The Carpet Merchant of Konstantiniyya by Reimend Yee

A graphic novel about a man, our hero of the story, who was intended to become an Imam, but fell in love with a woman whose family made carpets.  He was fascinated and helped her realize her dream of becoming a merchant.  He also became a merchant of carpets.  On one of his excursions away from Constantinople, he came across a man who seemed in distress.  Only the man was a ghul, a djinn, a vampire.  He died, but woke as a man with an uncontrollable urge to consume blood.  He fought against this and returned home.  He could not go out in the daylight.  He confessed to his wife, but she insisted on taking care of him.  When the urge was too strong, he left her in tears and went away for her safety.  Years later, when he felt more in control of himself, he returned and took care of her in her final years.  Now, he lives in a town in England and entertains friends and sells carpets only from his home.

The man who made him into a vampire tracked him down and becomes a houseguest, mainly because our hero tries to follow the teachings of the Koran and be kind to his fellow beings.  The visitor secretly plots to kill our hero, believing that the blood of another vampire is better than any other kind.  But our hero teaches kindness and humility and eventually persuades his visitor to try it.  They are invited to a masquerade ball.  Once there, the visitor finds himself uncomfortable and goes outside.  There is a scream and a scuffle and someone tried to kill the host of the party.  The visitor follows a woman in black and knocks her down.  Everyone thinks the visitor is the murderer.  Even our hero is of that opinion at first.  He confronts the visitor who flees.  When our hero gets ready to go back into the party, the host has recovered and accuses the woman as his attempted assassin.  Our hero realizes his mistake and finds the visitor in the forest.  The visitor is crazed with fear and threatens to kill our hero, who bares his neck.  The visitor is humbled, cries and is comforted by our hero.  The visitor finds himself dying and blowing away.  The hero returns home and resumes his quiet life.

Memory and Dream by Charles de Lint

Using his favorite location, this is a story about a magical limner who brings the characters in her paintings to life through her talent.  Only there is a sinister side to bringing these magical beings across and it has to do with the man who taught the painter the secret of her paintings.

The Vanished Man by Jeffery Deaver 

A trained Magician, Malerik, is killing people by performing escape tricks with them in the title role.  He does the Lazy Hangman, where the victim strangles herself.  Two policemen happen upon the scene, but the magician escapes using illusion and quick change.  Lincoln Rhyme is asked to help solve the case and he recruits an aspiring magician, Kara, who can explain how it was done.  The next victim is involved in Sawing the Woman in Half trick.  Trace evidence leads from one crime to the next.  The real target is a circus in town which is where Malerik was scarred from a trick gone horribly wrong.  Lincoln and Kara manage to trick the magician and capture him.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

A woman tries to commit suicide and finds herself in a library where an old friend who was her librarian at school offers her a chance to have a different life.  The woman goes through several of these lives, always finding that for every good difference, there are those differences she just cannot live with and goes back to the library.  But she only has so much time before she won’t get another chance.