Showing results by narrator "John Pirhalla" in All Categories

In the small town of Montgomery, Arizona, Kyle Decker's book shop is barely breaking even. When a bank opens in the empty storefront next door, he hopes the new establishment will bring in more foot traffic. Trouble is, nobody has ever heard of the First People's Bank, and the local branch has appeared mysteriously overnight. Their incentives for new customers seem reasonable...at first. But is it a coincidence when Kyle's wife has her identity stolen and his son receives emails that seem to know his private thoughts? Or when the manager of a competing bank dies a gruesome death?

Fast Minds is an acronym for common symptoms that are often seen in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Millions of adults have ADHD or some of its traits, but they are under-recognized, under-treated, and often under-supported. This book empowers people with ADHD, or some of its characteristics, to adapt and thrive. By working through the program in this book, you will develop personalized strategies to take control of your life.

The true spirit master remains at large. Tolan might be the only one able to stop him, but he must find the truth within himself first. The element bonds, for so long the primary way to reach the power of the elements, have been tainted. The threat Tolan has long feared has revealed himself but escaped before his plan could be stopped. Now, Tolan and his allies must travel beyond the waste to search for answers. The journey again takes him away from his teaching responsibilities.

CHICAGO, SOMETIME— Two people meet in the Art Institute by chance. Prior to their encounter, he is a doctoral student who manages his destructive thoughts with compulsive calculations about time travel; she is a bipolar counterfeit artist, undergoing court-ordered psychotherapy. By the end of the story, these things will still be true. But this is not a story about endings.

Mike and Beth didn't know each other existed before the night of the meteor shower. A melancholy film producer and a house sitter barely scraping by—chance made them neighbors, a bottle of champagne brought them together, and a shared need for human connection sparked something more. After a drunken and desperate one-night stand, the two strangers awake to discover a surprise astronomical event has left widespread destruction in its wake. But the cosmic lightshow was only part of something much bigger, and far more terrifying.

The cursed families of Black River are about to make their final stand. On one side are the survivors of the ancient curse, a nightmare that has plagued their bloodlines for centuries. And standing against them is the sinister and twisted Bell Witch, an evil spirit who lives on in a new host.... Powered by the souls of her victims, the witch’s malignance infests the woods surrounding Black River.

After his wife is murdered in Chicago, by-the-book agent Blake Jordan focuses on the one thing he’s always been good at: his job. But Blake is so consumed by grief, he doesn’t notice that someone is watching him from the shadows. When Senator Keller asks Blake to handle security the night he’s set to receive his party’s nomination for president, he accepts the assignment. But he didn’t expect the senator to disappear under his watch.

The empire defeated the Swarm at the Battle of Iris, but it came at a great cost. To win, Hazard King needed to reveal he was Crown Prince Henry and take command of the Imperial Fleet as War Leader. Now their enemy is suing for peace, something many in the empire don't want to give. There are even officers in his own fleet that wish to restart the war and eradicate the Swarm. Hazard and his mother, Empress Elizabeth, face not only issues in the Isis System but across the empire.

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.

Wren, Shrike, and Lark are three, very special siblings with one unusual calling. Raised by a father gifted with the ability to sense impending death, his visions allowed them to save people’s lives. But they never imagined meddling with fate would have horrific consequences. Now their beloved father is dead, murdered by one of the people they saved. And the Rose siblings have unearthed a terrifying secret: those who were meant to die have become hosts for demonic spirits from beyond. Ghostly apparitions who feed on misery and pain. And who delight in torturing their human victims.

The buried contents of a Nazi train. An aging SS mass-murderer - with one last unexpected sting in his tail. And the war secrets of a US presidential hopeful’s Jewish family, hidden in London for 70 years. Joe Johnson is more than intrigued when he learns of a link between the financing for the presidential candidate’s campaign, the Nazi train, and a ruthless British blackmail plot. But the investigation becomes bigger and more deeply personal than Johnson expects when it turns out the SS Holocaust killer escaped his net years earlier.

In his introduction, guest editor S. A. Cosby observes that writing short stories is “a special skill that combines brevity with wit and cleverness and the hint of the existential malaise that imbues crime fiction with its gravitas.” The stories in this collection overflow with gravitas in the most unexpected ways: a cryptic note left on a windshield, a murder for hire meets a game of Mouse Trap, a swipe right on a dating app goes horribly wrong.

Torian Ranth wants nothing more than to master his sahir magic. Having spent years training, he still can’t form even his primary patterns consistently, let alone attempt any higher tiered power. His continued failures mean that his time in school must come to an end.

When you step off the landing craft into the sea, bullets flying at 0630, how do you react to your vision of your mother opening the telegram that you have been killed? When your glider crashes and breaks apart, what do you when you are shot and the Germans are bearing down on you, and you know your dog tags identify you as a Jew?

Since the dawn of civilization, a hidden hand has gripped mankind. Operating in darkness with limitless wealth and power, this ancient Shadow Caste has controlled every major event in human history - mass migrations, revolutions, plagues, even two world wars. But now these ancient “caretakers” want to change the global experiment. Civilization is too successful, they believe, and our overpopulation threatens the existence of all life on earth.

The intergalactic barbarian has started establishing himself in this new future. But with a growing reputation comes the need to accomplish more complex feats. The Komran are happy to oblige, though they may not know it. They have taken a valuable Vale-sanctioned mine, trapping all the residents within and forcing them to work night and day. Curiously, the hostage-takers are not searching for the ore within.

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.

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.

Sean Wyatt quit working for the United States government years ago but after recent events, he's come to realize his particular set of skills might still be needed to keep the world a little safer. With an evil mastermind behind a twisted plot, Sean is on the clock with less than 72 hours to find a Nazi device known as die glocke [the bell] before a for-profit terrorist cell known as The Black Ring executes an innocent woman.

In Locksburg, Pennsylvania, a former coal and steel town whose best days seem long past, five thousand residents have toughed it out, and have reasons for both worry and hope as this neglected place teeters between decay and renewal. For some of them, their biggest troubles have just arrived.