National Network for Equitable Library Service

Volume 1 of Ursula K. Le Guin's best short stories explores her earthbound stories which range around the world from small town Oregon to middle Europe in the middle of revolution to summer camp.

Anyone can plot a coup or fire an assassin' s bullet. But in a world of muskets and magic, it takes considerably more to seize the throne. The ailing King of the Vordan lies on his deathbed. When he dies, his daughter, Raesinia Orboan, will become the first Queen Regnant in centuries-- and a ripe target for the ambitious men who seek to control her. The most dangerous of these is Duke Orlanko, Minister of Information and master of the secret police. Having meticulously silenced his adversaries through intimidation, imprisonment, and execution, Orlanko is the most feared man in the kingdom.

On a brisk autumn day, a 13-year-old boy stands on the shores of the gray Atlantic, near a silent amusement park and a fading ocean resort called the Alhambra. The past has driven Jack Sawyer here: His father is gone, his mother is dying, and the world no longer makes sense. But for Jack everything is about to change. For he has been chosen to make a journey back across America-and into another realm. One of the most influential and heralded works of fantasy ever written, the Talisman is an extraordinary novel of loyalty, awakening, terror, and mystery.

The highly anticipated finale to the #1 New York Times bestselling trilogy that began with A Discovery of Witches After traveling through time in Shadow of Night , the second book in Deborah Harkness' s enchanting series, historian and witch Diana Bishop and vampire scientist Matthew Clairmont return to the present to face new crises and old enemies. At Matthew' s ancestral home at Sept-Tours, they reunite with the cast of characters from A Discovery of Witches-- with one significant exception.

The second novel in a brilliant fantasy series from the international bestselling author of Prince of Thorns. Behind its walls, the Convent of Sweet Mercy has trained young girls to hone their skills for centuries. In Mystic Class, Novice Nona Grey has begun to learn the secrets of the universe. But so often even the deepest truths just make our choices harder. Before she leaves the convent, Nona must choose which order to dedicate herself to--and whether her path will lead to a life of prayer and service or one of the blade and the fist.

Fourth in the "audacious and subversive"* Shadow Campaigns novels, following The Price of Valor, The Shadow Throne, and the acclaimed The Thousand Names. After their defeats at the hands of general Janus bet Vhalnich, the opposing powers have called all sides to the negotiating table, in hopes of securing an end to the war. Queen Raesinia of Vordan is anxious to see the return of peace, but Janus insists that any peace with the Sworn Church of Elysium is doomed to fail. Soldiers Marcus d'Ivoire and Winter Ihernglass find themselves caught between their general and their queen.

The Droods are all about control, making people do what they're told for the greater good. The Nightside is all about choice: good and bad and everything in between. The Droods want to make the world behave. The Nightside wants to party. They were never going to get along. For centuries, ancient Pacts have kept the Droods out of the Nightside, but now the Droods see the Nightside as a threat to the whole world. They march into the long night, in their armour, to put it under their control. All too soon, the two sides are at war.

With a price on her head, the evil Queen Sophia out for blood, and no idea whom to trust, Camellia Beaureguard, the former favorite Belle, must race against time to find the ailing Princess Charlotte, who has disappeared without a trace. Sophia's imperial forces will stop at nothing to keep Camillia, her sister Edel, and her loyal guard, Rémy, from returning Charlotte to the palace and her rightful place as queen.

Warrior Alyssa ana'Raisa would do anything to protect her home, the Fells, and her legacy, the Gray Wolf line. But as a prisoner of Empress Celestine, Lyss is forced to turn her fearsome talents as an army commander against her beloved homeland. Refusal would swiftly lead to her death, and her death would end the Gray Wolf line.

Brienna is a mistress of knowledge and is beginning to settle into her role as the daughter of the once disgraced lord, Davin MacQuinn. Though she'd just survived a revolution that will return a queen to the throne, she faces yet another challenge: acceptance by the MacQuinns. But as Queen Isolde Kavanagh's closest confidant, she'll have to balance serving her father's House as well as her country. Resistance is rumbling among the old regime's supporters, who are desperate to find a weakness in the rebels' forces.