"The Story of Kao Yu" is a new fantasy short story by the legendary Peter S. Beagle which tells of an ageing judge traveling through rural China and of a criminal he encounters. Of the story, Beagle says it "comes out of a lifelong fascination with Asian legendry — Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indian, Indonesian — all drawn from cultures where storytelling, in one form of another, remains a living art. As a young writer I loved everything from Robert van Gulik's Judge Dee mysteries to Lafcadio Hearn's translations of Japanese fairytales and many lesser-known fantasies. Like my story 'The Tale of Junko and Sayuri,' 'The Story of Kao Yu' is a respectful imitation of an ancient style, and never pretends to be anything else. But I wrote it with great care and love, and I'm still proud of it."

One brand-new, long-awaited novella, and one Hugo and Nebula award winning novella, both featuring characters from the beloved classic The Last Unicorn, from renowned fantasy writer Peter S. Beagle. Peter S. Beagle's The Last Unicorn is one of fantasy's most beloved classics, with millions of copies in print worldwide. Beagle's long-awaited return to the world of that novel came with "Two Hearts," which garnered Hugo and Nebula awards in 2006, and continued the stories of the unicorn, Molly Grue, and Schmendrick the Magician from the point of view of a young girl named Sooz. In this volume, Peter S. Beagle also presents for the first time "Sooz," a novella that sees the narrator of "Two Hearts," all grown up and with a perilous journey ahead of her, in a tender meditation on love, loss, and finding your true self.

Coda to The Last Unicorn – a novelette. Available for free on the author's website.

She was magical, beautiful beyond belief—and completely alone... The unicorn had lived since before memory in a forest where death could touch nothing. Maidens who caught a glimpse of her glory were blessed by enchantment they would never forget. But outside her wondrous realm, dark whispers and rumours carried a message she could not ignore: "Unicorns are gone from the world." Aided by a bumbling magician and an indomitable spinster, she set out to learn the truth. but she feared even her immortal wisdom meant nothing in a world where a mad king's curse and terror incarnate lived only to stalk the last unicorn to her doom...

Zéro wifi , zéro ordi : et si c'était une bonne nouvelle? À la suite d'une tempête solaire hors norme, tous les appareils électroniques de la planète ont grillé. Du jour au lendemain, l'humanité se retrouve privée d'ordinateurs, de téléphones mais aussi de tous les autres appareils disposant d'une carte à puce : télévisions, frigidaires, ascenseurs, voitures, trains, radios... plus rien ne fonctionne. Partout en France, des personnes se regroupent, s'entraident. Tandis que certaines font tout pour revenir au plus vite au monde d'avant, d'autres se saisissent de cet événement sans précédent pour interroger notre société. À l'échelon local comme à la tête de l'État, la même question revient : et si c'était l'occasion inespérée de nous réinventer ? Auteur de Paresse pour tous et de La Vie est à nous , Hadrien Klent déploie des utopies réalistes, véritables boîtes à outils pour une société nouvelle. Dans son roman La Grande panne , il imaginait déjà une France mise à l'arrêt. Avec Le Jour zéro , il va plus loin encore, en donnant vie à l'un des pires cauchemars de nos sociétés ultraconnectées, pour mieux nous entraîner dans la construction collective et joyeuse du monde d'après.

Is Sophie Fevvers, toast of Europe's capitals, part swan...or all fake? Courted by the Prince of Wales and painted by Toulouse-Lautrec, she is an aerialiste extraordinaire and star of Colonel Kearney's circus. She is also part woman, part swan. Jack Walser, an American journalist, is on a quest to discover the truth behind her identity. Dazzled by his love for her, and desperate for the scoop of a lifetime, Walser has no choice but to join the circus on its magical tour through turn-of-the-nineteenth-century London, St Petersburg and Siberia.

The Cat Who Saved Books is a heart-warming story about finding courage, caring for others – and the tremendous power of books. Grandpa used to say it all the time: 'books have tremendous power'. But what is that power really? Natsuki Books was a tiny second-hand bookshop on the edge of town. Inside, towering shelves reached the ceiling, every one crammed full of wonderful books. Rintaro Natsuki loved this space that his grandfather had created. He spent many happy hours there, reading whatever he liked. It was the perfect refuge for a boy who tended to be something of a recluse. After the death of his grandfather, Rintaro is devastated and alone. It seems he will have to close the shop. Then, a talking tabby cat called Tiger appears and asks Rintaro for help. The cat needs a book lover to join him on a mission. This odd couple will go on three magical adventures to save books from people who have imprisoned, mistreated and betrayed them. Finally, there is one last rescue that Rintaro must attempt alone . . . Sosuke Natsukawa's international bestseller, translated from Japanese by Louise Heal Kawai, is a story for those for whom books are so much more than words on paper.