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Leave your preconceived notions at home as you embark on a mind-bending journey with six of today’s most visionary authors. Brimming with humor and heartache, this collection of short stories maps the roads we took to get here and the paths that lie ahead. The present may be a gift, but the future and the past both come with a price.

Twenty years ago, student Daisy Harrington went out for the evening and never came home. Her body was found a week later. The killer was caught. Case closed. Now, on what would have been her fortieth birthday, her five university housemates are invited to a weekend gathering. None of them want to go. But none of them can refuse—the invitation makes it clear that if they don’t attend, the past they’ve spent two decades hiding will finally come to light.

When a supposedly cursed traditional Japanese instrument arrives at the British School of Kyoto, strange things start to happen. A phantom geisha haunts the halls, a star student vanishes, and cryptic symbols appear across the campus.

Philia's family has produced saints for generations. It's no surprise that she's known as the greatest saint of all time--and set to marry the second prince, Julius. What no one expects is for Julius to call off the engagement, claiming that Philia's perfection makes her charmless and unlikable. To add insult to injury, Philia is packed off to a neighboring country in exchange for gold and resources, forcing her to leave her homeland!

Leia's life is turned upside down after her younger sister claims she's a cruel villain. Leia's fiance breaks off their engagement, leaving her no choice but to throw herself into her saintly duties. But when confronted by the righteous Crown Prince Eric, she finds herself under his scrutiny. He's determined to suss out her true nature, but why does it involve living in the palace with him?!

Greetings from Monchac, Louisiana. Home to fifty-seven souls and the world's only floating stationery store! When Mila Breaux's LA dreams go up in smoke, she'll move her cozy lettering shop down to bayou country, and pile her pens and paper onto her late uncle's houseboat. But the discovery of human bones just feet from her new store will rock the foundations of the sleepy swamp town. It will be up to Mila and a quirky band of characters to get to the bottom of things before it is too late!

Nobody likes being on agricultural rotation, and with this heat wave, it’s almost more than Ester can take. She’s itching for something she can’t put words to—something she has no memory of wanting. But then, she can’t remember much beyond the past couple of years. She’s sent to the husband archive for a cure, but the man she checks out comes with baggage: stacks and stacks of paper he calls “books.” What they teach each other may prove hard to forget.

With the issue of the papal succession resolved, Saint Philia returns to Parnacorta to tie the knot with Prince Osvalt. As she prepares to be wed, her mother, Hildegard, tells Philia about her late father, Camil--how he used to be an apothecary, how he fell victim to the very same illness that claimed the life of Parnacorta's last saint, and how he had been working on a cure before he died. Finding proof of this nearly complete cure among Camil's papers, Philia decides to honor her father and Elizabeth by finishing what he started.

Sold to a neighboring country by her former fiancee, Philia the saint has been hard at work protecting her new home—and the entire continent—from monster attacks. Just when it seems she might be in for some well-earned peace, however...magic-users across Parnacorta begin to disappear. A mysterious exorcist named Erza tells Philia that demons are behind the kidnapping—and that Philia is their real target! How will the too-perfect saint face this frightening new foe?

Philia's hope of wedded bliss is interrupted by the news that the pope, sacred leader of her faith, has passed--and that his will names her as his successor?! Together with her fiance Prince Osvalt, she heads to the neighboring nation of Dalbert, seat of the papacy, to investigate how this came to be. There, the duo finds proof of a conspiracy that tampered with the pope's will! Can they get to the bottom of this? Or is Philia's newfound happiness in Parnacorta doomed to be short-lived?

Charlie Whitmore has her life perfectly planned out. As a rising star at a prestigious Manhattan law firm, she's on the fast track to partnership. Until her beloved Aunt Beth dies and leaves her a small-town bookshop in Vermont. Oak & Ink Bookshop has stood in the heart of Leafwood Falls for nearly a century, beloved by locals. Charlie's plan is simple: assess the shop's value, list it for sale, and return to Manhattan. But Leafwood Falls has other ideas.

From acclaimed and #1 New York Times bestselling author Sarah Dessen comes a “sweet, nuanced, and reflective coming-of-age love story” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) about an unassuming girl who learns to stand on her own while falling in love during a life-changing summer. Finley has...

A collection of the year’s best short stories, selected by National Book Award finalist Min Jin Lee and series editor Heidi Pitlor. “Without stories, we cannot live well,” shares guest editor Min Jin Lee, describing how storytelling affects and nurtures readers. The Best American Short...

When an old woman dies onboard the lettering shop with a Cajun curse on her lips, the bad luck really starts to rain on Mila Breaux. She's not sure she believes in the supernatural, but the more strange events take place, the more it seems to believe in her! With the help of her best friend Critter Girl, and a handsome game warden named Xavier Ordoyn, Mila will need to dodge the hex while getting vengeance for the dead woman. Misfortune is not the only thing trying to stop her, however, and she'll have to act fast to get to the bottom of things, before it is too late!

Panic grips the streets of London as a deranged killer begins targeting high-profile influencers. At the same time, Jessica Hunter is back in her hometown for the holidays, accompanied by her school friend Kenta Higashi. While Jessica grows restless during her summer course at King's College, Kenta is captivated by his first visit to London and its endless attractions. Seeking a distraction, Jessica throws herself into the murder case that has left the police baffled.

In this YA fantasy thriller from the author of These Deadly Prophecies, two teens are pitted against each other in a magical duel for revenge while they fight their growing attraction to each other. “Dueling sapphic magicians collide in To the Death, a no-holds-barred story of love, rivalry...

“I wish to become one of those round vacuum cleaner robots.” That’s what Machi prays for at the altar of Japanese goddess Benzaiten. Ever since her two best friends decided they want nothing to do with her, Machi hasn’t been able to speak. After months of online school and a carousel of therapists, she can no longer see the point of being human. She doesn’t expect Benzaiten to hear her prayer, much less offer a different prayer on Machi’s behalf—that Machi discover the beauty of humanity, ultimately restoring her to her previous self.

* Chosen as a 2020 Kirkus Prize Finalist for Young Readers' Literature! * A Malaysian folk tale comes to life in this emotionally layered, chilling middle grade debut, perfect for fans of The Book of Boy and The Jumbies. I am a dark spirit, the ghost announced grandly. I am your inheritance...

Kat Morrison has built her world around taking care of everyone else. As a freelance web designer in Leafwood Falls, Vermont, she's perfected the art of juggling client deadlines while caring for her mother Rose and her daughter Emma. Kat's days are a carefully orchestrated dance of doctor appointments, work commitments, and family needs.

This is the dilemma facing young detectives Jessica Hunter and Kenta Higashi when they discover a sinister organization known as The Syndicate is behind a brutal murder in Osaka. Fresh from saving the British School of Kyoto from a vicious attack, the two school friends are lauded as heroes, but they alone know the real perpetrators are still at large. When a talented young hacker is found dead in Osaka, Jessica is the first to link it to The Syndicate, whose powerful network runs far wider and deeper than even she could have imagined.