Showing results by narrator "James Watkins" in All Categories

Oscar has everything a degu could need, or want, in the cage he shares with his brother, Romeo, but it's not enough; Oscar longs for freedom. Convinced he's missing out on an amazing adventure, Oscar dreams of the day when he'll be able to investigate the world beyond his cage bars without the human caretakers telling him where and when he can explore. Now, at long last, his chance has arrived. But will it be the exciting adventure he's always dreamed it would be?

Jenks the degu lives in a cage with his three brothers: Jacob, Jasper and Joshua. It might seem like a strange place to live, but they call it home and feel safe there. So you can imagine how scary it is for them when they are forced to leave their cage. Sure, they regularly leave it briefly for a bit of attention from their human caretakers, which they don't mind, but the thing the human caretakers are calling "The Great Degu Round-Up" is different, and they find themselves in a giant sandless sand bath.

It’s high-stakes, win-or-die football action in the far future, as aliens and humans fill positions based on physiology and leave their blood, sweat, and tears on gridirons across the galaxy. Last season, 19-year-old rookie quarterback Quentin Barnes overcame his racism and unified his team. He led the Ionath Krakens to a lower-tier championship, a championship that earns them promotion into the meat grinder known as “Tier One.”

Malcolm Theodore Puddle is a 21-year shipping clerk — from way back East. What is he doing out here? The Mountain Man’s former neighbor, Humbolt Puddle, has died and left his crumbling 600-acre ranch to his only living heir, just as a greedy and ruthless cattle baron is circling the Humbolt ranch like a ravenous vulture. Poor, unsuspecting Puddle is walking into a death trap. Smoke is the not the pitying kind. But any enemy of Smoke’s neighbor is his enemy, too.

Preacher is on the move, joining a trail drive led by freewheeling adventurer Wiley Courtland. Wiley has good horses to deliver to the American Fur Company at Fort Gifford. An Indian war party, led by the cunning and ruthless Red Knife, has other plans. Furiously fighting their way to safety, the horse traders make it to Fort Gifford, where the beautiful wife of the fort’s commander makes a raid of her own, with the help of Preacher’s newfound buddy Wiley.

Rejuvenates fear the backlash caused by bad drugs: they want nothing to interfere with their pursuit of long life—or the profit that comes from promising it to others. Neighbor states fear the aggressive expansion of the Familias Regnant, fuelled by population growth and extended lifespan. Within the Regular Space Service, those who have received experimental rejuvenations fear they may have been intentionally given bad drugs. Esmay Suiza's family fears that her marriage to an offworlder will damage their position.