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Non fiction book on the subject of superheroes Literature

I remember this being one of two books, on the nature of heroes, I remember the book beginning with some sort of disscusion on the origins of the idea of superhuman characters that were larger than life, like Heracles also known as Hercules, but also pointing out how he wasn't the hero that Disney portrayed him as in their 90's movie about his life, I recall the cover featuring a face mask on a red background and the SECOND BOOK'S COVER WAS GREEN.

Short story about a poltergeist trapped in a PC. Literature

I remember reading a short story in highschool where a ghost someone trapped himself inside a computer game some kids were making.

The game was about flying into a black hole. The ghost mainly liked to Troll people prior to being stuck in the game.

Pulp Story About a Blob Literature

Before the movie The Blob there was a story published in a pulp magazine that featured a somewhat similar monster. It may have even been called "The Blob." It's created in a laboratory and gets out of control. It secretes acid and devours any and all living things it encounters.

The Creature Catalog by Michael Berenstain had an illustration of the monster from this story, and I also ran across a reference to it in a book of essays about science fiction. I no longer have access to either of those books, unfortunately.

scifi story involving temporal dislocation Literature

A scifi book about an astronaut who returns from an extended period of time out in space to discover he is temporally out of sync with the rest of the world. He is reacting to things before they happen and saying his parts of the conversation before other people have even come up to talk to him.

Fantasy YA Book With Contagious Turned-to-Stone Paralysis Literature

I'm trying to find the title of a fantasy YA book I read about a decade ago. The basic premise is this: a young teenager somehow gains the ability to travel to a magical alternate world and bring people and items back and forth. I remember three scenes from the book:

• The teenager meets and befriends a girl from the magical world and brings her back to their home in the mundane world, where they show her all the cool modern conveniences that the magical world doesn't have. The girl amuses herself by typing up magical incantations (either on a computer or with a typewriter) and comments on how it's the neater than any calligraphy she's ever seen, but she leaves a sheet with the spells sitting out on a desk.
• At another point in the book, the mundane teenager's mother is cursed/ magically turned to stone while outside in the garden of their family house, and any creature that touches the mother also turns to stone [eventually she's surrounded by a little pile of birds and insects that have landed on her, thinking she's a statue]. Later, an "evil corporate scientist" passes their house and notices a bumblebee that has turned to stone. She wonders if it's been exposed to a new type of pesticide, and collects it for testing. After examining the bee, the scientist returns and snoops around inside the house, only to find the typed out spells. She reads out the incantations and accidentally performs magic.
• Near the end of the book, the scientist uses the typed out spells to blackmail the teenage protagonist.

I'm pretty sure I read the book between 2004 and 2011, and that it was written at some point after 1990. I have no clue if it's part of a series or a standalone novel. Any clue as to what this might be?

Sci-fi guy in the regular world Literature

The protagonist comes to our world from one of those utopian SF futures. Published within the last 5 years.

Some Kind Of Children's Novel Tie-in to a Spy Toy Series. Literature

This has been an enigma for years. There was a period in the late-90's/early-2000's when spy fiction made a comeback, and with it came a distinct style of millennial futurist design that permeated these works. The wraparound shades, the chrome macGuffin, the sleek, organic looking plastic gizmos that were probably brightly colored.

Anyway, deep in this convergence of millennial psy fiction and this distinct futurist design was a toy series, which naturally I don't remember the name of, which markets itself to kids who wanted to be superspies. And for whatever reason, they had a tie-in novel about a group of kids who find an abandoned secret base full of spy equipment. What makes it particularly noteworthy to me is a half-remembered sense that the book was surreal as all hell.

I remember this side character who lives in his car because he couldn't escape the labyrinthine suburbs the characters live in.He asked one of the characters "How's your ping?" as a casual conversation starter somewhere near the beginning of the book. Another point in the novel, a bully is getting attacked by a cat and it goes into absurdly gruesome detail of the wounds being inflicted without ever mentioning blood, but it did mention maggots, and spoiled meat with a color no meat should ever have. Lastly, there was a really long aside unrelated to anything that somehow related to camera angles and man-eating land octopi. I really want to know what novel this was, and I really want to prove to myself that it was as weird as I remember.

Christian novel about a novelist, from about 20 years ago Literature

This is a novel I saw in a Family Christian store some time between 1997 and 2003. It would have been in softcover. (Edited to add: I think the cover design was dark-colored and kind of minimalistic, but I might be wrong about that.)

The back cover summary had something to do with a successful writer of "immoral" books ("immoral" probably wasn't the word used, but that was the implication) who had become an Evangelical Christian and was dealing with the conflict between his public image and his new faith. (Possibly also dealing with the moral dilemma of continuing to receive royalties for his objectionable backlist, but I don't know if that was mentioned or if it's just something I inferred.)

I thought it was by Randy Alcorn, but unless I've failed a spot check, Alcorn doesn't seem to have written a novel like this. Possibly it was shelved near Alcorn's books, so the author's name may have started with an A.

Detectivesque fantasy novel Literature

I remember reading a description of it in Goodreads. It was about a girl who can make people tell the truth just by looking at them (I think she was ostracized because of it). There is a murder or some sort of crime in a noble's castle (it was kind of a medieval fantasy setting, I think) and she is called in to figure out what had happened.

At the moment it didn't catch my attention, but recently I have found myself curious about it. Thanks in advance!

YA book involving a supernatural love triangle between a human girl and a demon and angel Literature

Hi, there was a YA book that I read when I was a kid which featured this Love Triangle (Between a human teenage girl and a demon and angel). It features said demon attempting to move her onto the darkside from orders from the forces of hell before he repents and eventually becomes human.

Kids/YA book about meeting her mother when she's young Literature

It was a kids or YA book about a girl who had a bad relationship with her mother. Her mother ended up in a coma, and a new girl showed up at school with a mysterious resemblance to her. I think one character was named Iolanthe?

A Kingdom Hearts Axel/Zexion Fanfiction Literature

Hello everyone.

This is strange:

I'm looking for a Kingdom Hearts fanfiction which originated, to my knowledge, on fanfiction.net . It had Axel and Zexion in an abusive relationship, while Roxas and Axel were in a sweet and loving relationship, and featured one scene in Twilight Town where Zexion was jealously watching Axel and Roxas be romantic and kind to one another. I always thought it was a wonderful contrast and a fantastic scene.

Does anyone know it? Has the author taken it down?

Thank you.

Children's book about a teacher Literature

The plot of this book was about a sweet and kind teacher, who was teaching a classroom full of bratty kids who didn't take her seriously. One day, she doesn't arrive, and they get a mean, stricter substitute teacher. The kids realize they should have respected old teacher more, and so the next day they are much better behaved. Then the twist of the book is that the old teacher was disguised as the mean substitute.

What's the title of this book?

Something I read once Literature

This book was about a girl who lived with her grandma or Grandpa because her parents were dead. She can't sleep in the night so she sleeps in the day. She meets an animal(it was like a rat or something) who can play the flute or something like that. She also meets a boy named Reed or green they become friends. In the end they find out that the girl is actually master of the moon or something and that the boy is the master of something else. Master I just one option for the words there is also Lord King and queen as options. The grandparent also knows a lot about this magical stuff. The girl also get bullied at school.

Scary Cat Book Literature

I remember hearing about a book that is essentially Watership Down but with cats. I'm not referring to the Warrior cats series. I think it got an animated movie adaptation as well. I can't remember the title for the life of me and my repeated searches of "what is that scary cat book" haven't been working. Please help

(Children's?) book focused on a group of people encountering a LiteralGenie (resolved) Literature

I remember this as being a read-aloud book in the third or fourth grade. The premise was that four or five characters all went to the same carnival and found a booth with someone who would grant their wishes. I think the "wishes" were physical things, like tickets or something, and they could be redeemed at any time. A girl whose boyfriend would be moving away wished that her boyfriend were to "plant roots" in her town, this backfired and her boyfriend got stuck in a certain spot of her yard and slowly transformed into a non-sentient tree (and he had a craving for fertilizer, which he was able to absorb through his skin). A country boy living in a remote area wished their family would receive more water, this backfired and his home was flooded, forcing him and his family to move their belongings to higher ground. I remember one of the characters (a shop owner or clerk, if that rings a bell) who received a wish held onto it until the very end, when all the other main characters went to him and asked if he can use his wish to undo all of their wishes. He did.

I don't remember if there were illustrations at any point in the book, but I swear I saw one of the girl's boyfriend after he was fully turned into a tree. His face was locked into a scream and the tree still resembled his body.

Young adult thriller/horror Literature

This young adult horror/thriller book I had in circa 1999. I remember 2 things from the first chapter 1. the protagonist recalls a time when she was at the beach and accidentally hit a guy with a ball or frisbee and goes to apologize but then has Love at First Sight and kisses him on the lips 2. The protagonist's sister has some rare blood disease. I remember I thought the book was really dumb so only read the first couple chapters but I am still curious about if for some reason.

YA Sci-Fi Book Literature

I read a book many years ago and I'm attempting to track it down now to re-read it.

Here's what I remember: The protagonist is a woman who works for some sort of agency (I think it's intergalactic) and she's captured by an enemy race. She makes a comment about having her hair cut short when she's imprisoned because in the enemy's culture that is a way to humiliate or shame women, though it doesn't bother her. The part I remember is from her point of view and she continues to tell the story from what she can see/learn while locked up.

That's the most specific thing I recall, but there is also something about her working with another agent, a man who is either inexperienced or has done something disgraceful, making her unhappy to be stuck with him (the story may flip to his point of view for some chapters?). In the end, he takes their ship and uses it to somehow defeat the enemy, I think by self-destructing the ship to blow up their base or city, killing himself in the process but saving the female agent and presumably everyone else...

Any ideas? I believe it is a young adult novel and it may be out of print. Also, I can't promise it was ever published or available outside the United States. Not a lot to go on, I know, but I'd appreciate any titles anyone can suggest. Thanks!

Young adult novel Literature

Young adult novel, female author who I remember had written other YA novels. Written pre-2011. The protagonist is a teen girl who goes to live with relatives in a house on a cliff/mountain. There’s a mystery she has to unravel, and she finds out that years ago her parents had another daughter who died at a young age, and it turns out the protagonist is her clone. I think the cover of the book featured a dark house on a hill with lights shining through the windows.

90s children's book Literature

There was some kind of alien called Prince Icon. Some kids went to his planet and he threw a feast for them with heaps and heaps of weird foods. Those aliens were very literal-minded so when a girl trying to get away from an awkward conversation said "I have to go powder my nose." Prince Icon thought she was going to grind her nose into literal powder for the sake of beauty.

Icon may have been small, with one big eye.

A children’s sci-fi/fantasy novel that was adapted into a movie or TV series Literature

I think it was about a group of kids who, like many other children in the setting’s recent times, mysteriously gained powers and are on the run from the government.

Their powers are Color-Coded for Your Convenience and it’s later revealed that their powers were caused by an experimental chemical being added to the water supply.

Bird Feathers Literature

An old book I read when I was younger- a kid's book, though it dealt with some heavy stuff.

I remember the MC had split parents, or at least that the mum was the main parental figure. MC seemed very anxious and definitely neurodivergent in a lot of ways, and would come home and announce to the empty house that "I can see you" in case anyone was hiding in wait. He's obviously a bully's target. At one point, their class goes to an old people's home and they get paired up with old people.

I have more details but this might get long so if people need more I can reply with some other stuff I remember.

The gist is: creepy house, sewing feathers onto a shirt (to make a bird coat), bully goes too far, MC snaps & seriously hurts him and is suspended, also the old woman's kid died of an asthma attack when he was young (in the creepy house), and the old woman dies at the end.

Yeah, I don't remember it being a super happy book, but I'd like to find it again.

Wanting Heirs create wolf problems EDIT: I found out the title from Reddit Literature

There was a book that I read 6-8 years ago that had a mostly black cover with a red outline of a woman's pregnant belly. It was about a wealthy couple who lived in NYC who really wanted biological children, and so went to this creepy place to become fertile, and I think that a dog or a wolf was somehow involved in making them pregnant. They have triplets, but one of them is very weak and unhealthy, so somehow that one ends up adopted by someone else. The other triplets who think that they're twins are a boy and a girl. The parents now act a bit wolfy, and for some reason or revelation the two children run away, with the boy going to his favorite teacher's apartment, and the teacher being scared that since the teacher's gay and living with his partner, the school will get scared and fire him for having a student there because the school thinks that All Gays Are Pedophiles. Anyway, the parents find the kids, and I think that the teacher dies while his lover ends up in a hospital. In the end, there's a taxicab driver who was reading The Five People You Meet in Heaven who takes them to an airport, and the mom dies. I remember that it was one of those books that were advertised, and it was new when I read it. EDIT: It's Breed by Chase Novak