All her life, Netta has only known the Tower- its shelves of books she cannot read, ink-splattered quills, and endless scrolls of paper. Her mother has spent decades perfecting her greatest masterpiece: a spell book of unspeakable power. Netta’s only companions are her long red Hair, which moves of its own accord, and a telepathic raven named Baldbeak. When attackers storm the Tower, her mother and the spell book vanish. Determined to find her, Netta ventures into a kingdom on the brink of civil war. The monarch lies dying, while pious fanatics and the noble elite scheme for the throne. For reasons she cannot yet fathom, all these factions seek Netta- and the dangerous, uncontrollable magic in her Hair. But whom can she trust? 

 

Liv and Mandy’s yearly sister trip is a sacred tradition, an attempt to bond as their lives increasingly diverge. As they set out for a rafting adventure through the depths of the Grand Canyon with a group of strangers, they hope to revitalize their relationship. But beyond the terrors of whitewater rapids, sibling squabbles, and rogue reptiles, the ferocious beauty of the river carries a murder into their midst. When a fellow traveler is found dead, the rafting trip flips from idyllic sister vacation to murder investigation. Every suspect has a secret, every clue is drenched in mystery, and Liv and Mandy can hardly trust each other. With danger around every bend, the sisters must work together to catch a killer- and keep their relationship from capsizing- before it’s too late.

 

Ruby is a staunch rule-follower who lives by the numbers. So when a surprising breakup ruins all her plans, Ruby makes an unexpected wish, only to wake up inside a M.A.S.H. game from seventh grade. Settled in a Technicolor mansion, driving a tie-dye Jeep, and running a roller-disco restaurant, Ruby is living out her childhood dreams come true- with one exception. According to the game, Ruby’s “other half” is Penn Hayes, her brother’s annoyingly handsome best friend. But there’s zero romance between them. With no rules to follow, desperate to return to reality, Ruby makes an escape plan: win Penn’s heart so the game comes completely true and she can go home. As Ruby navigates the magical world she dreamed up at thirteen, she wonders if, by finally throwing out her rules, she might just find her way to the love she deserves.

 

Tired of the drama in his emergency room, Dr. Langdon Blaque is in search of a place where he can leave the world behind. He loves his job and has no delusions about the suburbs, but wants peace and quiet. His wife Josephine, a lawyer, grew up listening to stories about the Jim Crow South. She agrees to move with the caveat that they stay for a year and reassess. The predominantly white group of neighbors in Majestic Hills initially welcomes them with open arms. But beneath the veneer of privileged harmony, tensions simmer. When a horrifying crime rocks the community, the illusion of safety is shattered, and Josephine and Langdon find themselves at the heart of a storm that pits neighbor against neighbor, exposes ingrained prejudices, and threatens to implode into violence.

by Earl Swift

 

In 1990, Earl Swift backpacked the entirety of the Appalachian Trail from Maine to Georgia, a transformative experience that colored every aspect of his later life. He spent three days with a young through-hiking couple who were later murdered at a trailside campsite in Pennsylvania- a crime that was never fully explained. Half a lifetime later, in 2024, Swift reprised his journey, hoping that another end-to-end hike might put this tragedy in perspective. How could such a grisly event have occurred in a sylvan bliss? This is the arresting account of Swift’s two hikes of the Appalachian Trail, and a narrative that weaves his own time on the trail with that of fellow hikers and adventurers. It is a rumination on fate, nature, and time’s effects on our remembrance of both joy and tragedy.

by Ashley Voortman

 

Curated by beloved artist Ashley Voortman, this hair-raising collection allows crafters to create all the elements of a haunted carnival, an apocalyptic wasteland, a world of zombies, and so much more. Readers can channel their witchy side with the Cauldron or Séance Table, or build enchanted items like the Glass Rose or Haunted Chandelier. Each project is sure to bring out their inner spooky. Whether crafters want to create individual, standalone minis, or build many projects to bring a haunted scene to life, to opportunities are endlessly eerie and exciting. 

There is the tapeworm, which can grow 120 feet in length within the gut of a whale; the tsetse fly, a notorious vector of disease that can pierce the skin even of crocodiles with its needle-like mouth; and the most universal symbol of parasitic life: the leech. Long villainized as, well, parasitic, these creatures are actually a vital part of every ecosystem- and Dr. Dino Martins, an award-winning entomologist and biologist from Kenya, has made it his life’s mission to demystify these beguiling beings. Hidden Creatures is a journey around the world ten times over, and along the way, we encounter the brilliant and eccentric experts who join Martins on his adventures to investigate not only parasites but their hosts, from hyraxes and hippos to, of course, humans.