Small Beer Press

Norton Award finalist
YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults 2016
Kirkus Reviews Best Teen Books of 2015
Book Riot Best of 2015
Buzzfeed 32 Best Fantasy Novels of 2015
ABC Best Books for Young Readers
Los Angeles Times Summer Reading
Locus Recommended Reading

Wasp's job is simple. Hunt ghosts. And every year she has to fight to remain Archivist. Desperate and alone, she strikes a bargain with the ghost of a supersoldier. She will go with him on his underworld hunt for the long-long ghost of his partner and in exchange she will find out more about his pre-apocalyptic world than any Archivist before her. And there is much to know. After all, Archivists are marked from birth to do the holy work of a goddess. They're chosen. They're special. Or so they've been told for four hundred years.

Archivist Wasp fears she is not the chosen one, that she won't survive the trip to the underworld, that the brutal life she has escaped might be better than where she is going. There is only one way to find out.

Praise for Archivist Wasp:

"Archivist Wasp is a gorgeous and complex book, featuring a deadly girl who traverses an equally deadly landscape. Wasp won me over, and she's sure to find fans among teens and grown-ups alike."
— Phoebe North, author of Starglass

"A tremendously inventive and smart novel. Archivist Wasp is like Kafka by way of Holly Black and Shirley Jackson, but completely original. Highly recommended."
— Jeff VanderMeer, author of the Southern Reach trilogy

"A gorgeous, disturbing, compelling book with a smart, complicated heroine who bestrides her post-apocalyptic world like a bewildered force of nature. Reading it was a wild ride and a thoroughly satisfying one."
— Delia Sherman, author of The Freedom Maze

"One of the most revelatory and sublime books I've ever read, Archivist Wasp is a must-read for fans of post-apocalyptic fiction. Kornher-Stace is a genius, and I can't wait to see what she does next!"
— Tiffany Trent, author of The Unnaturalists

"Brutal post-apocalypse meets sci-fi techno-thriller meets a ghost story for the ages in this astonishingly original novel from Nicole Kornher-Stace. You've never read anything like Archivist Wasp, but once you have you'll be clamoring for more."
— Mike Allen, author of Unseaming

“Sharp as a blade and mythically resonant, Archivist Wasp is a post-apocalyptic ghost story unlike anything else I’ve read. Trust me, you want this book.”
— Karina Sumner-Smith, author of Radiant

“Archivist Wasp turns destiny on its head, and it re-invents the world you know to do it. Strong. Fast. Addictive.”
— Darin Bradley, author of Noise

“Goes off like a firecracker in the brain: the haunted landscape, the sure-footed, blistering prose — and, of course, the heroine herself, the most excellent Archivist Wasp.”
— Kelly Link, author of Get in Trouble

Praise for Nicole Kornher-Stace:

"In richly textured, atmospheric prose, Kornher-Stace delivers a spellbinding tale of deception, betrayal, and the darker possibilities of playacting."—Booklist

"Mesmerizing from the first page and once you get into its flow, a page turner to boot."—Fantasy Book Critic

"Absorbing, exciting, intellectually fascinating, emotionally true, and well-crafted, bobbles and all."—Ideomancer

A Junior Library Guild Selection and Smithsonian Magazine Notable Book for Children.

"A literary treasure."—Philip Pullman

"My happiest discovery this year."—Los Angeles Times

The complete collection of twenty-four charming and magical Armitage family stories. Includes a prelude by the author and introductions from Garth Nix and Lizza Aiken.

Kirkus Reviews: Best of 2011

A Junior Library Guild Selection

Selected for the ABC Best Books for Children Catalog

"A lush and intelligent opener for a topical eco-fantasy series."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

In the first of the Dissenters series, Cara’s mother has disappeared. Her father isn’t talking about it. Her big brother Max is hiding behind his iPod, and her genius little brother Jackson is busy studying the creatures he collects from the beach. But when a watery specter begins to haunt the family’s Cape Cod home, Cara and her brothers realize that their scientist mother may not be who they thought she was—and that the world has much stranger, much older inhabitants than they had imagined.

With help from Cara’s best friend Hayley, the three embark on a quest that will lead them from the Cape’s hidden, ancient places to a shipwreck at the bottom of the sea. They’re soon on the front lines of an ancient battle between good and evil, with the terrifying “pouring man” close on their heels.

Packed with memorable characters and thrilling imagery, Lydia Millet weaves a page-turning adventure even as she brings the seaside world of Cape Cod to magical life. The first in a series of books about the Sykes children, The Fires Beneath the Sea is a rip-cracking middle-grade novel that will make perfect beach reading—for readers of any age!

Emma is spending the summer with her Scottish cousins—who are wonderful material for her attempt to win the School Prize for most interesting holiday diary. The cousins, lofty Andy, reserved Fiona, and fierce Roddy, are experimenting with their grandfather's dilapidated old mini-submarine to see if they can find a monster in the family loch.

Emma Tupper's Diary is a sometimes terrifying, sometimes broadly hilarious adventure novel in the spirit of From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and I Capture the Castle.

Praise for Emma Tupper's Diary:

"Fish out of water Emma must spend the summer in Scotland with cousins she’s never met. They’re somewhat older and get along fine with minimal adult supervision. Even when they plot to take an old submarine out on the nearby loch for a spin, adding a Nessy-like monster head to the top for fun, there’s no one around to urge caution. It’s the sort of family where everyone is whip-smart, conversations are fast and fascinating, and statements of fact are rarely truthful. All of which makes for one extremely suspenseful and surprisingly thought-provoking adventure."—Gwenyth Swain (author of Chig and the Second Spread)

"One of my favorite childhood books. . . . Its themes and plot have come around again, and a smart production company should scoop it up for a film adaptation."—Atomic Librarian

"An enthralling book, with fascinating characters, told with humor and wit, and with a story that just might, barely, be possible."—Book Loons

"Comedy of manners? Ecological allegory? Adventure? Farce?"—Kirkus Reviews

Praise for Peter Dickinson's children's books:

"One of the real masters of children's literature."—Philip Pullman

"Peter Dickinson is a national treasure."—The Guardian

"Magnificent. Peter Dickinson is the past-master story-teller of our day."—The Times Literary Supplement

Peter Dickinson is the author of over fifty books including Eva, Earth and Air, and the Michael L. Printz honor book The Ropemaker. He has twice received the Crime Writers' Association's Gold Dagger as well as the Guardian Award and Whitbread Prize. He lives in England and is married to the novelist Robin McKinley.

Cara's mother is still missing. When her brother Jax texts her from "smart kid's boot camp" in Boston, Cara and her two best friends go to the rescue. But the camp is a front for Cara's mother's organization who are fighting against a force who wants to make the planet over in its own image, which will leave no space for anything else, animal, insect, or human.

A Junior Library Guild Selection.

Lydia Millet is the author of Love in Infant Monkeys and Ghost Lights. She works at an endangered-species protection group. The Shimmers in the Night is the second book in the Dissenters series.

Praise for the Dissenters Series:

"Millet's prose is lyrically evocative ('the rhythmic scoop and splash of their paddles'). A lush and intelligent opener for a topical eco-fantasy series."—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"A thoughtful and thought-provoking beginning to a new fantasy series. The Cape Cod woods, wildlife, and beaches are depicted with loving detail, and the dark forces arrayed against the young protagonists are at once tantalizingly mystifying and alarmingly timely."—Patricia McKillip

"Readers will want to leave the lights on well after finishing this book as the detail depicted will create similarities in your mind to Clive Barker's Abarat books. Readers will likely want Cara on their team as they jump, like Alice down the rabbit hole, through the guide book that turns into a window through another world."—VOYA

How well do you actually know your family? In the third and final installment in the thrilling Dissenters series, Cara Sykes and her family are hoping to enjoy a normal Cape Cod summer. But there are strong and surprising forces lined up against them, there will be unexpected revelations, and the highest price will have to be paid.

Lydia Millet is the author of many novels for adult readers, including PEN-USA Award–winner My Happy Life. She has taught at Columbia University and the University of Arizona and now works as a writer and editor at an endangered-species protection group called the Center for Biological Diversity.

In these collection, you will find stories that range from the mythic to contemporary fantasy to science fiction. You will find a troll, gryphons, a beloved dog, the Land of the Dead, an owl, a minotaur, and a very alien Cat. Earth and Air is the third and final book in a trilogy of shared collections connected by the four classical elements. It follows previous volumes Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits and Fire: Tales of Elemental Spirits, written by both Peter Dickinson and Robin McKinley.

Ridiki is Steff’s beloved dog, named after Eurydice, whom the poet Orpheus tried to bring back from the dead. When, like her namesake, Ridiki is bitten by a snake and dies, Steff decides that he too should journey to the Underworld to ask the King of the Land of the Dead for his dog back.

Mari is the seventh child of a family in which troll blood still runs. When her husband goes missing in a Scottish loch, she must draw upon the power of her blood to rescue him. Sophie, a young girl, fashions a witch’s broomstick out of an ash sapling, and gets more than she bargained for. An escaped slave, Varro, must kill a gryphon, in order to survive. A boy named Yanni allies himself with an owl and a goddess in order to fight an ancient evil. A group of mind-bonded space travelers must face an unknown threat and solve the murder of a companion before time runs out.

All of these stories are about, in one way or another, the contrary and magical pull of two elements, Earth and Air. Each story showcases the manifold talents of a master storyteller and craftsman who has twice won the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Award, as well as the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize.

A Junior Library Guild Selection

"These unusual, memorable tales from a much-admired writer should appeal both to teens and Dickinson’s adult fans."—Publishers Weekly

"Strange, sometimes beautiful tales."—Kirkus Reviews

Praise for Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits

World Fantasy Award finalist

"There is plenty here to excite, enthrall, and move even the pickiest readers."—School Library Journal

"... a collection of enchanting tales."—Publishers Weekly

Praise for Fire: Tales of Elemental Spirits

"This collection of beautifully crafted tales will find a warm welcome."—School Library Journal

"Dickinson’s offerings are notable for their sophisticated magical thinking and subtlety of expression."—The Horn Book

"Dickinson’s stories are told with a storyteller’s cadence."—Booklist

“This collection ... offers something for every fantasy fan.”—Library Media Connection

Praise for Peter Dickinson's children's books:

"One of the real masters of children's literature."—Philip Pullman

"Peter Dickinson is a national treasure."—The Guardian

"Magnificent. Peter Dickinson is the past-master story-teller of our day."—The Times Literary Supplement

Peter Dickinson is the author of over fifty books including Eva, Emma Tupper's Dairy, and the Michael L. Printz Honor Book The Ropemaker. He has twice received the Crime Writers' Association's Gold Dagger as well as the Guardian Award and Whitbread Prize. He lives in England and is married to the novelist Robin McKinley.