New Releases by Seanan McGuire

Nonsense and candy and the families we choose in the origin story of a beloved character in the latest installment of the Hugo Award-winning Wayward Children series. Before there was Sumi, Promised Savior of Confection, there was Onishi Sumiko, a girl with no idea where she belonged. Onishi Sumiko was born to be an invisible girl. The second child of immigrant parents, overshadowed by her brother, she seemed destined for a life of quiet obedience, never breaking free of the path that had been chosen for her. Until a chance encounter with an impossible door sends her tumbling into a world of peppermint dreams and sugary nightmares, leaving her trapped in a candy-coated heart of darkness. Forced to adapt to the world of Confection, where the rules are as unpredictable as they are nonsensical, Sumiko must decide whether she’s going to be a meek, logical victim of her own fate—or whether she’s going to stand up and become the illogical, impossible hero she was always meant to be. Not all sweet dreams are safe ones, as Sumi will quickly discover for herself. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

The New York Times bestselling author takes us back to the world of the Alchemical Journeys in this action-packed follow-up to Middlegame, Seasonal Fears, and Tidal Creatures. The gods live and die at our whim. More than a century has passed since Asphodel Baker refined the process allowing her to imbue alchemically created life with power in a way no one else had ever been able to achieve. More than a century since she built the Impossible City on the ruins of Olympus, forging it from nothing more than imagination and spite, and penned it in plain view, enabling it to be read and cherished and believed by children the world over. And now, so long after her exit from the world, the descendants of her dark alchemy—who exist in a reality that inches ever closer to the hellscape of her imagination—step into a place of birth, of discovery, of horror, to make amends for the sins of the past. Can the gods of today defeat the evils of their maker, or will the legacy of the most powerful alchemist the world has ever known prove to be their undoing? At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Strixhaven University welcomes you. Begin your magical studies on a faraway plane, encountering new friends, mysteries, and dangers, in this fantastical dark academia. Eula Blue was supposed to be a mage. That was before the war came—before the fight for the Multiverse devastated Eula’s home, and with it her hopes for a magical education. But the destruction of the war also brought something new: the ability to travel to other planes. And when Eula receives an invitation to study magic at a distant school called Strixhaven, she leaps to take it. Eula’s journey brings her closer than she ever thought possible to her fellow students, including the mysterious Segante, a boy whose secrets Eula longs to share. But not everyone is thrilled by the arrival of the new class, and Eula and her new friends quickly become targets. To make it through their first semester, they’ll have to fight for their place in this new world—or else they’ll be dead before their final exams.

Seanan McGuire’s New York Times-bestselling and Hugo Award-nominated InCryptid series continues with the fifteenth book following the Price family, cryptozoologists who study and protect the creatures living in secret all around us. Sarah Zellaby is a Johrlac, a member of a species of psychic ambush predators colloquially referred to as “cuckoos.” Eight years ago, she survived the difficult, painful process of becoming a cuckoo queen...although not without costs. In the wake of her transformation, the man she loved was entirely erased from his own mind, forcing her to reconstruct him from the memories of the people who knew and loved him. Sarah has been struggling to come to terms with her actions ever since. But there''s no one else on the planet with the power to hold her accountable—until the Johrlac authorities show up. It’s time for her to stand trial for what she''s done, something which can only happen on Johrlar, home world of her species, where the population is controlled by a system of unyielding hiveminds and crime is punishable by erasure. With Sarah’s life on the line, her family will need to find a way to cross dimensional borders and survive a hostile, telepathic world in order to get her back—before the Sarah they know ceases to exist. But no matter what happens, actions have consequences... and Sarah Zellaby is about to learn that lesson the hard way. Chaos, noun: 1. The inherent unpredictability in the behavior of a complex natural system. Chaos theory, noun: 1. A branch of mathematical and physical theory that deals with the nature and consequences of chaos and chaotic systems. 2. The study of unpredictable systems. 3. See also “impossible math.” At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Seanan McGuire’s New York Times bestselling and Hugo Award-nominated October Daye series continues as Toby Daye is thrust once again into danger... and this time she has more than ever to protect. Something is rotten in Faerie. In the aftermath of Titania''s reality-warping enchantment, things are returning to what passes for normal in the Kingdom in the Mists—until it''s discovered that the royal vaults have been looted, and several powerful magical artifacts are missing. None are things that can be safely left unsecured, and some have the potential to do almost as much damage as Titania did, and having them in the wrong hands could prove just as disastrous. At least the theft means that Sir October "Toby" Daye, Knight errant and Hero of the Realm, finally has an excuse to get out of the house. Sure, she''s eight and a half months pregnant, but that doesn''t mean she can’t take care of herself. But with the sea witch offering to stand godmother to Toby''s child, maybe there are greater dangers ahead for Toby and her family than it appears.... Old enemies will resurface, new enemies will disguise themselves as friends, and Queen Windermere must try to keep her Hero on the case without getting herself gutted by the increasingly irritated local King of Cats. Sometimes, what''s been lost can be the most dangerous threat of all. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Collects Ghost-Spider #1-10. SPIDER-GEDDON rocks Gwen Stacy''s world! Trapped in a parallel dimension as her friends and fellow Spiders battle for their lives, what can Gwen do to stop the Inheritors from wreaking havoc across the Web of Life and Destiny? From out of the chaos, Gwen takes on a new name and faces one of her deadliest - and most familiar - enemies yet: the Gwen Goblin! Back home, Gwen''s father is pressuring her to return to school, while an interdimensional stalker is creeping her out - and all the while, something sinister is roaming the streets of New York. Can Gwen track down the thing that goes bump in the night? Or will she become one more victim of the Man-Wolf? And the heroic Sue and Johnny Storm have resurfaced, but is their return too good to be true?

A treasure trove of all-new stories exploring the dark side of dolls, puppets, mannequins and more—featuring Joyce Carol Oates, Jeffrey Ford and others. The seventeen original stories in this anthology feature everything from life-sized clockwork dolls to all-too-human Betsy Wetsy-type baby dolls. Moving past the cliches of the doll trope, each one delves into the uncanny creepiness of these bizarrely lifelike objects. Master anthologist Ellen Datlow has assembled a menagerie of beautifully terrifying stories from critically acclaimed authors such as Seanan McGuire, Carrie Vaughn, Pat Cadigan, Tim Lebbon, Richard Kadrey, Genevieve Valentine. The collection is illustrated with photographs of dolls taken by Datlow and other devoted doll collectors from the science fiction and fantasy field. The result is a star-studded collection exploring one of our most primal fears. Stories in this anthology by: Stephen Gallagher, Joyce Carol Oates, Gemma Files, Pat Cadigan, Lucy Sussex, Tim Lebbon, Seanan McGuire, Carrie Vaughn, Stephen Graham Jones, Miranda Siemienowicz, Mary Robinette Kowal, Richard Bowes, Genevieve Valentine, Richard Kadrey, Veronica Schanoes, John Langan, Jeffrey Ford

New York Times bestselling author Seanan McGuire takes us back to the world of the award-winning Alchemical Journeys series in this action-packed follow-up to Middlegame and Seasonal Fears. Every night, a Moon shines down on the Impossible City... All across the world, people look up at the moon and dream of gods. Gods of knowledge and wisdom, gods of tides and longevity. Over time, some of these moon gods incarnated into the human world alongside the other manifest natural concepts. Their job is to cross the sky above the Impossible City—the heart of all creation—to keep it connected to reality. And someone is killing them. There are so many of them that it''s easy for a few disappearances to slip through the cracks. But they aren''t limitless. In the name of the moon, the lunar divinities must uncover the roots of the plot and thwart the true goal of those behind these attacks—control of the Impossible City itself. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Two-time finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Series "Kind of like taking a tour through a very deadly theme park made up of alternating parts awesome and terrifying." —Reactor Seanan McGuire''s New York Times-bestselling and Hugo Award-nominated urban fantasy InCryptid series continues with the thirteenth book following the Price family, cryptozoologists who study and protect the creatures living in secret all around us Mary Dunlavy didn''t intend to become a professional babysitter. Of course, she didn''t intend to die, either, or to become a crossroads ghost. As a babysitting ghost, she''s been caring for the Price family for four generations, and she''s planning to keep doing the job for the better part of forever. With her first charge finally back from her decades-long cross-dimensional field trip, with a long-lost husband and adopted daughter in tow, it''s time for Mary to oversee the world''s most chaotic family reunion. And that''s before the Covenant of St. George launches a full scale strike against the cryptids of Manhattan, followed quickly by an attack on the Campbell Family Carnival. It''s going to take every advantage and every ally they have for the Prices to survive what''s coming—and for Mary, to avoid finding out the answer to a question she''s never wanted to know: what happens to a babysitting ghost if she loses the people she''s promised to protect?

The 17th novel of the Hugo-nominated, New York Times bestselling October Daye urban fantasy series. October is very happy with her life as the second daughter of her pureblood parents, Amandine and Simon Torquill. Born to be the changeling handmaid to her beloved sister August, she spends her days working in her family’s tower, serving as August’s companion, and waiting for the day when her sister sets up a household of her own. Everything is right in October’s Faerie. Everything is perfect. Everything is a lie. October has been pulled from her own reality and thrown into a twisted reinterpretation of Faerie where nothing is as it should be and everything has been distorted to support Titania’s ideals. Bound by the Summer Queen’s magic and thrust into a world turned upside down, October has no way of knowing who she can trust, where she can turn, or even who she really is. As strangers who claim to know her begin to appear and the edges of Titania’s paradise begin to unravel, Toby will have to decide whether she can risk everything she knows based on only their stories of another world. But first she’ll have to survive this one, as Titania demonstrates why she needed to be banished in the first place—and this time, much more than Toby’s own life is at stake.

Children have always disappeared under the right conditions—slipping through the shadows under a bed or at the back of a wardrobe, tumbling down rabbit holes and into old wells, and emerging somewhere . . . else. Adventures are always interesting, but they’re not always happy. From the worlds of Wayward Children comes a story of love, of devotion, of bones wrapped in flesh. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

There is another school for children who fall through doors and fall back out again. It isn''t as friendly as Eleanor West''s Home for Wayward Children. And it isn''t as safe.

Jack Walcott was only twelve years old when she and her twin sister Jill, descended the impossible staircase and found herself in the Moors, a world of drowned gods and repugnant royals. After abandoning her sister to a vampire lord, and under the tutelage of a mad scientist who can do impossible things with flesh and living lightning, Jack quickly learns that in the Moors, death is merely a suggestion. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

"Trying to enjoy married life, October Daye discovers that an old friend and ally is really an enemy in disguise and must battle for her life and community"--

It''s been fifty years since the crossroads caused the disappearance of Thomas Price, and his wife, Alice, has been trying to find him and bring him home ever since, despite the increasing probability that he''s no longer alive for her to find. Now that the crossroads have been destroyed, she''s redoubling her efforts. It''s time to bring him home, dead or alive. Preferably alive, of course, but she''s tired, and at this point, she''s not that picky. It''s a pan-dimensional crash course in chaos, as Alice tries to find the rabbit hole she''s been missing for all these decades--the one that will take her to the man she loves. Who are her allies? Who are her enemies? And if she manages to find him, will he even remember her at this point?

Includes an InCryptid novella: Singing the comic-con blues (pages 357-422).

"It''s hard to be a hero. There''s always something needing October "Toby" Daye''s attention, and her own desires tend to fall by the wayside in favor of solving the Kingdom''s problems. That includes the desire to marry her long-time suitor and current fiancé, Tybalt, San Francisco''s King of Cats. She doesn''t mean to keep delaying the wedding, it just sort of happens. And that''s why her closest friends have taken the choice out of her hands, ambushing her with a court wedding at the High Court in Toronto. Once the High King gets involved, there''s not much even Toby can do to delay things, except for getting involved in stopping a plot to overthrow the High Throne itself, destabilizing the Westlands entirely, and keeping her from getting married through nothing more than the sheer volume of chaos it would cause. Can Toby save the Westlands and make it to her own wedding on time? Or is she going to have to choose one over the other?"--

When Jack left Eleanor West''s School for Wayward Children, she was carrying the body of her deliciously deranged sister -- whom she had recently murdered in a fit of righteous justice -- back to their home on the Moors.

Includes an InCryptid novella: Follow the lady (pages 367-431).

A HUGO AWARD FINALIST! WINNER OF THE LOCUS AWARD FOR BEST FANTASY NOVEL, 2020! A Pick on the 2020 RUSA Reading List! New York Times bestselling and Alex, Nebula, and Hugo-Award-winning author Seanan McGuire introduces readers to a world of amoral alchemy, shadowy organizations, and impossible cities in the standalone fantasy, Middlegame. Meet Roger. Skilled with words, languages come easily to him. He instinctively understands how the world works through the power of story. Meet Dodger, his twin. Numbers are her world, her obsession, her everything. All she understands, she does so through the power of math. Roger and Dodger aren’t exactly human, though they don’t realise it. They aren’t exactly gods, either. Not entirely. Not yet. Meet Reed, skilled in the alchemical arts like his progenitor before him. Reed created Dodger and her brother. He’s not their father. Not quite. But he has a plan: to raise the twins to the highest power, to ascend with them and claim their authority as his own. Godhood is attainable. Pray it isn’t attained. A USA Today Bestseller, and named as one of Paste Magazine''s 30 Best Fantasy Novels of the Decade! At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Winner: 2022 Hugo Award for Best Series A stand-alone fantasy tale from Seanan McGuire''s Alex award-winning Wayward Children series, which began in the Alex, Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Award-winning, World Fantasy Award finalist, Tiptree Honor List Every Heart a Doorway This fourth entry and prequel tells the story of Lundy, a very serious young girl who would rather study and dream than become a respectable housewife and live up to the expectations of the world around her. As well she should. When she finds a doorway to a world founded on logic and reason, riddles and lies, she thinks she''s found her paradise. Alas, everything costs at the goblin market, and when her time there is drawing to a close, she makes the kind of bargain that never plays out well. The Wayward Children Series Book 1: Every Heart a Doorway Book 2: Down Among the Sticks and Bones Book 3: Beneath the Sugar Sky Book 4: In an Absent Dream

SCIENCE FICTION, FANTASY, HUMOR The Unidentified Funny Objects series delivers an annual dose of funny, zany, and unusual science fiction and fantasy stories. All-new fiction from the genre''s top voices! * A long time ago in a galaxy close enough not to violate any copyrights, the clone army fighting for the side of the evil empire is made up of a bunch of bros named Chad. * Can a couple of wise guys from New Jersey broker a sit down between two groups of warring aliens? * Witness an epic battle of mad science vs. dark magic. * US presidents elected in 1860 and 1960 were both assassinated. What''s going to happen to whoever''s elected in 2060? * Beware the dragon polite enough to return your drone after it breached the barriers between worlds and bonked him on the snout.

Includes a novella by the author: Suffer a sea-change.

The second book in the Ghost Roads series returns to the highways of America, where hitchhiking ghost Rose Marshall continues her battle with her killer--the immortal Bobby Cross. Once and twice and thrice around, Put your heart into the ground. Four and five and six tears shed, Give your love unto the dead. Seven shadows on the wall, Eight have come to watch your fall: One’s for the gargoyle, one’s for the grave, And the last is for the one you’ll never save. For Rose Marshall, death has long since become the only life she really knows. She’s been sweet sixteen for more than sixty years, hitchhiking her way along the highways and byways of America, sometimes seen as an avenging angel, sometimes seen as a killer in her own right, but always Rose, the Phantom Prom Date, the Girl in the Green Silk Gown. The man who killed her is still out there, thanks to a crossroads bargain that won’t let him die, and he’s looking for the one who got away. When Bobby Cross comes back into the picture, there’s going to be hell to pay—possibly literally. Rose has worked for decades to make a place for herself in the twilight. Can she defend it, when Bobby Cross comes to take her down? Can she find a way to navigate the worlds of the living and the dead, and make it home before her hitchhiker’s luck runs out? There’s only one way to know for sure. Nine will let you count the cost: All you had and all you lost. Ten is more than time can tell, Cut the cord and ring the bell. Count eleven, twelve, and then, Thirteen takes you home again. One’s for the shadow, one’s for the tree, And the last is for the blessing of Persephone.

***TOP TEN SELECTION FOR BOOKLIST BEST OF HORROR 2016*** The Gods of H.P. Lovecraft: a brand new anthology that collects the twelve principal deities of the Lovecraftian Mythos and sets them loose within its pages. Featuring the biggest names in horror and dark fantasy, including many NY Times bestsellers, full of original fiction and artwork, and individual commentary on each of the deities by Donald Tyson. About the book: Lovecraft''s bestiary of gods has had a major influence on the horror scene from the time these sacred names were first evoked. Cthulhu, Azathoth, Nyarlathotep, Yog-Sothoth--this pantheon of the horrific calls to mind the very worst of cosmic nightmares and the very darkest signs of human nature. The Gods of H.P. Lovecraft brings together twelve all-new Mythos tales from: Cthulhu (Adam Nevill) - Yog-Sothoth (Martha Wells) - Azathoth (Laird Barron) - Nyarlathotep (Bentley Little) - Shub-Niggurath (David Liss) - Tsathoggua (Brett Talley) - The Mi-Go (Christopher Golden & James A. Moore) - Night-gaunts (Jonathan Maberry) - Elder Things (Joe Lansdale) - Great Race (Rachel Caine) - Yig (Douglas Wynne) - The Deep Ones (Seanan McGuire)

There’s something out there in the dark. There’s always something watching. There’s always something reaching for you. Always. And sometimes there’s someone you can call. Someone you can hire. Someone who knows these dark streets and back alleys. Someone who knows how things work in this part of town. Private eyes who are often as dark as the things they hunt. Investigators who know how to look in the shadows for the things that go bump. Good guys but not always nice guys. Hardboiled Horror collects fifteen original tales of noir mystery shot through with elements of horror and the supernatural. Occult detectives, paranormal investigators, seedy P.I.s, amateur sleuths and ghost hunters tackle the cases no one else can handle. The killer lineup includes Heather Graham, Kevin J. Anderson, Rachel Caine, Scott Sigler, Seanan McGuire Alethea Kontis, Jonathan Maberry, Chris Ryall, Dana Fredsti, Jim Beard, Jacopo della Quercia, John Gilstrap, Jon McGoran, Josh Malerman, Max Allan Collins & Matthew V. Clemens, Lois H. Gresh and Nancy Holder. Edited by New York Times bestseller and five-time Bram Stoker Award winner Jonathan Maberry.

Now in a new redesigned edition, featuring an updated introduction from the author and songs! Rose Marshall died in 1952 in Buckley Township, Michigan, run off the road by a man named Bobby Cross—a man who had sold his soul to live forever, and intended to use her death to pay the price of his immortality. Trouble was, he didn’t ask Rose what she thought of the idea. It’s been more than sixty years since that night, and she’s still sixteen, and she’s still running. They have names for her all over the country: the Girl in the Diner. The Phantom Prom Date. The Girl in the Green Silk Gown. Mostly she just goes by “Rose,” a hitchhiking ghost girl with her thumb out and her eyes fixed on the horizon, trying to outrace a man who never sleeps, never stops, and never gives up on the idea of claiming what’s his. She’s the angel of the overpass, she’s the darling of the truck stops, and she’s going to figure out a way to win her freedom. After all, it’s not like it can kill her. You can’t kill what’s already dead.

The seventh book in the funny and fast-paced InCryptid urban fantasy series returns to the mishaps of the Price family, eccentric cryptozoologists who safeguard the world of magical creatures living in secret among humans. Includes an all-new Aeslin mice novella and a map of Lowryland! Penance, noun: 1. Punishment for past actions. 2. An attempt to pay for what can''t be bought. 3. See also "exile." Antimony Price is on the run. With the Covenant on her tail and her family still in danger, she needs to get far, far away from anyone who might recognize her--including her own mice. For the first time in a long time, a Price is flying without a safety net. Where do you go when you need to disappear into a crowd without worrying about attracting attention? An amusement park, of course. Some people would call Lowryland the amusement park. It''s one of the largest in Florida, the keystone of the Lowry entertainment empire...but for Annie, it''s a place to hide. She''s just trying to keep her head down long enough to come up with a plan that will get her home without getting anyone killed. No small order when she''s rooming with gorgons and sylphs, trying to placate frustrated ghosts, and rushing to get to work on time. Then the accidents begin. The discovery of a dead man brings Annie to the attention of the secret cabal of magic users running Lowryland from behind the scenes. They want the fire that sleeps in her fingers. They want her on their side. They want to help her--although their help, like everything else, comes with a price. No plan. Minimal backup. No way out. Annie''s about to get a crash course in the reality behind the pretty facade. If she''s lucky, she''ll survive the experience.

Winner: 2022 Hugo Award for Best Series Winner: 2018 Alex Award Winner: 2018 ALA RUSA Fantasy Award Seanan McGuire returns to her popular Wayward Children series with Down Among the Sticks and Bones—a truly standalone story suitable for adult and young adult readers of urban fantasy, and the follow-up to the Alex, Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Award-winning, World Fantasy Award finalist, Tiptree Honor List book Every Heart a Doorway Twin sisters Jack and Jill were seventeen when they found their way home and were packed off to Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children. This is the story of what happened first... Jacqueline was her mother’s perfect daughter—polite and quiet, always dressed as a princess. If her mother was sometimes a little strict, it’s because crafting the perfect daughter takes discipline. Jillian was her father’s perfect daughter—adventurous, thrill-seeking, and a bit of a tom-boy. He really would have preferred a son, but you work with what you''ve got. They were five when they learned that grown-ups can’t be trusted. They were twelve when they walked down the impossible staircase and discovered that the pretense of love can never be enough to prepare you a life filled with magic in a land filled with mad scientists and death and choices. The Wayward Children Series Book 1: Every Heart a Doorway Book 2: Down Among the Sticks and Bones Book 3: Beneath the Sugar Sky Book 4: In an Absent Dream At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Behind the Mask is a multi-author collection with stories by award-winning authors Kelly Link, Cat Rambo, Carrie Vaughn, Seanan McGuire, Lavie Tidhar, Sarah Pinsker, Keith Rosson, Kate Marshall, Chris Large and others. It is partially a prose nod to the comic world - the bombast, the larger-than-life, the save-the-worlds and the calls-to-adventure. But it''s also a spotlight on the more intimate side of the genre. The hopes and dreams of our cape-clad heroes. The regrets and longings of our cowled villains. That poignant, solitary view of the world that can only be experienced from behind the mask. The authors in this collection, both established and new, are all dexterous and wonderfully imaginative, each deserving of their own form-fitting uniforms and capes. Some of the stories pulse with social commentary, like Cat Rambo''s whimsical and deft "Ms. Liberty Gets a Haircut" and Keith Rosson''s haunting "Torch Songs." Others twist the genre into strange and new territories, like Stuart Suffel''s atmospheric "Birthright," Kate Marhsall''s moving "Destroy the City with Me Tonight," and Adam Shannon''s reality-bending "Over an Embattled City." Some punch with heart and humor, like Matt Mikalatos''s satisfying "The Beard of Truth" and Chris Large''s adventurous "Salt City Blue," while others punch with bite and grit, such as Michael Milne''s evocative "Inheritance," Aimee Ogden''s poignant "As I Fall Asleep," and Jennifer Pullen''s heartfelt "Meeting Someone in the 22nd Century." Some of the stories feature characters who might not be superheroes in the traditional sense, yet are heroic nonetheless, such as Sarah Pinsker''s imaginative "The Smoke Means It''s Working" and Stephanie Lai''s majestic "The Fall of the Jade Sword." Some shine a unique, captivating spotlight on supervillains, like Keith Frady''s dramatic "Fool" and Carrie Vaughn''s romantic "Origin Story." Some are somber, ponderous works, where our heroes consider their impact on the world, like Lavie Tidhar''s regret-tinged "Heroes" and Nathan Crowder''s resonant "Madjack." Others tread more light-hearted waters, with heroes adjusting to the sometimes-comical, sometimes-stressful life in the public eye, like Seanan McGuire''s entertaining "Pedestal" and Patrick Flanagan''s lively "Quintessential Justice." And then there are the softer, quieter moments between heroes, as they navigate their extraordinary lives in their own unique ways, such as Ziggy Schutz''s tender "Eggshells" and, of course, Kelly Link''s captivating "Origin Story." Publisher''s Weekly - "Reeks and Richardson have pulled together a treasure trove of 20 stories . . . exploring the lives of superheroes when they''re not saving the world. . . . There is nary a miss in this diverse and thoughtful collection, which will have readers considering what it means to be human." Kirkus Reviews - (starred review) "A momentous, readable collection, its sole downside being that there are only 20 superhero stories."