Showing results by publisher "Recorded Books" in Dark Fantasy

On her 17th birthday, Megan of Chaumont discovers she'll be sold as a bride to the brutish Volodane family - within hours. Her father grants only that she may choose which one of the ruthless, grasping lord's three sons she weds: Rolf, the eldest: stern, ambitious, and loyal? Sebastian, the second son: sympathetic, sly, and rebellious? Or Kai, the youngest: bitter, brooding, and proud? As shy, horrified Megan flees the welcome dinner for her in-laws-to-be, she finds an enchanted mirror that will display how her life unrolls with each man, as if she were living it out in a breath. But there is no smooth "happily ever after" in her choices.

Possessed by the demon of Misery, Cameo isn't allowed to experience joy. If she dares, her memory is wiped clean. With no other recourse, she sneaks into a land more fantastical than any fairy tale, determined to find the one man with the key to her redemption. Lazarus the Cruel and Unusual rules his kingdom with a single unwavering focus: to build his army and annihilate his enemies. Nothing distracts him - until Cameo.

She is Ivory Malinov. Her only brethren, the wolves. Long ago betrayed by her people, abandoned by her family, and cast out by everyone she held dear, Ivory has lived centuries without companionship or love. She has sustained her sanity by preparing for one purpose—to destroy her greatest enemy. Until the night she picks up the scent of a man, her unexpected salvation. Her lifemate. The curse of all Carpathian women.

In a world of magic and war, a fierce Demon King formed a pact with the mortal kingdoms: Every 25 years he will choose a human partner that he must try to love for 100 days. If he falls in love, the partner will have the power to kill him. Many centuries later, the Demon King meets a gruesome fate at the hands of the girl he loves. His death sparks the beginning of the end of the world. Aster, a farmer’s daughter turned mage, narrowly survived the apocalypse and now seeks an ancient magical entity to save what remains.

When their coup of Metzger's Menagerie is discovered, Delilah and her fellow cryptids find their newly won freedom brutally stripped away as they are sold into The Savage Spectacle, a private collection of "exotic wildlife". Specializing in ruthless cryptid cage matches, safari-style creature hunts, and living party favors, the Spectacle's owner, Willem Vandekamp, caters to the forbidden fetishes of the wealthy and powerful. At the Spectacle any wish can be granted - for the right price. But Vandekamp's closely guarded client list isn't the only secret being kept at the Spectacle.

In a city beset by monsters, three brothers must find out who is controlling the abominations. The city-state of Ravenwood is wealthy, powerful, and corrupt. Merchant princes and guild masters wager fortunes to outmaneuver League rivals for the king's favor and advantageous trading terms. Lord Mayor Ellor Machison wields assassins, blood witches, and forbidden magic to assure that his powerful patrons get what they want, no matter the cost.

Seeking to make their fortunes in human society, the elves of the underworld involve themselves in stock car racing, child pornography, and worse, and three runaway kids find themselves in a heap of trouble.

Occult investigator Quincey Morris and his "consultant", white witch Libby Chastain, are hired to free a family from a deadly curse that appears to date back to the Salem witch trials. Fraught with danger, the trail finds them stalking the mysterious occult underworlds of Boston, San Francisco, New Orleans, and New York, searching out the root of the curse. After surviving a series of terrifying attempts on their lives, the two find themselves drawn inexorably towards Salem itself - and the very heart of darkness.

Supernatural investigator Quincey Morris and his partner, "white witch" Libby Chastain, are each in pursuit of a vicious killer. One is murdering small children for their bodily organs; the other is hunting down white witches - and Libby may be next.

Kara, as a ward with no parentage and no future, has been raised knowing nothing outside her lady's chambers. Until Royce Capello, a visiting nobleman, is struck by her ice-pale looks, and demands her as payment for the land the family needs. With barely time to protest, Kara is sold and packed off for a life as a concubine until a raiding party descends on Royce's company and she's kidnapped for the second time in as many days. Whatever happens, Kara will be alone in the world, inexperienced and fearing even the vast unfamiliar sky. But one raider gives her a choice - and a magic mirror appears to show her where each path will lead.

In 1986, humanity experienced the Reaping - a nationwide slaughter of six-year-old children by their parents - one of the country's most horrific tragedies. From that day forward, the world would never trust another cryptid. Now, Delilah Marlow and a rogue group of cryptids are on the run. One morning, Delilah wakes up with dried blood all over her hands. Though she has no memory of it, she obviously went somewhere - and possibly killed someone - in her sleep. More killings follow, and there is something connecting her victims - perhaps something as dangerous as another Reaping.

Aster, a farmer’s daughter turned mage, narrowly survived the apocalypse and now seeks an ancient magical entity to save what remains. But when she offers herself to this entity, she receives a vision from Maven, the deceased Demon King. With what little remains of his magic, Maven sends Aster back in time to thwart the apocalypse. Like with all spells, there is a catch: she cannot reveal what she knows of the future. When Aster wakes, Maven has already chosen the girl destined to kill him.

Faced with abominable working conditions, unsympathetic owners, and hard-hearted managers, the mill girls of Lowell have had enough. They're going on strike, and they have a secret weapon on their side: a little witchcraft to ensure that no one leaves the picket line.

Orson Scott Card, Kevin J. Anderson, and Larry Niven have seen the future. Now you can, too. A constellation of the brightest lights in the science fiction and fantasy firmament have judged these authors to be the best, the brightest, the truest emerging stars in the field.

One Piece meets Shadow and Bone in this lush tale where magic rules the seas. A shipwrecked royal mage-in-training wants to join the crew of the infamous pirate ship who rescued her. But first, she must not only prove herself to the infuriating captain, but also to the sentient ship, the Ship of Spells, that’s bonded to him.

Ambrose, a young vampire, lives a life secreted away from the modern world with the rest of his clan, all of them under the spell of the charismatic Regina, who spins stories of salvation for their kind. Their grand plan? To build makeshift wings and fly to the moon where a safe haven awaits for all vampires. But Ambrose harbours a secret: he is not ready to abandon the earth, and he is in contact with a human who believes he can be saved. As the rest of his kind prepare to flee their home, Ambrose is torn between loyalties.

There are dragons in Lagos and witches who wear their sons’ skins, while a cabal of otherworldly beings are collecting intelligent life forms in the depths of the universe. This collection features some of Falowo’s most notable previously published stories alongside new tales of magic and terror.

When infamous hot mess vampire Roxanne resurrects her deceased best friends, she's confronted by a dream-dwelling Guardian of the Underworld, who demands that she replace them in his afterlife with three equally nefarious creatures—or he'll drag her there instead. Reunited with Medusa and Mx. Hyde, Roxanne and her macabre girl gang must become monster hunters themselves and fight for the future of their friendship.Gory, sexy, silly, touching—Glorious Fiends asks who the real monsters are, and if the bonds that we think are solely human are really ours alone.

Some people are born under a lucky star; Aris Gray isn’t one of them. Orphaned as a baby, she has struggled her entire life, but now, at 18, she hopes that going off to college will mean a new path for her. Unfortunately, that new path begins when she’s attacked in an alleyway by a stranger. To protect herself, Aris summons shadow powers she didn’t know she had and a Constellation, a being that also grants her elemental powers.

In dystopian Mafinga, Jasmin must contend with a dictator’s sorcerer to cleanse the socialist state of its deadly pollution. Mafinga's malevolent king dislikes books and, together with his sorcerer Atari, has collapsed the environment to become almost uninhabitable. The sun has killed all the able men, including Jasmin’s husband Godi. But Jasmin has Godi’s secret story machine that tells of a better world, far different from the wastelands of Mafinga. Jasmin’s crime for possessing the machine and its forbidden literature filled with subversive text is punishable by death.