The Briar Book of the Dead by A.G. Slatter
It’s important, Ellie, that they feel we’re a very benevolent dictatorship. It means we can get away with more.
Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn
Your records show exceptional intelligence and mediocre results. It’s a comfortable place, mediocrity. Never pushing oneself to the limits to see what you can take. Never staring down your fears, never reaching into yourself to find that last bit of courage.
Annie Bot by Sierra Greer
Whatever he says, whatever he does, you need to remember that you are a brilliant, amazing person. You bend over backwards to please that man, and if he doesn't appreciate you, if he doesn't realize how special you are, then you just have to do whatever you need to do to protect your heart.
The Knight and the Butcherbird by Alix E. Harrow
She came to us as any apocalypse does: slowly at first, and then all at once.
Dreadful by Caitlin Rozakis
It occurred to him that a spell to make one’s enemies into idiots via the power of breasts might be immensely helpful. Then again, it might not be a spell. It might have only been the breasts.
Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros
“Pain isn’t a competition,” I assure him. “There’s always enough to go around.”
The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong
And what was a home but somewhere you wouldn’t have to feel quite so alone.
Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward
How to apologize for wanting some word, some story, some beautiful thing for my own?
The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke
ts voice was like the wind, but also like a thousand trees thinking the same thought.
Can't Spell Tea without Treason by Rebecca Thorne
A person could work and work and work, and still never “earn” their dues. Sometimes success meant determination… and sometimes, it was just luck.
Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett
Perhaps being too powerful, too unopposed, is a curse in and of itself, leading to boredom and dissipation, and the invention of imaginary enemies whose powers to torment were less limited than those of flesh and blood.
Fifty Beasts to Break Your Heart (and other stories) by Gennarose Nethercott
Monsters and flowers aren’t much different. Sometimes they are hard to tell apart—but a good florist knows what to look for.
Interesting Facts About Space by Emily Austin
Sometimes, when things are broken, I find they fix themselves if you just pretend that they are fine and give them time.
The Honey Witch by Sydney J. Shields
There are countless things she would rather be doing. On a night like this, when the blue moon is full and bursting with light like summer fruit, she wants nothing more than to bathe in the moon water that now floods the riverbanks. She wants to sing poorly with no judgment, wearing nothing but the night sky.
The Last Sound Of Aurora by A.J. Niemi
I’m not a murderer, and I’m not even a killer, I simply exaggerate self-protection.
Biegga and the Tale of the Flame Fox by Annika Welling
Animals began telling stories of Silver Nose’s nightly journeys and his signal fires. It did not take long for others to start calling him Flame Fox. A being who was black as night during the day and who set fires on fells as the rest of the world was fast asleep.
The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien, narrated by Andy Serkis
Among the tales of sorrow and of ruin that came down to us from the darkness of those days there are yet some in which amid weeping there is joy and under the shadow of death light that endures. And of these histories most fair still in the ears of the Elves is the tale of Beren and Lúthien.
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.
Murder Your Employer by Rupert Holmes
And that, to me, embraces the very soul of the most important commandment you’ll find anywhere in your Principles of Successful Termination: ‘Do in others as you would have others do you in.’