Bøker av Alex Shvartsman

If you do it well, lying is every bit as effective as magic.Conrad Brent has no innate magic, so he bluffs a lot and uses a myriad of magical items to protect Brooklyn from monsters and arcane threats. As a member of the Watch, the group that protects the mundane humans from such dangers, he risks his life on a regular basis. Sometimes twice before lunch. Sometimes during lunch, when he dares order his food from a street cart. After regaining his position in the Watch which he’d temporarily lost due to the machinations of a variety of evil-doers, Conrad doesn’t want to take any risks he doesn’t have to. But now his boss is missing, there’s a totalitarian new regime in City Hall oppressing all magic users, and the mayor has aligned himself with a diabolical villain.In order to save the day, Conrad must team up with a recovering necromancer to mediate a dispute between two ancient enemy factions, solve a mystery of a warded house adjacent to a cemetery, and stand with his friends against tyranny.That is, if the interdimensional fae assassins don’t get him first.

"What would you do if you lost everything that mattered to you, as well as all means to protect yourself and others, but still had to save the day? Conrad Brent is about to find out. Conrad Brent protects the people of Brooklyn from monsters and magical threats. The snarky, wisecracking guardian also has a dangerous secret: he's one in a million - literally. Magical ability comes to about one in every 30,000 and can manifest at any age. Conrad is rarer than this, however. He's a middling, one of the half-gifted and totally despised. Most of the gifted community feels that middlings should be instantly killed. The few who don't flat out hate them still aren't excited to be around middlings. Meaning Conrad can't tell anyone, not even his best friends, what he really is. Conrad hides in plain sight by being a part of the volunteer Watch, those magically gifted who protect their cities from dangerous, arcane threats. And, to pay the bills, Conrad moonlights as a private detective and monster hunter for the gifted community. Which helps him keep up his personal fiction - that he's a magical version of Batman. Conrad does both jobs thanks to charms, artifacts, and his wits, along with copious amounts of coffee. But little does he know that events are about to change his life...forever. When Conrad discovers the Traveling Fair auction house has another middling who's just manifested her so-called powers on the auction block, he's determined to save her, regardless of risk. But what he finds out while doing so is even worse - the winning bidder works for a company that's just created the most dangerous chemical weapon to ever hit the magical community. Before Conrad can convince anyone at the Watch of the danger, he's exposed for what he really is. Now, stripped of rank, magical objects, friends and allies, Conrad has to try to save the world with only his wits. Thankfully though, no one's taken away his coffee."--Provided by publisher.

A selection of notable science fiction, fantasy, and horror stories, which were translated into and first published in English in 2020. This anthology features the winning entry and the stories shortlisted for the Science Fiction and Fantasy Rosetta Awards.The following stories are included: ROESIN by Wu Guan, translated from the Chinese by Judith HuangWHALE SNOWS DOWN by Kim Bo-Young, translated from the Korean by Sophie BowmanTHE GREEN HILLS OF DIMITRY TOTZKIY by Eldar Safin, translated from the Russian by Alex ShvartsmanRAISING MERMAIDS by Dai Da, translated from the Chinese by S. Qiouyi LuMATER TENEBRARUM by Pilar Pedraza, translated from the Spanish by James D. JenkinsVIK FROM PLANET EARTH by Yevgeny Lukin, translated from the Russian by Mike OlivsonBIOGRAPHY OF ALGAE by Martha Riva Palacio Obón, translated from the Spanish by Will MorningstarTHE POST-CONSCIOUS AGE by Su Min, translated from the Chinese by Nathan FariesJUST LIKE MIGRATORY BIRDS by Taiyo Fujii, translated from the Japanese by Emily BalistrieriTHE WITCH DANCES by Thiago Ambrósio Lage, translated from the Portuguese by Iana AraújoFORMERLY SLOW by Wei Ma, translated from the Chinese by Andy DudakMENOPAUSE by Flore Hazoumé, translated from the French by James D. JenkinsTHE MOLE KING by Marie Hermanson, translated from the Swedish by Charlie HaldénTHE ANCESTRAL TEMPLE IN A BOX by Chen Qiufan, translated from the Chinese by Emily JinNO ONE EVER LEAVES PORT HENRI by K.A. Teryna, translated from the Russian by Alex ShvartsmanCOUSIN ENTROPY by Michèle Laframboise, translated from the French by N. R. M. RoshakTHE CURTAIN FALLS, THE SHOW MUST END by Julie Nováková, translated from the Czech by the author