Showing results by narrator "John Pirhalla" in All Categories

Since the dawn of civilization, a hidden hand has gripped mankind. Operating in darkness with limitless wealth and power, this ancient Shadow Caste has controlled every major event in human history - mass migrations, revolutions, plagues, even two world wars. But now these ancient “caretakers” want to change the global experiment. Civilization is too successful, they believe, and our overpopulation threatens the existence of all life on earth.

Brad Woods has performed a lot of autopsies, but never one like this. The body is purged of all blood. Fear has made Sue Wing run from the darkened school and into night, a fear so powerful she can only name it using the Cantonese myths of her grandmother: Cup-hu-girngsi, the corspe who drinks blood. Reporters like Rich Carter don't believe in the supernatural, but all the signs are pointing to the same conclusion: a vampire is stalking the streets of Rio Verde. No, Rich Carter doesn't believe in such things. Not yet.

After capturing the sorcerer called the Apostle, Gavin decided to remain in the city of Yoran where he’s become comfortable. Work that had been plentiful has dried up and comfort becomes complacency. While new friends help to find jobs, they’re not the kind of jobs an assassin trained to be the Chain Breaker should take. He’s trained to kill, not track down relics in a city that long ago banished magic.

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.

If you’re going to fight a space war, you have to have spaceships. Charlie has a headquarters, a purpose, and an army…everything you need to build a resistance. Except warships. The Anguilar have plenty, but they also know the resistance will be coming after them, and they’ve set a hardened killer to hunt down Charlie.

He and his father have fought their way out of the Abyssinian Plains and returned home stronger than before, but Aster Fall is never peaceful for long, and the tiny village of Cliff’s End is no longer a place they can live.

The power of the elements can be complicated to master. Most reach it through the element bonds, ways of connecting to and shaping power that allowed the nation of Terndahl to thrive for centuries. Few can reach power of their own, an ancient way of holding magic the elemental warriors of old possessed.

Artorian welcomes home old friends, glad for their company. Having finally returned Cal to the seat of his sanctuary, he must cast aside other whims and assume the mantle of Administrator, continuing the diplomacy that came with the creation of Accords. Regardless of agreements, some diplomacy must always be spoken with fists. To prepare for the second coming of Eternium, Cal’s space must stand firm, resolute, and without danger...even if Artorian must contend with a city of tears to attain that result.

The time has come for Ronan Renzo—the assassin—to build his powers. His training in the Night Guild has equipped him to face whatever the world might throw at him, but there is more power to be found outside its walls. A dark miasma has woven its fingers around Ronan’s fate, and destiny dictates that he and his friends must trace that miasma to its source.

With the threat of rogue elementals escaping from the element bond and fear of another attack by the Draasin Lord, life at the edge of Terndahl is difficult for Tolan. Without any magic of his own, he spends his days working as a carpenter’s apprentice. When an elemental attack draws the attention of the Inquisitors from the Academy, everything changes.

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.

Round one of the Eternia Beta run ends with the Task Manager getting disabled by the Administrator. Without the Task Manager’s nefarious influences, Eternia comes to life as warm hugs and sweet sunshine beat back The Pale.

Artorian wakes in youthful form version three, and happier he could not be. Exploring Avalon is a treat to the senses, with cat cafes galore and gossip flowing evermore. Lectures on Laws and leisurely walks fill his days, with plenty abound to catch the eye. All is well on this enthusiastic stroll until a Heavenly falls from the sky, and Artorian can kiss his simple days good-bye.

When a known Komran outpost that has recently been upgraded shows signs of staging an invasion, there are only two options: commit to a full-force assault and lose many lives and ships to take the base, or send in a small, elite team to take on an entire base by themselves. The council believes the barbarian has done well so far. Why not risk his team’s necks first and see how it goes before scheduling that assault? Joe and his team must make their way to a planet that has been under Komran control for decades.

The Anguilar are scavengers chased out of their own galaxy by an implacable enemy. It took Charlie and his friends in the resistance two years to finally defeat them in a desperate gambit that was very nearly a suicide mission. The threat from the Anguilar is gone, but the predators who chased them out of their galaxy have followed them here, looking for vengeance.

The buried contents of a Nazi train. An aging SS mass-murderer - with one last unexpected sting in his tail. And the war secrets of a US presidential hopeful’s Jewish family, hidden in London for 70 years. Joe Johnson is more than intrigued when he learns of a link between the financing for the presidential candidate’s campaign, the Nazi train, and a ruthless British blackmail plot. But the investigation becomes bigger and more deeply personal than Johnson expects when it turns out the SS Holocaust killer escaped his net years earlier.

Prime Minister Mathison must consolidate power and bind the Governance to his will if he is to save the human race. And for that to happen, Stathis will have to become the spearhead of his efforts, because the vanhat will not give up, and they are not the only threat. Becket must also be dealt with, or he may destroy the Governance from within. But is Stathis ready to be the spearhead? He’d better be, for there is no one else Mathison can turn to, and the need is greater than they know.

For millennia, stories of God’s greatest prophets have inspired Christians across the world, urging them toward the kind of faith that compelled these celebrated sages of old. But one modern madman wants that power for himself - to conquer a world he views as filled with unrepentant sinners as he ushers in a new age of religious rule.

When stolen uranium becomes the key to humanity’s oldest secret, one man must follow the trail to the ends of the Earth—and beyond. Nuclear expert Dr. John Carver thinks he’s chasing a straightforward case of weapons-grade uranium theft from South Africa’s most secure facility. But the deeper he digs, the stranger the truth becomes: ancient artifacts with impossible properties, a magnetic Egyptian president with dangerous ambitions, and a covert space program rewriting the laws of physics.

Gideon Wolf’s world has turned not only upside down but inside out. In just a few days, the capricious hand of fate has flung Gideon from the status of celebrated archaeologist to wanted murderer. The US government, the Mexican cartels, and even a shadowy team of assassins are hunting him. All because he discovered some ancient amulet in a hidden jungle temple. All because he killed the drug lord who murdered his wife to force him to look for it. All because that amulet now transforms Gideon into El Chupacabra—part man, part monster, part ancient guardian sent to protect humanity.