Showing results by narrator "John Pirhalla" in All Categories

Young elf prince Drynn has always lived in the shadow of his athletic and popular elder brother. But, when the bookish boy’s mother dies from a mystery illness and he receives the Queen’s Opal, he’s plagued by visions of the past and a growing power. And, with the gem supposedly cursing those who possess it, he must enter the human realm to hunt down the cure…or become the next to die. Outside the forest, Drynn finds much has changed with the world now ruled by greedy wizards coveting more magic.

Sadie Grace is wanted for witchcraft, dead (or alive). And every hired gun in Kansas is out to collect the bounty on her head, including bonafide witch hunter Old Tom and his mysterious, mute ward Rabbit. On the road to Burden County, they’re joined by two vagabond cowboys with a strong sense of adventure–but no sense of purpose–and a recently widowed schoolteacher with nothing left to lose. And as their posse grows, so too does the danger.

Executioners don’t solve crimes; they punish those who commit them. Or, so Finn thought before apprenticed to one. Poverty-stricken Finn Jagger would give anything to heal his ailing mother. With his father imprisoned, Finn has joined a thieving crew to earn the money he needs to save her. When the latest heist turns to disaster and lands him on death row, Finn’s future seems to be tied up with a noose. Until the king’s executioner claims him as an apprentice. Finn soon learns an executioner has far more power and greater responsibility than he’d ever realized.

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 dark reflection of evil has been unleashed.... Dylan Reynolds seems like an average, lonely teenager. Forced to move to a strange city where he doesn’t know anyone, Dylan rebels against his parents and runs away from home. But a chance encounter unlocks something hidden away in the troubled youth’s mind - a suppressed memory of a twin brother. And a sinister secret lurks in their shared past.... This special edition includes the entire terrifying Ghost Mirror trilogy, plus two additional short story collections.

Xavier Collins was sitting in class when the System integrated Earth into the Greater Universe, where countless vast kingdoms, empires, and collectives battle for domination. He didn't know what choosing to be a Champion would entail. He just liked the sound of it. But when he's teleported to the aptly-named Tower of Champions, he must face challenges against those who have known about the System since birth.

Finn has served the king as journeyman executioner, but the time has come for a testing with the executioner court. Regardless of the outcome, he will no longer serve in Verendal.

Harry Fox is after the man who ripped his family apart. How can he get his revenge? By tempting the man with a relic he can't refuse. But fate intervenes when an earthquake reveals the tomb of a Thracian king. A tantalizing missive in the tomb pulls Harry away from his quest for revenge and launches him on a perilous chase to uncover the truth behind this Thracian mystery. Except Harry isn't the only person racing through the past. Harry follows a treacherous path across ancient Thrace as a mysterious adversary closes in.

Grand Master of the Science Fiction Writers of America and winner of countless awards—including the Hugo, Nebula, Edgar Allan Poe, and Bram Stoker—Harlan Ellison proved once more that he was both unpredictable and irrepressible in this second collection of innovative science fiction. Again, Dangerous Visions—the middle installment in a planned three anthology series—includes award-winning stories from incomparable writers such as Ursula K. Le Guin, Gene Wolfe, Ray Bradbury, Kurt Vonnegut, Piers Anthony, Dean Koontz, and James Tiptree, among many others.

The offspring of the four families have barely managed to escape the Bell Witch’s deadly harvest. Exhausted, terrified, and haunted by their families’ twisted secrets, they know that death still awaits in the woods. Unless they can work together, and end the curse once and for all. Determined to free their families from the witch’s game, the young survivors return to the mist-shrouded forests of Black River, Tennessee. But they soon realize they are not alone. Something is watching, stalking them through the gnarled trees.

Crimefighting is illegal, punishable by life in prison at the bottom of the ocean. It sucks. But that won't stop me from doing what I was born to do: uphold justice and stop good people from being hurt. Even if everyone I once called a friend is against me, I'm not bowing down to the Counter Vigilante Taskforce.

Rita Randall, a celebrated film noir actress in 1948, leaves LA after a fatal confrontation. Clint West is a best-selling author in 2019, struggling to move on after the death of his wife. Rita and Clint travel to Long Island, New York and occupy the same beach house - 71 years apart. When Rita appears in the background of Clint’s recent cell phone photos, he’s mystified. When Clint appears in Rita’s photos, she’s troubled and confused. Clint investigates and learns about secret time travel experiments that were conducted in the area during the 1940s.

A battle-scarred Vietnam vet has been living alone deep in the woods, but when a group of weekend campers enter the area, his fragile grasp on reality breaks, and he believes he’s back in the jungle...surrounded by an enemy he needs to kill.

Harry Fox now finds himself allied with the very people who tried to lock him away. An uneasy alliance with authorities who combat artifacts trafficking gives Harry a chance to seek the one answer that has eluded him: the truth behind his murdered father's mysterious amulet.

In a not-so-distant future, Earth is at the mercy of a rogue quantum AI, with the power to manipulate time, space, and reality. This once-benign creation has gone off the rails, turning our world into a chaotic, dystopian landscape straight out of a video game. Amidst this madness, Liam, an ordinary man, is thrust into the role of Earth's unlikely savior. Tasked with rebooting the entire planet, he must navigate a world where the rules of physics are as malleable as the whims of the AI that controls it.

Ancient gates are opening, threatening the home that Sam and his family have built, as well as the very foundation of Aster Fall itself. The Dimensional Convergence begins as Grand Flaws appear in every direction for hundreds of miles, tearing apart the Western Reaches as demonic horrors trapped by the First War pour forth. They were locked in time by the power of the World Seal, but now that barrier is crumbling.

In Black River, Tennessee, there is a legend hiding in the shadowy trees. The Bell Witch, a vile, vindictive spirit, is said to haunt the dark woods. Driven by rage, she stalks the descendants of four ancient families - cursed bloodlines, doomed to play out her sadistic game for eternity. Until four young survivors take a stand, and vow to end the witch’s curse once and for all. Their journey will pit them against death, madness, and demonic forces. But if they fail, the witch’s curse will claim a new generation of souls....

If you’re going to fight a space war, you have to have spaceships. Charlie has a headquarters, a purpose, and an army…everything you need to build a resistance. Except warships. The Anguilar have plenty, but they also know the resistance will be coming after them, and they’ve set a hardened killer to hunt down Charlie.

In the Void beyond Aster Fall, Sam stands watch at the fortress of Silverguard, protecting the world from an ancient enemy. His strength as an Astral Titan is all that stands between it and destruction. Meanwhile, dimensional cracks are spreading through the World Seal, the barrier that protects Aster Fall from invasion by the Outsider galaxy. Flaws are appearing with increasing frequency as demonic armies flood through, including old enemies from the First War. If the seal fails completely, Aster Fall will break and disaster will follow.

It seemed like a great way to bank some cash, travel to exciting destinations on his boss’ dime, and keep under the radar of some very bad men trying to kill him.