Books you need to read right now.
The Adventures of Mary Darling
Publication date: May 6, 2025
A subversive take on Peter Pan and Sherlock Holmes, with a feminist twist. When Mary Darling returns from a dinner party and discovers that her children have been kidnapped, she knows who has taken them. Mary’s husband rushes to get help from her uncle, John Watson. Uninvited, Sherlock Holmes decides to take on the case.
“Mary’s story is a dangerous and delightful adventure that turns the bigotry and misogyny of Victorian England on its head as she takes charge of her own life and rescues everyone with the help of her friends.” — Library Journal
“Murphy cleverly reworks favorite Victorian stories into something delightfully new. The wit, wisdom, and whimsy on offer here are sure to win fans.” — Publishers Weekly
The City, Not Long After
Finalist for the Mythopoeic Award
Shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award
After a plague decimates the world’s population, a handful of artists transform the city of San Francisco. When General Miles threatens the city, the artists — and the city itself — fight back with an artistic version of guerrilla warfare.
“In Ms. Murphy’s skillful hands, the showdown between art and power takes on mythic dimensions…. No one comes out of this confrontation unchanged, including the reader.” —New York Times
Vintage Science Fiction
The Falling Woman
Winner of the Nebula Award
Finalist for the Mythopoeic Award
Archeologist Elizabeth Butler has a secret. Where others see nothing but dirt and bones and fragments of pottery, Elizabeth sees shades of the men and women who walked this ground thousands of years before. She can speak to the past—and the past is beginning to speak back.
“A world away from the Tolkien-derived predictability of much high fantasy, The Falling Woman marries literary sophistication with genre interest and real emotion.” from “Classic SF with Andy Johnson”
The Shadow Hunter
Nominated for the Locus Award for best first novel
Thirty thousand years ago, a Neanderthal boy went on a quest to capture the spirit of the great cave bear and save his people. When the bear disappeared into a strange patch of shimmering air, the boy followed, only to find himself in a future world inhabited by people who do not understand the nature spirits or their power. In this strange future, the boy must find a way to save his people and their sacred understanding of the natural world.
“…an achingly beautiful tale of displacement.”
—from Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations
“The clash of prehistoric shamanic traditions with future technology makes for a gripping tale — the first novel written by this Nebula Award-winning author.” —Publishers Weekly
Short Story Collections
Women Up to No Good
In this collection of short stories, women are looking for trouble— and finding it. At remote archeological digs, in the suburbs of California, in fantasy settings, and more, these women take charge of their own destinies.
“The truth is that Pat Murphy’s Women Up to No Good are in fact up to a lot of good, restoring balance, and supporting each other for the betterment of the world. Murphy’s women are retelling the world their way.” from Performative Utterances
Points of Departure
The Nebula Award–winning novella “Rachel in Love” anchors this collection of stories, which also includes World-Fantasy-Award-winning novella “Bones” and Nebula-nominated story “Dead Men on TV.”
“Brilliant, passionate, and dangerous as only the clearest visions can be … Murphy creates seamless blends of ideas and emotions, holistic works where genres mingle so the reader does not stop to ask if this is sf, fantasy, or horror… . These tales unite the power of a force of nature with the subtlety of the human heart.” -Locus
“There is something of Borges’s absurdist fables and of the fey, fog-haunted feel of Celtic myth to [ Points of Departure ]. This collection reverberates with the sound of the author’s unmistakable voice, a poetic blend of the everyday and the never-never.” -Elle
Bad Grrlz Guide (two novels in one ebook)
Wild Angel
This historical fantasy is set during the California Gold Rush. Newly orphaned three-year-old Sarah McKensie, alone in the wilderness, is rescued by a wolf who had lost her cubs. Sarah grows up as a member of the pack and becomes a legend among gold miners — the Wild Angel of the Sierras. This playful homage to the Tarzan books and American tall tales is part of a metafictional experiment by Pat Murphy’s imaginary pseudonym, Max Merriwell.
“…a book that weds the humor and magic of a folk tale with a very modern feel for the psychological dynamics between men and women, exploring the fine line between civilization and savagery.” from Henry Wagner on Amazon
Adventures in Time and Space with Max Merriwell
On a cruise into the Bermuda Triangle, newly divorced librarian Susan Galina reinvents herself, assisted by Max Merriwell and Pat Murphy, who are both characters in this novel of shifting realities and mysterious possibilities. Though this is the third book in a metafictional experiment by Pat Murphy and her pseudonym Max Merriwell, it can be read independently of the other books.
“[the] cerebral equivalent of a roller-coaster ride….In this book obsessed with books, the questions of who is in charge, who is real and whether the answers to those questions matter will leave readers pleasantly dizzy.” from Publishers Weekly
“… a suspenseful, funny, fast-paced novel of shifting and intersecting realities that is a joy to read.” — from Amazon
“Smart, funny, thoroughly addictive,…” from Booklist
Wild Women and Girls
Nadya
Locus Award nominee for Best Fantasy Novel
Shortlisted for the James Tiptree Jr. Memorial Award
This historic, feminist, werewolf novel has fistfights, magic, and daring rescues. On a deeper level, it’s also an examination of women and wilderness and sexuality. Nadya, the main character, is a shapeshifter – a werewolf like her parents. Nadya’s search for a place where she can be herself, both woman and wolf, takes her on a dangerous journey across 1830s America.
“With its strong heroines and passionate storyline filled with romance, adventure and dangers both physical and moral, this novel will appeal to a wide array of readers…..” from Publishers Weekly
The Wild Girls
Twelve-year-old Joan is sure she’ll be miserable when her family moves across the country. Then she meets the “Queen of the Foxes,” a girl her age who lives in a rundown house in the woods with her writer father. This is a middle-grade book about friendship, the power of story, and finding your own answers.
“A terrific mix of imagination, insight, character inventiveness and kindness create the kind of read that nourishes young minds and hearts. (Fiction. 10-14)
