As I child I could be found reading anywhere, anytime. Through books I could go on adventures, learn about new worlds, explore emotions, and make friends. A schoolmate and I picked our library books together and traded during the week so we wouldn’t run out! As I shared this love of reading with my children, I realized I wanted to write books that a child would ask for again and again. Books that would explain tough topics, bring giggles, ignite imaginations, show a child the importance of friends, and empower them to solve their own problems.
Steven Kellogg has written wonderfully imaginative stories with illustrations that should be pored over. Both of my adult children wanted this book from my stash. It’s an atypical Christmas book, yet shows us that love and generosity can turn enemies into friends. Gloria is training to be a witch, but she’d rather smile than scowl. She’s sent by an angel to a dark planet where the Pepperwills and Valdoons have been feuding for centuries. With some help from elves, Gloria figures out how to bring light to the planet. The clans finally end their feud when Gloria asks them, “remember how happy you were when the magic of Christmas entered your hearts?” Just imagine if we could all be Gloria spreading love and generosity.
The world is an amazing, diverse place that needs stories that represent everyone. I identify as gender fluid and am part of my city’s LGBTQIA+ community. For kids, there aren’t enough stories that feature non-straight cis protagonists where that identity isn’t the focus. LGBTQIA+ kids exist. They are normal. Let a gay kid go into space. Let a teenage lesbian solve a mystery. Let a trans girl defeat a dragon. Let an ace teen be a witch. Everybody deserves their adventure.
The City of Lucille has gotten rid of all its monsters.
That’s what Jam, a teenage trans girl, believed until the demonic-looking Pet emerged from one of her mother’s paintings. But despite their monstrous appearance, Pet isn’t the monster, but came forth to hunt a monster already living among the people of Lucille undetected.
Pet contains vivid imagery, powerful themes, and a sensitive and brave protagonist. Be bold. Be vigilant. Monsters never entirely go away because we are the monsters.
4
authors picked
Pet
as one of their favorite books, and they share
why you should read it.
This book is for kids age
12,
13,
14, and
15.
What is this book about?
How do you save the world from monsters if no one will admit they exist?
She stumbled backwards, her eyes wide, as the figure started coming out of the canvas ... She tried to be brave. Well, she said, her hands only a little shaky, at least tell me what I should call you. ... Well, little girl, it replied, I suppose you can call me Pet.
There are no more monsters anymore, or so the children in the city of Lucille are taught. With doting parents and a best friend named Redemption, Jam has grown up with this lesson…
I got hooked on authors like Ilona Andrews, Patricia Briggs, and Nalini Singh. Where females are tough, men are alphas, and love is a complicated process that takes time and effort. When I tried to branch out, and find new authors, I was constantly disappointed by the puddles of goo. You know, those female characters who talk tough and kick ass, until the man comes into the picture and her ovaries start running the show. Suddenly staying hidden isn’t as important as spilling your deepest secrets to a stranger. Tired of not finding the books for me, I decided to try writing them.
Leda, the main character is hilarious. She is driven to protect her found family, but still manages to have fun along the way.
Forced to join a military-like organization where to rise in the ranks is to eventually become an angel, complete with wings and amazing power. Instead of falling head over heels for Nero, the sexy angel who loves to torment her, she gives as good as she gets. There are a couple books in the series that slowed the pace, but overall, this series is well worth the read.
Once you sip the Nectar of the gods, there’s no going back.
Leda Pierce is working as a paranormal bounty hunter on the Frontier, the dividing line between human civilization and the plains of monsters. Life is simple and the pay modest, but at least she has her family. That is, until a vampire hunt goes wrong and her brother goes missing, captured by the dark angels of hell.
With no magical powers of her own and no way to find him, Leda’s only option is to go to New York and join the Legion of Angels, an elite unit…
I’ve always been fascinated by science fiction and by Biblical Scripture. That may seem dichotomous to some, but not to me. I have a passion for science and for Scripture because both bring understanding about our world from the microcosm to the macrocosm. My writings are a mixture of science and mystery with a science fiction feel and a Christian perspective. I like stories that show how truth arises even from the dark, confusing, and ambiguity of life to help one discover something about God they may not have considered before, and at the same time enjoy a fun, fast-paced, and exciting journey as they read.
This was quite an interesting take to see the relationship between those who have gone to heaven and those who are left behind. A tragic accident separates those who lived from those who died, but those in heaven are still able to look over the lives of their loved ones. This novel provides a lot for the reader to process and ponder as well as provide hope to those left behind suffering.
The first book in the Ollie Chandler series, this rerelease of the Randy Alcorn bestseller is a heart-pounding murder mystery
When tragedy strikes those closest to him, Jake Woods must draw upon all his resources to uncover the truth about the suspicious accident. Soon he finds himself swept up in a murder investigation that is both complex and dangerous. Unaware of the threat to his own life, Jake is drawn in deeper and deeper as he desperately searches for the answers to the immediate mystery at hand and—ultimately—the deeper meaning of his own existence.
I’ve always been fascinated by science fiction and by Biblical Scripture. That may seem dichotomous to some, but not to me. I have a passion for science and for Scripture because both bring understanding about our world from the microcosm to the macrocosm. My writings are a mixture of science and mystery with a science fiction feel and a Christian perspective. I like stories that show how truth arises even from the dark, confusing, and ambiguity of life to help one discover something about God they may not have considered before, and at the same time enjoy a fun, fast-paced, and exciting journey as they read.
One could say there are different stages of heaven. This book talks about how wonderful things will one day be on earth but shows that paradise is not paradise just because the devil doesn’t exist anymore. A plot develops to go against the king who has brought wonderment to the earth. It is the story of how peacefulness meets mankind at its selfish core. There are more Bible quotes that I would think would be necessary to go into a fiction story, but overall it is a good presentation to show what this future world will look like and function.
The sequel to the best-selling Christian fiction series that has sold over 63 million copies!
Reunite with all your favorite characters and see how they fare in this capstone final title of the Left Behind saga.
The horrors of the Tribulation are over, and Jesus Christ has set up his perfect kingdom on earth. Believers all around the world enjoy a newly perfected relationship with their Lord, and the earth itself is transformed. Yet evil still lurks in the hearts of the unbelieving. As the Millennium draws to a close, the final generation of the unrepentant prepares to mount a…
Why do I have a passion for the “enemies to lovers” trope? The tension and the anticipation! The buildup and the development of two characters' relationship are sometimes better than the outcome. You get to witness the ups and downs, the hate and disgust, the heart flutters, the lingering looks...the change in each character. And then when they ultimately come together, you get that sense of satisfaction. They belong together and they finally realized it. Of course, it was something you knew all along!
Angelfall is a post-apocalypse novel, but not because of zombies or aliens. Angels are not the good guys they've been depicted as and they've caused chaos across Earth. Penryn's sister has been taken by the angels and her only hope of getting her back is an angel, Raffe, whose wings have been ripped off. Penryn and Raffe are absolutely two of my favorite characters. Raffe is beautiful and utterly sarcastic. Penryn is just your average girl trying to save her sister. These unlikely allies must find a way to work together and some sparks fly along the way. The ending had me reaching for the second book in the series immediately.
Short, fast-paced books are great, but what I really love is a novel that pulls me thoroughly into a fantasy world. A deeply realized setting that delves into the details while joining engaging characters along for the ride—there’s nothing better. I wanted to share books that you can sink into and enjoy for days. As an author and publisher of fantasy and sci-fi novels, I’m always on the lookout for those. With my company Brain Lag, I’ve edited and published 37 books by 20 different authors (five of them mine), and continue to release a new book every month in 2022 and 2023.
There is so much going on in this book that brings it together into a rich, beautiful tale, and there’s nothing else quite like it. Demon and angel analogues combine with casual magic in a retro urban fantasy in a post-apocalyptic eternal winter that goes on an epic quest as good as any classic high fantasy novel. It all weaves together into a story that drew me right in and wouldn’t let go. As if that wasn’t enough, each character’s arc is so natural and smooth that you feel exactly what they feel. It’s a gorgeous piece of writing and there’s a lot of it to enjoy.
You can't escape the cold these days, not after the Freeze.
Rookie cop Irene Kelnotch and ex-bounty hunter Eric Homens aren’t just on the bottom rung of law enforcement, they’re on a completely different ladder. Tasked with patrolling the frozen wasteland outside of the walled city of Snowvault, their job’s as boring as they come. That all changes the morning Irene’s sixth sense leads them to an astonishing discovery: Syfael, a child of the avials, a species that hasn’t set foot in mortal territory since the Freeze three centuries ago. What should be a miraculous meeting quickly turns dangerous, as…
I read my first novel when I was seven and wrote my first full story when I was eight. I’ve never stopped putting words to paper. Along with a passion for reading and writing, I’ve always been an all or nothing kind of person. When I want to know something, I dig and research until I know everything I can, which is exactly what I did when my eyes were opened to the spiritual warfare going on all around us. I’ve lost count of how many dozens of times I’ve read the Bible. I’ve since devoted myself to marrying my passions to develop suspense-filled stories with intense looks into the spiritual realm.
I’m a sucker for a vigilante story. I’ve watched just about all of the Batman and Robin Hood adaptations.
Add superpowers and a war between angels and demons beyond the veil of mortal sight, and I’m hooked. That’s exactly what I was with Cloak of the Light.
I devoured this book and immediately ordered and finished the rest of the series. Chuck Black knows how to weave a good story, and this one does a fantastic job of intersecting two stories from vastly different points of view. This book came to me at a time when I needed encouragement, and it gave me just that. I can’t remember reading a series so quickly, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.
This book will have you rooting for the main character and thinking about how easily we can fall prey to the influence of evil in our world.
Drew is caught in a world of light - just inches away from the dark
What if...there was a world beyond our vision, a world just fingertips beyond our reach? What if...our world wasn’t beyond their influence?
Tragedy and heartache seem to be waiting for Drew Carter at every turn, but college offers Drew a chance to start over—until an accident during a physics experiment leaves him blind and his genius friend, Benjamin Berg, missing.
As his sight miraculously returns, Drew discovers that the accident has heightened his neuron activity, giving him skills and sight beyond the normal man. When…
This historical fantasy absolutely charmed me from start to finish!
Unapologetically queer and steeped in Jewish history and culture, the story
follows Uriel the angel and Ashmedai (a.k.a. Little Ash), the demon, who've been
meeting up for centuries to study the Talmud in a tiny shtetl in
turn-of-the-century Poland.
When a young woman who recently left for New York
fails to write back to her family as promised, the pair decide to journey to
America to support their community—or, in Little Ash's case, explore
new avenues of mischief. I adored Lamb's exploration of Uriel and Little Ash's
inherent genderqueerness as non-human characters and the running theme of "What
does it mean to be human, anyway?"
In this respect, as well as tone and
setting, I was pleasantly reminded of Helene Wecker's The
Golem and the Jinni—so if you enjoyed that one, I'd highly
recommend you check out this…
In publishing-speak, here's what we at the LQ office sometimes describe as the Queer lovechild of Sholem Aleichem and Philip Roth:
Uriel the angel and Little Ash (short for Ashmedai) are the only two supernatural creatures in their shtetl (which is so tiny, it doesn't have a name other than Shtetl). The angel and the demon have been studying Talmud together for centuries, but pogroms and the search for a new life have drawn the young people from their village to America. And suddenly a murder forces the study partners to follow them.
I have a passion for the written word and the art of storytelling. Though I’m not a fatalist, I’ve had a lifelong interest in stories and films about cataclysm and apocalyptic tales, regardless of scale. Films like Poseidon’s Adventure, The Towering Inferno, and all of the both good and bad zombie movies the years have produced were mainstays in my childhood. Seeing how ordinary people responded to extraordinary circumstances to overcome and sometimes succumb to their frailties have been driving influences for me. I try to reflect that point of view through the characters in my novels. I think those moments have a way of defining our own humanity.
The Stupidest Angel is a fun Christmas romp complete with zombies, murder, and mayhem. The best part about this book is that Moore revisits one of the craziest places ever imagined: Pine Cove, CA. A little Night of the Living Dead with a little Our Town, and every B-movie with a hot babe wielding a sword, Moore twisted several elements into a crazed train wreck that starts at a sprint and never lets up. I enjoy how he entwines characters and plotlines of Pine Cove with those from his other novels, creating a universe in which all of his gems coexist and interact regardless of their themes or even their time in history. Looking for a Christmas story that won’t be like any other you’ve read; The Stupidest Angel won’t disappoint.
Twas the night (okay, more like the week) before Christmas and little Joshua Barker is in desperate need of a Christmas miracle. Josh is sure he saw Santa take a shovel to the head and now the seven-year-old has only one prayer: Please Santa, come back from the dead! But coming to Earth, seeking a small child whose wish needs granting, is none other than Archangel Raziel. Unfortunately, he's not sporting the brightest halo in the bunch and before you can say 'Kris Kringle,' he's botched his sacred mission and sent the residents of Pine Cove headlong into Christmas chaos,…
