Showing results by narrator "Nick" in All Categories

Forcing Salvatore Moretti to marry me at gunpoint isn’t the craziest thing I've ever done... I hate being desperate, being scared. It's a filthy, helpless feeling. I'd much rather be enraged, violent… unhinged. Salvatore watches me dance and calls me Angioletto, his little angel. He doesn't know the demons that haunt me. He's too blinded by my beauty to see the blood on my hands. Then again, he's a mafia capo, so maybe the blood wouldn't bother him anyway. My past is like fire licking at my heels, ready to consume me. But Sal won't let that happen, he’ll protect me. He has to.

A scarlet tide of Rondian legions is flooding into the East, led by the Inquisition’s windships flying the Sacred Heart, the bright banner of the Church's darkest sons. They are slaughtering and pillaging their way across Antiopia in the name of Emperor Constant. But the emperor's greatest treasure, the Scytale of Corineus, has slipped through his fingers and his ruthless Inquisitors must scour two continents for the artefact, the source of all magical power.

When Lydia gets a lead on the whereabouts of Jonathan Sterling, she concludes her training with a legendary immortal sorcerer and puts a plan in motion for his capture. Near Selyr, Taelien reunites with an old friend—Wrynn Jaden, the legendary Witch of a Thousand Shadows—and meets with Jonan to make a deal. Jonan, of course, has other concerns. His master, the legendary Lady of Thieves herself, has given him a new assignment—one that hints at world-shaping events, if he can survive the mission. He’ll partner with Velas, but she has her own problems to deal with.

In this emotionally gripping tale, two writers meet on vacation and spend a perfect week together, falling immediately, deeply in love. But when they accidentally lose contact, both fly back home to do as writers do: write about it. What could possibly go wrong?

From the Hugo Award-winning hosts of the Writing Excuses writing advice show comes a collection of all-new stories of the fantastic, with beautiful illustrations and a behind-the-scenes look at each story’s creation.

Jace Seren has achieved what no others have before: become a Tier 10 Ascendant within The Cosmic System. As part of this achievement, he is now permanently infused with it and can never lose the phenomenal powers he has gained. Even better, he can no longer die to old age—though a violent end is still quite possible. Having placed a gate upon Oblivion—the singularity at the center of his universe—Jace must gear up and go into another layer of reality: the Astral Verge. A realm of chaos wrought from the emotions and thoughts of countless universes.

In John Prine, Eddie Huffman traces the long arc of Prine’s musical career, beginning with his early, seemingly effortless successes, which led paradoxically not to stardom but to a rich and varied career writing songs that other people have made famous. He recounts the stories, many of them humorous, behind Prine’s best-known songs and discusses all of Prine’s albums as he explores the brilliant records and the ill-advised side trips, the underappreciated gems and the hard-earned comebacks that led Prine to found his own successful record label, Oh Boy Records.

Charlie Falkingham is convinced someone is stalking him. There are signs. But no one believes him. After living through a childhood horror, Charlie suffers from a severe paranoia disorder, among many things, and the Hamilton Police Department has labeled him the boy who cries wolf. Arrogant and young, Officer Takoda Dyani has a chip on his shoulder a mile wide. He’s rude and brash and doesn’t play well with others. He has more enemies than friends. When his senior officer assigns him to be Charlie’s consultant, Takoda knows it will end badly.

What's a superhero to do when his own family sees his powers as unimpressive and he's fifth in line for the throne? Set my sights on getting space married to a hot alien, of course! For science. Ziggy Andromeda is a skinsuit-stealing mercenary who's so far out of my league, he might as well be in another galaxy, but there's nothing I love more than a challenge. And his spaceship has only one bed! Unfortunately, a home planet conspiracy is threatening our besties-with-benefits situationship, along with my dream of putting a Saturn-sized ring on it and locking Ziggy down for good. Rude.

Cameron Fletcher and Lucas Hensley are advertising executives who have 65 hours to pull together the campaign of their careers. Sixty-five hours to get along. Sixty-five hours to not kill each other. Sixty-five hours to fall in love.

Following Stronghold's destruction, Rukh and Jessira lead the ragged remnants of the OutCastes on the long march to Ashoka. There they seek sanctuary for her people, but in order to do so they must overcome unyielding law that demands exile for all ghrinas. Meanwhile, Hal'El Wrestiva - exposed and reviled as the Withering Knife murderer - escapes from Ashoka and hatches one final scheme to resuscitate his soiled reputation.

A classic of the horror genre, Dennis Wheatley’s The Devil Rides Out pits the powers of good against the forces of evil as the Duc de Richelieu wrestles for the soul of his friend with the charming but deadly Satanist, Mocata. Mocata has the power to summon the forces of darkness and - as the Duc and his friends will find - is willing to call upon ever-increasing horror until thundering hooves herald the arrival of the Devil Himself.

Deklin will become a villain to rival the gods… somebody should probably tell him. For now, Deklin's just a fourth-year magi looking for a post-midterm vacation from Earth. When a failed portal spell strands Deklin on a dangerous, massive worldshard, he unwillingly embarks on an adventure where spire climbers compete for ever higher standings, and cultivators bind magical aspects to strengthen their spirits. Transformed into a dragonblood and branded as an outlaw, Deklin is forbidden from advancing past the first threshold alongside his growing band of exiles.

Every stone, no matter how small, creates ripples in the water. Every action, no matter how insignificant, leaves a trail that can lead to trouble. And so, a seemingly ordinary trip leads to a battle with a ghoul with a penchant for young flesh. Coincidence? Perhaps. One in a series of many. Drops turn to streams, streams merge into a river, and a river roars into a waterfall that can swallow you up if you're not careful.

With money and hope in short supply, newly minted attorney Brigham Theodore decides it’s time to lower his standards. He joins a seedy fly-by-night firm in Salt Lake City out of desperation. After he loses his first case - a speeding ticket - he’s convinced his career is over. But to his shock, his boss hands him a slightly more complex case: capital murder.

Powerful beings from the fringes of Chaos have come to the realm of Alorin. Fate bends to their will, and their will is set upon Alorin's destruction. Alone in understanding the threat they pose, Alorin's Fifth Vestal, Björn val Gelderan, has launched a desperate plan to stop them: a "great game" played upon the tapestry of mortal life. Now, in Paths of Alir, Björn's Players have taken the field.

Now a sprawling video game franchise, Resident Evil has kept us on the edge of our seats for decades with its tried-and-true brand of jump scares, zombie action, and biological horror. But even decades after its release, we can't stop revisiting the original's thrills, chills, and sometimes unintentional spills. Pop culture writer and horror cinephile Philip J Reed takes dead aim at 1996's Resident Evil, the game that named and defined the genre we now call "survival horror."

Perhaps Blackwood's most celebrated story, The Willows was influenced heavily by his own trips down the Danube River. It tells the story of two campers who pick the wrong place to sleep for the night, a place where another dimension impinges on our own. H.P. Lovecraft considered this the finest supernatural tale in English literature.

Humanity has been brought to the brink of extinction. Each night, the world is overrun by demons - bloodthirsty creatures of nightmare that have been hunting the surface for over 300 years. A scant few hamlets and half-starved city-states are all that remain of a once proud civilization, and it is only by hiding behind wards, ancient symbols with the power to repel the demons, that they survive. A handful of Messengers brave the night to keep the lines of communication open between the increasingly isolated populace.

Have you ever fallen in love with a man as he was pointing his gun at you? Well, I have. Tiny problem? I'm in the middle of my murderous Christmas tradition, and he's a witness. But it's not his fault I got too excited and didn't check if I was alone. I can't just kill him because of my own blunder. Not when he has such dreamy green eyes filled with fear and pent-up rage. What I can do is take him with me for safekeeping while I work out how to make him understand that while my methods are cruel, my intentions are pure. Or how to make him fall for me. Whichever is first.