The Cassini Division

Ellen May Ngewthu is a soldier and leader of the Cassini Division, the elite defense force of the utopian Solar Union. Here in the twenty-fourth century, the forts of the Division, in orbit around Jupiter, are the front line in humanity’s long standoff with the unknowable post-humans: godlike beings descended from the men and women who transformed themselves with high technology centuries ago.

The post-humans’ capacities are unknown . . . but we know they disintegrated Ganymede, we know they punched a wormhole into Jovian space, and we know that the very surface of the solar system’s largest planet has been altered by them. Worse, we know that they have been bombarding the inner solar system with powerful data viruses for generations.

Now Ellen has a plan to rid humanity of this threat once and for all. But she needs to convince others to mistrust the post-humans as much as she does. In the process, much will be revealed–about history, about power, and about what it is to be human.

Stormwitch

It is 1969, and Ruba has just moved to Mississippi from Haiti to live with her Grandmother Jones. This world is very different from her old life, where she spent days beachcombing with Ba, her maternal grandmother, and learning the lore of magic and history that she holds close. But magic isn’t welcome in her new grandmother’s house. Ruba struggles to understand her strange surroundings and the hate that comes at her from some of the white people in town. It isn’t long before Ruba finds herself threatened by the KKK and drawn into the fight for civil rights. But a hurricane barreling toward the coast changes everything, bringing Ruba and her family a measure of justice and a new acceptance.

Touching Darkness (Midnighters Series 2)

The Midnighters of Bixby, Oklahoma, know that their town is full of secrets. These five teenagers are the only ones who know about the mysterious hour at midnight when the world freezes, except for them and the creatures that inhabit the darkness.

But they do not know why earlier generations of Midnighters all disappeared, or why they are now the only Midnighters in town. As they learn more about the secret hour’s twists and turns, they uncover terrifying mysteries woven into the very fabric of Bixby’s history, and a conspiracy that touches both the midnight hour and the world of daylight.

At the same time, the Midnighters’ own secrets start to emerge, including some that were never meant to come to light, changing the fragile dynamics among the five.

This time Jessica Day is not the only Midnighter in mortal danger, and if the group can’t find a way to come together, they could lose one of their own — forever.

The King of Attolia

By scheming and theft, the Thief of Eddis has become King of Attolia. Eugenides wanted the queen, not the crown, but he finds himself trapped in a web of his own making.

Then he drags a naive young guard into the center of the political maelstrom. Poor Costis knows he is the victim of the king’s caprice, but his contempt for Eugenides slowly turns to grudging respect. Though struggling against his fate, the newly crowned king is much more than he appears. Soon the corrupt Attolian court will learn that its subtle and dangerous intrigue is no match for Eugenides.

Devilish

Jane Jarvis and Allison Concord are desperate to get through senior year at St. Teresa’s Preparatory School for Girls, where barbed wire keeps the boys out and the ancient nuns keep the girls in.

Jane and Allison have always been too quirky and different to be popular, but at least they’ve had each other. Then, after a hideous, embarrassing disaster, Allison comes to school transformed. Suddenly she has cute hair and clothes. She’s fluent in Latin, she won’t even speak to Jane, and within days she’s stolen Jane’s ex-boyfriend, Elton.

A strangely wise freshman boy, Owen, helps Jane discover the outrageous truth–that Allison has sold her soul to the devil. At first Jane doesn’t quite buy it. She plays along with the weirdness–and even gambles her own soul in order to rescue Allison. But events take a turn for the real, and Jane will have to save Allison before the bizarrely exclusive Poodle Prom, a party of biblical proportions that just might blow apart the world as Jane knows it.

Siberia

Siberia is a state of mind. When Sloe was tiny, her Papa disappeared and she and her mama went to live in a prison camp in the snowy North, in a time and place when there are no more wild animals. Mama’s crime; teaching science, and her dedication to the hope that the lost animal species can be reborn. To Sloe, Mama’s secret work is magic, as enchanting as Mama’s tales of a bright city across the ice where the sun always shines and one day they will be free. Years later Sloe is sent to prison school and Mama disappears. But her Mama has bequeathed Sloe six tiny animals – like creatures from a fairy tale. These tiny, magical creatures hold the secret to life itself. At 13, and with only the Lindquists for company, Sloe sets off on an epic 1000 mile journey embracing breathtaking adventure, danger and hardships in her quest to be reunited with her mother. In a moving and totally absorbing novel, Sloe evolves into a heroine equal to anything amidst this dazzling combination of science, adventure, fantasy and fairy tale.

The Amethyst Road

In a society similar to ours in some ways and very different in others, 16-year-old Serena and her older sister, Willow, struggle to get by in a tough, crime-infested urban neighborhood. By birth they are half Yulang, half Gorgio, but are accepted by neither race. The sisters get no help from the Yulang, because Willow’s child was born out of wedlock and the family has been declared outcast. The Gorgios are even worse, trying to take the child away.

A run-in with social services, aptly nicknamed the Cruelty, launches Serena on a journey that is at once an escape and a quest to reunite her family. With the help of a boy named Shem, who is on a quest of his own, Serena travels deep into the mountains, where precious gems are mined, and across barren plains, where white-clad Trident Riders are terrorizing anyone who is not Gorgio. Along the way, Serena finds the answers she seeks—and some she didn’t even know she was looking for.

The dynamics of racism and resistance are central themes of this modern adventure. Employing a mixture of gritty reality and richly drawn magical elements, this unique tale of selfdiscovery will captivate readers of contemporary fiction as well as fantasy fans.

The Handmaid’s Tale

Offred is a ‘handmaid’ in the new, religious Republic of Gilead, no longer permitted to read, work at a job, or control her own body.  Her purpose is simple: bear a child to The Commander.  Their old world is not fully eradicated, however, and Offred yearns to escape.

“Funny, unexpected, horrifying, and altogether convincing, The Handmaid’s Tale is at once scathing satire, dire warning, and tour de force.”