Neal Town Stephenson is an American writer known for his works of speculative fiction. His novels have been categorized as science fiction, historical fiction, cyberpunk, postcyberpunk, and baroque.
HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Corp. The name is a combination of several publishing firm names: Harper & Row, an American publishing company acquired in 1987—whose own name was the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company—together with Scottish publishing company William Collins, Sons, acquired in 1989.
Traci Harding is an Australian novelist. Her work blends fantasy, fact, esoteric belief, time travel and quantum physics, into adventurous romps through history, alternative dimensions, universes and states of consciousness.
Narrative exposition is the insertion of background information within a story or narrative. This information can be about the setting, characters' backstories, prior plot events, historical context, etc. In literature, exposition appears in the form of expository writing embedded within the narrative. Exposition is one of four rhetorical modes, along with description, persuasion, and narration, as elucidated by Alexander Bain and John Genung.
A Series of Unfortunate Events is a series of thirteen children's novels written by American author Daniel Handler under the pen name Lemony Snicket. The books follow the turbulent lives of Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire. After their parents' death in a fire, the children are placed in the custody of a murderous relative, Count Olaf, who attempts to steal their inheritance and, later, orchestrates numerous disasters with the help of his accomplices as the children attempt to flee. As the plot progresses, the Baudelaires gradually confront further mysteries surrounding their family and deep conspiracies involving a secret society known as V.F.D.
Urban fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy in which the narrative places imaginary and unreal elements in an approximation of a contemporary urban setting. The combination provides the writer with quixotic plot-drivers, unusual character traits, and a platform for classic fantasy tropes, without demanding the creation of an entirely-imagined world. The business purpose is to capture sales from readers of other fiction genres, and to build the writer's brand. While precursors of urban fantasy may date back to the 19th century, its current popularity began in the 1980s, with writers encouraged by the success of Stephen King and Anne Rice.
Patricia Collins Wrede is an American author of fantasy literature. She is known for her Enchanted Forest Chronicles series for young adults, which was voted number 84 in NPR's 100 Best-Ever Teen Novels list.
Warriors is a series of novels based on the adventures and drama of multiple Clans of feral cats. The series is primarily set in fictional forests. Published by HarperCollins, the series is written by authors Kate Cary and Cherith Baldry, as well as others, under the collective pseudonym Erin Hunter. The concept and plot of the pilot series was developed by series editor Victoria Holmes.
Ann Patchett is an American author. She received the 2002 PEN/Faulkner Award and the Orange Prize for Fiction in the same year, for her novel Bel Canto. Patchett's other novels include The Patron Saint of Liars (1992), Taft (1994), The Magician's Assistant (1997), Run (2007), State of Wonder (2011), Commonwealth (2016), and The Dutch House (2019). The Dutch House was a finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Cynthia Leitich Smith is a New York Times best-selling author of fiction for children and young adults. A member of the Muscogee Creek Nation, she writes fiction for children centered on the lives of modern-day Native Americans. These books are taught widely by teachers in elementary, middle school, high school, and college classrooms. In addition, Smith writes fanciful, humorous picture books and gothic fantasies for ages 14-up. Regarded as an expert in children's-YA literature by the press, she also hosts a website for Children's Literature Resources. Smith is a current faculty member at Vermont College of Fine Arts, teaching in the Writing for Children and Young Adults MFA program. She was named the inaugural Katherine Paterson Chair in 2020. In addition, she was the winner of the 2021 NSK Neustadt Prize for Children’s Literature.
Anna Benjamin David is an American publisher, author, speaker, podcast host, and television personality.
Fairy Realm is a series of ten children's fantasy novels by Australian author Jennifer Rowe, writing under the pseudonyms Mary-Anne Dickinson, and Emily Rodda. Rowe is also the author of the series Deltora Quest and Rowan of Rin. In the U.K, the series was published under the title Fairy Charm.
Divergent is the debut novel of American novelist Veronica Roth, published by HarperCollins Children's Books in 2011. The novel is the first of the Divergent trilogy, a series of young adult dystopian novels set in a Divergent Universe. The novel Divergent features a post-apocalyptic version of Chicago and follows Beatrice "Tris" Prior as she explores her identity within a society that defines its citizens by their social and personality-related affiliation with five factions, which removes the threat of anyone exercising independent will and re-threatening the population's safety. Underlying the action and dystopian focused main plot is a romantic subplot between Tris and one of her instructors in the Dauntless faction, nicknamed Four.
Veronica Anne Roth is an American novelist and short story writer, known for her bestselling Divergent trilogy.
Insurgent is a 2012 science fiction young adult novel by American novelist Veronica Roth and the second book in the Divergent trilogy. As the sequel to the 2011 bestseller Divergent, it continues the story of Tris Prior and the dystopian post-apocalyptic version of Chicago. Following the events of the previous novel, a war now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. While trying to save the people that she loves, Tris faces questions of grief, forgiveness, identity, loyalty, politics, and love.
Carve the Mark is a science fiction young adult novel. It is the fifth novel by Veronica Roth, published on January 17, 2017 by HarperCollins. The story follows Akos and Cyra, young people from opposing cultures whose fates are intertwined. Its sequel The Fates Divide was released on 10 April 2018.
Four: A Divergent Collection is a collection of five short stories from the Divergent trilogy, told from Tobias Eaton's (Four) perspective, and written by Veronica Roth. The first story of the collection, Free Four: Tobias Tells the Divergent Knife-Throwing Scene, was released as an e-book on April 23, 2012. The second story, The Transfer, was released on September 3, 2013. The third story titled The Initiate, the fourth story The Son and the fifth and final story The Traitor were released on July 8, 2014. Simultaneously with the release of last three short stories, a collected edition of the five short stories titled Four: A Divergent Collection was released on July 8, 2014, which also features three exclusive scenes.
Allegiant is a science fiction novel for young adults, written by the American author Veronica Roth and published by HarperCollins in October 2013. It completes the Divergent trilogy that Roth started with her debut novel Divergent in 2011. The book is written from the perspective of both Beatrice (Tris) and Tobias (Four). Following the revelations of the previous novel, they journey past the city's boundaries to discover what lies beyond.
Grimdark is a subgenre of speculative fiction with a tone, style, or setting that is particularly dystopian, amoral, or violent. The term is inspired by the tagline of the tabletop strategy game Warhammer 40,000: "In the grim darkness of the far future there is only war."
Languages of truth is a collection of essays by Salman Rushdie. It was published in May, 2021 by Random House.
