Showing results by author "Riano McFarland" in All Categories

Most of the successful private prospectors who’d struck it rich during the California and Nevada gold rushes during the mid- to late-1800s, had journeyed westward with a specific plan from which they never deviated. Upon achieving their pre-defined goals, they packed up and returned to their original homes in distant regions of the United States. There were also plenty of others, who’d been unable to pull the plug after striking it rich, believing their lucky streak to be a never-ending one.

After two years serving as a US marshal, policing the country’s newest and largest district, Oliver Blackstone’s reputation as a lawman was stellar, and those who’d originally doubted his ability to get the job done were now squarely in his corner.

Odin is a love story that chronicles the relationship between Katherine, a successful although self-centered executive, and the puppy she literally snatched from deaths icy grip. After being rescued by her in a dramatic fashion, Odin comes to see her safety and wellbeing as the central purpose of his existence. Although the line between the savior and the saved may become blurred at times, their unconditional love and affection for one another remain clear and unimpeachable, even in the face of certain death.

Having bonded with his dragon, T'Aer Bolun Dakkar at the age of eleven, Jake has been immersed in the world of dragons and their connection to humanity for decades. With their ascension to the throne of the northwestern dragon kingdom, it has become their never-ending crusade to preserve the planet's ecosystem for both humans and dragons without compromising the veil of separation that keeps dragons safe, and humans from realizing they exist.

Following his abduction from a remote campsite, Daniel Wells escapes his captor and flees into the night. At six years old, he is suddenly cast into a world where nothing is familiar and everything in the Salmon-Challis National Forest, from mountain lions and bears to hungry packs of wolves, views him as easy prey.

Yasper Prentice is exhausted. He hasn’t slept for days because whenever he closes his eyes, the dreams return. However, unlike most people, all of Yasper’s dreams are nightmares. They are the yarn from which terror is woven, and with each passing night, they become increasingly more vivid. The most terrifying thing about them is that the tragedies he sees are real and destined to happen unless he acts to prevent them.

No one knew where they came from or how long they had existed. Their origins were as enigmatic as their purpose—silent sentinels in the wilderness, waiting. Yet one truth remained unshaken: no one gazed into their depths and walked away unchanged. Long-buried secrets surfaced. Forgotten transgressions clawed their way into the light, merciless in their clarity. The crater did not show what was wanted—it showed what was needed.

For nine years, Calvin Thorne was an elite agent for an international crime-fighting agency known as O.P.U.S. (Organization for the Pursuit of Untouchable Syndicates). After being betrayed by his superiors and tricked into assassinating an innocent man, he resigns and apparently vanishes from the face of the earth. Two years later, O.P.U.S. is attempting to erase the connections tying the agency to the illegally contracted murder, and the only agent who knows what really happened is Calvin Thorne.

For millennia, dragons and humans have shared the Earth. For most of that time, it has been a peaceful coexistence, primarily because contemporary human civilizations considered dragons to be nothing more than fairytales created from the fanciful imaginings of cave-dwelling hunter-gatherers. In truth, they have always been an integral part of a healthy planetary biosphere, and without them, Earth's environmental balance would have collapsed long ago.

Long before even dragons roamed the planet, the spores of the borlamites were biding their time in the heat and darkness of deep Earth. They were waiting for the surface to cool and the seeds of life to take hold and turn a barren rock into a pearl among planets in our galaxy. As they prepared to emerge from beneath Earth’s tectonic plates and turn the bio-matter of the dead and dying, into food for the budding flora and fauna, their birth was interrupted by an asteroid strike. The planetary conditions suddenly changed, and the borlamites continued to sleep.

After enjoying decades of planetary peace and abundance, an urgent message finds its way into the hands of Jake and Danni. At first, they are unsure of either its intent or origin, but as both become clear, it is evident that some grudges are not easily forgotten or set aside. The survivors of the Drokarian rebellion nearly thirty years earlier are returning, and this time they are armed with a device capable of erasing entire cities from the planet.

When Andrew Ingram walks his longtime friend and confidant Jeanie home after a celebratory dinner, he has no idea that his life is about to change in unimaginable ways. After having created an innovative new automotive gaming platform, he was riding high on the wings of success when a deadly explosion ripped not only his best friend but also his eyesight away from him.

Following seventy thousand years of undisturbed slumber, the vessel of a planetary empire that had followed its own predetermined path to destruction eons earlier had finally reawakened, bringing with her the potential to change everything. Embodying all that was benevolent and beautiful from innumerable long-forgotten cultures, this lifeform in suspended animation also possessed the power necessary to prevent her gifts from being corrupted by those who will eternally thirst for dominion over others.

In the history of Dragon Kingdoms, there has never before been a period in time during which all four regions were represented by bonded riders. As the reign of the Northeastern Dragon Kingdom approaches its end, one successor will be chosen among many as the dragon king ascendant.

ODIN is a love story that chronicles the relationship between Katherine, a successful although self-centered executive, and the puppy she literally snatched from death’s icy grip. After being rescued by her in dramatic fashion, Odin comes to see her safety and well-being as the central purpose of his existence. Although the line between the savior and the saved may become blurred at times, their unconditional love and affection for one another remain clear and unimpeachable, even in the face of certain death.

Ophelia Midland and Constance Hargraves were from entirely different worlds... Until they weren’t anymore. Under the heady influence of author Adonis Taft, these two women become inextricably connected in a reality where hedonistic boundaries are crossed along the fluid lines of fact and fiction.

In the pursuit of justice, there was nowhere Marshal Oliver Blackstone wouldn’t go to apprehend a fugitive. Whether that meant facing the forces of nature or the evils of men, once he was on your trail, there was no getting rid of him. But what happens when that fugitive isn’t just another nameless outlaw? What if he’s a colleague and a friend whose reasoning is understandable, although flawed?

Tarah believes that every house has a destiny and that only those whose destinies align with a house are meant to live there. According to Tarah's mysterious rideshare driver, when it comes to Thibodaux Estate, no one was meant to live there, and he refuses to even leave his vehicle after dropping her off—not even to open the car door. Indeed, he will not even speak the name of the estate, claiming that "when you call something by its name, either on this side of reality or another, it tends to listen."

When a United States marshal retires their badge and hangs up their gun, more often than not, their only remaining desire is to ride off into a distant horizon and live out the remainder of their lives in peace and solitude. When Oliver Blackstone sailed from Galveston, Texas, to Boston, Massachusetts, it was also his deepest wish. After bringing an untold number of the Western Frontier's most dangerous criminals to justice and sending more than 100 of them to face judgment in the hereafter, he'd been dubbed "The Deadliest Man Alive" by renowned frontier journalist J.C. Cavanaugh.

Even in the most advanced human civilizations, true warriors must be able to separate themselves from the status of prey. For an aspiring Azaarian herald, that crucible begins as a naked warrior cast into the wilderness with nothing more than their own extremities and intellect to survive. While prioritizing their survival activities, they must also complete a journey of nearly five thousand miles before even being accepted into the fold of herald trainees.