Showing results by narrator "John Pirhalla" in All Categories

A new magic threatens to destroy Gavin - or change him forever. Gavin has secured the city, preventing the deadly Fates from bringing their terrible sorcery back to Yoran, but Tristan remains at large. Their fight had been a test, and Gavin knows he can’t fail the next one. When a strange attack pushes him to reveal the depths of his magic, Gavin knows Tristan has returned to finish what he started. This time, he’s working with a power greater than any sorcerer - and something Gavin has never faced.

Trained to kill from a young age, Gavin Lorren finally escaped that life. No more killing innocents. No more working alone. The jobs are still dangerous, but at least he can choose. Now an old friend has invited him to the city of Yoran where the work is plentiful. The Roasted Dragon tavern is rough but cozy. The regulars are seedy but welcoming. The owner, Jessica, is fond of him. It's almost too good to be true.

A man at a crossroads in the middle of his life considers the place where he’s from, and where his parents have recently died. In the face of enormous personal tumult, he sits down to write. What follows is an audacious chronicle of his childhood and an unsparing account of his life’s trials, failures, and triumphs that becomes a moving look at what family gives and takes away.

A terrorist attack. A daring raid. Ambitious individuals hungry for power. The Crossroads are in trouble. Carson Flint and his team have settled into a quiet life in their establishment. Two newcomers arrive with lofty goals of changing the entire planet. When two members of the community go missing, it acts as a launching point for a chaotic event, leaving the remaining citizens to fight for their lives or lose everything. Meanwhile, Supreme Commander Garvin of the Lumari Collective launches an investigation into a horrendous explosion and an attempted assassination on their queen.

Intel from the Alliance raises the alarm: Earth is teetering on the brink of an impending attack. Quintos, reluctantly pulled back into service by the EUNF, finds himself up against untenable odds. The one bright spot is USS Franklin, awaiting his command, an Omninought-Class behemoth armed with the latest cutting-edge technology.

Archie Miller might be a dreamer, but he’s seen the complex mousetraps the stray barn cat builds, and he knows he’s right. When his late father wills him the “magic cat” as his only inheritance, Archie is ready to prove it, making a deal with the supposed faerie to gain his fortune. But the ornery brown tabby has plans of his own. And when Archie ends up entangled with a shapeshifting ogre and a reckless royal beauty, it seems he has unleashed more magical mayhem than he can handle.

With those three words, The Master, leader of the Kuiper Knights, unleashed a horrific terror attack on the United Nations of Terra that united the entire planet against them. Major Abner Fortis takes command of Second Battalion of the First Regiment of the newly reconstituted Second ISMC Division and joins the force deployed to the Free Sector to mete out punishment to the evildoers.

Meet Calcannis Illudere, a certified dungeon accountant (TM), who takes on failing dungeon cores, turning their lairs into the hero-slaying death traps of their dreams. On Fidotopia, a world full of otherwise happy puppies, a sudden shift in the Tree of Souls has flooded a cynical stink slime’s disorganized dungeon with new energy. Now that rubbish dungeon is the number one destination for powerful raiders looking to level up quickly.

Gabriel, an ex-soldier-turned-project-manager with anger issues, is sent to a small town in New Mexico and charged with keeping a failed government experiment secret and stable. There he meets Tam, an oddly philosophical scientist, but as they settle into a bantering friendship, things go catastrophically wrong.

The Great Serpent grants a gift of powerful essence to those who come before him. The experience, and the gift, is unpredictable but all have a vision of the Great Serpent so they can understand the purpose of their essence.

Sergeant Ryan’s forced optimism hasn’t been contagious, at least not since their aircraft crashed under mysterious circumstances. They had to scrap their mission of finding the missing explorers who were supposed to greenlight colonization on the alien planet. Even before being hunted, they were down a soldier, so he understands his compatriots’ frustration.

Huon and Liona have reached the rank of Immortal. On the world of Temtoria, they developed abilities long lost to the surgecallers in Harolan and Taloniar. But their journey is far from over. On their return, they must help their friends catch up to their level of strength while pushing forward in their mission to defeat the Immortal Seven and the Everlasting King.

A new crime lord has risen, claiming control of Marquithe's underbelly. Ruthless and powerful, this man demands Jerrell join his ranks. Jerrell refuses, preferring his independence, but soon realizes he cannot face the entire thieves guild on his own. With a gorgeous and conniving partner at his side, he acquires a new client willing to pay an outrageous sum if he can execute the impossible: steal a ton of silver from a mine controlled by a powerful wizard and guarded by an army of soldiers. Action, intrigue, and betrayal await in this outlandish conclusion to Jerrell's solo adventures.

Agent Farrell and his team have Joshua backed into a corner. At the NSMZ base, a Maelstrom permie rig and a team of scientists await Joshua’s arrival. Silently observing from the sidelines is Peter Yee of the Siuping Clan, a powerful crime boss to whom Joshua owes a favor.

Destined to be an apprentice of Elazar the Magician, Magnus’s future is destroyed when his best friend Tyrus betrays him. Magnus can only watch as everyone he loves is destroyed by the terrible power of Tyrus’s magic Kagi mushroom. Magnus barely escapes with his life, spending the next two decades running from his horrible past.

Special Forces are accustomed to crazy ops, but orbiting a black hole to slow down time and fight Earth’s dirty wars in the future? That’s new, even for them. But that’s the mission for Owen Quarry, Anaya Pretorius, and the rest of COG, a company of elite, disgraced, soldiers from around the globe. They join a defrocked company commander, an AI warship with self-confidence issues, and a crew of misfit troopers on a dizzying time-quest: prove the concept of stationing armies in space-time. If they complete ten missions, they’ll be redeemed as citizens in good standing.

This anthology, with an introduction by Robert Silverberg, offers a sweeping survey of robots as depicted throughout literature. Since the Iliad—in which we are shown golden statues built by Hephaestus “with minds and wisdoms”—humans have been fascinated by the idea of artificial life. From the Argonautica to the medieval Jewish legend of the Golem and Ambrose Bierce’s tale of a chess-playing robot, the idea of what robots are—and who creates them—can be drastically different.

A quick-witted thief aspires for fame and fortune...if he can survive the schemes of the ruling class. After foiling an assassination attempt, Jerrell conducts a masterful piece of sleuthing to identify and capture the culprit. His actions earn him an office at the vaunted Marquithe Bureau of Trading, where he can promote his services to Farrowen's aristocracy. Wealth and fame await him. His first client offers a vast sum for the retrieval of an item of power. Unfortunately, the item is already the prize of a mighty and influential wizard.

High up in the fog-shrouded mountains, a secluded resort has been infested by the ultimate evil. A powerful demonic entity has claimed a teenage girl as its lover. And its tendrils of corruption stretch through the town, infecting the icy ground with its foul taint.

A job pits Jonathan and his team against Heziah, where they finally find a way to fully rid themselves of him. Now jailed, Heziah is no longer a threat. The team can finally relax—and Jonathan can retire with his newfound wealth.