Kestrel

This is the book you've been waiting for; action, magic, family, drama, romance, and a circus unlike anything you will see in the center ring today. A book like a tinkling, jeweled music box that can also set off fireworks and tell you the future. An excellent read full of imagination, beauty, and thrills.

For readers who like their mysteries with a bit of quirk and plenty of murder - and even a hint of horror. Lin is a teenager whose father moves the family to a remote German village where he can research a legendary stained glass window - believed to be haunted by a murderous demon. Lin begins to notice a connection between the recent horrific deaths in the area, and she is determined to find out if it is one of the resentful locals... or the demon in the glass.

A unique story about a young girl striving to protect her world from encroaching outsiders, both supernatural and mundane. Russell's prose is like a quirky junk shop of words that are magic in themselves. this book is a wild Florida orchid of a read ; perfect and intricate. Plus, how many novels are there about an alligator - wrestling family?

Carter's reimagined fairy tales and legends are just as erotic, violent, and strange as the originals. Her hypnotic and sensuous prose pulses with wit and energy. These stories, peopled with enigmatic heroes, dangerously alluring females, and lusty felines, will thrill and enthrall you.

The characters in Norris's classic, Darwinian novel are naive, brutish, and unsympathetic but so well drawn they hold your fascination. But this book is worth the read just for the epic finale that leads you on a page-turning manhunt through the desert. Norris shows us the dirty, violent, and unsentimental side of human nature.

Impossible to find for years, Masques has finally been reissued. Written with all the earnestness of a budding fantasy author, Briggs' first novel kept me hooked from the beginning. After this, read Steal the Dragon and When Demons Walk (they all take place in the same world). Also look for Wolfsbane in November!

Though at times this is not an easy read, it is a fascinating portrait of a pedophile and his victim. Fragoso's long-term relationship with a much older man is, yes, creepy, tender, violent, incredibly complex and - since it is told from the perspective of an influnceable young girl totally in the thrall of her molester - frighteningly plausible. A disturbing but important read.

I will recommend anything with Angela Carter's name on it. But be warned: this novel is not for the faint of heart. It is erotic, violent, and sometimes horrifying. Dr. Hoffman's method of assault is to use man's desires and imagination against society, which produces some unnerving results. Believe me though, Carter is so deliciously weird that this book is a delight from beginning to end.