K. Ancrum

Best friends August and Jack struggle to cope as one spirals into madness.

The Wicker King

A vivid, evocative YA lesbian romance about how the universe is full of second chances. Ryann Bird dreams of traveling across the stars. But a career in space isn’t an option for a girl who lives in a trailer park on the “wrong” side of town. So Ryann becomes her circumstances and settles for acting out and skipping school to hang out with her delinquent friends. One day she meets Alexandria: a furious loner who spurns Ryann’s offer of friendship. After a horrific accident leaves Alexandria with a broken arm, the girls are brought together despite themselves—and Ryann learns her secret: Alexandria’s mother is an astronaut who volunteered for a one-way trip to the edge of the solar system. Every night without fail, Alexandria waits to catch radio signals from her mother. And now it’s up to Ryann to lift her onto the roof day after day until the silence between them grows into friendship, and eventually something more. The Weight of the Stars is the new LGBT young adult romance from K. Ancrum, written with the same style of short, micro-fiction chapters and immediacy that garnered acclaim for her debut, The Wicker King. An Imprint Book “The Weight of the Stars is one of the most gentle, gracious, and, overall, kind books that I've read all year ... It's a YA romance about girls and stars and friendship and mercy and loss and regret and what we owe each other and what we give away to lift each other up ... This book is starlight on broken concrete, it's flowers on a broken rooftop, and it's a masterpiece.” —Seanan McGuire, New York Times bestselling author of Every Heart a Doorway “As bright as it is stellar ... a story with a lush, dark atmosphere; heartbreaking circumstances; bright, new love that blossoms from ugliness; and vividly real, magnetic characters.” —Booklist (starred review) “Touches on sexual identity, friendship, nontraditional families, and the price of human space exploration. The characters' resilience and vulnerability are deftly handled ... For readers who are drawn to the unconventional, this will be a satisfying read.” —Kirkus Reviews “Their slow-burn romance ... is sweetly, devastatingly understated.” - BCCB PRAISE FOR THE WICKER KING: “Ancrum delves into the blurry space between reality and madness. A haunting and provocative read that will keep teens riveted.” —School Library Journal “Teen fans of moody psychological horror will be entranced.” —Booklist “Give this to readers who like complex, experimental fictions about intense relationships that acquire mythic resonance.” —The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books “An eerie piece of realistic fiction whose characters revel in intense emotions.” —Kirkus Reviews “An eerie and mesmerizing thriller that questions the space where reality and perception overlap, The Wicker King is a spine-tingling read that will have you riveted.” —Caleb Roerhrig, author of Last Seen Leaving and White Rabbit

The Weight of the Stars

A teen girl finds herself lost on a dangerous adventure in this YA thriller by the acclaimed author of The Wicker King and The Weight of the Stars—reimagining Peter Pan for today’s world. On Wendy Darling’s first night in Chicago, a boy called Peter appears at her window. He’s dizzying, captivating, beautiful—so she agrees to join him for a night on the town. Wendy thinks they’re heading to a party, but instead they’re soon running in the city’s underground. She makes friends—a punk girl named Tinkerbelle and the lost boys Peter watches over. And she makes enemies—the terrifying Detective Hook, and maybe Peter himself, as his sinister secrets start coming to light. Can Wendy find the courage to survive this night—and make sure everyone else does, too? Acclaimed author K. Ancrum has re-envisioned Peter Pan with a central twist that will send all your previous memories of J. M. Barrie’s classic permanently off to Neverland. An Imprint Book

Darling

K. Ancrum's The Legend of the Golden Raven novella, part fairy tale and part gritty reality, follows a boy as he descends into madness. August and Jack weren’t meant to be friends. One is a misfit with a pyro streak and the other a golden boy on the rugby team. But as their relationship intensifies, Jack slowly begins to lose his mind—taking readers on an intimate journey into the fantasy kingdom creeping into the edges of his world. As the novella moves back and forth between a medieval legend and our own, contemporary world, nothing is as it seems. The boys alienate everyone around them as they struggle with their sanity and as Jack’s quest to fulfill a dark prophecy begins to consume them both . . . Devour this companion novella to The Wicker King. An ImprintBook Praise for The Wicker King: “An eerie and mesmerizing thriller that questions the spacewhere reality and perception overlap, The Wicker King is a spine-tingling read that will have you riveted.” —Caleb Roehrig, author of Last Seen Leaving and White Rabbit “An eerie piece of realistic fiction whose characters revelin intense emotions.” —Kirkus Reviews

A Novella of The Wicker King

The Legend of the Golden Raven

Icarus

Tig Torres investigates Hollow Falls' horrific history in this original novel based on the hit podcast Lethal Lit from Einhorn's Epic Productions and iHeartRadio! Lethal Lit follows Tig Torres, a Cuban American teen detective, in her hometown of Hollow Falls. In season one of the hit podcast, Tig used her smarts and fearlessness to track down the infamous Lit Killer, a serial killer who staged his murders after death scenes from famous books. But there's no rest for courageous, mystery-solving teens in a place like Hollow Falls, and though the Lit Killer is now behind bars, his protégé, Tig's classmate and crush Oly, has disappeared! And that's not the only game afoot. Tig has caught the attention of the town's local armchair detective group, the Murder of Crows. They're obsessed with Hollow Falls' dark past and fixated on a dangerous search for the missing body of the town's founder. There are rumors about what's buried with the body that could be life-changing for whoever finds it, and with a mission like that underway, it's not long before a member of the Murder of Crows turns up dead. Tig, along with her friends Max and Wyn, steps in to help, but the stakes are getting higher and the hunt more deadly. Someone's willing to kill to keep the town's secrets buried, and if Tig's not careful, she'll be the Murder of Crows' next victim. This original Lethal Lit story takes place between Seasons 1 and 2 of the podcast, and features a brand-new, never-before-told story starring Tig Torres and her sleuthing friends!

Lethal Lit: YA Novel #1

*eBook em novo formato, revisto e revisado.* August é considerado um desajustado piromaníaco, enquanto Jack é a estrela do time de rúgbi do colégio. A amizade dos dois nasceu ainda na infância, e a forla dela é algo que eles mantêm em segredo. Ninguém sabe, mas Jack e August contam com o apoio um do outro para sobreviver – o apoio que suas famílias não oferecem. Quando Jack passa a ter alucinações cada vez mais vívidas, August decide ajudá-lo da única forma que sabe: saltando com Jack em seu reino fantástico que beira o mundo real. Então, Jack guia August por uma jornada sombria, acreditando que assim suas alucinações terão fim. Enquanto lutam pela própria sanidade, eles seguem em queda livre por um mundo surreal. Mas, ao final, cada um deverá escolher a própria verdade. Com capítulos intercalados por documentos, recortes, bilhetes, fotografias e outras memórias, O Rei de Palha é uma ficção contemporânea carregada de tensão, loucura e amor.

O Rei de Palha

Wicker King

El rey de mimbre

El rey de mimbre es un thriller psicológico que narra la lucha de dos amigos para evitar que uno de ellos llegue a un estado de locura absoluta. Cuando August se entera de que su mejor amigo, Jack, muestra signos de desorden alucinatorio degenerativo, decide que está dispuesto a hacer cualquier cosa para ayudarlo. Las visiones muy vívidas de Jack toman la forma de un elaborado mundo de fantasía superpuesto al nuestro, un mundo gobernado por el Rey de mimbre. Mientras Jack los dirige en una búsqueda con el fin de cumplir una oscura profecía en este mundo paralelo, August comienza a cuestionarse qué es real y qué no lo es. August y Jack luchan por mantenerse a flote mientras oscilan entre la fantasía y las emociones. Al final, cada uno deberá elegir su propia verdad. "Una EXTRAÑA Y FASCINANTE novela de suspenso que cuestiona el espacio donde la realidad y la percepción se superponen, El rey de mimbre es una LECTURA ESCALOFRIANTE que te cautivará". —Caleb Roehrig, autor de Last Seen Leaving y White Rabbit "Una ESPELUZNANTE PIEZA DE FICCIÓN REALISTA cuyos personajes nos deleitan con intensas emociones". —Kirkus Reviews

Jack et August. August et Jack. Une amitié à l'épreuve de tout depuis que Jack a sauvé August de la noyade lorsqu'ils étaient petits. Ils avaient alors créé de toute pièce un monde fantastique dirigé par deux rois : le Roi d'osier et le méchant Roi fendu. Un jeu qu'ils ont oublié en grandissant. Mais, depuis quelque temps, Jack va mal : il souffre d'hallucinations inquiétantes qui le replongent dans l'univers fantastique de leur enfance. Jack est convaincu qu'il est le Roi d'osier, et qu'il lui faut retrouver le Bleu merveilleux, une pierre qui le guérira. Face à cela, August réagit de l'unique façon possible pour lui : au lieu de remettre Jack face à la réalité, il accepte les délires de son ami comme s'ils étaient les siens. Peu à peu, les deux amis s'enfoncent dans leur démence, s'éloignant toujours plus de la réalité de leur quotidien. Peu à peu, August en vient à douter de sa propre santé mentale : cet autre monde, qui n'appartient qu'à eux, n'est-il vraiment pas réel ? Lorsque les délires de Jack deviennent dangereux, c'est donc à deux qu'ils commettent l'irréparable... August sans Jack ? Jamais.

Rois de cendres

From acclaimed author K. Ancrum comes a queer romantic thriller in which the lives of Hollis, a boy in search of meaning, and Walt, a spirit with unfinished business, collide when Walt takes possession of Hollis's body...and maybe his heart. For fans of Adam Silvera and Aiden Thomas!

Hollis Brown is stuck. Born to a Blue-Collar American Dream, Hollis lives in a rotting small town where no one can afford to leave. Hollis's only bright spots are his two best friends, cool girls Annie and Yulia, and the thrill of fighting his classmates.

As if his circumstances couldn’t get worse, a chance encounter with a mysterious stranger named Walt results in a frightening trap. After unknowingly making a deal at the crossroads, Hollis finds himself losing control of his body and mind, falling victim to possession. Walt, the ghost making a home inside him, has a deep and violent history rooted in the town Hollis grew up in and he has unfinished business to take care of.

As Walt and Hollis begin working together to put Walt’s spirit to rest, an unspeakable bond forms between them, and the boys begin falling for one another in unexpected ways. But, it’s only a matter of time before Hollis’s best friends begin to notice that something about Hollis isn’t quite…right.

With the threat of a long overdue exorcism looming before them, will Walt and Hollis be able to protect their love and undo the curse that turned their town from a garden of possibility into a place where dreams go to die?

Praise for

"The sparse prose in this unconventional, must-read of a trauma-infused borderline thriller is packed with emotional breadth." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"In this intimate poetic reimagining of the Icarus myth, Ancrum crafts a subversive triumph that is a love letter both to healing from trauma and to the importance of connection and empathy." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Beautifully written...Psychologically acute, subtle, and sophisticated." —ALA Booklist (starred review)

"In her extraordinary fifth novel, Icarus, K. Ancrum performs a confident high-wire act, balancing the weighty manifestations of connection, desire, and contradiction." —BookPage (starred review)

"Both romance and thriller fans will likely be gripped by this memorable love story, tinged with mythology, built around a mystery made up of bitter secrets between the two families." —The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (starred review)

The Corruption of Hollis Brown

August é considerado um desajustado piromaníaco, enquanto Jack é a estrela do time de rúgbi do colégio. A amizade dos dois nasceu ainda na infância, e a forla dela é algo que eles mantêm em segredo. Ninguém sabe, mas Jack e August contam com o apoio um do outro para sobreviver – o apoio que suas famílias não oferecem. Quando Jack passa a ter alucinações cada vez mais vívidas, August decide ajudá-lo da única forma que sabe: saltando com Jack em seu reino fantástico que beira o mundo real. Então, Jack guia August por uma jornada sombria, acreditando que assim suas alucinações terão fim. Enquanto lutam pela própria sanidade, eles seguem em queda livre por um mundo surreal. Mas, ao final, cada um deverá escolher a própria verdade. Com capítulos intercalados por documentos, recortes, bilhetes, fotografias e outras memórias, O Rei de Palha é uma ficção contemporânea carregada de tensão, loucura e amor.

O rei de palha

Perfect for fans of Adam Silvera and Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, this suspenseful queer YA romance from critically acclaimed author K. Ancrum reimagines the tale of Icarus as a star-crossed love story between a young art thief and the son of the man he’s been stealing from—think Portrait of a Thief for YA readers. Icarus Gallagher is a thief. He steals priceless art and replaces it with his father’s impeccable forgeries. For years, one man—the wealthy Mr. Black—has been their target in revenge for his role in the death of Icarus’s mother. To keep their secret, Icarus adheres to his own strict rules to keep people, and feelings, at bay: Don’t let anyone close. Don’t let anyone touch you. And, above all, don’t get caught. Until one night, he does. Not by Mr. Black but by his mysterious son, Helios, now living under house arrest in the Black mansion. Instead of turning Icarus in, Helios bargains for something even more dangerous—a friendship that breaks every single one of Icarus’s rules. As reluctance and distrust become closeness and something more, they uncover the gilded cage that has trapped both their families for years. One Icarus is determined to escape. But his father’s thirst for revenge shows no sign of fading, and soon it may force Icarus to choose: the escape he’s dreamed of, or the boy he’s come to love. Reaching for both could be his greatest triumph—or it could be his downfall.

Tig Torres investigates Hollow Falls' horrific history in this original novel based on the hit podcast Lethal Lit from Einhorn's Epic Productions and iHeartRadio! Lethal Lit follows Tig Torres, a Cuban American teen detective, in her hometown of Hollow Falls. In season one of the hit podcast, Tig used her smarts and fearlessness to track down the infamous "Lit Killer," a serial killer who staged his murders after death scenes from famous books. But there's no rest for courageous, mystery-solving teens in a place like Hollow Falls, and though the Lit Killer is now behind bars, his protégé, Tig's classmate and crush Oly, has disappeared! And that's not the only game afoot. Tig has caught the attention of the town's local armchair detective group, the Murder of Crows. They're obsessed with Hollow Falls' dark past and fixated on a dangerous search for the missing body of the town's founder. There are rumors about what's buried with the body that could be life-changing for whoever finds it, and with a mission like that underway, it's not long before a member of the Murder of Crows turns up dead. Tig, along with her friends Max and Wyn, steps in to help, but the stakes are getting higher and the hunt more deadly. Someone's willing to kill to keep the town's secrets buried, and if Tig's not careful, she'll be the Murder of Crows' next victim. This original Lethal Lit story takes place between Seasons 1 and 2 of the podcast, and features a brand-new, never-before-told story starring Tig Torres and her sleuthing friends!

K. Ancrum

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