Showing results by author "R. M." in All Categories

After barely making it out of their latest task alive, Noah, Ben, and the rest of Head Case’s crew are ready for a break. The Warden has other ideas. He orders them to another random planet to complete another random task, and while it’s easier than the one they just finished, it’s not going to get them any closer to going home. But things have changed. Armed with new capabilities, the team hatches a plan to both satisfy the Warden and make their first move to break free of his grip. When new revelations spiral into a deal with the devil, it may cost Noah much more than his soul…

For years, a small kernel of hope for my freedom was all that kept me alive while imprisoned by the brutal Thaician Emperor, Malakai. Now, those wishing to return me to him threaten everything I’ve fought so desperately for.

Hayley Cage never expected to find herself running jobs with one of the toughest mercenary units working the galaxy's edge. But then, life doesn't always go as planned. If it did, she would be about to graduate as an officer in the Republic military, not prepping for a routine rescue mission on a backwater planet in the middle of nowhere. A mission that's about to go straight to hell. When a bad deal leads to a worse situation, Hayley and her squad find themselves fighting to survive against the most dangerous threat they've ever encountered.

This collection comprises 40 stories by and inspired by the originators of weird fiction. From Blackwood's The Empty House, through to Philip K. Dick's The Hanging Stranger, Lovecraft's Out of The Aeons, and beyond.

Thirteen classic stories of horror and the supernatural by some of the greatest writers in the genre. This compilation includes a mix of well-known classics by authors such as Edith Nesbit, J. Sheridan Le Fanu and M. R. James, alongside several tales by less familiar names who were hugely popular and prolific in their day.

1914: Sixteen-year-old Etterly, running from something, hides inside the trunk of a tree and disappears. The police search but find no trace. Her family and friends wrack their brains but come up with nothing. And so slowly life returns to normal. The hole in the tree is boarded up, and the village of Sackwater moves on. Only Etterly's best friend, Betty, clings to hope, insisting she can hear her friend calling for help. 1940: A skeleton is discovered buried in the woods....

Noah, Ben, and the rest of the crew have done the impossible—defied the Warden and lived to tell the tale. But for how long? Faced with the Warden’s retribution, they’ll have to put all their combined skills and teamwork to the ultimate test to survive. And even if they make it through the gauntlet in one piece, their reward is hardly a reward at all…

Life is looking up for DCI John Drake. His relationship with his daughter is back on track and together, they're dealing with the trauma they suffered at the hands of the Family Man. But their respite doesn't last long. Unknown to Drake, his partner, DS Ellie Wilkinson, has her own demons to battle in the aftermath of their most recent case.

Colonel Mitchell "Ares" Williams has never been one to accept failure. While the outcome on Liberty is a crushing setback to his and the Riggers' chances of salvaging the war, there's no time to waste on regret. After all, the mission wasn't a total loss, delivering an unexpected asset in the wake of their defeat - Liun Tio, aka the Knife, a notorious warlord and enemy of the Alliance whose deep-seated mistrust of artificial intelligence and control over what may be the largest free fleet in the galaxy have made him the most important man alive.

Alliance Navy Commander Grayson Stone is patrolling a nearby space station, when a mysterious starship appears. It emerges from a storm of fire, its shields impenetrable, its weapons overwhelming, attacking without provocation and annihilating everything in its path. While his ship is badly damaged in the assault, Grayson manages to survive. Suddenly trapped behind the front line of the invasion and faced with gut-wrenching choices and near-impossible odds, he'll do whatever it takes to escape the grasp of the terrifying new enemy.

Alliance Navy Commander Grayson Stone is a prisoner. His encounter with the alien invaders is behind him, a reckoning years in the making ahead. War in the galaxy is about to explode in a way he never imagined. The fate of humankind rests on a razor’s edge. He won’t remain idle. One way or another, he’s determined to escape. To send warning of the imminent assault and sound the call to this new war.

Everybody hates necromancers. Death magic? It’s disgusting. And dangerous. For Conor, it’s also the skill that pays the bills. The medication that keeps him cancer free is expensive, and he’s terrified to die. He should be. Death doesn’t like being played. When the promise of a big payout for a small bit of thievery presents itself, Conor is all in.

In the year 2280, an alien fleet stole our Earth. For 50 years they hunted us. For 50 years they enslaved us. For 50 years we lived in fear. Nothing lasts forever. They can try to quell us. They can try to break us. They can chase us to the ends of the Earth. They can chase us to the ends of the universe. We've won our first battle. We've earned our first taste of hope. What was theirs will soon be ours. We are the rebellion. Our story continues.

Major Katherine "Peregrine" Asher of the United Earth Alliance has never heard of the Tetron. As the pilot in charge of guiding Earth's first interstellar starship into space, she has enough to think about already. But when a standard meet-and-greet with the global elite goes sideways, Katherine finds herself front and center in a war she has never heard of and doesn't understand. A war where the enemy can be anyone, and her only hope of survival rests on finding a soldier who doesn't exist.

Colonel Mitchell "Ares" Williams has been through it all, the story of his life an eternity in the making. He's brought the starship Goliath back home in a shrewd maneuver that could turn the tide of a war that he has fought beyond forever, restoring those that were lost and giving him a second chance to change the fate of humankind. A chance to destroy the Tetron for good. But as Mitchell soon discovers, the more things have stayed the same, the more they've changed, and he isn't the only one who's been waiting for this time to come...

The most powerful starships ever constructed are taken. Thousands are dead. A fleet is in ruins.... Lieutenant Abigail Cage never expected to find herself in hell. There was a time when she was one of the most respected operatives in the military. Now, she's doing hard labor on the most miserable planet in the universe. Not for long. The Republic is looking for the most dangerous individuals it can control. The best of the worst, and Abbey is one of them.

Colonel Mitchell "Ares" Williams has won battles before. So while the recovery of the eternal engine and the emergence of a powerful new ally have given him hope that he can save humanity from enslavement and annihilation, he knows the war against the Tetron is far from over, and victory far from assured.

The devil is awake, and he’s claiming me as his. The war to take back the kingdom of Pura from the traitors is beginning…and I’ve been whisked away from everything that matters to me. He holds me prisoner at his castle, claiming nothing and no one else matters outside of us. That I’ll forget about it all as we start our eternal life together. The man is delusional if he thinks he can stop me from being on the front lines and with the people I love. With the lives of everyone on the line, I’ll play the devil’s advocate until it’s time to turn the tables on him.

This is an unabridged audio collection of the "best of the best" science fiction stories published in 2013 by current and emerging masters of the genre, edited by Allan Kaster, as narrated by top voice talents. In "Zero for Conduct," by Greg Egan, an Afghani teenager, living in a near-future Iran with her exiled grandfather, makes a game-changing superconductor discovery. A young girl struggles to survive on a planet, with a stringent class structure, where Doors are used to go off-world in "Exile, Interrupted," by C. W. Johnson.

As war rages and the enemy’s sigilships systematically trample any opposition in their path, Ben, Matt, and the crew of Head Case embark on a desperate, last-ditch effort to stop Sedaya for good. With the fate of the galaxy at stake, will they rise to the challenge…