I’ve loved portal fantasies since childhood—after all, who has never imagined being swept away to another world, particularly one in which magic is more than mere illusion? (The trick, of course, is then finding your way back…) Since the wardrobes in my life have thus far refused to open onto snowy forests, however, I write my own stories these days.
All Colin Leffee wants is to be left alone: to run his used bookstore in peace, and to drink himself to sleep to drown out the memories of eight centuries of existence.
Unfortunately, when a sullen teenage changeling is flung out of Faerie and onto his doorstep, the long-suffering, wayward son of Titania knows his dreams of solitude are dust. Colin must track down Meggy, the love of his life, and figure out how her child ended up in Titania’s clutches to begin with. But with family, it’s never simple. He finds Meggy, only to see her yanked into Faerie—and the doors between the realms slammed and locked behind her. Now, it’s not just her life at stake, but the fate of magic itself.
I was enchanted by The Chronicles of Narnia the first time I read them, and the seven volumes of this series continue to charm, both entertaining kids and offering a more thought-provoking journey on later reading. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the best-known book of the series, is a high fantasy novel but also a portal fantasy: our heroes exit wartime Britain through the back of a wardrobe and emerge in Narnia, with its talking animals, evil witches, and mysterious (at least to an American kid) Turkish delight. If you’ve ever longed to step through an ordinary doorway and find yourself in a magical world of adventure, this is an all-ages classic.
Lucy steps into the Professor's wardrobe - but steps out again into a snowy forest. She's stumbled upon the magical world of Narnia, land of unicorns, centaurs, fauns... and the wicked White Witch, who terrorises all. Lucy soon realises that Narnia, and in particular Aslan, the great Lion, needs her help if the country's creatures are ever going to be free again...
The Magicians is what happens when a kid who’s obsessed with a series like The Chronicles of Narnia grows up, is accepted into a magical university, and discovers along the way that the fantasy world he so loved reading about is real…but not quitewhat he imagined. This novel, the first in a trilogy, offers a more jaded look at some of the beloved aspects of children’s fantasy and how they might play out with young adults discovering themselves and seeking purpose.
While Coralinemay technically be a children’s fantasy, it’s sufficiently creepy to keep adults turning the pages. When Coraline and her busy parents move into a flat in an old house, she has few companions but her eccentric neighbors. One day, she opens a door that previously led to a brick wall, only to discover a building much like hers on the other side: the “Other World,” where the neighbors are entertaining and Coraline’s parents dote upon her. Her “Other Mother” tells her she can stay forever…but only if she agrees to have buttons sewn over her eyes. With a plucky heroine and a great villain, this is an excellent read.
"Sometimes funny, always creepy, genuinely moving, this marvellous spine-chiller will appeal to readers from nine to ninety." - "Books for Keeps". "I was looking forward to "Coraline", and I wasn't disappointed. In fact, I was enthralled. This is a marvellously strange and scary book." - Philip Pullman, "Guardian". "If any writer can get the guys to read about the girls, it should be Neil Gaiman. His new novel "Coraline" is a dreamlike adventure. For all its gripping nightmare imagery, this is actually a conventional fairy story with a moral." - "Daily Telegraph". Stephen King once called Neil Gaiman 'a treasure-house…
Clever, with rich worldbuilding and a cast of flawed, fleshed-out characters, this book is a definite page-turner. Nora Fisher’s life is in a slump: her dissertation is stalled, and her love life is in tatters. While attending a friend’s wedding, she slips off for a hike and accidentally winds up in another world, one far more beautiful than her own but where nothing is as it seems. Escaping her gilded prison is one matter, but to find her way home again, Nora will need to discover her talent for magic. I thoroughly enjoyed both this book and its recent sequel, How to Talk to a Goddess and Other Lessons in Real Magic.
"If Hermione Granger had been an American who never received an invitation to Hogwarts, this might have been her story." -People
Earning comparisons to wildly popular fantasy novels by Deborah Harkness and Lev Grossman, Emily Croy Barker's enchanting debut offers an intelligent escape into a richly imagined world. And with an appealing female protagonist, cinematic storytelling, wry humor, and wonderfully clever literary references, The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic is sure to capture the imaginations of readers everywhere.
During a miserable weekend at a friend's wedding, eager to forget about her disastrous breakup and stalled dissertation, Nora Fischer wanders…
The first thing to come to mind when you hear “Stephen King” is probably “horror,” and that’s well deserved. For those who like their fantasy gritty and sweeping, however,The Dark Tower is not to be missed. The Gunslinger, the first volume, introduces Roland Deschain, a knight-like figure from Mid-World who seeks the Dark Tower, the imperiled axis upon which all worlds turn. While Roland hunts the mysterious Man in Black across the desert, he meets Jake Chambers, a boy from another world who may have just died. Part Western, part epic fantasy (and with an eventual appearance by a version of the author himself later in the series), this is not to be missed.
The Dark Tower is now a major motion picture starring Matthew McConaughey and Idris Elba.
'The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.' The iconic opening line of Stephen King's groundbreaking series, The Dark Tower, introduces one of his most enigmatic and powerful heroes: Roland of Gilead, the Last Gunslinger.
Roland is a haunting figure, a loner, on a spellbinding journey toward the mysterious Dark Tower, in a desolate world which frighteningly echoes our own.
On his quest, Roland begins a friendship with a kid from New York named Jake, encounters an alluring woman and faces…
I have been a writer for more than twenty years and have favored pursuing “truth in fiction” rather than “money in formula.” I also spent over thirty years in the corporate world and was exposed to many situations reminiscent of those described in my fiction and in these recommended books. While I support enterprise, “enlightened capitalism” is preferable to the bare-knuckle type we have today, and which seems to resurface whenever regulation weakens. I also find writing novels closer to my lived experience connects me intimately with readers who are looking for socio-political, realist literature.
Avery Mann, a retired pharmaceuticals executive, is in crisis.
His wife dies of cancer, his son’s marriage is on the rocks, his grandson is having a meltdown, and his good friend is a victim of the robocalls scandal that invades the Canadian federal election. Throw in a reckless fling with a former colleague, a fire that destroys his retirement property, and a rumour emerging that the drug he helped bring to market years ago may have been responsible for the death of his wife, and Avery’s life goes into freefall.
Does an octogenarian beekeeper living on Vancouver Island hold the key to Avery’s recovery, a man holding secrets that put lives in jeopardy? Avery races across the country to find out, with crooked bosses, politicians, and assassins on his tail. Joseph spins a cautionary tale of corporate and political greed that is endemic to our times.
Avery Mann, a retired pharmaceuticals executive, is in crisis. His wife dies of cancer, his son’s marriage is on the rocks, his grandson is having a meltdown, and his good friend is a victim of the robocalls scandal that invades the Canadian federal election.
Throw in a reckless fling with a former colleague, a fire that destroys his retirement property, and a rumour emerging that the drug he helped bring to market years ago may have been responsible for the death of his wife, and Avery’s life goes into freefall.
Does an octogenarian bee keeper living on Vancouver Island hold…
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