National Network for Equitable Library Service

Every eleven years, Earth's senior wizards hold the Invitational: an intensive three-week event where the planet's newest, sharpest young wizards show off their best and hottest spells.

Diana Gabaldon teams with her son, fantasy author Sam Sykes, for this exclusive audio fantasy short from Recorded Books. Sorry Outlander fans, no highlanders or time travelers in this story, but there is a pot-smoking zombie.

From the international bestselling author of the Broken Empire Trilogy comes the first in a brilliant, breakout new fantasy series. A searing novel set in a brand new world, this series follows a young girl who enters a convent where girls are selected to train in religion, combat, or magic. Nona is selected to learn combat, and finds herself at the center of a epic battle for empire on the outer reaches of a dying universe.

Years before, they had escaped together from the sinister Tombs of Atuan -- she, an isolated young priestess, he, a powerful wizard. Now she is a farmer's widow, having chosen for herself the simple pleasures of an ordinary life. And he is a broken old man, mourning the powers lost to him not by choice. A lifetime ago, they helped each other at a time of darkness and danger. Now they must join forces again, to help another -- the physically and emotionally scarred child whose own destiny remains to be revealed.

A stranger dressed in black arrives in the village of Settle's Crossways, following the scent of a terrible crime. He even calls himself "Black," though almost certainly that is not his name. The people of the village discover that they have a surprising urge to cooperate with this stranger, though the desire of inhabitants of quiet villages to cooperate with strangers is not common in their land, or most lands. But this gift will not save him as he discovers the nature of the evil concealed in Settle's Crossways.

Sixteen-year-old sharpshooter Amani Al'Hiza never doubted she'd escape the miserable one-horse desert town where she was born. Getting out had always been the plan. But she never figured she'd wind up running for her life-with a boy wanted for treason. When Amani enters a disastrous shooting contest against Jin, a rakish foreigner, she has no idea of his connection to the ongoing war between the ruthless Sultan of Miraji and his exiled son, the Rebel Prince.

Stuck with arrows and close to death, a man is pulled from the icy waters of the Gulf of Nahl. Winter, a seemingly quiet young fisherman's daughter, harbours a secret addiction that threatens to destroy her. A young priestess, Cinzia, must face a long journey home to protect her church from rebellion. A rebellion sparked by her sister. Three characters on different paths will be brought together by fate on one thrilling and perilous adventure.

A new religion is rising, gathering followers drawn by rumors of prophetess Jane Oden. Her sister Cinzia-one-time Cantic priestess-is by her side, but fears that Jane will lead them to ruin. For both the Church and the Nazaniin assassins are still on their trail, and much worse may come. Knot, his true nature now revealed if not truly understood, is haunted by the memories of others, and is not the ally he once was. Astrid travels to Tinska to find answers for her friend, but the child-like vampire has old enemies who have been waiting for her return.

From the New York Times bestselling author of From a Drood to a Kill comes the next Secret Histories adventure. There is a man who gets away with murder. A man who specializes in removing the problems from other people's lives, by killing the people who cause those problems. He operates from the darkest shadows of the hidden world, coming and going unseen. No one knows who he is, just his nomme du muerte: Dr. DOA. This demented doc has poisoned Eddie Drood. Whatever is coursing through his veins seems to be immune to magic cures and treatments.