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Urban Fantasy is by far my favorite genre to read. Here are the new releases for October. I am sure I will be reading all of them...eventually.
OCTOBER 7
Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception
By Maggie Stiefvater
“Sixteen-year-old Deirdre Monaghan is a painfully shy but prodigiously gifted musician. She’s about to find out she’s also a cloverhand—one who can see faeries. Deirdre finds herself infatuated with a mysterious boy who enters her ordinary suburban life, seemingly out of thin air. Trouble is, the enigmatic and gorgeous Luke turns out to be a gallowglass—a soulless faerie assassin. An equally hunky—and equally dangerous—dark faerie soldier named Aodhan is also stalking Deirdre. Sworn enemies, Luke and Aodhan each have a deadly assignment from the Faerie Queen. Namely, kill Deirdre before her music captures the attention of the Fae and threatens the Queen’s sovereignty. Caught in the crossfire with Deirdre is James, her wisecracking but loyal best friend. Deirdre had been wishing her life weren’t so dull, but getting trapped in the middle of a centuries-old faerie war isn’t exactly what she had in mind . . .Lament is a dark faerie fantasy that features authentic Celtic faerie lore, plus cover art and interior illustrations by acclaimed faerie artist Julia Jeffrey.”
Pretty Monsters
By Kelly Link
“Through the lens of Kelly Link’s vivid imagination, nothing is what it seems. From the multiple award-winning “The Faery Handbag,” in which a teenager’s grandmother carries an entire village (or is it a man-eating dog?) in her handbag, to the near-future of “The Surfer,” whose narrator waits with a planeload of refugees for the aliens to arrive, Link’s stories are funny and full of unexpected insights and skewed perspectives on the world…”
Midnight’s Daughter (Dorina Basarab, Dhampir Book One)
By Karen Chance
“Dorina Basarab is a dhampir—half-human, half-vampire. Unlike most dhampirs, though, Dory remains sane. Now Dory’s vampire father has come to her for help. Her Uncle Dracula has escaped his prison and her father wants Dory to work with master vampire Louis-Cesare to put him back. Although Dory prefers to work alone, Dracula is the only thing that truly scares her—and when she has to face him, she’ll take all the help she can get…”
Mysteria Lane: An Anthology
By MaryJanice Davidson
“Return to a town of bewitching seduction and sensual demons. There’s a spellbinding witch of love who wants to make one man hers; a vegan having trouble adapting to vampirism; Satan’s emissary, who is looking for steady work in Colorado; and angelic triplets feeling a wee touch of the devil.MaryJanice Davidson, Susan Grant, Gena Showalter, P.C. Cast
Blood Memories
By Barb Hendee
“Eleisha Clevon has the face of a teen angel, but she is no angel. Unlike most vampires, she doesn’t like to kill, but self-preservation comes first.When an old friend destroys himself by walking into sunlight right in front of her, Eleisha is shocked. And what she finds afterwards points to how very sick of his existence her friend had become—piling drained corpses in the basement and keeping records of other vampires’ real names and addresses. That’s a problem.Because now, there are policemen on the case: two very special humans with some gifts of their own. They know who Eleisha is, and, even more dangerous, what she is.”
Wolfsbane & Mistletoe: An Anthology
By Charlaine Harris
“New York Times bestselling authors Charlaine Harris, Patricia Briggs, Keri Arthur, and Carrie Vaughn—along with eleven other masters of the genre—offer all-new stories on werewolves and the holidays, a fresh variation on the concept that worked so well with birthdays and vampires in Many Bloody Returns.The holidays can bring out the beast in anyone. They are particularly hard for lycanthropes. Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner have harvested the scariest, funniest and saddest werewolf tales by an outstanding pack of authors, best read by the light of a full moon with a silver bullet close at hand. Whether wolfing down a holiday feast (use your imagination) or craving some hair of the dog on New Year’s morning, the werewolves in these frighteningly original stories will surprise, delight, amuse, and scare the pants off readers who love a little wolfsbane with their mistletoe.Charlaine Harris, Patricia Briggs, Keri Arthur, Carrie Vaughn, and others.”
Witch High
By Denise Little
“High school is different for everyone. For some, it’s a time to shine and for others, a time to survive. Then there are the special schools for the gifted. But what if there was a school that catered to those who can do magic? Enter Salem Township Public High School #4—otherwise known as Witch High. Featuring fourteen tales, “Witch High” explores the challenges that students of the magical arts may face in a high school of their very own…”
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OCTOBER 14
The Watchers Out of Time
By HP Lovecraft
“Venture at your own risk into a realm where the sun sinks into oblivion and all that is unholy, unearthly, and unspeakable rises. A perfect Halloween treat, The Watchers Out of Time features fifteen rare, hard-to-find, soul-chilling tales of cosmic terror by H.P. Lovecraft and August Derleth, including Wentworth’s Day, The Shuttered Room, The Dark Brotherhood, Innsmouth Clay and Witches’ Hollow…”
Ghost Radio
By Leopolodo Gout
“From a haunting new voice, "Ghost Radio” is a terrifying novel about a ghost-story call-in radio show that inadvertently opens a doorway into the paranormal, giving voice to the dead and instigating an epic battle for the souls of the living. Caught in this nightmare is charismatic host Joaquin who is forced to confront his past and his own mortality in order to save that which is most precious to him and repair the crumbling wall between the living and the dead…”
Vampire Zero
By David Wellington
“U.S. Marshal Jameson Arkeley—the country’s foremost authority on vampires—taught police investigator and vampire fighter Laura Caxton everything she knows about monsters. Now Arkeley is a vampire himself and Caxton is faced with the task of destroying him. But Arkeley knows all her tactics. Even more important, Laura has to prevent him from becoming a beast exponentially more dangerous—a Vampire Zero…”
By the Sword (Repairman Jack Novel)
By F. Paul Wilson
“Jack is hired to find a legendary Japanese sword, stolen from the Hiroshima Peace Museum and brought to New York City. But members of a weird Japanese cult, a young Japanese businessman and his three Yakuza bodyguards, and Hank Thompson, the Kicker cult leader from “Bloodline”, are all looking for the sword as well… “By the Sword” takes F. Paul Wilson’s trademark breakneck pacing and interweaving storylines to a new level…”
Goth
By Otsuichi
“In this truly shocking tale of terror, two high school sociopaths become fixated on a local serial murderer. But rather than trying to prevent and solve the next murder, their obsession grows, taking them on a descent into a maniacal darkness in which the most nightmarish acts occur. Psychologically twisted and emotionally wrenching, Otsuichi’s compelling novel “Goth” takes Japan's horror tradition to a whole new level of fear…”
The Ghost’s Child
By Sonya Hartnett
“Maddy arrives home one day to find a peculiar boy waiting for her. Over tea, she tells him the story of her life long ago, when she wished for her days to be as romantic & mysterious as a fairy tale. It was then that she fell in love with a free spirit named Feather, who put aside his wild ways to live with her in a little cottage, conceived with her a child never to be born, and disappeared—leaving Maddy to follow after him on a fantastical journey across the sea…”
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OCTOBER 21
The Widows of Eastwick
By John Updike
“More than three decades have passed since the events described in John Updike’s The Witches of Eastwick. The three divorcées—Alexandra, Jane, and Sukie—have left town, remarried, and become widows. They cope with their grief and solitude as widows do: they travel the world, to such foreign lands as Canada, Egypt, and China, and renew old acquaintance. Why not, Sukie and Jane ask Alexandra, go back to Eastwick for the summer? The old Rhode Island seaside town, where they indulged in wicked mischief under the influence of the diabolical Darryl Van Horne, is still magical for them. Now Darryl is gone, and their lovers of the time have aged or died, but enchantment remains in the familiar streets and scenery of the village, where they enjoyed their lusty primes as free and empowered women. And, among the local citizenry, there are still those who remember them, and wish them ill. How they cope with the lingering traces of their evil deeds, the shocks of a mysterious counterspell, and the advancing inroads of old age, form the burden on Updike’s delightful, ominous sequel.”
Soulless
By Christopher Golden
“Times Square, New York City: The first ever mass séance is broadcasting live on the Sunrise morning show. If it works, the spirits of the departed will have a brief window to send a final message to their grieving loved ones. What happens next though is a nightmare. The spirits have returned . . . but as the walking dead and they are no longer your family, your friend or your lover. They are savage and they are hungry. They are soulless…”
Living With the Dead (Women of the Otherworld Book nine)
By Kelley Armstrong
“Robyn Peltier moved to Los Angeles after her young husband’s sudden death, trying to put some distance between herself and her memories. Though she’s still grieving, the challenges of her new life as the PR consultant to Portia Kane—the world’s most famous celebutante wannabe—can sometimes be amusing, even distracting. But when her client is gunned down in the back room of a nightclub, Robyn is suddenly on the run as the prime suspect in the murder. And as more bodies pile up around her, it seems like only Hope Adams, Robyn’s best friend, and Hope’s somewhat spooky boyfriend Karl are on Robyn’s side. Hope Adams follows the kinds of stories whose headlines scream from supermarket checkout lines. But the difference is that Hope’s stories are even weirder—and they’re all true. Though determined to help Robyn, Hope knows it’s only a matter of time before her friend is caught. But it’s not the police Hope is worried about. For Robyn has gotten herself in the middle of a turf war between two powerful Otherworld cabals who’ll spill any amount of blood—human and inhuman—to protect what they consider theirs for all eternity. And the only way Hope can keep her friend alive is by letting her enter a world she’s safer knowing nothing about.”
Blood Lite: An Anthology
By The Horror Writers Association
““Blood Lite” is a collection of entertaining tales that puts the fun back into dark fiction, with ironic twists and tongue-in-cheek wit to temper the jagged edge. Features contributions by Kevin J. Anderson, Kelley Armstrong, Jim Butcher, Charlaine Harris, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Joe R. Landsdale, Mike Resnick, and J.A. Konrath & F. Paul Wilson, plus many other tales guaranteed to get under your skin—in a good way…”
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OCTOBER 28
Dead Reign (Marla Mason Book 3)
By TA Pratt
“Death has come calling, and one woman has what he wants most of all…As chief sorcerer of Felport, Marla Mason thought she’d faced every kind of evil the magical world had to offer. But she’s never faced a killer like this. He’s dark, glib, handsome as the devil—and exactly who he says he is. Death—in the flesh. He’s arrived in Felport with a posse composed of a half-insane necromancer and the reanimated corpse of John Wilkes Booth, and he isn’t leaving until he gets what he came for. Only Marla is crazy enough to tell Death to go back to Hell.With the Founders’ Ball just around the bend, drawing together the brightest, meanest, and most dangerous of Felport’s magical elite, the last thing Marla needs is all-out war with the King of the Underworld, but that’s exactly what she’s got. As the battle lines are drawn, she can count on her hedonistic, body-hopping partner Rondeau…but how many of her old allies will stand by her side when facing the ultimate adversary? To save her city, Marla will have to find a way to cheat Death…literally…”
Let the Right One In
By John Ajvide Lindqvist
“In Blackeberg, Sweden, 1981, the body of a teenage boy is found, emptied of blood. The murder is rumored to be part of a ritual killing. Twelve-year-old Oskar is personally hoping that it’s revenge for the all of the bullying he endures at school every day. But the murder is not the most important thing on his mind. A new girl has moved in next door. A very odd girl who only comes out at night… This is a new paperback movie tie in version for the film which is released in select cities this month.”
Destiny Kills (Myth and Magic Book One)
By Keri Arthur
“Desire calls. Danger Lurks.But…When Destiny McCree wakes up beside a dead man on an Oregon beach, she knows only this: she has to keep moving, keep searching, and keep one step ahead of the forces that have been pursuing her from the heart of Scotland to this isolated spot. Why? The death of her lover has left her alone, with little memory of her past. A glimmering serpent-shaped ring is the one clue she has—and a bargaining chip in a most dangerous game Enter Trae Wilson, a master thief with a sexy, knowing grin and a secret agenda of his own. Destiny and Trae both have powers far beyond the human—and both are running for their lives. Together they’re riding a tide of danger, magic, and lust…but with killers stalking their every move, they must use any means necessary, even each other, to survive—until the shocking secret of one woman’s destiny finally unravels.…”
A Wind Named Amnesia
By Hideyuki Kikuchi & Illustrated By Yoshitaka Amano
“In one night, the 'amnesia wind' swept away thousands of years of human civilization with mankind reduced to an extremely primitive level. Two years later, miraculously re-educated after the cataclysm, a young man is accompanied by a young woman—somehow spared the effects of the amnesia wind—as he explores America. Pursued by a relentless killing machine, they search for those responsible for stealing their memories…”
Brimstone Kiss (Delilah Street, Paranormal Investigator Book Two)
By Carole Nelson Douglas
“Delilah and her partner—tall, dark, handsome, and Hispanic ex-FBI guy Ric Montoya—are busy solving a “Romeo and Juliet” double-murder and she's got plenty to deal with including vampires, werewolves, and tigers, oh my!”
Backup
By Jim Butcher & Illustrated By Mike Mignola
“Let’s get something clear right up front.I’m not Harry Dresden.Harry’s a wizard. A genuine, honest-to-goodness wizard. He’s Gandalf on crack and an IV of Red Bull, with a big leather coat and a .44 revolver in his pocket. He’ll spit in the eye of gods and demons alike if he thinks it needs to be done, and to hell with the consequences–and yet somehow my little brother manages to remain a decent human being.I’ll be damned if I know how. But then, I’ll be damned regardless.My name is Thomas Raith, and I’m a monster. So begins “Backup,” a twelve thousand word novelette set in Jim Butcher s ultra-popular Dresden Files series. This time Harry’s in trouble he knows nothing about, and it’s up to his big brother Thomas to track him down and solve those little life-threatening difficulties without his little brother even noticing”
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