Showing results by narrator "Sophie Amoss" in All Categories

Cale Lambert, a bookish loner of mysterious parentage, lives in a dusty town near the California-Nevada border, a place where coyotes scavenge for backyard dogs and long-haul truckers scavenge for pills and girls. Cale was raised by her grandfather in a loving, if codependent, household, but as soon as she's left high school his health begins an agonizing decline. Set adrift for the first time, Cale starts waitressing at the local diner, where she reconnects with Penélope Reyes, a charismatic former classmate running mysterious side-hustles to fund her dreams.

Last summer, Link Miller drowned on dry land in the woods, miles away from the nearest body of water. His death was ruled a strange accident, and in the months since, his friends and family have struggled to make sense of it. But Link's close friend Noemi Amato knows the truth: Link drowned in an impossible lake that only she can find. And what's more, someone claiming to be Link has been contacting her, warning Noemi to stay out of the forest.

At Jonesville High, casual misogyny runs rampant, slut-shaming is a given, and school athletes are glorified above all else. Best friends Suze, Nikki, Ani, and Lydia swear they'll always have each other's backs against predatory guys - so when Suze suddenly starts dating wrestling star and toxic douchebag Tarkin Shaw, it's a big betrayal. Turns out, it's not a relationship - it's blackmail. At first, Suze feels like she has no choice but to go along with it, but when Tarkin starts demanding more, she enlists the help of intelligent misfits DeShawn and Marcus....

Even in the chill of February, no place touches Harper McClain's heart like Savannah. She should be walking beneath the historic city's towering oaks, surrounded by graceful mansions. Instead, she's hiding miles away on Tybee Island after a mysterious voice on the phone warned her that someone wanted her dead. The call was too specific to ignore. The caller knew everything about her. But that was months ago, and she's getting tired of being scared.

To Charles Fort, with Love is award-winning fantasist Caitlín R. Kiernan’s third collection of short fiction, a haunting parade of the terrible things which may lie beyond the boundaries of science, the minds which may exist beyond psychology, and the forbidden places which will never be located in any orthodox globe. A deceptively even dozen, this collection includes Kiernan’s celebrated stories “Onion” and “Andromeda Among the Stones”, as well as a number of more obscure pieces.

This collection of 22 short stories by the author of Daughter of Hounds and Alabaster firmly established Caitlín R. Kiernan as one of the preeminent voices in dark fantasy today. Through a cycle of interconnected narratives, Kiernan unflinchingly explores a surreal world where the fantastic and the mundane are never separated by more than the insubstantial thickness of a shadow.

After her family's California home is destroyed by a wildfire, 17-year-old Julia moves in with her grandmother, a foreign-born woman with a heavy accent and hidden past. When by chance she comes across an enchanted necklace in the bottom of an old trunk, the magical artifact transports Julia to Aevilen, a war-torn land from which her grandmother had escaped a half-century prior. As Julia searches for a way home, she discovers an ancient family legacy, that if fulfilled, could bring an end to the troubles gripping this mystical land.

It's been three days since Grizz almost took over the world - again. Lisa Marie and Vernon have been interrogated by the police, and Bearvis and the Duds have been taken away to be studied. But things are far from over. Grizz has found a way to infiltrate the wireless networks and he's planning an invasion. As all teddy bears come to life, Lisa Marie and Vernon must battle a King-Kong sized teddy bear with a mind for evil. It looks like they're going to need their furry friends back!

The bears are back for revenge in the sequel to Night of the Living Ted...and they're far from cute and cuddly! Just when Lisa Marie and Vernon think they've seen the last of the evil teddy bear Grizz, he's back...for revenge! He has a new army of stuffed friends and a plan for world domination.... Can Lisa Marie and Vernon save the world again...and before bedtime?

After Lisa-Marie and her big brother, Vernon, visit a Create-A-Ted store, the unexpected happens. Their teddy bears come to life! But it turns out they aren't the only ones. All kinds of teddy bears - zombies, ghosts, aliens, and more - are suddenly alive and creating mayhem...and soon there is an army of evil teddy bears on the loose!

The distant future. Earth’s Alliance forces have emerged victorious from a brutal nine-year war with the mysterious Kastazi - a vicious, highly advanced alien race. In the dawn of a new peace, the Alliance Devastation Class starship California embarks on a mission of science and learning with a skeleton crew of seasoned officers, civilian students, and inexperienced military cadets in tow. For JD Marshall and Viv Nixon, gifted cadets and best friends, the mission holds special meaning: It offers an opportunity to prove themselves.

First-generation graduate student Dorothe Bartleby has one last chance to pass the Magic program’s qualifying exam. If she fails, she’ll be kicked out of the university, losing access to higher magic and her chance to prove classic literature contained spells that rebuilt the world. Still reeling from the paralyzing anxiety that made her freeze on her first attempt, she’s horrified when her adviser insists she reframe her entire dissertation using Digimancy. Mages may have found a way to make computers and magic work together, but throw Bartleby into the mix, and nothing ever goes right.

There are five towns in the U.S. named “Normal” and seventeen-year-old Gemma Leonardo plans on visiting every one of them. Right after she escapes Children’s Hospital in Harrisburg, where she’s being treated for anorexia. Enter Lucas Polizzi, a high school wrestler with bulimia and, more importantly to Gemma, a getaway car. Sick of being told they’re sick, Gemma and Lucas team up for a themed road trip to “the Normals” on one condition—they can’t mention food, ever.

Just back from rehab, Casey regrets letting her friends Shana, Julie, and Aya talk her into coming to Survive the Night, an all-night, underground rave in a New York City subway tunnel. Surrounded by frightening drugs and menacing strangers, Casey doesn't think Survive the Night could get any worse...until she comes across Julie's mutilated body in a dank, black subway tunnel, red-eyed rats nibbling at her fingers. And by the time they get back to the party, everyone is gone.

Twelve-year-old Gloria St. Romain, Glory to everyone who knows her, has always loved mysteries. She spends her time solving puzzles and reading Agatha Christie books, comforted by the knowledge that truth can always be found for those who look closely enough for it. But when her mom suddenly leaves without a word, Glory is finally faced with the one mystery she can't crack: Why did her mom leave, and where did she go?

Whitney knows what death looks like. Since she was seven, she’s seen it hover over strangers’ heads in dark, rippling clouds. Sometimes she can save people from the darkness. Sometimes she can’t. But she’s never questioned if she should try. Until the unthinkable happens—and a person she saves becomes the perpetrator of a horrific school shooting.

It’s the summer of 1982 and fourteen-year-old Swanna Swain is the only one left at camp. The place is a ghost town by the time her mother Val finally shows up six hours late—stoned and radiant—in a Ford pickup driven by Borislav, her new young Russian lover. Assuming she is headed home to her air-conditioned Upper West Side apartment, Swanna and her lovable younger brother Madding are instead dragged to Vermont—to an artist colony where kids are not welcome and they are forced to sleep in the back of the truck, while Val is cozy inside the house with the Russian.

With heroic deeds, family drama, pulse-pounding battles, and shape-shifting magic, it’s no wonder that mythology fascinates us all. Packed with facts, Amazing Immortals profiles over eighty of these fantastical beings.

Perfect for fans of Carmen Maria Machado and Kelly Link, Jo Paquette’s Stories I Told My Dead Lover contains eight searing tales of psychological horror that probe the darkest and most deeply buried parts of the human psyche. A child is forced to grow up too soon. A woman trusts her doctor too much. An abandoned woman isn’t as alone as she thinks. An idyllic holiday masks an unspeakable act of violence. Driven, desperate, fighting for the power to choose their own fate, Paquette’s characters dare to push back at the walls that hold them in.

For over a century, the Blackwells have protected the town of Hollow Cliff from vengeful spirits. Seventeen-year-old Nev is ready to take over for her ailing grandmother as the town’s witch protector—unlike her mother, who left when Nev was a child and never looked back. When a stranger arrives at Blackwell House of Spirits to fill a tour guide opening, Nev reluctantly offers him the job. Nev doesn’t trust Cal. He knows more than he’s letting on about Blackwell House—and about Nev herself.