Showing results by narrator "Marni Penning" in All Categories

Accidental space adventurer Cal Carver has had a rough few months. He's fought spider-dragons, battled space clowns, and been repeatedly tortured by the galaxy's oldest assassin. And don't even get him started on the squirrel tits. Now Cal just wants to kick back and relax. The universe, however, has other ideas. He and his crew find themselves in possession of the Symmorium Sentience, a once god-like entity now stripped of its power. But with dark forces seeking to turn the Sentience's power into a planet-pulverizing weapon, the team's trek becomes a desperate race against time.

Conquering dungeons and using them to grow has long been the most efficient way to become a powerful adventurer. The only thing keeping the process from being easy is the Beasts that inhabit these places. Questions plague those entering this particular place of power: Where do the ‘rewards’ of weapons, armor, and heavy gold coins come from? Why is a fluffy bunny charging at me? For abyss-sake, why are there so many monsters? Cal has all of the answers to these age-old questions for a very simple reason. He is a Dungeon Core, a soul forced against his will into a magical stone.

The world thinks I only write songs about my ex-boyfriends. They study each lyric to point a finger at which man broke my heart—even if I’ve never met him. Only the man I refuse to write about is the one who is so tangled in my mind that I know I can never be with him.

Cultural Christians in the Early Church, which aims to be both historical and practical, argues that cultural Christians were the rule, rather than the exception, in the early church. Using different categories of sins as its organizing principle, the book considers the challenge of culture to the earliest converts to Christianity, as they struggled to live on mission in the Greco-Roman cultural milieu of the Roman Empire.

When the Rebels escaped through the portal, the planet they chose seemed like the perfect place to hide. Shrouded in flames, with underground caves and passages, Alistair knew it would give them a chance to regroup. He was wrong. As Dreadnaughts narrow their search and come closer to the planet called Phoenix, it has become clear that their options are limited. Caught between two threats, Alistar knows only one thing: The Commonwealth never forgets or forgives.

After several years as a vampire, starting a business, founding his own clan, and proposing to his girlfriend, Fred is finally beginning to settle into life as an undead accountant. Unfortunately, not everyone is happy about his continued survival, or the dangerous friends he's made along the way. The Blood Council has dispatched a representative to determine if Fred is fit for the position he currently fills as head of a clan, and the stakes for failure are deathly serious. Worse, Fred will have to muddle through without the help of Krystal, who is off on a mysterious task of her own.

Police Chief Delaney Reed can handle supernatural disasters. With gods vacationing in her little town of Ordinary, Oregon, and monsters living alongside humans, she’s had plenty of practice. But trying to handle something so normal, so average, so very ordinary as planning her own wedding to the man she loves? Delaney is totally out of her depth. When a car falls out of the sky and lands on the beach, Delaney is more than happy to push guest lists and venue dates out of her mind. The car appears empty, but someone has slipped into Ordinary with stolen weapons from the gods.

Targa fears the truth will lose her the man she loves. As she returns to Poland to reunite with Antoni, she wishes she could share her mermaid secrets without betraying her kind. But when a magical stone goes missing from the local museum, the siren may have to choose between protecting her loved ones and treason.

With a thriving parahuman accounting practice, a steady relationship, and a circle of trusted friends, Fred’s undead life has become more enjoyable than his normal one ever was. Unfortunately, it also seems that he’s no longer the only vampire to appreciate the up-and-coming city of Winslow, Colorado. A new clan of vampires is moving in, and they aren’t well known for tolerating outsiders in their territory.

In the tenth year of the Change, the survivors in western Oregon live in a world without technology. Michael Havel’s Bearkillers hold the lands west of Salem in peace and order. To the east, the Clan Mackenzie flourishes under the leadership of Juniper Mackenzie, bard and High Priestess. Together, they have held Norman Arminger - the warlord of Portland - at bay. With his dark fantasies of a neofeudal empire, Arminger rules much of the Pacific Northwest, spreading fear with his knights, castles, and holy inquisition.

Cornerstone is a ville like no other that Ryan Cawdor and his companions have ever encountered. Hoping to find medical treatment for wounds sustained combating Magus and his creations, especially Ryan’s own debilitating injury, they have been brought to Cornerstone by their new friends, a relationship forged from those same battles. The ville appears to be a prosperous bastion of civilization, sheltered from the savagery of the Deathlands by virtue of the community’s relationship with an extraordinary manifestation of the will of Gaia.

After an amicable divorce, piano teacher Anna Dunlap has built an independent life in New England for herself and her four-year-old daughter, Molly. It's all Anna thinks she needs—until she meets Leo Cutter, an artist who makes her feel desired, unabashedly sexual, and filled with certitude and passion for the first time. All it takes is a single unguarded moment for Anna's perfect world to implode. Leveling shocking charges against Leo, Anna's ex-husband crashes back into Anna's life and takes Molly with him.

High in the hills of Scotland, an ancient evil has returned. One young woman struggling to master her magic is the only hope to stop it. Teaming up with a handsome amateur historian, she uses her earth elemental gift to overturn secrets hidden deep in the soil. But never far from the trail of clues lurks a dark creature on the hunt for prey. As each clue is revealed, she learns more about her heritage and her own family history, revealing an uncomfortable link between herself and the wickedly alluring entity.

After narrowly escaping the devolved prison community of Ispville, the companions make their way on foot for the arduous 200-mile trek to the ruins of Chicago and the redoubt that holds the nearest known gateway, as winter sets in. This is only the first stage in their journey to the intended refuge of Ryan’s home ville of Front Royal, and hopefully a safe haven for the birth of Krysty’s child. To make matters worse, they’re the reluctant guardians of fellow former prisoners, a mother and three young daughters, none of whom possess the companions’ survival skills.

Secret agents Samuel and Mehrnaz are back in a new supernatural adventure in the ancient world! Imperial spymaster Croesus is sending his top team to Greece on a personal assignment: find out why the Oracle of Delphi betrayed him and how it engineered the death of his son and heir. But to reach Delphi, Samuel and Mehrnaz will first have to fight myth-obsessed pirates, charm a ship of women smugglers, wrestle Spartans in a death match, and outwit amorous Athenians. And at the Oracle, they must face their true opponents.

Mycroft Canner is a convict. For his crimes he is required, as is the custom of the 25th century, to wander the world being as useful as he can to all he meets. Carlyle Foster is a sensayer - a spiritual counselor in a world that has outlawed the public practice of religion, but which also knows that the inner lives of humans cannot be wished away.

In the back room at an elite gallery party, 40-something soccer mom Johanna Porter stands face to face with her younger self. The girl in the portrait, La Rosa Blanca, is fierce and fearless, and Johanna sees the great painter she almost was before her lover, the powerful artist Nestor Pinedo, torched her career. When she cuts the million-dollar masterpiece out of its frame, rolls it up and walks out, it’s not a theft. It’s a rescue.

Tatum hasn’t seen her daughter, Adrienne, in years, not since Tatum’s husband—the pastor in their small California town—all but disowned her. When she finally gathers the courage to secretly reconnect with Adrienne, Tatum’s thrilled she’s even willing to talk to her. But then—Adrienne disappears. When Adrienne doesn’t show up for her shift at the bar where Tatum’s been visiting her, she knows something is wrong. Adrienne may have been a bit of a wild child, but she hasn’t missed a day of work without calling in for years.

War is coming, and she must decide how badly she wants the vampires on her side. Or as a thorn in her side. When children go missing, and the Humans have no leads, I'm the one they call. I am their last hope in bringing home the lost ones. I salvage what they cannot. Bringing my allies together as war approaches is my number one concern. But that means I have to play nice with a vampire who is blackmailing me. If I don’t, I’m screwed and my family is dead. But I don't play nice. And I have a backup plan. Kinda.

As soon as Gail and Jon Durbin bring home their adopted baby Maya, she becomes the glue that mends their fractured marriage. But the Durbin’s social worker, Paige, can’t find the teenage birth mother to sign the consent forms. By law, Carli has seventy-two hours to change her mind. Without her signature, the adoption will unravel.