Showing results by publisher "Audible Studios" in Dark Fantasy

A new update arrives to the ultra-popular online game, Realm of Arkon. With Patch 17, the level of immersion experienced by players in their gaming capsules has made virtual reality indistinguishable from the real world. But every gamer's dream becomes a nightmare for Roman Kozhevnikov after he gets confined to Arkon against his will. And not just to Arkon, but to its deadliest zone - Demon Grounds. Playing - or rather living - as his character Krian, it's not just about survival for Roman.

These stories present electric messiahs, identity constructs, the Beatles, and even a nuclear Armageddon, which serve as comic foils for Lain's everyman characters. Here is an America where packets of Sea Monkeys arrive in the mail containing secret messages, and the girl next door can breathe underwater. With Last Week's Apocalypse, Douglas Lain arrives with a punch line and a warning.

Outcast and exiled, the demon Tarrik Nal-Valim has long been forgotten by the world of humans. At least, so he thinks. But when he is summoned as a last resort by a desperate sorcerer, it seems as though his past has caught up with him. The sorcerer is Serenity “Ren” Branwen, the daughter of Tarrik’s former master - and friend. Though she seems cold, driven, and ruthless, Tarrik can tell Ren has her back against a wall, and he is compelled by ferocious powers to obey her.

Secrets are dangerous! Maya Cantescu, an art student in the San Francisco Bay Area, has more secrets than she can handle. Some she keeps from herself, like her mysterious talent for sorcery. Some she knows too well, like the rare disease that threatens to kill her - or someone else. When she meets Tor Thorlaksson, a sorcerer and runemaster, he seems to offer an escape from her deadly problems. But he knows secrets about them both, and these could turn her world upside down.

The war for the soul of the Ascendant Empire is coming to a head. Factions with ill intent move to undermine or destroy that which has stood for centuries, while armies muster promising slaughter. In this time of desperation, old enemies find common ground. Ancient truths emerge to shatter long held beliefs. Monsters from myth and legend emerge onto the world stage, while blood drowns the ceremonies of the faithful.

Once a seasoned gamer, Max has cheated fate, swapping his dying body for an immortal avatar in the world of sword and sorcery MMORPGs. He joins the ranks of a new race of people: perma players, forever stuck in the virtual castles and cities of AlterWorld. Now they have to obey the ever-changing rules of their new home while learning to live together in peace, love, and justice. But freedom and immortality are a poisoned chalice. Some of Max's new friends crave power; others become traitors and spies.

Diviners have told Audrun that the child she carries must be born in a haven of peace, far from her war-scourged homeland, but as she flees she finds only far greater danger. For her karavan is overtaken by Alisanos, the deepwood - a dangerous magical forest that harbors not only demons, gods, and other otherworldly creatures, but also its own sinister intentions - and which may have already claimed Audrun and her child for its own.

Kit Colbana is always biting off more than she can chew. She has a knack for finding trouble. This time, though, trouble finds her. Someone from her past drops a case into her lap that she just can't refuse...literally. People on the Council are dying left and right and she's been requested to investigate the deaths. The number one suspect? Her lover, Damon. Her lover, Damon. If she doesn't clear his name, he gets a death sentence.

In this second installment of the Family Spies series, set in the best-selling world of Valdemar, the children of Heralds Mags and Amily must follow in their parents' footsteps to protect the realm. Mags, Herald Spy of Valdemar, and his wife, Amily, the King’s Own Herald, are happily married with three kids. Their daughter, Abidela, dreams of building on her parents' legacy by joining her father's network of spies, hoping to offset her seeming lack of a Gift. But then Abi senses the imminent collapse of a bridge only moments before it happens....

When driven by a goal, the impossible oft becomes doable, like slaughtering an entire coven of the Twice Cursed God’s adepts without mercy, or leading a legion of demons to storm the last bastion of the Cursed Princedom. But as the impossible hurdles keep on coming, even that drive may not be enough for Krian to escape Demon Grounds, make it to the higher plane, reunite with his sister and friend, and exact vengeance on his mortal enemy....

My name's Noah Kilmartin. I'm from Ruddock, Ohio, and I'm just about 50 percent unqualified to save the universe from the slavering demonic hordes of the super evil bitch queen Lilith. But just when I thought things were starting to look up...My companions and I arrive in Tagimron, the sphere of discordance. It's a hellscape on wheels, and every aspect of this claustrophobic and grimy world is intent on tearing my companions and I apart. Our only chance of resisting corruption and failure is to hold fast to the bonds that unite us, the love and faith that keep us strong.

The arrival of a very important person in her office seemed to be the start of a lot of problems for Kit Colbana, investigator extraordinaire. Claiming that he needed somebody with her special skillset, he sends her on a series of jobs that made little to no sense until one culminated with both her and her partner, Justin, barely escaping with their lives.

Jeff Noon returns with a sequel to the acclaimed A Man of Shadows, taking his hapless investigator into a city where reality is contaminated by the imagination of its citizens. In a city where words come to life and reality is infected by stories, private eye John Nyquist wakes up in a room with a dead body.... The dead man's impossible whispers plunge him into a murder investigation like no other. Clues point him deeper into an unfolding story infesting its participants as reality blurs between place and genre.

The flames of war spread through the Cursed Princedom to devastating effect. Bound by powerful centuries-old magic, the Great Essences yearn to regain their freedom. In the face of an impossible mission, Krian has no choice but to keep going while risking everything that's become dear to him. The only solution is to become stronger and forget the meaning of the word impossible. And so a plangent wolf's howl soars over the battlefield as a plate-clad cavalry rushes the enemy ranks....

The High Citadel cannot be seen to harbor a killer. This is a simple truth, and one that Raz i’Syul Arro has little choice but to respect. As the winter storms fall away in favor of the North’s pleasant summer months, Raz finds himself having once more to face the cruelties of the world with spear and sword in hand. For the first time, though, the Monster no longer walks his path alone. Syrah Brahnt, Priestess of Laor and adopted daughter of the former High Priest of Cyurgi ‘Di himself, has joined him on his journey.

The hour of reckoning is at hand. The skies darken with the forces of the enemy while the hopes of the armies of the light dwindle to but a candle flame. Morals, compunctions, oaths - all must be set aside, every sacrifice made, every advantage and ally sought if there is to be any chance for survival. Unpredictable, fast paced, and packed with unforgettable characters, The White Song is the final installment in a gripping new epic fantasy series. Grab your copy today!

Leah Frothen has returned home to rebuild the life she's avoided for years. But she can scarcely catch her breath before she is summoned to meet with the regent, Darien Serlast, the man who made her a spy. Leah is reluctant to take on a new assignment, but Darien has dangled the perfect lure to draw her in. Leah finds she enjoys the challenges of opening a shop catering to foreign visitors, especially since it affords her the opportunity to get to know Mally, the child she abandoned five years ago.

My name's Noah Kilmartin. I'm from Ruddock, Ohio, and I'm getting pretty dang qualified to save the universe from the slavering demonic hordes of the super evil bitch Queen Lilith. All I've got to do is survive the penultimate sphere before Malkuth. One last hellscape that will test my companions and I, seek to turn us against each other, and shatter the certainties that bind us together. I know our love is true. I know our bonds will hold. That nothing Lilith can throw against us will prevail. I have to believe it. Because the alternative is too horrifying to contemplate....

Raine Benares is a Sorceress Seeker of average ability, until she comes into possession of an amulet that amplifies her powers - and those of her enemies. Now her moderate powers are increasing beyond anything she could imagine - but is the resumé enchancement worth her soul?

Who would suspect that the same mind that created the most famous literary detective of all time also took on the eternally popular genre of vampires? Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a contemporary of Bram Stoker, gave us some fascinating works of vampire fiction. From the bloodsucking plant in "The American's Tale" to the bloodsucking wife in "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire," he reveled in the horror created by creatures who survived on the blood of men and women.