Happy Holiday Shopping Guide! Annie’s Book Stop of Worcester, the “bigger on the inside” bookstore at 65 James Street, is happy to present our 2019 recommendations of gifts for the winter holidays.
One of our specialties happens to be in the area of Speculative Fiction. That can include books classified as Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, Urban Fantasy, even Paranormal and anything not in the realm of reality. Anything having to do with magic, unless it is considered non-fiction, is Speculative Fiction. So… That covers a lot of ground. And we have a lot of books, new and used, for your gift giving delight!
First of all, the trend in fiction now is for there to be many Female characters in major protagonist roles; Speculative Fiction follows those same trends. Two new books, The Throne of the Five Winds by S.C. Emmett, and The Women’s War by Jenna Glass have very strong women in power struggles against men in their kingdoms.
The Riders of the Realm series by Jennifer Lynn Alvarez and Children of Blood and Bone and Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi also include power struggles, but they add magic and magical beings to their cast of characters.
Speaking of magic, it seems magical that we have many LOCAL authors that have written books dealing with fairies (The Between by L.J. Cohen), mysterious edibles (Midsummer Mayhem by Rajani LaRocca), growing things (The King of the Wood by J. Edwin Buja), myths and legends (Loki, by Mackenzie Lee), and short stories about frightening things (Growing Things by Paul Tremblay). They are all fantasies, some tainted with a bit of horror for good measure.
If your gift recipient prefers stories about Outer Space and journeys to the Stars, there are also several new books that bring you to the far reaches of the Galaxy. They are: The Star Shepherd by Dan Haring and MarcyKate Connolly, The Sol Majestic by Ferrett Steinmetz, and Starship Alchemon by Christopher Hinz.
Stan Lee and Kat Rosenfield collaborated on Stan’s last book which takes place in a Marvel Universe, created by Stan. This book is about two teenagers with extraordinary gifts who join together to try and right the wrongs of the world. Kind of a superhero novel, but different.
If you don’t see anything here that you think would satisfy your gift recipient, why not stick with one of the oldies but goodies? Oldies that have been reprinted as new books are very popular, such as: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, by L. Frank Baum; Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury; Billy and the Minpins by Roald Dahl; and Paddington Races Ahead by Michael Bond
Don’t forget, though, if you don’t see the old book that you want in our new section, you can try looking through our many, many used Speculative Fiction books . If you count Paranormal Romance, we have over 10 bookcases devoted to it.
We also have several boxes of Horror books for you to peruse through. Or, if you buy a gift certificate for someone, they can have the pleasure of digging through them.
Stay Warm, and Stay Safe!
Annie's Book Stop of Worcester 