Category Archives: Science Fiction/Fantasy

by | February 5, 2010 · 9:42 am

Leigh Bridger. Soul Catcher. Memphis, TN: Bell Bridge Books, 2009.

Livia Belane has lived many lives, but this current one is among the worst. Demons have picked off her family, and Livia has been accused of the fire that killed her mother and brother.  Back in Asheville after a time in an institution, Livia wants only to survive and take revenge on the demon who has tormented her.  Her inclination is to go it alone, but after she is brutally raped, she finds that Asheville is full of souls–young and old–who help her.  The most important of these is Ian, her husband in a previous life and true soul-mate.  Unfortunately, Ian’s soul now resides in the body of Livia’s assailant. Violent incidents from past and present lives pile up; nothing will be easy for Livia as she tries to beat the demon called Pig Face.

Leigh Bridger is the pen name of Deborah Smith, who is best known for her novels The Crossroads Cafe, A Place to Call Home, and On Bear Mountain.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2009, Bridger, Leigh, Buncombe, Horror, Mountains, Science Fiction/Fantasy

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by | February 1, 2010 · 9:01 am

Holly Lisle. Memory of Fire. New York: EOS, 2002.

Usually when people consider magic, the end result is something that benefits them. Who wouldn’t want a million dollars to magically appear in his or her pocket? Who wouldn’t want to walk in the warm sands of Bali? Unfortunately, there are some who would use magic for evil. Such is the case in the town of Cat Creek, North Carolina.  Cat Creek, located in Richmond County, is a special place because it is home to the Sentinels, individuals who are capable of magic and who are the gatekeepers of an alternate universe called Oria. When one of the Sentinels turns on his allies, he not only puts them in danger but also causes an epidemic, called the Carolina Flu, which puts humans the world over in danger. As the Sentinels try to make peace between the two worlds, an unlikely pair of strangers provides indispensable help. Lauren Dane, the daughter of Sentinels who were killed for being suspected traitors, has special magical powers that allow her to be one of the rare gateweavers. Molly McColl, who has just been kidnapped by Oria natives and is believed by them to be a Vodi (Orian goddess), is Lauren’s long-lost half-sister. The two women use their talents to save both worlds and to reclaim the honor that their families deserve.

Memory of Fire is book one of Lisle’s The World Gates series.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2002, Coastal Plain, Lisle, Holly, Novels in Series, Richmond, Science Fiction/Fantasy

by | June 29, 2009 · 12:51 pm

Marcia Colette. Unstable Environment. Mira Loma, CA: Parker Publishing, 2008.

The Charlotte and Triangle Coalitions of were-cheetahs do not get along. When the Charlotte group sabotages an amusement park ride, an innocent human woman and her three year-old niece are injured. In order to save the little girl, Triangle-based were-cheetah healer Rio Velasquez bites her and turns her into a shape-shifter.  The aunt, Sinclair, was already fighting for custody of the little girl, but now she finds herself caught in the middle of the were-cheetahs’ war and falling for the hunky Rio.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2008, Colette, Marcia, Durham, Piedmont, Romance/Relationship, Science Fiction/Fantasy

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by | April 24, 2009 · 10:13 am

Diana Gabaldon. The Fiery Cross. New York: Delacorte Press, 2001.

The second book in the second Outlander trilogy, The Fiery Cross starts with a Gathering of the Clans in 1770 North Carolina. It chronicles the next two years in the lives of time-traveler Claire Fraser, her Highland-born husband Jamie, her daughter Brianna, and her son-in-law Roger as the American Revolution draws nearer. Much of the story’s action takes place in the mountains of North Carolina, but as troubles in the colonies increase, some of the characters’ militia obligations take them around the state and others travel in search of safety. The title is not a reference to the Ku Klux Klan, but rather a reference to the Scottish tradition of burning a cross to rally clansmen during times of war.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2001, Gabaldon, Diana, Historical, Mountains, Novels in Series, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Piedmont, Romance/Relationship, Science Fiction/Fantasy

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by | March 13, 2009 · 7:44 am

Alexander Key. Escape to Witch Mountain. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1968.

Tony and Tia are teenagers with special powers: Tony is telekinetic and Tia–who speaks using an ultrasonic communication only her brother can hear–can unlock doors and talk to animals. Unfortunately, they also have no idea where they came from and after their foster “Granny” dies the teens are sent to a bleak juvenile detention home. When a creepy man shows up falsely claiming to be their uncle, the children begin to remember their history and they run away. Following a map they find in Tia’s star box, they travel toward Witch Mountain in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains, hoping to find answers at the end of their journey. Helping them along the way are the kindly Father O’Day and Tia’s cat, Winkie. To date, Escape to Witch Mountain has inspired 5 films: Escape to Witch Mountain (1975, remade in 1995), Return to Witch Mountain (1978), Beyond Witch Mountain (1982), and Race to Witch Mountain (2009).

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

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Filed under 1960-1969, 1968, Children & Young Adults, Key, Alexander, Mountains, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Science Fiction/Fantasy

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by | January 21, 2009 · 4:48 pm

Diana Gabaldon. Drums of Autumn. New York: Delacorte Press, 1997.

Although time-traveling Claire Fraser knows that the Revolution is coming, she and her husband Jamie decide to make a new life in the American colonies. They make their way from Charleston to Cumberland County, North Carolina, where Jamie’s wealthy aunt owns a plantation, and then eventually travel to the mountains where they begin setting up a community on the fictional Fraser’s Ridge. Their daughter, Brianna, is living in 1960s Boston, but she goes back in time to find her parents. Roger, her friend and would-be husband, follows her. This is the first book in the 2nd Outlander trilogy and the first of the series to take place in North Carolina.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC Library Catalog.

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Filed under 1990-1999, 1997, Coastal Plain, Cumberland, Gabaldon, Diana, Historical, Mountains, Novels in Series, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Romance/Relationship, Science Fiction/Fantasy

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by | December 17, 2008 · 4:50 pm

Patrick Hillman. The Pirates of Pamlico Sound. Morrisville, NC: Lulu.com, 2007.

This brief novel was written during National Novel Writing Month in 2005.  It’s a fantasy that plays with the idea that all women love pirates.  Aithne Reade was a witch who escaped from Salem in 1692.  Aithne made her way to coastal North Carolina where her daughter Brenna grew up and fell in love with the pirate Red Davies.  Their happiness was cut short, and Brenna remains a restless spirit through the centuries.  When Bernice Sarris and her husband buy an old chest at an auction, Bernice finds within it Brenna’s diary and clothes that have some special properties.  Bernice is delighted by what the pirate jacket in the trunk does for husband’s sexual prowess (nice woman that she is, she even lends the jacket to her friends), but she is unprepared for consequences of wearing Brenna’s dress. The chapters in this book alternate between the colonial era and the present, but the two stories are woven together in a satisfying tale.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2007, Carteret, Coast, Dare, Hillman, Patrick, Hyde, Science Fiction/Fantasy

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by | August 4, 2008 · 9:20 am

Diana Gabaldon. A Breath of Snow and Ashes. New York: Delacorte Press, 2005.

In the early 1770s, North Carolina’s Royal Governor Josiah Martin asks Jamie Fraser to help defend the colony against rebellion. Jamie feels conflicted, not only between his oath to the King and his belief in freedom, but also because his time-traveling wife, daughter, and son-in-law have told him that war is coming and will end in American independence. As in several others of the Outlander series (this is the sixth), his relatives provide him with personal as well as political foreknowledge, and Jamie hopes that he can prevent tragic events that will be reported in a 1776 Wilmington newspaper.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC Library Catalog.

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2005, Gabaldon, Diana, Historical, Mountains, Novels in Series, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Romance/Relationship, Science Fiction/Fantasy

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by | April 29, 2008 · 2:47 pm

Warren Rochelle. Harvest of Changelings. Urbana, IL: Golden Gryphon Press, 2007.

Ten years ago, librarian and Garner,NC-resident Ben Tyson met and married a woman who happened to be a fairy. After her death, it fell on Ben to raise their son, Malachi. Their lives are relatively normal until Malachi’s tenth birthday, when the boy begins to manifest the powers of his mother’s people without the control possessed by full-blooded fairies.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC Library Catalog.

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2007, Piedmont, Rochelle, Warren, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Wake