Showing results by author "k-d-" in All Categories

After establishing an uneasy truce with the constables, Gavin has settled in Yoran to offer protection to his friends and the remaining magical element in the city. When a job reveals a dangerous new threat in the city, Gavin must take action. This time the target isn’t Gavin, but the city itself. Magic was banished a generation ago, but the Fates have returned. They bring a dark magic Gavin has never seen before - and might be helpless to control.

A new magic threatens to destroy Gavin - or change him forever. Gavin has secured the city, preventing the deadly Fates from bringing their terrible sorcery back to Yoran, but Tristan remains at large. Their fight had been a test, and Gavin knows he can’t fail the next one. When a strange attack pushes him to reveal the depths of his magic, Gavin knows Tristan has returned to finish what he started. This time, he’s working with a power greater than any sorcerer - and something Gavin has never faced.

Fes has always longed for stability. Raised within the slums of the empire, taught to steal and hurt others to make his way, when he’s discovered by the emperor’s chief fire mage, he’s given a chance to use his particular gift for gathering lost dragon relics to become something more. An encounter with a priest in possession of a dragon bone reveals the existence of a new power that threatens to return the long dead dragons to the world. Chased by the dangerous enemies, Fes travels into the bleak lands of the Dragon Plains before others can reach it.

Ashan has saved his homeland, but the threat from the king—along with Ashan's mentor—remains. The price for saving Berestal was high. His once recovered brother is now debilitated again, while his sister struggles to connect to Affelah, leaving Ashan to wonder what path he should take. When the king threatens the Wilds, Ashan must discover the truth of a land long ignored, as it might be the key to stopping the king and the spread of the dangerous power of the murtar.

Trained to kill from a young age, Gavin Lorren finally escaped that life. No more killing innocents. No more working alone. The jobs are still dangerous, but at least he can choose. Now an old friend has invited him to the city of Yoran where the work is plentiful. The Roasted Dragon tavern is rough but cozy. The regulars are seedy but welcoming. The owner, Jessica, is fond of him. It's almost too good to be true.

A captured thief holds the key to the kingdom. Having learned the truth about the Dragon Thief and saving Zarinth, an impossible decision will bring Ty away from the only home he’s known. When a dangerous priest demands his help finding something the Dragon Thief failed to find, Ty must finish the job even the Dragon Thief had failed to complete, but must stay ahead of Roson James and the Dragon Touched. The prize will secure the Dragon Thief’s freedom, but there’s even more at stake than Ty can imagine.

Six-year-old Jaxon Lathan disappeared while playing in a park. Ten years later, he’s found wandering a deserted highway. The boy’s family races to the hospital to see him, but they are shocked at the sight. The bubbly youngster has been replaced by a scarred and emaciated teen. As they begin to bridge the lost years and rebuild their bonds, they must wrestle with their own guilt and demons.

When Ella Tate stumbles into Black Rock Falls, her exhausted and bloodied body is a terrifying sight, but not as frightening as the story she has to tell. Ambushed on their way into town when they stopped to help a man by the side of the road, Ella and her friend Sky ran when he pulled a knife on them. But only one of them got away.

Poverty-stricken Finn Jagger would give anything to heal his ailing mother. With his father imprisoned, Finn has joined a thieving crew to earn the money he needs to save her. When the latest heist turns to disaster and lands him on death row, Finn’s future seems to be tied up with a noose. Until the king’s executioner claims him as an apprentice.

Zarinth is a dangerous city at the edge of the kingdom, illuminated by the constant fire of the nearby volcano Ishantil. For thief Ty, it’s more than a city filled with valuable ancient dragon relics. It’s the home he could never leave. When Ishantil threatens to erupt and put the city in chaos, Ty wants one last score before finally leaving it - and his past - behind. All while the notorious Dragon Thief chases the same prize. The Dragon Thief has a reputation for a reason, but Ty begins to think there’s more to the job than just the prize.

After stopping two attacks on the kingdom, Ashan yearns to master his connection to the dragons and finally serve as a dragon mage. He has connected to a cycle of dragons, but he's still only a student and doesn't understand what it truly means to be a dragon mage.

Now that Tolan knows the secret of the Draasin Lord, he recognizes more needs to be done. As a student, he’s not in a position to be able to do more, but as a master shaper, he’d be free to travel as he feels necessary. When another attack targets the academy, Tolan knows his unique abilities might make him the only shaper able to respond.

The true spirit master remains at large. Tolan might be the only one able to stop him, but he must find the truth within himself first. The element bonds, for so long the primary way to reach the power of the elements, have been tainted. The threat Tolan has long feared has revealed himself but escaped before his plan could be stopped. Now, Tolan and his allies must travel beyond the waste to search for answers. The journey again takes him away from his teaching responsibilities.

Mykah had been the Empire’s greatest general before it had rotted to corruption. Now he builds his own empire in order to crush the greatest nation in the world. At his side is the stunning woman who leads the horned barbarians from the north, known as the oni. The Empire’s armies are limitless. They have dragons, vampires, scores of mages, space-bending foxes, and more patriotic knights than one can imagine. Their industrial network can outfit an army in days. Sometimes, winning requires a lot more than just a good army and tactics.

Jasn, a warrior known as the Wrecker of Rens, seeks vengeance for the loss of his beloved to the deadly draasin during the Endless War, wanting nothing more than to sacrifice himself in the process. When an old friend offers a dangerous chance for him to finally succeed, the key to understanding what he finds requires him to abandon all that he believes. Ciara, a water seeker of Rens living on the edge of the arid waste, longs for the strength to help her people.

Conquered by the Jao twenty years ago, the Earth is shackled under alien tyranny - and threatened by the even more dangerous Ekhat, one of whose genocidal extermination fleets is coming to the solar system. The only chance for human survival is in the hands of an unusual pair of allies: a young Jao prince, newly arrived to Terra to assume his duties, and a young human woman brought up amongst the Jao occupiers. But, as their tentative alliance takes shape, they are under pressure from all sides.

When a naked man with amnesia shows up at my door, I have the usual theories: alien, time-traveling assassin, lost tourist who partied too hard the night before. This is New Orleans, so my money is on the last one. What doesn’t make the list? Dinosaur shifter. Something is hunting us so no time to dwell on how and why. Killian—not his real name, but Sexy Beast is a little too on the nose—is willing to take on the world for me. Which is a nice change since I’m usually to blame for everything. Just ask my mother or the New Orleans Police Department.

When Dakota Slade fails to turn up to work at the general store, Sheriff Jenna Alton and her deputy David Kane visit her home in Black Rock Falls. TV still blaring, Dakota's lifeless body is draped across the battered old sofa, her dark hair hanging over her delicate face, her young life taken too soon. With a shuddering breath, Jenna notices two small scorch marks on the back of the victims neck. Dakota has been electrocuted.

As she steps out of the shower and wraps herself in a warm towel, her breath catches. There’s writing scrawled in the condensation on the mirror. I’m going to kill you. She doesn’t even have time to scream… It’s Halloween when a young woman is reported missing from the small town of Black Rock Falls and Sheriff Jenna Alton and her partner, Deputy David Kane, race to her remote home. But all they find are signs of a struggle and blood on the bathroom floor. Freya Richardson has vanished.

The best of Deep Magic: Volume 1—fantastical worlds of space adventures, changelings, and dragons await—stories with depth, strong protagonists, high tension, all told while pulling at your heartstrings, or making you smile with understanding. In this volume, you'll find twenty-two stories, including many novelettes. Go on adventures from deep space to ancient Rome (with magic), to Mars, and many other new fantasy worlds.