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Newsletter :: January 2022

Anne Rice (1941-2021)

Anne Rice, the bestselling author of Interview With the Vampire, has died at the age of 80.

Anne Rice
Anne Rice

Anne Rice (born Howard Allen Frances O'Brien; 1941–2021) was an American author of gothic fiction, Christian literature, and erotic literature. She was best known for her series of novels The Vampire Chronicles. Books from The Vampire Chronicles were the subject of two film adaptations - Interview with the Vampire (1994) and Queen of the Damned (2002).

Born in New Orleans, Rice spent much of her early life there before moving to Texas, and later to San Francisco. She was raised in an observant Catholic family but became an agnostic as a young adult. She began her professional writing career with the publication of Interview with the Vampire in 1976, while living in California, and began writing sequels to the novel in the 1980s. In the mid-2000s, following a publicized return to Catholicism, Rice published the novels Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt and Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana, fictionalized accounts of certain incidents in the life of Jesus. Several years later she distanced herself from organized Christianity, citing disagreement with the Roman Catholic Church's stances on social issues but pledging that faith in God remained "central to [her] life." However, she later considered herself a secular humanist.

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New Releases

He Who Fights with Monsters 4 (He Who Fights with Monsters #4)
He Who Fights with Monsters 4
(He Who Fights with Monsters #4) by Shirtaloon
December 21, 2021 | fantasy

An old friend brings comfort while an old acquaintance brings trouble as Jason and Farrah get the change of scenery they've been longing for.

The kingdom is in peril, which seems like small beans compared to saving the world a few times. It isn't even Jason's job to deal with as, for once, the powerful people around him are living up to their responsibilities.

This leaves Jason and Farrah time to recover, but healing isn't always easy. Their experiences on Earth still linger, and in a world of magic, the scars to the soul are the ones that stick.

A Broken Blade (The Halfling Saga #1)
A Broken Blade
(The Halfling Saga #1) by Melissa Blair
December 14, 2021 | fantasy, romance

Keera is a killer. As the King’s Blade, she is the most talented spy in the kingdom. And the King’s favored assassin. When a mysterious figure called the Shadow starts making moves against the Crown, Keera is forced to hunt the masked menace down.

She crosses into the magical lands of the Fae, trying to discern if her enemy is Mortal, Elf, or a Halfling like her. But the Faeland is not what it seems, and neither is the Shadow. Keera is shocked by what she discovers and can’t help but wonder who her enemy truly is…

The King that destroyed her people? The Prince that tortures them? Or the Shadow that threatens her place at court?

As she searches for answers, Keera is haunted by a promise she made long ago. A promise not only to save herself but an entire kingdom.

The Brightest Night (Wings of Fire: Graphic Novel #5)
The Brightest Night
(Wings of Fire: Graphic Novel #5) by Tui T. Sutherland
December 28, 2021 | fantasy, comics > graphic novels, middle grade > graphic novels

The graphic novel adaptations of the #1 New York Times bestselling Wings of Fire series continue to set the world on fire!

One will have the power of wings of fire . . .

Sunny has always taken the Dragonet Prophecy very seriously. If Pyrrhia’s dragons need her, Clay, Tsunami, Glory, and Starflight to end the war, she’s ready to try. She even has some good ideas how to do it, if anyone would listen to her.

But shattering news from Morrowseer has shaken Sunny’s faith in their destiny. Is it possible for anyone to end this terrible war and choose a new SandWing queen? What if everything they’ve been through was for nothing?

Buried secrets, deadly surprises, and an unexpected side to scavengers are all waiting for her in the shifting sands of the desert, where Sunny must decide once and for all: Is her destiny already written?

Or can five dragonets change their fate and save the world . . . the way they choose?

The War God's Favorite (The Favorite #1)
The War God's Favorite
(The Favorite #1) by Jenny Fox
December 1, 2021 | fantasy, romance

She was destined to Die.
He was born to Kill.

Cassandra has known nothing but suffering and slavery for her whole life. Unjustly condemned to death, she was ready to leave this Hell and expire her last breath in the arena.

But destiny had other plans for her, and instead of being killed, she was offered as a tribute to the merciless Kairen, the Dragon Prince, also known as the Empire's God of War. What will happen now that she is trapped in his den, at his mercy...?

The Untold Story (The Invisible Library #8)
The Untold Story
(The Invisible Library #8) by Genevieve Cogman
December 28, 2021 | fantasy, alternate history

“Clever, creepy, elaborate world building and snarky, sexy-smart characters!” — N. K. Jemisin, author of The Fifth Season

In this thrilling historical fantasy, time-traveling Librarian spy Irene will need to delve deep into a tangled web of loyalty and power to keep her friends safe.

Irene is trying to learn the truth about Alberich-and the possibility that he's her father. But when the Library orders her to kill him, and then Alberich himself offers to sign a truce, she has to discover why he originally betrayed the Library.

With her allies endangered and her strongest loyalties under threat, she'll have to trace his past across multiple worlds and into the depths of mythology and folklore, to find the truth at the heart of the Library, and why the Library was first created.

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Coming This Month

Brambles and Thorns (The Infinite World #4)
Brambles and Thorns
(The Infinite World #4) by J.T. Wright
January 29, 2022 | fantasy

Life was simpler when someone was around to tell him what to do. With a band of Adventurers looking to him for direction, whether he likes it or not, Trent Embra needed to figure out how to lead them.

But how was he supposed to lead when there were so many things Trent hadn’t figured out for himself?

An unidentifiable seed in his Storage, and whispers in his head, Trent points his team west towards the wilds. It was as good a direction as any. Maybe in uncivilized lands, Trent would learn what it meant to be an Adventurer and sort through what mattered most.

Hunting Adeline (Cat and Mouse Duet #2)
Hunting Adeline
(Cat and Mouse Duet #2) by H.D. Carlton
January 28, 2022 | romance, dark

The final installment to the Cat and Mouse Duet...

The Diamond

Death walks alongside me,
But the reaper is no match for me.
I'm trapped in a world full of monsters dressed as men, and those who aren't as they seem.
They won't keep me forever.
I no longer recognize the person I've become,
And I'm fighting to find my way back to the beast who hunts me in the night.
They call me a diamond,
But they've only created an angel of death.

The Hunter

I was born a predator,
With ruthlessness ingrained in my bones.
When what's mine is stolen from me in the night,
Like a diamond hidden within a fortress,
I find that I can no longer contain the beast.
Blood will paint the ground as I tear apart this world to find her.
And bring her back to where she belongs.
No one will escape my wrath,
Especially not those who have betrayed me.

The Starless Crown (Moonfall #1)
The Starless Crown
(Moonfall #1) by James Rollins
January 4, 2022 | fantasy > high fantasy

An alliance embarks on a dangerous journey to uncover the secrets of the distant past and save their world in this captivating, deeply visionary adventure from #1 New York Times bestselling thriller-master James Rollins.

A gifted student foretells an apocalypse. Her reward is a sentence of death.

Fleeing into the unknown she is drawn into a team of outcasts:

A broken soldier, who once again takes up the weapons he’s forbidden to wield and carves a trail back home.

A drunken prince, who steps out from his beloved brother's shadow and claims a purpose of his own.

An imprisoned thief, who escapes the crushing dark and discovers a gleaming artifact - one that will ignite a power struggle across the globe.

On the run, hunted by enemies old and new, they must learn to trust each other in order to survive in a world evolved in strange, beautiful, and deadly ways, and uncover ancient secrets that hold the key to their salvation.

But with each passing moment, doom draws closer.

WHO WILL CLAIM THE STARLESS CROWN?

Munro (Immortals After Dark #19)
Munro
(Immortals After Dark #19) by Kresley Cole
January 25, 2022 | fantasy, romance > paranormal romance

A human monster huntress. An immortal werewolf. Could any passion be more forbidden?

The next stand-alone installment in the electrifying Immortals After Dark series by #1 New York Times best-selling author Kresley Cole. Venture deeper into the Lore, fierce realm of the immortals—if you dare ...

TORMENTED IN UNIMAGINABLE WAYS

Coming off torture at the hands of his warlock captors, Munro MacRieve never expected to find his mate, or to lose her just as abruptly. Driven to desperation, the ruthless warrior uses his enemies’ own powers to reunite with her—in the distant past.

STOLEN FROM HER TIME

When a crazed werewolf crashes her wedding, Kereny “Ren” Codrina does what any cunning huntress would do: she captures him. Yet she finds herself softening toward the wounded beast—until he turns the tables and forces her into an incomprehensible future.

CAN A HUMAN AND AN IMMORTAL UNITE IN ORDER TO SURVIVE?

As danger mounts, Munro will do anything to make her undying, even sell his soul to an evil sorceress. But first he must convince his fiery mate that she belongs with him. If seduction means her survival, Munro will use every weapon in his arsenal to possess her—forever.

Where the Drowned Girls Go (Wayward Children #7)
Where the Drowned Girls Go
(Wayward Children #7) by Seanan McGuire
January 4, 2022 | fantasy

Welcome to the Whitethorn Institute. The first step is always admitting you need help, and you've already taken that step by requesting a transfer into our company.

There is another school for children who fall through doors and fall back out again.
It isn't as friendly as Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children.
And it isn't as safe.

When Eleanor West decided to open her school, her sanctuary, her Home for Wayward Children, she knew from the beginning that there would be children she couldn't save; when Cora decides she needs a different direction, a different fate, a different prophecy, Miss West reluctantly agrees to transfer her to the other school, where things are run very differently by Whitethorn, the Headmaster.

She will soon discover that not all doors are welcoming...

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