Showing results by publisher "Tantor Media" in Adventure

It's been 10 years since Handry was wrenched away from his family and friends, forced to wander a world he no longer understood. But with the help of the Ancients, he has cobbled together a life, of sorts, for himself and his fellow outcasts. Wandering from village to village, welcoming the folk that the townships abandon, fighting the monsters the villagers cannot - or dare not - his ever-growing band of misfits has become the stuff of legend, a story told by parents to keep unruly children in line.

The universe is a dangerous place, a fact violently brought home to Frank Compton for perhaps the thousandth time when a stranger delivering a message dies right in front of him. An operative for Western Alliance Intelligence until his whistle-blowing activities got him fired, Compton is now being sought out by the Spiders, the robotic alien beings responsible for the upkeep and operation of the Quadrail transportation system, which connects the galaxy's twelve inhabited empires.

Only the recently dead can helm the "deadman switch" to pilot a ship through the Cloud, a mysterious solar entity that shields the Solitaire solar system and its valuable heavy metals. Two convicted murderers are routinely sacrificed for this task—one to enter the system, one to exit.

After an unfortunate accident, Handry is forced to wander a world he doesn't understand, searching for meaning. He soon discovers that the life he thought he knew is far stranger than he could even possibly imagine. Can an unlikely savior provide the answers to the questions he barely comprehends?

For Jiyong, Bastion Academy is more than just a school for magic in the heart of the Kingdom. It's his chance to pursue the secrets of the ancient ones' machines and get his family out of the poverty-stricken outer-city. His acceptance letter in hand, Jiyong is sure nothing will stand in the way of his dreams. When a street brawl lands him in a coma only weeks into the year, his chances of graduating are all but shot. With an unlikely digital companion, he'll have to rebuild his magic core and catch up on all his classes, or risk being dropped from the academy at the end of the year.

Liza Pound is a mystery to her superiors. In training she showed no aggression at all. In combat the first time she topped the kill board. And kept doing it. No one can figure out why. She did the unthinkable, and left Navy Mage Five for the League of Worlds. They want her back. She wants squadron command of the Black Sheep, and has worked hard for it. But when has what anyone wanted been part of what happens to them?

Rivka's latest case has her hunting fugitives. Red is on a mission to find them and make them pay for what they've done. Her search leads her through dark warrens of political intrigue and ecological disasters. All the while, Rivka is swinging the scales of justice, judging the guilty, and delivering punishment. Villainy and scum have toe-holds throughout the galaxy, but Rivka doesn't mind stepping on their toes even when she's not judging them. She considers it her job because no one is above the law.

The Human Galactic Empire has begun its annexation of the Alliance, and they are using tactics for which the rest of the galaxy are unprepared. Unfortunately, the Free Fleet is caught in the middle of it all, and if they do not stop the empire now, there will be no stopping them later.

Get four complete stories in Frank Kurns: Tales of the Underworld: You Don't Touch John's Cousin, Bitch's Night Out, Bitch's Night Out, and Challenges.

Fred Cassidy leads an idyllic life. As long as he remains a full time college student without a degree, he is provided a very generous stipend from his uncle's estate. But after thirteen years of happy undergrad existence everything is about to change. Cassidy's home is broken into and ransacked. When he enters he is assaulted by a former professor wanting to know where the alien artifact known as the star stone is. Cassidy manages to escape, only to discover that he is also being pursued by hired criminals, Anglophile zealots, government agents, and aliens.

The good news is that Armageddon has plenty of variety, lots of choices on how to die. Short term, there's being devoured by terrifying new alien hybrids, silver-skinned, hulking brutes capable of tearing a man limb from limb. Long term, if Captain Josiah Bleys and his pals can't reopen the jumpgates, there's a good chance of slow and miserable starvation.

Kit and the others continue to struggle as they work to survive in their search for Polly. They are so close to finding out if she's alive or if like many others she'd succumbed to the virus. Before they can get back on the road after a brief rest following the loss of one of their own, they run into a stranger who could be the key in finding Polly. Or will he be another thing the group needs to fear?

Science fiction at its sense-of-wonder best. A wild chase through the billion worlds of the Tenth Millennium in search of a mythical weapon that could save civilization—or doom it!

Max has his home area protected now, with Maggie's help. He's trying to bring more people into the safe zone they created and while he does that, he's also fixing some electronics to work alongside the mana that's infusing everything. Despite the quarantine and its promise of danger, a number of people are intentionally trying to enter it after hearing the tales of what goes on inside. Meanwhile Prometheus has learned that radioactive materials can help open the wormhole further, allowing the mana to flow through and assimilate the Earth more quickly.

Forestry student Jerry Conklin is fly-fishing when something huge lands on his car, crushing it into the earth. It looks like a big black box-about fifty feet high and two hundred feet long-and the object stirs up quite a commotion among the townspeople of Lone Pine, Minnesota. One of them even shoots at it-and quickly pays for it with his life.

Three antique ships freshly liberated . . . Three different organizations hunting them . . . Thirty thousand light years to reach safe harbor . . . Twenty worlds depending on them for protection . . . With both the Alliance and the Korsan hunting them, the newly formed Free Fleet's only hope is escape. But it's a long way to Libertara, and their pursuers are relentless. The Aurora has only been in the fortieth century for a few months, and is already stirring up trouble.

Independent space trucker Jake McGraw, accompanied by his father, Sam, who inhabits the body of the truck itself, his "starrig," picks up a beautiful hitchhiker, Darla, and a trailer-load of trouble. One of the best of the indies, Jake knows a few tricks about following the Skyway, which connects dozens, or maybe hundreds, of planets—nobody knows how many and nobody really knows the full extent of the Skyway, and much of it remains unexplored.

October, 2042. In two weeks, the world will die, murdered by a nine-mile-wide, extinction-level asteroid. And Robert Osmark—billionaire and savvy tech-—couldn't be readier for the fiery apocalypse. Unlike the shortsighted masses, he's been diligently preparing for this day from the moment the asteroid first appeared. Through his relentless efforts, digital salvation now awaits anyone bold enough to take the leap and permanently transition into the brand-new, ultra-immersive, fantasy-based VRMMORPG, Viridian Gate Online. And Robert Osmark will lead this new world he has created.

The Singularity enters the Federation. Its citizens are AIs. And no one knows how to treat them. From collaborations to master-slave, every relationship is different, when they shouldn't be. The AIs fight back, but on a level none of the other members understand. The fight starts slowly, but when the realization of what's happening hits too close to home, more extraordinary measures are called for. What is the legal framework in which everyone can coexist peacefully? Who better to build it than Rivka and the Magistrates?

In a crumbling futuristic society, Earth is only a myth, the technological advances of centuries have faded into distant memory, and space travel depends on a fleet of run-down, unreliable ships. Only the brave-or foolhardy-undertake such risky journeys. The brave, the foolhardy-and the runners… Jak Rebo is one such runner, whose current job is to deliver a future religious leader to his people, while avoiding assassins.