Steve Roud was Local Studies Librarian for the London Borough of Croydon and served as Honorary Librarian of the Folklore Society for over fifteen years. He has been researching British folklore for over thirty years and is the joint author of the Oxford Dictionary of English Folklore, plus other books on traditional drama and folk song, and the Penguin Guide to the Superstitions of Britain and Ireland, which won the Katharine Briggs Folklore Award in 2004. His publications include London Lore (2008) and The Lore of the Playground (2010). He also compiles the Folk Song Index and the Broadside Index, two internationally acclaimed computer databases of traditional folk and popular song. He lives in Sussex.

Steve Roud

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Kate Eberle

She thought she was in a romance. Fate threw her into a thriller. Will happily-ever-after still be on the cards when fiction and reality blur for Roxie? 
When Roxie makes a tongue-in-cheek wish to live out the plot of her favourite author’s next novel, she has romance in mind — namely, the sweet, safe, swoon-worthy storylines Anna Matthews is known for. It should be a dream come true when her wish is granted by a mysterious busker. Except for one little hiccup: that dashing stranger tries to take her breath away. Literally. With a knife. The thing is, Roxie may be the new Anna Matthews protagonist — but this time, Anna is writing a crime thriller.Thrown into a perilous genre she’s never read, Roxie is desperate for help. So, when her escape from a potential murderer takes her straight into the path of Grant Hoffman — an anxious English professor with a convenient love of crime novels — she decides a little light kidnapping is a small price to pay for survival.Together, Roxie and Grant team up to navigate a madcap story where the lines between fiction and reality blur and find out if they have what it takes to make it to The End — or maybe even Happily Ever After.

If Books Could Kill

Kimberly Lynn Hanson

She is the Skratti – the monster in the woods. 
 
She does not know where she came from, or why she lurks in these shadows. 
 
She knows only that she hungers. For flesh, for blood – for the human hearts the nearby villagers offer up to her. 
 
But when their latest sacrifice, a petty thief named Rorik, enters the Skratti’s lair, a long-forgotten memory is sparked of a sister she once had. 
 
As the Skratti and Rorik piece together her buried past, a dangerous close grows. Soon she will be forced to choose: devour his heart, or give him her own?

I Am The Devouring Dark

Matt Dinniman

Carl and Donut have survived so far, but this fourth level is unlike anything they could imagine. The Iron Tangle: an impossibly complicated subway system tied together into a knot of trains of all kinds. The top ten list is populated, and Carl and Donut have made it. But that popularity comes with a price. They each now have a bounty on their head. They have to work with other crawlers to solve the puzzle of the floor, but how can they do that when they don’t know who to trust? The secret to unraveling it all may be hidden in the pages of a seemingly-useless book. Welcome, Crawlers. Welcome to the fourth floor of the dungeon

The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook

Now on the third floor, Carl and Donut have to fight harder than ever. They’ve already proven that a Coast Guard vet and once-and-forever feline royalty are an almost unstoppable team. Their ratings are off the chart. The watchers can’t get enough. But the dungeon gets more dangerous each day, and now there’s a whole new problem to deal with. Quests. They call it the Over City. A sprawling, once-thriving metropolis devastated by a mysterious calamity. But these streets are far from abandoned. An undead circus trawls the ruins. Murdered women rain from the sky. An ancient spell is finally ready to reveal its dark purpose. Can Carl and Donut solve the mystery in time? And can Carl finally find some pants?

Carl's Doomsday Scenario

As chaos and mass panic spread outside the dungeon in the wake of Faction Wars, Carl and Donut find themselves on the tenth floor, where they’re forced to compete in a surprisingly normal set of tasks. Races. Get from point A to point B, and don’t come in last. It all seems a a little too simple. 
 
Ignore those whispers about what’s happening on the mysterious eleventh floor, something the system AI calls A Parade of Horribles. Nobody, not even the showrunners, knows what that means. Just that the AI has ominously dubbed it “a coming-out party for the ages.” 
 
So Carl is planning a party of his own. 
But if it goes wrong, it’s not just the end of Carl and Donut. No. The stakes are higher than they’ve ever been.

A Parade of Horribles

New Achievement! Total, Utter Failure.You failed a quest less than five minutes after you received it. Now that’s talent. 
 
Surviving in a multilevel dungeon that also happens to be the set of the galaxy’s most watched game show has taught Coast Guard vet Carl and his ex-girlfriend’s cat, Princess Donut, that there’s only one thing they can count on apart from each other: they never know what’s coming next. And this floor is no exception. 
 
A floating fortress occupied by warrior gnomes. A castle made of sand. A derelict submarine guarded by malfunctioning machines. A haunted crypt surrounded by lethal traps. 
 
It was supposed to be easy. One bubble. Four castles. Fifteen days. Capture each one, and the stairwell is unlocked. Here's the thing. It's never easy. Going it alone is not an option this time, so Carl and his team must rely on the help of the low-level, I-can't-believe-these-idiots-are-still-alive crawlers trapped in the bubble with them. But can they be trusted? 
 
Welcome, Crawler. Welcome to the fifth floor of the dungeon.

The Gate of the Feral Gods

Chaos reigns on the eighth floor. 
 
Coast Guard vet Carl and Princess Donut have survived longer—and climbed higher—than anyone expected in the galaxy’s favorite reality show, but now the game is wide open. The task: capture six monsters and turn them into battle cards. The stronger the creature, the better the hand.But there’s always a catch. To win, Carl and Donut must claim the deadliest monster of all: Shi Maria, the Bedlam Bride—once wed to a now-missing god, her very attack can shatter the mind.Capturing a monster is one thing. Taming it? That’s another story entirely.

The Eye of the Bedlam Bride

You know what’s worse than breaking up with your girlfriend? Being stuck with her prize-winning show cat. And you know what’s worse than that? An alien invasion, the destruction of all man-made structures on Earth, and the systematic exploitation of all the survivors for a sadistic, intergalactic game show. That’s what. 
 
Join Coast Guard veteran Carl and his ex-girlfriend’s cat, Princess Donut, as they try to survive the end of the world—or just get to the next level—in a video game-like, trap-filled fantasy dungeon. A dungeon that’s actually the set of a reality television show with countless viewers across the galaxy. 
 
Exploding goblins. Magical potions. Deadly, drug-dealing llamas. This ain’t your ordinary game show.

Dungeon Crawler Carl

Shirtaloon

It's a tale as old as time: 9-5 worker Jason wakes up in a mysterious world of magic and monsters. Oh wait. 
 
It’s not easy making the career jump from office-supplies-store middle manager to heroic interdimensional adventurer. At least, Jason tries to be heroic, but it's hard to be good when all your powers are evil. 
 
He’ll face off against cannibals, cultists, wizards, monsters...and that’s just on the first day. He’s going to need courage, he’s going to need wit, and he’s going to need some magic powers of his own. But first, he’s going to need a pair of pants.

He Who Fights With Monsters: Outworlder

Philippa Rice

Evnie Treedle makes magical things and for the last few years has been working at the magical knickknack shop, The Magpie Nest.But everything changes when Evnie’s crafting abilities catch theattention of the nearby Reignclowd Palace. She is soon whisked away to become the Palace’s spellsmith and is put to work making and mending magical objects.But disaster strikes when a dragon threatens the Kingdom’s princess and it is up to Evnie to put her crafting talents to the test to save the girl, and the Kingdom, from this mysterious beast.

Reignclowd Palace

Jamie D'Amato

It's only natural Brennan's life would be upended by turning into a vampire. But if there's one thing Brennan can do, it's pretend everything's fine. 
But his new bloodthirsty existence gets way more complicated when Cole, the super cute librarian, stumbles on Brennan sucking down a stolen blood bag. Luckily, Cole is happy to keep Brennan's secret, and something starts to grow between them . . . 
But when rumours of a missing student and strange 'animal attacks' near campus start to circulate, Brennan must uncover the truth before he becomes suspect number one and stands to lose everything

The Good Vampire's Guide To Blood And Boyfriends

Margaret Weis

Tracy Hickman

Denis Beauvais

Jeffrey Butler

Once merely creatures of legend, the dragons have returned.But with their arrival comes the departure of the old gods &ndash; and with them, all healing magic vanishes and war engulfs the land . . .Former Comrades and lifelong friends, Sturm the Solamnic knight, Tanis Half-Elf, Tasslehoff Burrfoot the irrepressible Kender, Flint the Dwarf, Caramon the warrior and his twin brother, Raistlin the red-robed mage reunite for an adventure.Trouble starts when they see a woman use a blue crystal staff to heal a villager. Wondering if it&rsquo;s a sign the gods haven&rsquo;t abandoned them after all, they investigate and quickly find themselves catapulted into trouble that will change their lives and the world forever.

Dragonlance Chronicles

Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Dragons of Winter Night, Dragons of Spring Dawning

Lee Onhwa

When twenty-seven-year-old Yeon-hwa loses her grandmother, enigmatic proprietor of the Hwawoldang, she decides to respect her wishes by keeping the store going for at least a month, between the hours of 10pm and midnight. She has never learnt to make the traditional desserts herself, and hopes to learn more about her grandmother. 
 
On her very first day at work, she is soon interrupted by one of her grandmother’s most regular visitors, who hints that Hwawoldang is no ordinary pastry shop, and its customers not entirely alive… 
 
With each new customer at the store, Yeon-hwa is taken into their memories – but will this bring her the closure she craves, and continue her grandmother’s legacy of aiding those left in the land of the living?

A Midnight Pastry Shop Called Hwawoldang

India-Rose Bower

Britian, two years after they came . . . 
Most people have been devoured by the eldritch creatures. 
Sara and her family have been fighting for survival. 
And the only thing that works against these monsters - these Witches - is their knowledge of folklore and pagan rituals. 
When a girl named Parsley suddenly appears in the garden of their current camp, she cannot remember where she came from or why she's there. 
As Sara and Parsley begin to develop feelings for each other, disaster strikes, and Sara's younger brother Noah is snatched by the Witches. 
They must find him and set out across desolate moors full of merciless terror, to hunt the very creatures they've been hiding from. 
Can they succeed in saving Noah? Will Parsley and Sara's burgeoning love survive these bloodthirsty Witches? and, who can Sara trust in a world void of humanity?

We Call Them Witches

The path from retail middle management to interdimensional wizard adventurer wasn’t easy, but Jason Asano is settling into his new life. 
 
Now, a contest draws young elites to the city of Greenstone, competing for a grand prize. Jason must gather a band of companions if he is to stand a chance against the best the world has to offer. 
 
While the young adventurers are caught up in competition, the city leaders deal with revelations of betrayal as a vast and terrible enemy is revealed. Jason thinks he’s on the sidelines—until it becomes clear he’s already crossed the wrong path. With allies and enemies closing in, one thing is certain: this contest is only the beginning, and the coming conflict will change everything.

He Who Fights With Monsters: Adventurer

Julie Johnson

Something changed for Rhya Fleetwood in the battle of Fyremas. Her untrained power feels both heavy with grief and volatile. Caeldera lies in ruins. Her friends are dead or wounded. And Pendefyre, their newly crowned king, is shutting her out. When a twist of fate leads Rhya to the last place she expected—the Water Court—the novice wind weaver is forced to confront the limitations of her power as well as her increasingly complicated relationships. The more insight their enigmatic King offers into the maegic that binds them together, the more confused Rhya feels—about her future as a Remnant, about her deepest desires, and about her role in the coming war.

The Sea Spinner

Sophie Kim

Grumpy Taissa Cho lives alone in an obscure corner of Scotland for a reason. Once, she was the UKHC’s (United Kingdom’s Hidden Cities) most promising carriwitchet player. 
 
It was Taissa’s coach who had etched the illegal rune onto her, turning the odds in her favour despite Taissa’s protestations. And it was Kion, the annoying, handsome star player of her rival team, who caught her out. Her career was completely, and utterly, over. No team would take her. 
 
Until Kion asked her to come and play for the Stymphs. 
 
To garner publicity and keep Taissa as the Stymphs' secret weapon, she and Kion are forced into a fake relationship. 
 
Can they save their team from ruin, even when sabotage seems afoot?

The Winged Game

Raven Kennedy

It’s time to pay the Piper. 
 
Our world cracked open, unleashing nine monstrous Banes ready to destroy everything. The powerful Core fae destroyed them, but each Bane left a Plague to punish us. 
 
But that’s not the only thing they left behind. 
 
I’m half Bane, half fae, and wholly hated. Survival means enduring every vicious glare and cursed outbreak. Until one day, a Plague descends upon my city that means certain death. 
 
Then he comes. The Pied Piper. 
 
He rids my city of the Plague, but it comes at a cost. One hundred and thirty people. Including me. 
 
I have to get home. My family’s lives depend on it. But the Piper won’t let me go, and something wicked stirs between us. 
 
I have to escape before it’s too late. Because if I don’t, it’s not just my heart at risk. . . 
 
But the entire world.

The Sweetest Fiend

They call it Faction Wars. 
 
The ninth floor: nine armies led by wealthy alien elites, all battling to seize the central castle. Strategy, alliances, treachery—it’s perfect television.After all, none of these powerful aliens really die when they’re playing war.But not this season. Winner takes all, and the fallen stay dead.With the AI collapsing, Carl and his team seize the chaos and join the war as one of the nine factions—just as a tenth army rises: NPCs, who have become fully self-aware and formed a team of their own.And for Donut and Katia, only one can leave this level.If they all want to survive, they’re going to need a little help from a veteran or two.This. Is. War.

This Inevitable Ruin

Attention. The gates are down. The hunters are loose. Run.A deadly jungle. Bloodthirsty dinosaurs. A fallen princess seeking revenge. And a mysterious celebration known as The Butcher’s Masquerade. Coast Guard veteran Carl and Princess Donut think they’ve seen everything the galaxy’s favorite game show can throw at them—until they reach the sixth floor: The Hunting Grounds.Now, for the first time, outside tourists are allowed in, eager to stalk and kill the remaining crawlers. Among them is Vrah, a legendary hunter determined to claim her greatest trophy yet. But this season, the prey is fighting back.Welcome, crawlers, to the sixth floor.

The Butcher's Masquerade

Josh Winning

Bastian may be a vampire, but he doesn’t bite—anymore. He’s just trying to live his best undead life: sightseeing through Italy with his magical talking cat, Whitby, and maybe flirting with a cute boy or two. 
 
Then a body turns up on the beach, seemingly drained by a vampire. It wasn’t Bastian. He swears—on his own grave. But the local police chief isn’t convinced and assigns the infuriatingly handsome detective Nico De Luca to watch him until his trial. 
 
With the Vampire Council on their way and more victims appearing, Bastian, Whitby, and Nico must unmask the real killer before the whole town is gone—fangs, flirting, and all.

Be Still My Unbeating Heart

Betty Hawk

When Elliott Summers arrives in Kings Crossing, she wants only to find the truth about her family, and why they abandoned her. She isn’t expecting a hook-up with a guy much too charming for his own good—or to find a body in the woods. 
 
When Elliott learns she comes from a long line of werewolf hunters, and her handsome hookup, Garrett is from the town's resident pack, he's instantly off-limits to her, and she to him. 
 
But even as the mysterious attacks in the town mount up, Elliott’s heart is growing more entangled with Garett. 
 
Will she choose the hunters or the hunted—and which group is which...?

Wolfheart

Emma Noyes

Charlie Hudson now knows the truth: her twin sister is a Valkyrie, and they're both daughters of Loki, the trickster god. After saving her best friend from Elias and Loki's clutches, Charlie is summoned to appear before the god of gods, Odin, who tasks her with a mission. The Seal that protects humanity from Asgard's magic is starting to break down, and only a human can stop it. To do so, Charlie must convince her old enemy , Elias, to bring her to the underworld. As she and Elias journey to the land of the undead, undeniable attraction burns between them once again. And when they arrive, Charlie finds that Loki is not who she thought he was-and that she may be on the wrong side of this war.

Heart of Mischief

Shadow of Souls Book 2

For all that Jason’s new life is amazing, he is about to learn that his new power, wealth, and influence comes at a price...Riding high on success, he and his team prepare for what comes next, but nothing can prepare them for what their enemies have planned. When magic enters the fight, the stakes rise beyond life and death.As Jason’s personal rivals move in the shadows, even greater threats push his new home to the brink. With one devastating move left to play, those enemies are on a collision course with Jason and his companions. Outnumbered, outmatched, and facing an enemy who knows they’re coming, they must fight harder than ever—because this time, survival may not be enough to win.

He Who Fights With Monsters: Hero

SenLinYu

This stunning hardcover edition features a deluxe jacket with gold foil on the front and a full-color illustration on the reverse, gorgeous designed endpapers, a gold foil case stamp, and, from acclaimed artist Avendell, a black-and-white interior illustration. 
 
“What is it you think you’re protecting in that brain of yours? The war is over. Holdfast is dead. The Eternal Flame extinguished. There’s no one left for you to save.” 
 
Once a promising alchemist, Helena Marino is now a prisoner—of war and of her own mind. Her Resistance friends and allies have been brutally murdered, her abilities suppressed, and the world she knew destroyed. 
 
In the aftermath of a long war, Paladia’s new ruling class of corrupt guild families and depraved necromancers, whose vile, undead creatures helped bring about their victory, holds Helena captive. 
 
According to Resistance records, she was a healer of little importance within their ranks. But Helena has inexplicable memory loss of the months leading up to her capture, making her enemies wonder: Is she truly as insignificant as she appears, or are her lost memories hiding some vital piece of the Resistance’s final gambit? 
 
To uncover the memories buried deep within her mind, Helena is sent to the High Reeve, one of the most powerful and ruthless necromancers in this new world. Trapped on his crumbling estate, Helena’s fight—to protect her lost history and to preserve the last remaining shreds of her former self—is just beginning. For her prison and captor have secrets of their own . . . secrets Helena must unearth, whatever the cost.

Alchemised

Hiyoko Kurisu

A charming book of linked stories with a sprinkling of cosy fantasy and a fable-like touch . . . 
 
The Amberglow Candy Store in the Night Alley introduces the reader to half-fox shopkeeper Kogetsu, whose magical wagashi sweets from his shop on Gloaming Lane promise to change his customers' lives for the better. 
 
We follow an array of characters from various walks of life through their encounters with Kogetsu, who himself learns some major life lessons along the way, and reveals his own backstory in the process.

The Amberglow Candy Store

Giovanna Fletcher

Tom Fletcher

The Fletchers have weaved in an apocalyptic nightmare, a daring escape and a passionate love story - Sunday Times 
 
The heart-pounding final book in the Eve of Man trilogy that sees Bram and Eve rise up to save their world

Eve of Man: Book 3

Danai Christopoulou

Lady Macbeth turns to the three witches for advice. 
She’s given a brew that transports her to a strange realm. 
Desperately lost, she opens a door to a woman drenched in blood. 
 
Klytemnestra is exacting bloody vengeance on her husband. 
Yet an otherworldly door appears and a strange woman steps in. 
 
Thrown into unknown territory, the pair are forced to form an alliance or perish. 
Yet the realm’s goddess, The Mistress of the House of Books, claims to hold the key to saving them. But can they trust her? 
 
As every threat brings our vile lady villains closer into fiery attraction, they have a choice: remain within the confines of their original tales … 
Or burn down the world to pen a new story together . . .

Vile Lady Villains

Stacia Stark

In exchange for her brother’s life, Arvelle must enter the Sundering –– a deadly competition where the winners are chosen for the Imperius –– the emperor’s elite guard. 
 
It’s a dangerous task made even worse when she attracts the attention of the same ruthless vampire who shattered her heart six years ago. 
 
With elite gladians targeting her in the lethal arena, and an assassin picking the competitors off one-by-one, Arvella has no choice but to ally with the man who once betrayed her. The man who has since become even more implacable, colder and merciless.

We Who Will Die

Alexandra Christo-Cheung

THALIA MARROW has only ever known the life of a Scion, guarding the Library of Curses. But when the Library is ransacked and her brother taken by demons, she becomes the last remaining Scion. Desperate to find her only family, Thalia follows the bloody trail to the mysterious SOREN. A ruthless Fae Prince who was banished from his kingdom. Now, Soren is out for vengeance. Soon the Fae Prince and the warrior librarian must work together to uncover what happened at the library, and the identity of the mysterious Lighteater who is unleashing curses on the realm.

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