Jim C. Hines

Once every generation there is a Chosen One, who will stand between humanity and darkness. But why is the Chosen One so often a teenager? Why do only children get swept through portals to save the fantastic world on the other side? Whose idea was it to put the fate of the world in the hands of someone without a fully developed prefrontal cortex? In Never Too Old to Save the World, nineteen authors explore what would happen if the Chosen One were called midlife. What would happen if the Chosen One were:a soccer moma cat ladya nosy grandmothera social workera retireean aging swordmaster?The Chosen One could be anyone— because when the universe calls, the real question is whether the hero will take up the mantle and answer their midlife calling. Sometimes the world needs a hero who's already been in the thick of chaos and survived. In those cases, age does matter.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Golden Girls in this humorous contemporary standalone fantasy about a group of former Chosen Ones coming out of retirement to save the world one last time Three former Chosen Ones have joined together to spend their retirement in peace and quiet, running Second Life Books and Gifts in Salem, MA. A calm, peaceful, tourist-filled oasis, where they never have to worry about saving the world. Until some of the locals start summoning ancient creatures best left where they were . . . and they discover that their bookstore basement just may be the portal to the underworld. These ex-heroes may have thought they were done . . . but if they want to finish their retirement in peace, they'll have to join together to save the world one last time. Why leave saving the world to the young? Cozy mystery readers looking for an extra dash of magic will eat this story up: fun, funny, and heartwarming, it's a novel about community, second chances, and the healing power of scones.

"Providing a cozier fantasy experience that’s both familiar and distinct, Hines’s latest is recommended for fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender and Tomi Adeyemi’s Children of Blood and Bone."—Library JournalNial Sarnin is twenty-one—far too young to have lost her beloved husband, Jika. One year after his death, Nial prepares to fly a kite sewn from his wedding shirt, believing it will carry Jika’s spirit to the stars.But instead of drifting gently skyward, the spirit kite moves under Nial’s direct control, revealing her as a Kitemaster—a rare gift in a world forever ruled by winds and magic.Her newfound powers attract Captain Wolf of the kiteship Midnight Rain. With runaway Prince Vikaan, Wolf seeks to thwart Queen Kavaya’s ruthless ambition to dominate the skies and conquer all neighboring kingdoms.Nial may hold the key to stopping Kavaya’s brutal reign and saving countless lives—including those she loves most—but only if she learns to master her extraordinary gift in time. Every gust of wind promises hope, renewal, and a chance to reshape a world teetering on the brink in this inspiring tale of loss, resilience, and transformation.Award-winning author Jim C. Hines delivers a deeply personal epic in Kitemaster, a labor of love written over twenty years.

Now in paperback, the third and final book of the Janitors of the Post-Apocalypse follows a group of unlikely heroes trying to save the galaxy from a zombie plague. Marion Mops Adamopoulos and her team were trained to clean spaceships. They were absolutely not trained to fight an interplanetary war with the xenocidal Prodryans or to make first contact with the Jynx, a race who might not be as primitive as they seem. But if there's one lesson Mops and her crew have learned, it's that things like training and being remotely qualified are overrated. The war is escalating. (This might be Mops' fault.) The survival of humanity?those few who weren't turned to feral, shambling monsters by an alien plague?as well as the fate of all other non-Prodryans, will depend on what Captain Mops and the crew of the EDFS Pufferfish discover on the ringed planet of Tuxatl. But the Jynx on Tuxatl are fighting a war of their own, and their world's long-buried secrets could be more dangerous than the Prodryans. To make matters worse, Mops is starting to feel a little feral herself?

The third and final book of The Janitors of the Post-Apocalypse follows a group of unlikely heroes trying to save the galaxy from a zombie plague. Marion “Mops” Adamopoulos and her team were trained to clean spaceships. They were not prepared to fight an interplanetary war with the xenocidal Prodryans or to make first contact with the Jynx, a race that might not be as primitive as they seem. But if there’s one lesson Mops and her crew have learned, things like “training” and “being remotely qualified” are overrated. The war is escalating. (This might be Mops’ fault.) The survival of humanity—those few who weren’t turned to feral, shambling monsters by an alien plague—as well as the fate of all other non-Prodryans, will depend on what Captain Mops and the crew of the EDFS Pufferfish discover on the ringed planet of Tuxatl. But the Jynx on Tuxatl are fighting a war of their own, and their world’s long-buried secrets could be more dangerous than the Prodryans. To make matters worse, Mops is starting to feel a little feral herself!

Tarot card decks have twenty-two major arcana, filled with symbolism and imbued with meaning. Explore the greater secrets and ideas behind those cards with the stories and poems of Arcana. Discovery awaits, in tales such as: a grasping king struggling with his legacy; an alchemist setting a golem out on a mission of revenge; and a woman finding what she didn't know she was looking for. Each story is like drawing a card from the deck--you never know what it might reveal.Featuring stories by Sara Dobie Bauer, Greg Bechtel, Beth Cato, Eliza Chan, Kevin Cockle, Sara Cleto, J.G. Formato, Chadwick Ginther, Joseph Halden, Gabrielle Harbowy, Jim C. Hines, Diana Hurlburt, L.S. Johnson, Dan Koboldt, C.S. MacCath, Susan MacGregor, Cat McDonald, Annie Neugebauer, Alexandra Seidel, Angela Slatter, Sarena Ulibarri, Brittany Warman and BD Wilson.

One night after roller derby practice, twelve-year-old Tamora Carter discovers a pair of goblins digging through the dumpster behind the rink.The scruffy pair passed through a magical portal into our world, and they're not alone. Do these creatures know the truth about what happened to Tamora's best friend Andre? She won't rest until she finds out.But there are things far more dangerous than goblins...

The Krakau came to invite Earth into an alliance of sentient species, only to find that plague had turned humanity into shambling, near-unstoppable animals. A century later a bioweapon wipes out the Krakau command crew and reverts the rest of the humans to their feral state - only Marion 'Mops' Adamopoulos and her Shipboard Hygiene and Sanitation team on board the Earth Mercenary Corps Ship Pufferfish are left with their minds intact. They stumble onto a conspiracy born from the truth of what happened on Earth all those years ago.

Hugo winner Jim C. Hines's hilarious and clever Magic ex Libris series, where books come alive and libriomancer Isaac Vainio combats magical threats that spring from the page "Superior worldbuilding." --Charlaine Harris - "Really, really clever." --Patrick Rothfuss - "Magic librarian and ass-kicking dryad adventure story we've all been waiting for." --Seanan McGuire When Isaac Vainio helped to reveal magic to the world, he dreamed of a utopian future, a new millennium of magical prosperity. One year later, things aren't going quite as he'd hoped. An organization known as Vanguard, made up of magical creatures and ex-Porters, wants open war with the mundane world. Isaac's own government is incarcerating "potential supernatural enemies" in prisons and internment camps. And Isaac finds himself targeted by all sides. It's a war that will soon envelop the world, and the key to victory may lie with Isaac himself, as he struggles to incorporate everything he's learned into a new, more powerful form of libriomancy. Surrounded by betrayal and political intrigue, Isaac and a ragtag group of allies must evade pursuit both magical and mundane, expose a conspiracy by some of the most powerful people in the world, and find a path to a better future. But what will that futures cost Isaac and the ones he loves?

Deep in Albion's darkest age, long before once upon a time ...Heroes are thought to be gone from the land. So why have the bards begun singing of them once more? For Fable newcomers and dedicated fans alike, Blood of Heroes delves into a never-before-glimpsed era, telling the tale of a band of adventurers who come together to defend a kingdom in desperate need.The city of Brightlodge is awash with Heroes from every corner of Albion, all eager for their next quest. When someone tries to burn down the Cock and Bard inn, four Heroes find themselves hastily thrown together, chasing outlaws through sewers, storming a riverboat full of smugglers, and placing their trust in a most unlikely ally. As the beginnings of a deadly plot are revealed, it becomes clear that Heroes have truly arrived-and so have villains.What connects the recent events in Brightlodge to rumors about a malicious ghost and a spate of unsolved deaths in the nearby mining town of Grayrock? Unless Albion's bravest Heroes can find the answer, the dawn of a new age could be extinguished before it even begins.

In 2006, DAW Books published Jim C. Hines' debut novel Goblin Quest. But before Jig the goblin, before fairy tale princesses and magic librarians and spunky fire-spiders, there was Nakor the Purple, an elf who wanted nothing more than to stand around watching lovingly overdescribed sunrises with his pet owl Flame, who might actually be a falcon, depending on which chapter you're reading.This is Nakor's story, written in 1995 and never before shared with the world. (For reasons that will soon be painfully clear.) Together with an angsty vampire, a pair of pixies, and a feisty young thief, Nakor must find a way to stop an Ancient Evil before she destroys the world. (Though, considering the rel-atively shallow worldbuilding, it's not like there's much to destroy...)With more than 5000 words of bonus annotation and smart-ass commentary, this is a book that proves every author had to start somewhere, and most of the time, that place wasn't very pretty.

And they want revenge... Sent to investigate the brutal slaughter of a wendigo in the north Michigan town of Tamarack, Isaac Vainio and his companions find they have wandered into something far more dangerous than a simple killing.

Hugo winner Jim C. Hines's hilarious and clever Magic ex Libris series, where books come alive and libriomancer Isaac Vainio combats magical threats that spring from the page Five hundred years ago, Johannes Gutenberg discovered the art of libriomancy, allowing him to reach into books to create things from their pages. Gutenberg's power brought him many enemies, and some of those enemies have waited centuries for revenge. Revenge which begins with the brutal slaughter of a wendigo in the northern Michigan town of Tamarack, a long-established werewolf territory.Libriomancer Isaac Vainio is part of Die Zwelf Porten re, better known as the Porters, the organization founded by Gutenberg to protect the world from magical threats. Isaac is called in to investigate the killing, along with Porter psychiatrist Nidhi Shah and their dryad bodyguard and lover, Lena Greenwood. Born decades ago from the pages of a pulp fantasy novel, Lena was created to be the ultimate fantasy woman, strong and deadly, but shaped by the needs and desires of her companions. Her powers are unique, and Gutenberg's enemies hope to use those powers for themselves. But their plan could unleash a far darker evil...

Isaac Vainio is a Libriomancer, a member of a secret society founded five centuries ago by Johannes Gutenberg.

Hugo winner Jim C. Hines's hilarious and clever Magic ex Libris series, where books come alive and libriomancer Isaac Vainio combats magical threats that spring from the page Five hundred years ago, Johannes Gutenberg discovered the art of libriomancy, allowing him to reach into books to create things from their pages. Gutenberg's power brought him many enemies, and some of those enemies have waited centuries for revenge. Revenge which begins with the brutal slaughter of a wendigo in the northern Michigan town of Tamarack, a long-established werewolf territory.Libriomancer Isaac Vainio is part of Die Zwelf Porten re, better known as the Porters, the organization founded by Gutenberg to protect the world from magical threats. Isaac is called in to investigate the killing, along with Porter psychiatrist Nidhi Shah and their dryad bodyguard and lover, Lena Greenwood. Born decades ago from the pages of a pulp fantasy novel, Lena was created to be the ultimate fantasy woman, strong and deadly, but shaped by the needs and desires of her companions. Her powers are unique, and Gutenberg's enemies hope to use those powers for themselves. But their plan could unleash a far darker evil...