by Travis Baldree (2023)
When an injury strands the young orc barbarian Viv in the sleepy seaside town of Murk, she takes shelter in a struggling local bookshop run by a desperate badger woman. Over the smell of dried leaves, fresh cinnamon rolls, and newly printed pages, Viv learns that adventure doesn’t always require a drawn sword.
Travis Baldree
Worn out after decades of packing into bloody battlefields, Viv, a battle-weary orc barbarian, decides to hang up her sword and open the first-ever coffee shop in the fantasy city of Thune. Along with a talented tiefling barista, a ratkin baker, and a mysterious dire-cat, Viv discovers the sweet flavor of second chances.
Jonathan L. Howard
In this uproarious and clever debut, it's time to give the Devil his due.Johannes Cabal, a brilliant scientist and notorious snob, is single-mindedly obsessed in heart and soul with raising the dead. Well, perhaps not soul . . . He hastily sold his years ago in order to learn the laws of necromancy. But now, tormented by a dark secret, he travels to the fiery pits of Hell to retrieve it. Satan, who is incredibly bored these days, proposes a little wager: Johannes has one year to persuade one hundred people to sign over their souls or he will be damned forever. To make the bet even more interesting, Satan throws in that diabolical engine of deceit, seduction, and corruption known as a "traveling circus" to aid in the evil bidding. What better place exists to rob poor sad saps of their souls than the traveling carnivals historically run by hucksters and legendary con men?With little time to lose, Johannes raises a motley crew from the dead and enlists his brother, Horst, a charismatic vampire (an unfortunate side effect of Johannes's early experiments with necromancy), to be the carnival's barker. On the road through the pastoral English countryside, this team of reprobates wields their black magic with masterful ease, resulting in mayhem at every turn.Johannes may have the moral conscience of anthrax, but are his tricks sinful enough to beat the Devil at his own game? You'll never guess, and that's a promise!Brilliantly written and wickedly funny, Johannes Cabal the Necromancer combines the chills and thrills of old-fashioned gothic tales like The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, the mischievous humor of Wicked, and the sophisticated charms of Jonathan Strange &Mr. Norrell and spins the Faustian legend into a fresh, irreverent, and irresistible new adventure.
Leigh Bardugo
Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can't pull it off alone: he needs a crew of six dangerous outcasts.