Showing results by narrator "John Pirhalla" in All Categories

Astral threads cut across the world, drawing Sam to them like a fire from the past. He discovers that his new race is intrinsically tied to the Void and the stars. Meanwhile, hints of the First War are returning to Aster Fall as the dimension trembles. Flaws are appearing more rapidly than ever, putting pressure on cities across the kingdom. In the shadows, dangerous artifacts related to Outsiders reveal a troubling connection. The relic also holds ancient secrets, some of them powerful enough to change the balance of power in the land.

Harald Darrowdelve has squandered every gift life gave him—until he entered the dungeon beneath Flutic and received a demon's dark blessing. Weak, privileged, and directionless no more, Harald now commands powers forged in darkness. But each new ability and hard-won level drags him deeper into the ruthless politics of noble houses, shadowy rivals, and the celestial war burning beneath the city's streets.

Dii Van Damme is eight feet tall, built like a siege engine, and powered by stolen cosmic glitches. With a talking ferret, a janitor’s badge, and the mysterious BlackBox, he’s survived Eldritch Realms and weaponized the chaotic system known as Wrong Warp. Now, hunted by Assassination Snowmen and other patchwork nightmares, Dii must keep realm-hopping to steal powers faster than the universe can delete him. But there’s a catch—he can’t keep them all, and juggling abilities is getting dangerous.

Across the world of Aster Fall, there are unique classes, but not all of them can be trained. They require quests and accomplishments that simply don't exist in the world. Some say the World Law itself is broken and that the world is falling apart. In comes Sam Hastern. His family has been cursed by one of these classes for the last fifty years. No one has ever managed to level it, condemning them to the lowest paying jobs and life in a barren village.

Sanctuary. The perfect refuge from the enemy, the most closely held secret of the resistance, the planet has never been found, never been attacked. Until now. Charlie Travers has been preparing to strike at the Anguilar with the help of the US military, intent on going on the offense, but no battle plan survives contact with the enemy...particularly not when that enemy is General Zan-Tar.

It's 1900, and Louise Wilk is taking her dying husband home to Buffalo, where he grew up. Dr. Edward Wilk is wasting away from an aggressive and debilitating malady. But it's becoming clearer that his condition isn't exactly a disease but a phase of existence that seeks to transform and ultimately possess him.

After discovering the Inquisitor’s plot within the Academy, Tolan is offered a chance to go with his father and learn from the Draasin Lord. Doing so not only means turning against the Academy and everything he has come to know, but means the Inquisitors will succeed in their plan. When the Grand Master comes to him asking a dangerous favor, Tolan must make a choice that might bring him into direct contact with the Draasin Lord. Everything he’s been taught about the elementals and the Draasin Lord is wrong.

Rita Randall, a celebrated film noir actress in 1948, leaves LA after a fatal confrontation. Clint West is a best-selling author in 2019, struggling to move on after the death of his wife. Rita and Clint travel to Long Island, New York and occupy the same beach house—71 years apart. When Rita appears in the background of Clint’s recent cell phone photos, he’s mystified. When Clint appears in Rita’s photos, she’s troubled and confused. Clint investigates and learns about secret time travel experiments that were conducted in the area during the 1940s.

Huon is weak. A surgecaller who escaped into the wilds, his only goal was to survive. Now he is Oathbound, forced to fight in an arena, forced to become stronger than he’d thought possible. As he realizes he can become strong, the need for revenge fills his heart, and a new goal forms in his mind. But his goal is impossible: Kill the dragon rider, the Immortal of Fire. To succeed, he’ll have to do more than just survive - he’ll have to advance beyond anything the realm has ever seen.

The key to finding the one responsible for the attack on Terndahl involves crossing the waste, but is Tolan willing to risk the tenuous peace they've achieved for revenge? Now a master shaper, Tolan must serve the Academy, but he understands the risk his mother poses. While others want to study the power out on the waste, Tolan sees the need to look beyond Terndahl. His mother remains at large, and they still don’t know her ultimate goal.

Gavin has left the only friends he’d ever made to study his El’aras magic. Though he may share their heritage, he quickly learns that he’s not El’aras. When an attack targets them, and has the ability to counter any El’aras ability, Gavin is all that prevents certain devastation. Understanding the attack and who is behind it leads Gavin to uncover the truth about his mentor - and there is much Tristan never shared. There has been another Champion, and he’ll stop at nothing to claim a destructive power he believes he’s fated to control. Only Gavin stands in his way.

After losing his parents as a child, Isaac vowed to get vengeance on the God who took everything from him. At ten, he had the skills of a top assassin. At sixteen, he killed more men than he could count. At twenty-one, he now steps through a portal looking to destroy a god. Welcome to The Other Side, a realm where gods, dragons, and races from folklore and legend all compete for the number one spot. A spot that once claimed allows you to rewrite the very fabric of the universe.

These stories and more are featured in the third short story anthology for the System Apocalypse, continuing the saga of survival in a world transformed by the arrival of the System. Humanity has adapted to a new reality filled with Classes, magic and monsters, but the struggle for life, love and purpose never ends. This anthology brings together gripping tales from returning authors and two new short stories by Tao Wong.

No longer traveling with the Wayward, Leo learns that finding his own way is its own adventure and one he could never have experienced as one of the Wayward. He joins a new caravan and befriends a young girl fascinated by the Twilight Gates, travels with one of the fae and learns of a danger to their realm, and makes an enemy of the Alley King. Surviving the journey is only the first step. The Academy is the goal. Even then, he must still gain entry to the Academy—which proves more difficult than Benjamin led him to believe.

Centuries after being driven from Earth as part of a massive diaspora triggered by an alien invasion, can the Valers face their worst—and unimaginable—nightmare? Can they withstand the might of the Komran Empire as it sweeps across the galaxy in a campaign to conquer all in its path? When the conflict reaches a crisis point, will they recognize that what they see as their greatest strength is their greatest weakness before it’s too late? Sometimes, situations are so ugly that only an ugly solution will suffice.

The arrival of a dangerous sorcerer forces Gavin to confront his past. As Gavin works with the El’aras to master his connection to the ring, he learns of an El’aras prophecy that speaks of the Shard and a Champion. One must destroy the other. Though Gavin doesn’t believe in prophecy, he can’t deny that he’s caught up in something greater than he understands - and begins to suspect he’s been guided toward his fate. The arrival of a powerful sorcerer tests Gavin’s belief.

A battle-scarred Vietnam vet has been living alone deep in the woods, but when a group of weekend campers enter the area, his fragile grasp on reality breaks, and he believes he’s back in the jungle...surrounded by an enemy he needs to kill.

The intergalactic barbarian has started establishing himself in this new future. But with a growing reputation comes the need to accomplish more complex feats. The Komran are happy to oblige, though they may not know it. They have taken a valuable Vale-sanctioned mine, trapping all the residents within and forcing them to work night and day. Curiously, the hostage-takers are not searching for the ore within.

Grand Master of the Science Fiction Writers of America and winner of countless awards—including the Hugo, Nebula, Edgar Allan Poe, and Bram Stoker—Harlan Ellison proved once more that he was both unpredictable and irrepressible in this second collection of innovative science fiction. Again, Dangerous Visions—the middle installment in a planned three anthology series—includes award-winning stories from incomparable writers such as Ursula K. Le Guin, Gene Wolfe, Ray Bradbury, Kurt Vonnegut, Piers Anthony, Dean Koontz, and James Tiptree, among many others.

In the Void beyond Aster Fall, Sam stands watch at the fortress of Silverguard, protecting the world from an ancient enemy. His strength as an Astral Titan is all that stands between it and destruction. Meanwhile, dimensional cracks are spreading through the World Seal, the barrier that protects Aster Fall from invasion by the Outsider galaxy. Flaws are appearing with increasing frequency as demonic armies flood through, including old enemies from the First War. If the seal fails completely, Aster Fall will break and disaster will follow.