Showing results by narrator "J. S. Arquin" in All Categories

Nikki Dymtryk is Hollywood's hottest reality TV star, known for her wild party lifestyle and prolific sexual conquests. But when the ratings for her show Being Nikki begin to drop, the Dymtryk family engineers a new plan to keep Nikki in the limelight: reinventing the young star as a bestselling author. Nikki's team hires Stewart "Hoagy" Hoag to ghostwrite a steamy romance novel showcasing the glitz and glamor of the Hollywood elite.

Ethan has tracked down the sword Excalibur to an ancient tomb now controlled by the orc nation. They will let him see it, but he just has to do one simple task: Talk to a rampaging dragon! Did they forget to mention that the shamans they previously sent never returned? The companions must make it to the dragon's lair through the troll and giant infested forest while being harried by more fishmen. And there's the magic eating fairies to deal with! Supposedly, they can drain the Mana right out of a wizard!

Jason and Sophie survive the initial months of chaos following the EMP attack. Their growing community is fighting back against the human traffickers who threaten them and other innocent survivors. They have built a compound that seems a safe haven. But as the threat grows, can Jason's young army of rebels meet the challenge, or will they, too, become victims?

Now, Jason, Alicia, and the others face their biggest challenge: the corrupt state leader who enabled Mackey and his human trafficking. Jason's enemies are powerful, with resources far beyond those of the rebel community. But the Marauders are joined by new allies, some from unexpected sources. Can they prevail against enormous odds, or will the forces of evil and human suffering triumph, driving the shattered world into unending darkness?

Gage Cross was a retired assassin from another world. A world he only vaguely remembered as Earth. Since being dropped onto this new world as a boy, he’d become one of the best assassins on this planet. He’d left the life of an assassin behind—given all of it up for a woman named Alani and his daughter, Shaunna. He was supposed to live a simple, peaceful life. Then his old life caught up with him. Assassins came. They burned down his house. They killed his wife and child. Now, Gage will find the person responsible and make them pay—and no one will stop him.

Captain James Henry is caught between a rock and a hard place - again. Merchant ships operating in neutral space near the Terran Coalition and the League of Sol are disappearing without a trace. The latest report has something the others didn’t: a survivor. When news reaches the planet Lusitania during a cargo offload, Captain Henry and the Shadow Wolf’s crew are hired to extract the surviving operative before she’s silenced and the information she has is lost.

What once was his downfall becomes their saving grace. Hard-fought skirmishes leave Captain James Henry and the Shadow Wolf limping into Lusitania’s port. Payday awaits once the undercover operative is safely delivered planet-side to brief authorities on the League of Sol’s activities within neutral territory. But Jim learned long ago never to take anything at face value.

After a player-led event turns his once peaceful town into a band of ravenous monsters, Hirrus obtains a sentience usually unobtainable by non-player characters. It might be a gift of the gods, or a mistake, but Hirrus doesn’t care. It means he can track down and find the players responsible and stop them from doing it again.

Sex. Horror. Discomfort. In five stories and one poem, you'll find questions and answers, and you might learn something about yourself along the way. Something uncomfortable. Something dark. Come on in and join us. Lean back, open up, and let us take a look at that tickle. We're sure it's nothing serious. Just...something in your mouth.

A century ago, the world fell - but the war never ended. Now, the survivors of the apocalypse are reunited, and a new fight begins. A century after the war that destroyed the planet, the UEC and GPS remain locked in a generational conflict. Split between a vast orbital space station and a base on the moon, neither faction can return to the scorched and irradiated planet.

Willem Jaantzen didn't ask to be a hero. He just wants to keep his family safe in the shifting sands of Bulari's underground - and to get the city's upper crust to acknowledge just how far he's come since his days as an orphaned street kid. With his businesses thriving and his dark past swept into the annals of history, it looks like he has everything he could ever ask for. Until, that is, his oldest rival turns up murdered and the blame - and champagne - begins to flow.

Valentinian won a treasure map in a crooked card game. Its call brings him back to the planet Kryuome. There, he and the crew must outsmart the locals, the mutants, as well as the Widow aboard her new warship, in order to uncover a secret two thousand years in the making. Or die trying.

Portents is a city like no other - and one that Detective Greg Loren can’t wait to escape. Since his wife’s death years earlier, Loren has looked forward to the moment he can leave the city of Portents for good - and never look back. But fate has another plan for Loren. Called back to duty, Loren finds himself embroiled in a series of murders that has shaken the city. Together with Soriya Greystone, a young woman with unearthly powers, Loren must work quickly to find the otherworldly being that is killing citizens of Portents one at a time.

The beautiful Sally Anne has everyone fascinated, including Tommy's best friend, George, who kisses her the first chance he gets. But it isn't just a regular kiss! Sally Anne's kiss is ice cold. Even knowing her chilling gift, Tommy can't help but get close to her and ultimately discover her big secret.

The common people have become the currency, outlaws have shifted to mercenaries, and freedom is no more than a thought of the past. Fear, violence, slavery - throughout his adult life, Barloc has known no other way. A quarter of a century has passed since King Sclavus decreed slavery legal in the Kingdom of Kuldaire. When Barloc is sold to Lord Harbor, his new owner offers queer promises of freedom. Barloc is forced to question everything around him as he embarks on this new trial.

Lasadi doesn't like strangers on her ship, but she'll need a bigger crew if she's going to steal a mysterious artifact from a dead pirate's long-lost space station. She takes a chance on a charming grifter named Raj, along with a skilled hacker and her genius little brother. And it's...nice? If Lasadi isn't careful, she's going to start enjoying having a crew aboard. Raj's last bit of luck capsized right before he ran into Lasadi, and this job could finally get his life back on track—as long as Lasadi never learns the truth about his past.

Merlin is alive! Ethan, Guinevere, and his friends must rescue the legendary wizard. But first, they have to find him. With only vague clues to give them direction, Ethan must pool all of his resources and knowledge before it is too late. At the same time, there's a magic-using Ogre who wants him dead, a corrupted city trying to summon an evil goddess, and the strange insect queen who wants to eat his brain. Ethan will need to use all of his cunning and unravel the mystery of the strange dragon glyph before his world collapses around him.

Garran Holt is a troubled young man. Unable to tolerate his self-destructive ways, his mother sells him into indentured servitude as part of work crew building the King Remiel’s new trade road. When mercenaries sent to disrupt the road’s construction attacks his work camp, Garran discovers an inner power capable of turning him into a warrior of unparalleled ability. Recognizing Garran as being one of the transcended (a fighter able to slip into the swifter currents of time), he is trained as an agent, one of the kingdom’s elite spies.

Valora Keri’s problems are multiplying like moles. Every time she whacks one, three more pop up. First, a good friend turns up dead under mysterious circumstances. While Val is busy trying to figure out why, witch hunters show up at her door, demanding she stand trial for crimes committed years ago. She needs time to sort it out, but instead she’s coerced into a new job she doesn’t want, forcing her to rub shoulders with powerful people. Add in a dash of necromancer and a pinch of pissed off vampire queen, and Val is in a stew bubbling with all the ingredients for disaster.

When Duncan MacGuire sets out to help a slave escape the Great Houses of the South, little does he know they'd send a demon to capture them. Set in the Boston Metaphysical Society alternate history universe, this short story is a prequel to the award winning novel, Boston Metaphysical Society: A Storm of Secrets and the popular graphic novel, Boston Metaphysical Society.