Showing results by publisher "Tantor Media" in Literature & Fiction

Book burning. Jewel stealing. Vampire hunting. Not exactly what I expected from a day's work as a detective, but at least things are no longer dull at the agency. Although I'm not sure how much longer the doors to that agency will be open, since the due date for getting my detective license just went whizzing by faster than a fairy on pixie dust. But, after making good use of my groveling skills, HQ has given me an extension to solve a case and complete my application. Which would be great if the only clients I have weren't dead clients, missing clients, and persnickety clients.

You could say Kyle Jr. grew up in a dysfunctional family. That'd be an understatement. His mother's wealthy family disinherited her for marrying the working-class Kyle Sr., and she's never forgiven him (or KJ) for that. When his father's suicide turns his life upside down, KJ fills his therapist-recommended grief journal with plenty of sarcasm, excerpts from sweary, punny high-school short stories, and fourth-wall-breaking asides.

"Things used to be easier, but even in those carefree days, the rules were in place for a reason. And that reason is: so we can all agree. So we can all have the same standard applied across the board. So there is no special treatment, which no one should receive. This is why we need the rules."...

Mikey makes everything a joke, even the clinical depression he's struggled with for years. After a run of failed jobs, he becomes the unlikely basketball coach at a high school for high-risk offenders who are experiencing mental illness. The position becomes suddenly available after the team tried to strangle their last coach.

Mischa Osborn spends her days as a ProWatcher—keeping distracted people on task and lonely ones accompanied—from her Brooklyn Megabuilding, while eating PetriMeat Steax and working out with her favorite personal trainer, a straight-talking algorithm named Tory. Her carefully constructed, isolated existence is suddenly upended by a chance realspace encounter with a HighlightReel celebrity, Nicolás Adán Luchano. On their first date, hiking in Kuulsuits and watching DroneBeez pollinate flowers, Mischa experiences a brief but intense realspace connection.