Showing results by narrator "Taylor Meskimen" in All Categories

Travel to alien worlds, brave dystopian futures, and unravel the mysteries of time itself. Whether it’s sentient robots, powerful witches, or daring explorers, these stories—written by the next generation of speculative fiction stars—come alive through immersive narration.

Lila Stanislaw, a freelance analyst with a roster of foreign clients, is summoned by the U.S. government to hunt down a mysterious threat. She joins a team of strangers with pasts as colorful as her own. The mission spirals when they discover that the AI created to run the new colony on Mars has gone rogue on Earth. As the conflict mounts to war, Speaker of the House Manasseh Cruz joins the fight with an implacable will to destroy the enemy. But the team, racing to find any vulnerability, must first confront the question of what the AI truly is.

Open the Writers of the Future and be carried away by stories—and illustrations—that will make you think, make you laugh, and make you see the world in ways you never imagined. Twelve captivating tales from the best new writers of the year as selected by Writers of the Future Contest judges accompanied by three more from L. Ron Hubbard, Nancy Kress, S.M. Stirling.

With her cat, Matzo Ball, her grandmother’s basset hound, Moneypenny, and Harriet’s new friend, Clarence, helping her out, Harriet knows she can crack the case. But when the culprit isn’t who Harriet expects, it’s up to her to decide how important the truth really is.

Following their victory at the debate, Alya and Masachika have some downtime to strategize for the upcoming closing ceremony. But can you really call an impromptu lunch date, hypnosis chaos, and vigorous study sessions “downtime”? Either way, it draws to a close when Masachika suddenly gets sick.

Jim Stenson has been flown to the bohemian island of Formentera for a monthlong gig: writing a screenplay for a famous Spanish director, loosely based on the classic French film Contempt. With his career flagging, Jim is determined to make the most of the opportunity. But the director raises the stakes, pushing Jim to draw inspiration for the script from his strained relationship with his wife Anna.

Audrey St. Vrain has grown up in the shadow of someone who doesn’t actually exist. Before she was born, her mother, Camilla St. Vrain, wrote the bestselling book Letters to My Someday Daughter, a guide to self-love that advises treating yourself like you would your own hypothetical future daughter. The book made Audrey’s mother a household name, and she built an empire around it. While the world considers Audrey lucky to have Camilla for a mother, the truth is that Audrey knows a different side of being the someday daughter.

Luxe Revelle, star of her family’s fantastical show, knows the splendor is just an illusion. With Prohibition threatening their livelihood, her family struggles to make a living, watering down champagne and patching holes in their sequined costumes. So when the son of Charmant’s wealthiest family makes her an offer—everything the Revelles need to stay in business, in exchange for posing as his girl and helping him become mayor—she can’t refuse.

Jenny Kennedy appears to have it all. She’s the perfect daughter, the popular girl at school and a successful beauty queen. But then Jenny is found dead in a murder that rocks the small town she grew up in to the core. Her estranged half-sister Virginia finds herself thrust into the spotlight as the case dominates the news and is desperate to uncover who killed Jenny. But she soon realises that maybe Jenny’s life wasn’t so perfect after all. The truth is that Jenny has more than a few secrets of her own, and so do her neighbours. What really happened that night?

Dinosaurs. Majestic giants. They’ve captured our imagination for generations. On planet Mintari, they live again. Mintari is far from Earth. Wild. Pristine. A world where triceratops herd across grasslands, pterosaurs soar over golden mountains, and T-rexes prowl the misty forests. But these magnificent beasts might soon disappear. And only one man can save them. They call him Jurassic Joe; a semi-mythical figure, a ranger who lives in the wilderness of Mintari. He is the defender of dinosaurs and the bane of poachers. A folk hero...but is he real?

Long ago, a brave little girl named Anja wanted to be one of Santa's elves. So she leaves a note for her family and helps her elderly neighbor prepare for the holiday, then she straps on her skis, and heads out into the snowy landscape. From a red bird to a polar bear to a reindeer, a menagerie of winter animals help Anja make her way to Santa.

Based on the massively successful CW show, Riverdale, this prequel novel explores what the gang was doing before season one. Why did Jughead and Archie have a falling out? What did Veronica’s life look like in the Big Apple? And how long has Betty really been in love with Archie? Told from multiple points of view, your favorite characters tell their story their way.

After defeating Lucifer and sacrificing the love of her life, Jack, Schuyler wakes up back in New York safe and sound. Only it's not quite the New York she knows, and she's not in her regular body. She looks different and feels different, and so does everyone else. Schuyler soon discovers that in this world, her best friend has a different last name, her parents are both alive and happy, and the love of her life? Not so dead after all. The catch? Jack has no idea who she is. As it turns out, Schuyler is not in her New York. She's not even in her universe. This is an alternate reality.

Jacky Rowan once slew giants. In this thrilling sequel, she is tricked and then enslaved by a master of vicious Unseelie creatures. This cruel thief is bent on stealing his very sustenance—not only from Jacky—but from all of the Seelie faerie court. Only the Moon herself and a handsome young fiddler, unaware of Faerie and the power of his music, have the magic to set Jacky free.

Young Changemakers is an inspirational series all about real kids from around the globe doing extraordinary things to make a difference in their communities and the world! Heroes use their skills and talents to create positive change in the world. And Heroic Kids is filled with amazing stories...

Young Changemakers is an inspirational series all about real kids from around the globe doing extraordinary things to make a difference in their communities and the world! There are lots of ways to be a champion! Champions for Change is filled with encouraging stories of real-life kids who use...

The body of a young woman found in an Arizona border town walks out of the morgue. To the CDC investigator called in to consult the local police, it's a bizarre medical mystery. More bodies, dead of a mysterious disease that solidifies their blood, begin disappearing from morgues nearby. In a futile game of catch-up, the CDC, the FBI and the US government realise that it's already too late to stop it: the vampire epidemic will sweep first the United States and then the world.

Katie can't leave her house during the day: she has a rare disease that makes even the smallest amount of sunlight deadly. But everything changes when one evening, singing her heart out on a deserted station platform, she meets Charlie. Before the night is out, Katie is smitten. But she hasn't told Charlie her secret. She just wants to have her normal love story before reality kicks in. Lost in her nighttime summer romance, Katie knows that love will light the way.

Ivy Westfall is beyond the fence, and she is alone. Abandoned by her family and separated from Bishop Lattimer, Ivy must find a way to survive on her own in a land filled with countless dangers, both human and natural. She has traded a more civilized type of cruelty - forced marriages and murder plots - for the bare-knuckled brutality required to survive outside Westfall's borders.

After a brutal nuclear war, the United States was left decimated. A small group of survivors eventually banded together, but only after more conflict over which family would govern the new nation. The Westfalls lost. Fifty years later, peace and control are maintained by marrying the daughters of the losing side to the sons of the winning group in a yearly ritual. This year, it is my turn. My name is Ivy Westfall and my mission is simple: to kill the president's son - my soon-to-be husband - and return the Westfall family to power.