Eshe: The Fire Breathing Series, Book 1 by J.D. Mason
She’s the first and Andwele Abioye has no blue print for how to fulfill an ancient prophecy that he’s inherited from his forefathers, the Sons of Sango, an order of demigods tasked with facilitating the awakening the spirits of Oya’s dragon daughters. The objectives have been passed down from generation to generation and have been drilled into Andwele and his brothers. And they are crystal clear. Gain her unwavering trust—all of it before the Trial by Fire begins. Don’t die. Reap her human soul. Awaken her dragon spirit. And, oh yeah. Don’t die.
Eshe Taylor is emotionally unraveling and doesn’t understand why. She’s living in a waking dream and with each passing day, her neurosis seems to be getting worse. She can’t sleep or eat. Eshe can’t focus on simple tasks and is becoming overwhelmed by paranoia, anxiety, emotional imbalances that are becoming unbearable.
One evening, her worst fears come to light, and Eshe finds herself living one of her nightmares. But what she doesn’t understand is that things are about to get much worse, and all she has to help her survive this is the man who manipulated her and dragged her into an unbelievable destiny she wanted no part of.
More Books by J.D. Mason: https://www.amazon.com/J.-D.-Mason/e/B001ILFMPI
King of Corium by J.L. Beck and C. Hallman
King of Corium: Dark Enemies to Lovers Bully Romance by J.L. Beck and C. Hallman
(Corium University 5 Book Series)
King of Corium is a dark new adult, enemies to lovers romance, that contains dark themes.
She came here for protection, but that’s the last thing she’s going to find.
Welcome to Corium University, where the most dangerous criminals in the world send their offspring. Assassins, mafia leaders, arms dealers and art thieves.
You name it, this college houses them. Nothing can touch us here. The only rule: No one can die. I knew she would be here.
Aspen was my enemy in every shape of the word. A liar, a thief. I wanted revenge for my family, revenge against her father.
I knew the rules. Knew I couldn’t kill her, but I could hurt her. I could make her wish she never came to Corium. She wasn’t made for this place.
If she thought the university was the only nightmare she would have to face, she was wrong.
I was the king, and this was my kingdom.
Song Below Water by Bethany C Morrow
Song Below Water by Bethany C Morrow
Teen & Young Adult › Science Fiction & Fantasy
Bethany C. Morrow’s A Song Below Water is the story for today’s readers ― a captivating modern fantasy about Black sirens, friendship, and self-discovery set against the challenges of today’s racism and sexism.
In a society determined to keep her under lock and key, Tavia must hide her siren powers.
Meanwhile, Effie is fighting her own family struggles, pitted against literal demons from her past. Together, these best friends must navigate through the perils of high school’s junior year.
But everything changes in the aftermath of a siren murder trial that rocks the nation, and Tavia accidentally lets out her magical voice at the worst possible moment.
Soon, nothing in Portland, Oregon, seems safe. To save themselves from drowning, it’s only Tavia and Effie’s unbreakable sisterhood that proves to be the strongest magic of all.
“It’s beautiful and it’s brilliant.”–Jason Reynolds, #1 New York Times bestselling author and National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature
“An enthralling tale of Black girl magic and searing social commentary ready to rattle the bones.” ― Dhonielle Clayton, New York Times bestselling author of The Belles
The Deep by Rivers Solomon
Octavia E. Butler meets Marvel’s Black Panther in The Deep, a story rich with Afrofuturism, folklore, and the power of memory, inspired by the Hugo Award–nominated song “The Deep” from Daveed Diggs’s rap group Clipping.
Yetu holds the memories for her people—water-dwelling descendants of pregnant African slave women thrown overboard by slave owners—who live idyllic lives in the deep. Their past, too traumatic to be remembered regularly is forgotten by everyone, save one—the historian. This demanding role has been bestowed on Yetu.
Yetu remembers for everyone, and the memories, painful and wonderful, traumatic and terrible and miraculous, are destroying her. And so, she flees to the surface escaping the memories, the expectations, and the responsibilities—and discovers a world her people left behind long ago.
Yetu will learn more than she ever expected about her own past—and about the future of her people. If they are all to survive, they’ll need to reclaim the memories, reclaim their identity—and own who they really are.
The Deep is “a tour de force reorientation of the storytelling gaze…a superb, multilayered work,” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) and a vividly original and uniquely affecting story inspired by a song produced by the rap group Clipping.
The Juju Girl by Nikki Marsh
The Juju Girl by Nikki Marsh – Reading Age 14 – 18 years
Teen & Young Adult Coming of Age Fantasy
A Normal Girl. A Paranormal Gift. A Cryptic Mystery. A Dangerous Enemy.
Gabbie isn’t like other 15-year-olds. She sees things others can’t see. She hears things others can’t hear. She pierces the veil that separates the living from the dead.
When the Great Storm of 1893 rips her from her humble home on the banks of the Mississippi, it thrusts her into the dazzling world of New Orleans’ Creoles of Color High Society. It’s a world of debutantes, balls, and handsome young men in uniforms.
Superstition, mystery, magic, and conjure make of the very fabric of daily life. It counts both holy men of God and practitioners of the Dark Arts among its most honored denizens.
It’s here Gabbie learns her supernatural powers are part of something greater. But, she wants nothing to do with it.
Will that change when a malevolent ghost threatens the lives of those she loves or will it take an ill-fated romance? What will she learn on her journey of self-discovery? Will she find the courage to finally become the person she was born to be?
Winner of the 2022 Black Caucus of the American Library Association Award for the best self-published eBook in fiction by an African American author.
The Merciless Ones by Namina Forna
The Merciless Ones by Namina Forna
Book 2 of 2: The Gilded Ones
The epic, hotly anticipated sequel to the instant bestseller The Gilded Ones about a girl with the power to remake her world—or destroy it.
“Fans of Children of Blood and Bone, Mulan, and the Dora Milaje from Black Panther are going to adore [The Gilded Ones].”—BuzzFeed
It’s been six months since Deka freed the goddesses in the ancient kingdom of Otera and discovered who she really is… but war is waging across the kingdom, and the real battle has only just begun. For there is a dark force growing in Otera—a merciless power that Deka and her army must stop.
Yet hidden secrets threaten to destroy everything Deka has known. And with her own gifts changing, Deka must discover if she holds the key to saving Otera… or if she might be its greatest threat.
The Merciless Ones is the second thrilling installment of the epic fantasy series in which a young heroine fights against a world that would dare tame her.
The Wishing Pool and Other Stories by Tananarive Due
In her first new book in seven years, Tananarive Due further cements her status as a leading innovator in Black horror and Afrofuturism
“Due masterfully maintains suspense all the while delineating her characters with a psychological realism that makes the unbelievable credible.”—Washington Post Book World
“Tananarive Due’s characters quietly move into your heart and take up residence. You love them, you fear for them, and they scare you half to death.”—Nalo Hopkinson, author of Skin Folk
“An eerie epic . . . I loved this novel.” —Stephen King on My Soul to Keep
American Book Award–winning author Tananarive Due’s second collection of stories ranges from horror to science fiction to suspense. From the mysterious, magical town of Gracetown to the aftermath of a pandemic to the reaches of the far future, Due’s stories all share a sense of dread and fear balanced with heart and hope.
In some of these stories, the monster is racism itself; others address the monster within, or other universal struggles set against the supernatural or surreal. All of them are written with Due’s trademark attention to detail and deep characterization. In addition to previously published work, this collection contains brand-new stories, including “Rumpus Room,” a supernatural horror novelette set in Florida about a woman’s struggle against both outer and inner demons.
The Wolf Queen: The Hope of Aferi (Book I) by Cerece Rennie Murphy
To fight for her future, she must first discover the magic of her past!
Once great and powerful sorcerers, the Amasiti were hunted to the brink of extinction by the Hir and his followers. For four hundred years, their legacy faded from memory waiting for the hope of Aferi to be renewed…
In the Land of Yet
At the edge of the Forbidden Forest
A young woman lives alone.
Forced to fend for herself after the brutal murder of her family, Ameenah Yemini has made a life for herself as a master tanner and farmer, only venturing into the world to earn her living then return to the safety and seclusion of her home. Until a chance encounter brings her work to the attention of the powerful Hir. And her careful life begins to unravel.
Drawn to the hidden magic that lingers in everything she touches, the new Hir insists on having her for himself, using the people around her to force Ameenah into his grasp.
When she realizes that her greatest enemy may hold the key to a secret she thought lost to her forever, Ameenah is determined to reclaim her stolen past. But, at what cost? As an ancient power waits to be unleashed, Ameenah’s choices will make the difference between awakening a new magic or delivering it into the hands of evil.
The Wolf Queen: The Promise of Aferi ( Book II ) by Cerece Rennie Murphy
To claim their future, Ameenah Yemeni must avenge her past.
War has come to the Land of Yet and though the wolf has awakened within her, Ameenah Yemeni has just begun to understand the legacy behind its magic.
Without the wisdom to wield it, she knows she is no match for the treachery of the Hir, whose lust for absolute power threatens everything she holds dear.
Her only chance – Yet’s only hope – is for its people to band together and fight.
But the Hir’s iron grip reaches deeper than they ever realized and the land that once stood together is more divided than ever. While Ameenah travels to the isolated Province of Harat in search of allies and the remnants of the mythical Amasiti, the man she loves must take a different road, each uncovering terrible secrets, centuries in the making that could unravel their rebellion before it has time to take root.
In a desperate race to rally a force strong enough to defeat the Hir, Ameenah’s quest plunges her into the depths of a cursed land to recover what remains of an age-old promise—but the cost of saving her people just might be her life.
The final chapter of The Wolf Queen adventure is here.
About The Wolf Queen Duology
The Wolf Queen duology follows the journey of Ameenah Yemini, a young woman who after years of rebuilding her life from a terrible tragedy is confronted with a secret that shatters the quiet comfort of her existence – bringing a long lost hope and a new destiny to light. Inspired by the culture, language, and traditions of ancient northeast Africa, the story explores themes of female divinity, elemental magic, belonging, and the many layers of personal identity.
Book II finds Ameenah struggling to understand her place in a magical world she can no longer deny. But, time is not on her side. While she is just discovering the potential of the magic in her blood, the Hir has sought the power of the Amasiti all his life and has every intention of taking her birthright for himself. To stop him from assuming control over her power and the land she loves, she must both reclaim the legacy of her people and build a new coalition of creatures and men with the will to come together and fight behind their true Queen.
Listen to a reading from the novels: http://www.audioacrobat.com/note/C82MCY9X/
Where There Was Fire by John Manuel Arias
A lush and lyrical debut novel about a Costa Rican family wrestling with a deadly secret, from rising literary star John Manuel Arias.
Costa Rica, 1968. When a lethal fire erupts at the American Fruit Company’s most lucrative banana plantation burning all evidence of a massive cover-up, the future of Teresa Cepeda Valverde’s family is changed forever.
Now, twenty-seven years later, Teresa and her daughter Lyra are still picking up the pieces. Lyra wants nothing to do with Teresa, but is desperate to find out what happened to her family that fateful night. Teresa, haunted by a missing husband and the bitter ghost of her mother, Amarga, is unable to reconcile the past.
What unfolds is a story of a mother and daughter trying to forgive what they do not yet understand, and the mystery at the heart of one family’s rupture, steeped in machismo, jealousy, labor uprisings, and the havoc wreaked by banana plantations in Central America.
Brimming with ancestral spirits, omens, and the anthropomorphic forces of nature, John Manuel Arias weaves a brilliant tapestry of love, loss, secrets, and redemption.
John Manuel Arias is a queer, Costa Rican-American poet and writer. He is a Canto Mundo fellow & alumnus of the Tin House Summer Writers Workshop. His prose and poetry have been published in PANK, The Rumpus, F(r)iction, Joyland Magazine, and Akashic Books. He has lived in Washington D.C., Brooklyn New York, and in San José, Costa Rica with his grandmother and four ghosts. Where There Was Fire is his debut novel.