Showing results by narrator "Zura Johnson" in All Categories

Sarah Kurchak is autistic. She hasn’t let that get in the way of pursuing her dream to become a writer, or to find love, but she has let it get in the way of being in the same room with someone chewing food loudly and of cleaning her bathroom sink. In I Overcame My Autism and All I Got Was This Lousy Anxiety Disorder, Kurchak examines the Byzantine steps she took to become “an autistic success story”, how the process almost ruined her life, and how she is now trying to recover.

When Cassidy Jameson’s best friend Tyler took her to Texas with him when he left for college, she was expecting his ranch-owning cousin Gage, their new roommate, to be a Stetson-wearing cowboy; not an incredibly gorgeous guy with a husky Southern drawl that seemed to make the world stop whenever she looked at him. Because of her past, she’s only ever trusted two men in her life: Tyler, and her dad who passed away when she was six. But there’s something about Gage that draws her to him in a way she can’t explain.

Psychologist Dr. Ophelia Bray has dedicated her life to the study and prevention of ERS—a space-based condition most famous for a case that resulted in the brutal murders of twenty-nine people. When she's assigned to a small exploration crew, she's eager to make a difference. But as they begin to establish residency on an abandoned planet, it becomes clear that crew is hiding something. While Ophelia focuses on her new role, her crewmates are far more interested in investigating the eerie, ancient planet and unraveling the mystery behind the previous colonizer's hasty departure.

After Keelynn witnesses her sister's murder at the hands of the legendary Gancanagh, an immortal creature who seduces women and kills them with a cursed kiss, she realizes there’s nothing she wouldn't do to get her back. With the help of a vengeful witch, she’s given everything she needs to resurrect the person she loves most. Tadhg, a devilishly handsome half-fae who has no patience for high society—or propriety—would rather spend his time in the company of loose women and dark creatures than help a human kill one of his own. Until Keelynn makes him an offer he can’t refuse.

A malignant blight ravages Tearmann, wreaking havoc on the lives of the Danú. If Tadhg and Keelynn cannot find a way to stop it before it reaches the castle, there won’t be anything left for them to save. While the blight rages on, Aveen and Rían face troubles of their own. Between confronting ghosts from the past and fending off the Phantom Queen’s thirst for vengeance, peace and happiness seem too far out of reach. It isn’t a matter of if the Princes of Tearmann will fall, but when.

What would you do if you woke up to a different life? Because that’s what happened to me. I woke up in a hospital bed with my family and friends telling me everything I knew was nothing more than a coma-induced dream. The girl I love. The baby we’re having…all of it ripped away. In their place is a house I don’t recognize and a girl I’ve never seen before who’s claiming she’s my fiancée. To everyone around me, it’s clear my mind twisted around my real life to create a false one. As weeks pass and a few crucial memories return, it’s easy to see they’re right.

Even before they were transformed into Gorgons, Medusa, Stheno, and Euryale were unique among their immortal family. Curious about mortals and their lives, Medusa and her sisters entered the human world in search of a place to belong, yet quickly found themselves at the perilous center of a dangerous Olympian rivalry and learned—too late—that a god's love is a violent one.

Nicole Victoria didn't grow up with wealth. But she learned the secrets to financial freedom and now specializes in helping twenty and thirty-something women effortlessly manage their money and build bank accounts that never stop growing. Money isn't everything, but everything takes money. Maybe you have debt. You feel like you'll always be playing catch up. Maybe you've tried to get help before, tried to budget, followed traditional advice . . . but it just doesn't work for you. You're stressed and overwhelmed, feeling stuck because you don't know where things went wrong.

All that stands between rowdy long-haul trucker Jill MacLeod (aka Junkmouth) and her family back in Boston is two thousand miles of asphalt. Well, that and the monstrous game the System has had her playing ever since it descended on Earth. The reward: mana. Jill's goal: kill, score, drive—and stay alive. Behind the wheel of a turreted forty-ton semi named Bertha, Jill hammers east from Montana through a gauntlet of every kind of chomping, hissing, rabid creature imaginable. Barreling forward in her magical soulbound big rig and chalking up a bumper crop of roadkill, Jill isn't alone for long.

When Lykke finds herself sentenced to death for murdering a fae noble, she’s shocked to see it’s the older brother—Connor—who steps in to save her...and not in the way she expected. In a world jaded by war, where love is weakness, a fae prince finds himself torn between his desire to save his country and his growing love for a human. He can’t save both, but how can he choose between his duty and his heart?

This is a tale that used to be about dungeons... Now it's mostly about walking in the woods with a friend, looking for mushrooms to put in your soup. Maybe haggling with the squash seller, or taking care of a neglected garden, or even just putting some jam on a good shortbread biscuit. And yes, sometimes you still go down into the dungeons with your friends, and kill monsters there, disarm traps, avoid spiked pits etcetera, etcetera. But when you come out now, it's not really about the gold and loot.

Anna May Jones is the daughter of a coal miner, but a sickly constitution has kept her confined to the house for most of her life. Hoping to improve her daughter's health—and lessen the burden on their family—Anna's mother sends her to live with her Aunt Jinny, a witchy-woman and an Elemental Master, in a holler outside of Ducktown.

After living her life behind the walls of the illustrious kingdom of Delinval, Princess Mara, niece of the great King Grathiel, understands what is expected of her. As her uncle's only heir, she was raised to be a noble woman with a full understanding of the history of the lands of Zenafrost and the fallen kingdoms that lay beyond Delinval's protected borders. But the political intrigue and endless theatrics that come with her birth-right have never suited her. Mara loathes the future her uncle has planned for her, and the approach of her twenty-first birthday brings with it a new horror.

For her entire life, Rose Maxwell trained to become the next Prima on the Supernatural Council. Now that she’s stepped down, it’s time for this witch to focus on herself—and not think about her impulsive one-night stand with Damian Adams, a half-demon veterinarian who she can’t get out of her head, since neither of them is looking for a relationship. But when Rose is sentenced to community service at Damian’s animal sanctuary, it becomes impossible for them to ignore their sparking attraction.

Owen Larrabee is not my soulmate. He wasn't when I confessed my love to him on his wedding day, and he isn't now. I should probably say that I wasn't the bride when that happened. I don't have the best timing. He's got a temper, he's moody, and he has a history of being misunderstood and making big mistakes. I, on the other hand, make pumpkin cupcakes, spend my Friday nights curled up with a beloved romance novel, and long to be kissed in the rain. Owen is my best friend's older, off-limits brother and the only boy I ever thought I loved.

Dancer Beth Spence finally gets a shot at her dream—auditioning for the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes. But her audition concludes with a torn Achilles tendon and possibly the end of her dance career. When her sister, Delaney, flies her to Meadow Valley, California, to recuperate, she is reluctant to go but out of options. Beth has no idea that Delaney has set her up with a job managing widower Eli Murphy’s veterinary clinic while staying in the guest house on his ranch.

Aveen is the perfect lady, placid and well-mannered, concealing her discontentment beneath false smiles and gentle nods. As the eldest, her duty has always been to her family legacy and her sister's happiness. But when she finds herself forced into betrothal to a man she loathes, she swears she'll do anything to escape. Even if it means bargaining with a wicked fae prince.

Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the first issues of Weird Tales Magazine, 100 Years of Weird is a masterful compendium of new and classic stories, flash fiction, essays, and poems from the giants of speculative fiction, including R. L. Stine, Laurell K. Hamilton, Ray Bradbury, H. P. Lovecraft, Tennessee Williams, and Isaac Asimov.

Olive Maxwell much prefers teaching about the Supernatural world to taking part in it and leaves the magical shenanigans to her two sisters. After assigning her college students a project designed to nudge them outside their comfort zones, Olive realizes she’s never once stepped a toe out of her own—and it’s about time that changed. Her first trip into the unknown? Moving in with her longtime crush and friend: tattooed, motorcycle-riding, and pleasantly pierced Baxter Donovan.

Deep in the dark forest, in a cottage that spins on birds’ legs behind a fence topped with human skulls, lives the baba yaga. A guardian of the water of life, she lives with her sisters and takes to the skies in a giant mortar and pestle, creating tempests as she goes. Those who come across the baba yaga may find help, or hinderance, or horror. She is wild, she is woman, she is witch—and these are her tales.