antoine, Sebastian cannot refuse. But G vaudan is not as he remembers it, and Sebastian's unfinished business is everywhere he looks. Years of misery have driven the people to desperation, and France teeters on the edge of revolution. Sebastian's arcane activities - not to mention his demonic counterpart - have also attracted the inquisitorial eye of the French clergy. And the Beast is poised to close his jaws around them all and plunge the continent into war.
|
|
|
|
Secondhand Luck
by Kim Harrison
It's been months since Petra Grady bonded with the shadow Pluck. With the help of researcher Benedict Strom, she has made a place for herself at St. Unoc University as the first weaver to use shadow magic in a thousand years. But some are not happy to acknowledge the new shadow/weaver pair, and Petra and Pluck aren't surprised when they're blamed for every recent trouble. When a new weaver is drawn to St. Unoc, Pluck quickly realizes the novice magic user has not come alone. Trailing her is Thoth, a devious shadow responsible for betraying his own kind and setting mage against weaver thousands of years ago. His goal hasn't changed, and when Thoth turns both the mage courts and the university against Petra, she and Pluck must risk everything to uncover a truth that even Pluck has forgotten. Shadows, though, have earned their terrifying reputation, and if Petra can't prove her and Pluck's innocence and capture Thoth, any hope of balance will be gone--taking Pluck and her with it.
|
|
|
|
The Wicked and the Damned
by Rebecca Robinson
In the exhilarating second romantasy novel in Rebecca Robinson's Dark Inheritance Trilogy, a fiery couple forced apart must navigate a deadly maze of politics and power to reunite across a continent at war. Torn from her husband Reid's arms and dragged back to her homeland in chains, Vaasa is no longer a ruler, but a political pawn. Now under the control of Ozik--a cunning Zetyr witch with a stranglehold on her magic--she faces annulment, forced betrothal, and a kingdom that no longer feels like her own. As Ozik's machinations aim to install himself as the true power behind the Asteryan throne, Vaasa is forced to take part in his game. Meanwhile, across the continent, Reid is done playing politics. But waging war is never simple, and a soldier's fury cannot stand up against Icruria's bureaucracy. With allies fading and time slipping away, Reid may have no choice but to infiltrate Asterya on his own to find the woman he loves and bring her home. As Vaasa's magic begins to flare, she desperately seeks control, even if Ozik is the only one who can offer it. She then finds a cryptic final message from her mother about a precious missing necklace that might just be the answer to finally freeing her magic from Ozik. Yet when a ghost from Vaasa's past reemerges among the suitors vying for her hand, escape might be within reach--but will it demand a betrayal that real love may not survive?
|
|
|
|
Agnes Aubert's Mystical Cat Shelter
by Heather Fawcett
Agnes Aubert leads a meticulously organized life, and she likes it that way. As the proudly type-A manager of a cat rescue charity, she has devoted her life to finding forever homes for stray cats. Now it's the shelter that needs a new home. And the only landlord who will rent a space to a cat rescue is a mysterious man called Havelock--who also happens to be the world's most infamous magician, running an illegal magic shop out of his basement. Havelock is cantankerous and eccentric, but not not handsome, and no, Agnes absolutely does not feel anything but disdain for him. After all, rumors swirl about his shadowy past--including whispers that his dark magic once almost brought about the apocalypse. Then one day a glamorous magician comes looking for Havelock, putting the magic shop--and the cat shelter--in jeopardy. To save the shelter, Agnes will have to team up with the magician who nearly ended the world . . . and may now be trying to steal her heart. Havelock is everything Agnes thinks she doesn't need in her life: chaos, mischief, and a little too much adventure. But as she gets to know him, she discovers that he's more than the dark magician of legend, and that she may be ready for a little intrigue--and romance--in her life. After all, second chances aren't just for rescue cats. . . .
|
|
|
|
Crown of War and Shadow: Kingdoms of the Compass
by J. R. Ward
An outcast burdened with a curse. A mercenary out for himself. A kingdom that must be saved. In the deep, dark, dead of night, passions rise, and empires fall... The Fulcrum is failing, and demons are slipping into the mortal world. No one is safe. Especially not Sorrel. An orphan and an outcast within the walls of her small village because of her mystical abilities. She wants to survive...and find somewhere she can call her true home. But Fate has other plans. Sorrel has been chosen. Cursed. She must cross the Badlands to return the Queen's crown and convince the fearsome female to save their world from destruction. Well aware she's no brave hero, Sorrel makes a dangerous deal with Merc, a brooding, commanding mercenary known only by his unscrupulous profession. The deal? A night in his bed that she will never forget, in exchange for her safe passage. But Merc has secrets of his own, and even though desire runs hot between them, adventure, danger, and betrayal lurk around every corner.
|
|
Contact your librarian for more great books!
|
|
|