Archives de catégorie : Fantasy

WICKEDLY EVER AFTER de R. Lee Fryar

In this (delightfully screwball) fairy tale romp, even the most wicked deserve their happily-ever-after.

WICKEDLY EVER AFTER
by R. Lee Fryar
Sourcebooks Casablanca, April 2025

For almost a thousand years, Wicked Witch Hector West and Good Witch Ida North have maintained the balance of good and evil, preserving a magical Happily-Ever-After that keeps the realm from falling apart. But even Cardinal Witches need a hobby, and every spare moment they have is spent antagonizing each other. But when Ida’s latest « harmless » hex goes too far, Hector retaliates with a curse that immediately backfires, making her choose the wrong princess for the year’s big pantomime.

Which, if not corrected immediately, could have world-shaking consequences.

One reluctant prince and badly botched dragon kidnapping later, both Hector and Ida are determined to set things right. With love magic gone wild, the two best enemies set off on a quest to save the realm, their lovesick gnome chamberlains at their sides. Yet as they unravel what went wrong with their mixed-up magic, Hector and Ida will have to face a more daunting challenge than trying to avoid their own Wickedly-Ever-After: Deciding whether a millennium worth of enmity might have been the biggest mistake of their very long lives.

R. Lee Fryar is an author from the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas. When she isn’t writing about magical mayhem, she’s usually lost in the woods, wandering through the mountains, or up a creek without a paddle. In her spare time, she cooks, paints, and gardens very badly.

TERROR AT THE GATES de Scarlett St. Clair

The first in an all-new fantasy series from #1 New York Times bestselling author Scarlett St. Clair. In this biting, feminist retelling of Lilith’s story, Lilith will rise from the ashes of her former life to destroy the ancient power that stole everything she loves.

TERROR AT THE GATES
(Blood of Lilith, Book 1)
by Scarlett St. Clair
Bloom Books/Sourcebooks, July 2025

She is the beginning and the end.
She is peace and chaos.
She is terror knocking at the gates.

Estranged from her powerful family, Lilith Leviathan finds refuge in Nineveh, a district in the city of Eden devoted to sin. There, she uses her magic to steal for a living, attracting the attention of the five governing families as well as the church, which expects women to remain pious and silent. When Lilith comes into possession of a beautiful blade, she thinks all her worries are over…until her usual buyer dies while inspecting it.

Frantic, Lilith turns to the only man who can help her: Zahariev, head of the Zareth family and ruler of Nineveh. His currency is information, and his power is extortion, though he’s always had a soft spot for Lilith. But when the dagger appears, he isn’t sure he can protect her from what’s to come.

Together, they embark on a mission to discover the true power running their world. As their lives intertwine, Lilith realizes Zahariev is more than just a friend, but their devotion to each other is a threat―to the truth, to the church, and to those who want to tear it all down.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Scarlett St. Clair is a citizen of the Muscogee Nation and the author of the Hades X Persephone Saga, the Adrian X Isolde series, fairy tale retellings, and When Stars Come Out. She has a master’s degree in library science and information studies and a bachelor’s in English writing. She is obsessed with Greek mythology, murder mysteries, and the afterlife. For information on books, tour dates, and content, please visit scarlettstclair.com.

OBSERVER de Nicholas Russell

A mystical and mercury-ladened mystery involving trees that walk, desert illusions, and a 100-year-old diary.

OBSERVER
by Nicholas Russell
Ecco, Fall 2026
(via Sterling Lord Literistic)

For fans of Brian Evenson, K-Ming Chang, and Jeff VanderMeer, OBSERVER is the story of the American desert, government cover-ups, family devotion, and how curiosity for the truth or a version of it sends even the most sane into the deepest depths.

Renata’s mother left her in the care of her aunt and took a job at an observatory when she was young, never to return. Now in her early twenties, Renata receives a truck load of her mother’s papers and possessions one day; the family assumes her dead. Renata, curious and undeterred, packs up her camera and her mothers’ notebooks and drives to the Observatory, asking questions the locals would prefer not to answer and reminding them of what they’ve been denying for years. Renata might be able to complete the research her mother was undergoing, but she might also reach for a truth much stranger than any of the tall tales the desert weaves through her dreams.

Nicholas Russell is a writer from Las Vegas. His work has appeared in The Believer, McSweeney’s, The Atlantic, Conjunctions, The Baffler, The Drift, and Defector. He is a bookseller at The Writer’s Block, Managing Editor of Still Alive magazine, and a contributor to Defector.

THE GODESS AND THE HAWK de Chiara Gala

A fast-paced romantasy brimming with intrigue, spice, and vibrant characters that will draw you irrevocably into their world. Perfect for fans of Sarah J Maas’s CRESCENT CITY and Sarah A Parker’s WHEN THE MOON HATCHED.

THE GODESS AND THE HAWK
by Chiara Gala
Self-published, 2023
(via Zeno Agency)

At the temple of the Yonium, the Moon Goddess Serabel has been murdered.

Amala, her High Priestess, is devastated. But she cannot wallow: her only priority is the safe protection of her sisters, the priestesses who live at the temple – a temple which is no longer safe.

Leading the investigation into Serabel’s death is Hawk Mercurian. Mysterious, handsome and devastating: nobody knew but Serabel, that he holds Amala’s heart.

For they are mates: fated to be together.

A fate Amala has been resisting, all these years. Because Serabel had rules. Because Amala had to put the temple first, and could never imagine putting anything else before that.

But now their fates are more entangled than ever.

And when the investigation heats up, revealing Amala to be at the centre of it: can Hawk keep his emotions from clouding his judgement, when all he wants to do is protect his mate?

And can Amala continue to resist the bond that winds around her heart?

Chiara Gala is an Italian author based in London. A lifetime-writer with a background in classics and linguistics, she has an extensive imagination and adores building worlds and mystical characters. An integral part of her identity is her devotion to the power of feminine spirituality, which reflects both strongly in her life and her writing. She is currently working on her second novel in the GODDESS AND THE HAWK world.

THE ARCHEOLOGY OF FALLING WORLDS de Megan Chee

A science fantasy book for fans of Brandon Sanderson’s Yumi and the Nightmare Painter if it was a Studio Ghibli film.

THE ARCHEOLOGY OF FALLING WORLDS
by Megan Chee
(via Zeno Agency)

Starga is a vibrant, neon city built with magic and technology from athousand unreachable worlds. Existing in a weird splinter of reality where people from across the universe fall out of the sky with no memory of their past lives, it is a mystery even to its own citizens.

No-one knows why Starga exists or what lies beyond it. No-one has ever been able to leave. And with more people falling from the sky every year, Starga’s resources are at a breaking point.

Frey is a disillusioned office worker who once dreamed of being an archeologist—a scholar of fallen artefacts from the worlds above. When she gets the opportunity to salvage artefacts for a criminal organization, she knows it’s a dangerous idea. But she can’t resist the call of the unknown.

She explores the desert wasteland beyond the city walls in search of valuable artefacts. What she finds is a fuzzy black worm. Then the worm starts changing shape… and talking… and Frey’s life suddenly gets a lot more complicated. Because the worm is actually a shapeshifting dragon who knows the secret of what Starga really is—and how to escape from it. He just needs to get his memory back.

Megan Chee is a Singaporean author who has lived in Taiwan,Hong Kong, and the United States, and is currently based in Singapore. Her short fiction has appeared in Clarkesworld Magazine, Uncanny Magazine, Strange Horizons, Lightspeed Magazine, Nightmare Magazine, Fantasy Magazine, and other venues. Her work has been translated into Chinese in Science Fiction World, and has been featured in The Year’s Best Fantasy, Vol.3 (Pyr Books).