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Fantasy and Science Fiction December 2025 |
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Never the Roses by Jennifer K. LambertThe Dread Sorceress Oneira has retired. She's fought and won endless wars for her ambitious queen and has finally exiled herself, seeking peace in a remote forest where the mountains meet the beach. There, in the peculiar company of a wolf, a kestrel, and a cat, she comes to accept that her death would be the beginning of a better world. But she has one last curiosity to satisfy. Oneira makes a reckless trip from her hidden fortress to the most extensive library in existence: the collection of her most powerful rival, the sorcerer Stearanos. Perhaps at the behest of fate, a book on rare roses catches her eye. With little to lose, she steals it and returns to her self-imposed exile. As the subject takes root, she initiates a forbidden correspondence with her once-enemy. Taunting notes and clever retorts reveal a connection neither has found, nor could ever find, in any other. But Oneira soon learns that Stearanos, bound to a vile king, is called to war against the queen she once served. A relationship with him is far too dangerous to pursue despite their mutual desire and yet, Oneira can't seem to stay away. A bond with the only person who's ever really understood her is too tempting to ignore. But not all dreams were meant to come true and not all budding romance blooms. Available on Sound Recording |
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| Thief of Night by Holly BlackIn this conclusion to the Charlatan duology that started with Book of Night, Charlie Hall has to hunt down a mass murderer at the behest of a Cabal leader while dealing with the memory loss of her monster lover, Red. There'd always been something wrong with Charlie Hall. Crooked from the day she was born. Never met a bad decision she wasn't willing to double down on. She may be good enough to steal a shadow from a tower, but will she be good enough to steal back a heart? |
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| Katabasis by R.F. KuangAlice Law has sacrificed everything to climb to the top of the field of Magick, all to work with world famous magician Jacob Grimes. But then Grimes dies, and Alice may have caused the accident that killed him. Now Alice must travel through Hell to get her advisor back, because not even death will keep her from getting a recommendation. Also available through sound recording. |
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A Forbidden Alchemy by Stacey McEwanNina Harrow and Patrick Colson are twelve years old when they are whisked away from the shadows of their disenfranchised mining towns to dazzling Belavere City to discover their magical potential. Those who pass Belavere's test will become Artisans, wielders of powerful elemental magic destined to fulfill the city's grand ambitions. For Nina, the Artisan School symbolizes a dream and an escape from her harsh reality, while Patrick yearns to return to his Craftsman family, whose extraordinary physical strength serves the idium mines keeping the city alive. And then they uncover a devastating truth: Artisans aren't born, they're chosen. They part ways on very different paths, leaving them to carry the burden of this secret alone. In the years that follow, a Craftsman revolution ignites, thrusting Nina and Patrick into opposing factions of a brewing war. Now an elite Artisan with the very rare talent for charming earth, Nina has turned her back on the fight, haunted by the loss of her found family. But fate intervenes when she is captured by Patrick's rebel group. Despite the years and conflict that separates them, Patrick hasn't forgotten Nina. He desperately seeks her help for a mission that could shift the tides against Belavere City. Reluctantly, she agrees, battling the sparks flying between them. But when Nina's first love reappears, asking her to betray Patrick for the sake of the Artisans, Nina faces an impossible choice that could alter the fate of their world. |
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| Hole in the Sky by Daniel H. WilsonIn this first contact story set on a Cherokee reservation, a long dormant piece of alien technology awakens while a probe hurtles towards Earth. The effects of these close encounters are told from the perspectives of a father and daughter, a NASA scientist, an isolated eccentric, and a CIA investigator. Author Daniel H. Wilson calls on both his Cherokee heritage and his experience as a threat assessor for NASA to craft this thrilling and intricately plotted novel. |
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| Sunward by William AlexanderCaptain Tova Lir chose a life as a courier rather than get involved in her family’s illustrious business in politics. Set in humanity’s far future, hiring a planetary courier is essential for delivering private messages across the stars.
Encouraged by friends, Tova begins mentoring baby bots, juvenile AI who are developmentally in their teens, and trains them how to interact within society essentially becoming their foster mom. Her latest charge, Agatha Panza von Sparkles, named herself on their first run from Luna to Phoebe station. But on their return, they encounter a derelict spaceship and a lurking assassin, igniting a thrilling chase across the solar system.
Tova and Agatha’s daring actions leave Agatha’s mind vulnerable, relying on Tova’s former AI pupils for help. As Tova starts gathering her scattered family around her, she is chased through the solar system by forces who want her captured and her family erased. This debut science fiction novel by National Book Award–winning author William Alexander is a must-read for fans of Becky Chambers and Ursula K. Le Guin. Lovers of poignant science fiction, where the bonds of found family, the evolution of AI, and the building distrust of centuries of bias, come together in this visionary look at humanity’s future. Available on Sound Recording. |
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| Brigands & Breadknives by Travis BaldreeFern has weathered the stillness and storms of a bookseller’s life for decades, but now, in the face of crippling ennui, transplants herself to the city of Thune to hang out her shingle beside a long-absent friend’s coffee shop. What could be a better pairing? Surely a charming renovation montage will cure what ails her!
If only things were so simple…
It turns out that fixing your life isn’t a one-time prospect, nor as easy as a change of scenery and a lick of paint.
A drunken and desperate night sees the rattkin waking far from home in the company of a legendary warrior surviving on inertia, an imprisoned chaos-goblin with a fondness for silverware, and an absolutely thumping hangover.
As together they fend off a rogue’s gallery of ne’er-do-wells trying to claim the bounty the goblin represents, Fern may finally reconnect with the person she actually is when there isn’t a job to get in the way. |
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The Lighthouse at the Edge of the World by J. R. DawsonLove doesn’t die, people do . . .
At the edge of Chicago, nestled on the shores of Lake Michigan, there is a waystation for the dead. Every night, the newly-departed travel through the city to the Station, guided by its lighthouse. There, they reckon with their lives, before stepping aboard a boat to go beyond.
Nera has spent decades watching her father – the ferryman of the dead – sail across the lake, each night just like the last.
But tonight, something is wrong.
The Station's lighthouse has started to flicker out. The terrifying, ghostly Haunts have multiplied in the city. And now a person – a living person has found her way onto the boat.
Her name is Charlie. She followed a song. And she is searching for someone she lost.
Available on Sound Recording.
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The Magician of Tiger Castle by Louis SacharLong ago and far away (and somewhere south of France) lies the kingdom of Esquaveta. There, Princess Tullia is in nearly as much peril as her struggling kingdom. Esquaveta desperately needs to forge an alliance, and to that end, Tullia's father has arranged a marriage between her and an odious prince. However, one month before the wedding of the century, Tullia falls in love with a lowly apprentice scribe. The king turns to Anatole, his much-maligned magician. Seventeen years earlier, when Anatole first came to the castle, he was regarded as something of a prodigy. But after a long series of failures--the latest being an attempt to transform sand into gold--he has become the object of contempt and ridicule. The only one who still believes in him is the princess. When the king orders Anatole to brew a potion that will ensure Tullia agrees to the wedding, Anatole is faced with an impossible choice. With one chance to save the marriage, the kingdom, and, of most importance to him, his reputation; will he betray the princess--or risk ruin? Also available through sound recording. |
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The Everlasting by Alix E. HarrowSir Una Everlasting was Dominion's greatest hero: the orphaned girl who became a knight, who died for queen and country. Her legend lives on in songs and stories, in children's books and recruiting posters--but her life as it truly happened has been forgotten. Centuries later, Owen Mallory--failed soldier, struggling scholar--falls in love with the tale of Una Everlasting. Her story takes him to war, to the archives--and then into the past itself. Una and Owen are tangled together in time, bound to retell the same story over and over again, no matter what it costs. But that story always ends the same way. If they want to rewrite Una's legend--if they want to tell a different story--they'll have to rewrite history itself. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Michigan City Public Library
100 E. 4th Street
Michigan City, Indiana 46360
219-873-3044mclib.org/ |
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