Archives de catégorie : London 2025 Fiction

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).

THIS SIDE OF GONE de Saundra Mitchell

Celebrated children’s novelist Saundra Mitchell makes her adult debut with the thriller THIS SIDE OF GONE—a police procedural for people who don’t trust the police.

THIS SIDE OF GONE
by Saundra Mitchell
Morrow, January 2026
(via Dystel, Goderich & Bourret)

Vanetta (Vinnie) Taylor isn’t a cop anymore. After 25 years in service, she retired from her job in spectacular fashion—working undercover for Internal Affairs to bust a sex trafficking ring in her own Homicide Unit. Nearly beaten to death by her former colleagues to prevent her testimony from crossing the thin blue line, Vinnie is now living a small-town life, far from the police who tried to kill her. Vinnie is determined to put her past behind her, but the story of a teenager missing in her new hometown catches her attention.

Avery Adair’s family is notorious in Wills Harbor, Maryland. If there’s a burglary, a scam, or a drug deal in this town, it’s safe to assume an Adair was involved. Which is why no one was particularly concerned when Avery went missing. But Vinnie feels a kinship to this teen she’s never met. Vinnie also grew up poor, surrounded by hard circumstances and harder people.

Celebrated children’s novelist Saundra Mitchell makes her adult debut with the thriller THIS SIDE OF GONE—a police procedural for people who don’t trust the police, it follows Vinnie as she becomes increasingly involved in a case that she has no right to be investigating while fearing for her own safety and attempting to stay as far away from any police officer as humanly possible. This terrific novel is perfect for fans of Tana French and Rachel Howzell Hall.

Saundra Mitchell has been a phone psychic, a car salesperson, a denture-deliverer and a layout waxer. She’s dodged trains, endured basic training, and hitchhiked from Montana to California. She now lives in Maryland with her wife, daughter and two terrible, perfect cats. THIS SIDE OF GONE is her first novel for adults.

THE TRIANGLE OF POWER d’Alexander Stubb

At the end of the Cold War, we in the West assumed that our values were destined to become universal. Instead, they are in danger.

THE TRIANGLE OF POWER:
Rebalancing the New World Order
by Alexander Stubb
on submission, Spring 2026
(via Levine Greenberg Rostan)

The forces that were supposed to bring us together—open trade, technology, information, and global financial markets—can also pull us apart. Economic interdependence does not guarantee peace. Liberal democracy is not a universal desire.

The Global West, until now led by the United States, wants to maintain the old liberal international order. The Global East, led by China, wants to change it. But the balance of power is no longer bi-polar. The ascendence of the Global South – led by a range of states from Asia, Africa, and Latin America – has created a Triangle of Power.

The Global South has the power to tip the new world order toward West or East, democracy or autocracy, free trade or state control, shared rules or none. The next few years will decide the dynamics of the new international order for the rest of the century, or at least for decades to come.

This is the 1918-, 1945- or 1989 moment of our generation. What’s certain is that the world order as we know it will be reborn. The question is what kind of order it will be—and where the values of freedom and democracy will stand within it.

In THE TRIANGLE OF POWER, Finland’s President Alexander Stubb argues that the West can only maintain its central role—and preserve the liberal world order—by adopting an approach he calls “values-based realism” in dealing with other countries and with the key challenges of our time economic, climate, and technology.

Alexander Stubb is the 13th President of the Republic of Finland, inaugurated on 1 March 2024. He has previously served as Prime Minister, Finance Minister, Foreign Minister, Trade and Europe Minister of Finland (2008-2016). He was a Member of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2008 and national parliament (2011-2017). He was the Chairman of the Finnish National Coalition Party (Kokoomus) from 2014 to 2016 and Vice President of the European Investment Bank (EIB) from 2017 to 2020. Stubb worked as a civil servant from 1995 to 2004 as an advisor at the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Helsinki and Brussels and in President Romano Prodi’s team at the European Commission. He was involved in the negotiations of the EU Treaties of Amsterdam, Nice and Lisbon.

LUCKY THING de Tom Baragwanath

In this follow-up to his award-winning debut novel Paper Cage, Tom Baragwanath delivers another bone-deep exploration of life in the margins of small-town New Zealand. LUCKY THING is a thrilling new instalment in the Lorraine Henry series.

LUCKY THING
by Tom Baragwanath
Text Publishing, September 2025

When brilliant young student Jessica Mowbrie is found beaten nearly to death in a remote patch of New Zealand bush, nobody has a clue what happened— or how to begin piecing it together. Except long-serving police records clerk Lorraine Henry.

Lorraine knows the Mowbries, like she knows everyone in her part of Masterton, and soon she’ll know a lot more. Because as something of an institution at Masterton police station, Lorraine is a woman people don’t expect much from. But sometimes, that’s an advantage. When her colleagues are busy stomping around making threats and accusations, Lorraine is listening and observing, quietly piecing together a different understanding of what happened to Jessica—an understanding that threatens everything she thought she knew about her community, her friends, and even her own family.

To get to the bottom of things, Lorraine must navigate fractured neighbourhood allegiances, and unearth all kinds of long-buried secrets—secrets that could provoke a danger hiding in plain sight and threaten those she loves the most.

In this follow-up to his award-winning debut novel Paper Cage, Tom Baragwanath delivers another bone-deep exploration of life in the margins of small-town New Zealand. Lucky Thing is a thrilling new instalment in the Lorraine Henry series.

Praise for Tom Baragwanath and Paper Cage:

Just the kind of dark, disturbing, gritty, and unusual treat thriller lovers are looking for.’ Kirkus [starred review]

Magnetic…This beautifully constructed plot has already won awards, and it is easy to see why with a protagonist who is impossible not to root for…Breathtakingly compelling.’ Daily Mail

Tom Baragwanath is originally from Masterton, New Zealand, and now lives in Paris. His debut novel, Paper Cage, published in 2022, introduced the world to records clerk Lorraine Henry. It was the winner of the 2021 Michael Gifkins Prize, shortlisted for Best International Crime Fiction in the 2023 Ned Kelly Awards and shortlisted for Best First Novel in the 2023 Ngaio Marsh Awards.