Showing results for "Skin" in Dark Fantasy

In Skin Folk, with works ranging from science fiction to Caribbean folklore, passionate love to chilling horror, Nalo Hopkinson is at her award-winning best spinning tales like "Precious", in which the narrator spews valuable coins and gems from her mouth whenever she attempts to talk or sing. In "A Habit of Waste", a self-conscious woman undergoes elective surgery to alter her appearance; days later she's shocked to see her former body climbing onto a public bus.

Sure, creating new worlds and guiding imaginary people on grand adventures was an amazing pastime, but finding myself imprisoned within one of my fantasy realms wasn’t on the agenda...My life went from picture-perfect to a complete disaster in the blink of an eye, but it took several years before I recognized the bitter irony of my downfall. Not that it mattered. With only death to look forward to, I found no amusement in the cruel joke until an unexpected visitor changed everything.

In the remote desert town of Black Hollow, Arizona, something ancient stirs. People are vanishing, and the ones who return... aren’t the same. Their skin peels away to reveal fur, teeth sharpen into fangs, and yellow eyes burn with hunger. When Jesse, Dana, Ty and Holly encounter the creature responsible—a cursed Skinwalker trapped between human and beast—their lives spiral into a nightmare they can’t escape. As the curse spreads, warping animals and townsfolk alike, they race to uncover the truth buried deep in the desert.

I thought I’d finally escaped the worst danger I would face - but I was wrong, very wrong. Only after leaving the safe confines of Lorida behind did I discover the true depths of the evils that plagued my new home. But my problems weren’t limited to fending off the bloodthirsty bandits and creatures roaming the untamed lands of Arrika. I’d barely had time to come to terms with who I really was before being confronted with a new mystery about myself - one that I was unable to face alone.

The High King now wages open war in the east, and the stirrings can be felt even where Mag and Albern wander. The weremage Kaita continues to elude them, and their hunt has stagnated—until war finds them at last, and they are forced to choose a side. On the battlefields between Feldemar and Dorsea, loyalists and rebels pay a heavy price in blood—and the Uncut Lady once again unleashes her skill upon her foes. But not even Underrealm’s traitors represent the darkest threat in the land. Whispers slither through the towns and cities of a dark wizard roaming.

I’d already lost a lot…too much, in fact. Unfortunately, the most difficult task still lay ahead of me—conquering the unknown regions of the Dark Lands and the hordes of foul creatures that resided there. The fact that they knew I was coming for them only made matters worse. Yet the steep price we had all paid only made one thing certain: There would be no turning back. The lives lost and blood spilled would not be in vain; the evils that plagued my home would be ended—one way or another.

The fate of an entire continent rested in my hands. No pressure, right? Starting with an empty plot of land in the middle of nowhere, I was supposed to build an empire spanning the breadth of the known Realms. I’d overcome a great deal during my short time in this world, but even I wondered if this task was too much for anyone to accomplish. But the alternative was to stand by and do nothing while endless wars and other tragedies plagued the lands I called home, and that was something I simply couldn’t do.

Endreí never imagined that defeating the Bone Crushers would signal an end to the dangers he and Rissa faced. But once their small homestead had grown into a thriving settlement, he began to believe that the worst was finally behind them. Confronted by a powerful enemy they have no hope of defeating, Endreí and his friends are left with only one choice: find some way to escape, or die.

Growing up as the daughter of the Goddess of Justice was like living in my own private little fairy tale, but that carefully crafted illusion was shattered with the death of my mortal mother. In the aftermath of her passing, the true nature of my "divine" parent was finally revealed, and I found myself stranded in a sea of lies and hypocrisy.