Showing results by narrator "Darla Middlebrook" in All Categories

Ora Stone's memories were erased for her protection. She is a witch, hidden in the human realm, hidden from the others of her kind, and protected by ancient magic. On her first day of college, she loses her amulet, releasing her long-dormant powers. Purely by accident, she performs a levitation spell, an action that breaks the Concealment Code and summons Protectors from Conjuragic to investigate. She is arrested and taken across the Veil to stand trial for her crimes.

A homesick, 16 year-old Roman girl and her illegitimate child, are exiled by the Emperor Nero to Britannia. A middle-aged Celtic king of an insignificant tribe is trying to find middle ground between Celtic tradition and Roman rule and is making enemies on both sides. The shadow of martyred Queen Boudicca is like a curse on the land. An old Legionary is willing to give his life for a friend, and there's a former Greek slave with a secret past that rescues him.

In a land of vast forests and clustered cities, humans and anthelai live in uneasy proximity. Forced deep into the wilds, the anthelai are feared and hated. They are perceived as monsters, servants of the dark god Enas, master of the hell-like Plains of Centura. Halfbloods, the children of two species, are extremely rare. The blood does not mix easy, but when it does, the result belongs to neither side. They are outcasts. The lone survivor of an attack that destroys her home and family, one halfblood girl is captured by a man bent on transforming her into a deadly assassin.

Samantha's regular life is suddenly turned around when her existence is somehow erased from the world. Nobody seems to remember her, and her own apartment is occupied by the uninvited tenants. Even her sister, the only family Samantha has, is unable to recognize her. Lost and confused, Samantha accepts help from a stranger, a charismatic man named Archie, whom she accidentally encounters and unwillingly joins him in his fight against the silent invasion of the planet.

Magic and madness don't always run hand in hand, but there's a reason they call it the Touch. Delaney Green is one of them that don't burn, not that no one ain't never tried. After her mama tried and failed to murder her for pulling on the future like it was a piece of string, Del has spent her whole life in a mental institution for her own safety. And everyone else's. No one wants to see what might happen if she goes cracked. When a dozen young women turn up burned to a crisp, local folks are quick to point the FBI straight at Del.

Deor Smithfield had it all figured out. She had a great education, a new job teaching at a good university, and a plan to move across the country to start her new life. Then her body betrayed her, and she seemed to be falling prey to the same wasting sickness that killed her mother. When medical science failed her in spectacular fashion, Deor's grandmother told her that her long-lost father was more than just another deadbeat dad - he was a faerie, and she's a Changeling, half-human, half-fae.

This collection of stories from some of the brightest fantasy writers in the world run the gamut from steampunk to horror, from steamy romance to weird western, from Victorian thriller to contemporary bondage. But they all feature one thing in common - the corset. From vampire comedy to steampunk action to BDSM, Cinched is certain to free your mind. What else will follow?

What do you get when you mix mystery and speculative fiction, then toss in the holidays for good measure? A mobster Santa, genetic hanky-panky, Victorian villages, time-travelling detectives, Krampus, eerie bell spirits, and more-this collection of short cross-genre fiction is the perfect counterpoint to traditional holiday stories!

Contacted by her father who is trapped in The Lost, a waiting room between Heaven and Hell, Blank begins a journey to take her from ordinary teenager to the hero who might save Savannah. In her path she will not only see the dark side of the city, but a man named Abraham who calls that darkness his home.

Isabel Kramer's dream of running competitively, frustrated since age 17, reveals itself when, on a lark, she joins her daughter in the Bay to Breakers race in San Francisco. Now age 60, Izzy challenges her misgivings, the sage and well-intentioned advice of family and friends, and prepares for long-distance running. Izzy, a psychiatrist and professor of psychology at UC Berkeley, has no illusions about the likelihood of success and the possibility of injury, but amazingly, she outperforms expectations.

In the sentient land of Veridia, Fila dreams of a simple future: using her women's magic of creation to help the Toiler people of the countryside. But when Veridia loses its Servant, the human conduit linking Veridia and its peoples, it chooses her daughter, Fila, as its new Servant. Mourning her mother and her lost dreams and doubting her worthiness, Fila sets out for the capital to be invested. On her journey, assassins attack, sent by a usurper with corrupted magic.

During a dark, foggy night, Vyking ships from the Isles of Welkstone slip into Hoffnung Bay to aid Lord Waxxon's coup to take Hoffnung's throne from half elf Queen Taube. As Lord Waxxon's guards storm the castle, Queen Taube flees to Lady Dawn's chambers to help her daughter escape. After Hoffnung's fall, Lady Dawn flees for her life in the hope of gathering together an army to overthrow Lord Waxxon, who killed her mother to take the throne.

Abbie had been treating two victims of the Chabot rapist who targeted girls, and as she's making progress in their care, unbelievably, someone abducts and strangles them. Their deaths devastate Abbie. During Abbie's difficult recovery, memories of past events gradually return. They are fragmentary and torture her with memory flashes and nightmares. Gradually, she begins to suspect that one of her adult patients may be the strangler.

Speculative fiction stories that are set in or about Archaeological Ruins. The protagonist in each story is an archaeologist who is a woman of color. Ruins range from those in the American Southwest to Central America, to the Andes Mountains to Egypt to the Middle East, Egypt to Aboriginal Australia, and across other areas. Some incorporate mythology of the ancient cultures who built and inhabited the ruins. Some of the protagonists are descendants of the ancient peoples of the ruins.

Winters are typically quiet and uneventful in Northern Michigan - but when Marge Christensen arrives in Traverse City to visit her mother, who is rehabilitating from a series of small strokes, Marge and her aunt soon become embroiled in trying to solve the deaths of two old ladies. Although the women resided in different nursing homes, is there a connection - or are the witnesses simply senile old ladies who are imagining intruders?

Set internationally and spanning two decades, Annisa is an intricate portrait of a young Afghan girl's struggle to survive after the Soviet invasion in 1979. Her harrowing escape to America, and her fatal decision to return to her people in Afghanistan, evokes insight into a society torn apart by terrorism, drug smuggling, and bitter conflicts over the role of its women.

Skillfully narrated by storyteller Darla Middlebrook, this Robert Louis Stevenson tale of Keawe, a poor Hawaiian man, who buys a strange bottle from a sad, elderly gentleman who credits the bottle with his fortune. The elderly gentleman promises that an imp residing in the bottle will also grant Keawe his every desire. Of course, there is a catch - the bottle must be sold at a loss, i.e. for less than its owner originally paid, or else it will simply return to him. The currency used in the transaction must also be in coin (not paper money or a bank check).

Although it is not entirely to her liking, grief-stricken Satha, a dark-skinned woman from a poor Theseni clan weds young Loic, the wealthy Doreni son of the king's First Captain. Loic, graced with ability to see into the hearts and minds of others, begins to help Satha overcome her sorrows. Despite coming from different tribes, they begin to forge a life together. But when Satha's own compassion is used against her and a treacherous enemy contrives to dishonor her in Loic's absence, Loic's love turns to anger and disgust.

Tales of a Minstrel follows the adventures of a minstrel named Finbar as he travels from village to village telling his stories. His own experiences, however, tend to outshine even the most exciting story he tells.

One of America's first civil rights activists was a former slave named Sojourner Truth. Truth was born into slavery around the year 1797, and would wait thirty years to win her freedom. Her 1850 autobiography brought attention to the evils of slavery, and her work during the Civil War, her speeches highlighting injustice, and her efforts to ensure greater equality for all Americans inspired those who would follow.