Showing results by narrator "Neil Hellegers" in All Categories

Charlie Campbell was your average, balding, thirty-year-old alcoholic with a dead-end job and a penchant for shambling through life one mistake after another. However, none of that mattered following the sudden arrival of a mysterious sickness that brought with it infected mobs of zombie-like creatures thirsting for the flesh of the living. Trapped in a Chicago apartment the morning after a raucous bachelor party, Charlie and his old fraternity buddies must battle for survival against the cannibalistic horde, a military invasion and their own rampant stupidity.

During the pandemic, our homes and apartments have transported us to new places, different experiences, and changed our understanding of ourselves and others. This collection of 12 tales explores those journeys through the lens of fantasy and science fiction, accentuating the strange and unexpected to reveal the relatable, human dimensions of our continuing migration from what’s normal to a new normal...or even paranormal.

It hasn't been easy for Jason ever since his best friend vanished, sacrificing himself to prevent Jason from being dragged into an otherworldly portal. The world didn't seem to care like it should, and just as he was getting back on his feet, bizarre monsters from other worlds began to invade, terrorizing Earth. A lesser man would have wanted to run away from it all. Jason picked up a sword and started beating the hell out of things.

Grand Master of the Science Fiction Writers of America and winner of countless awards—including the Hugo, Nebula, Edgar Allan Poe, and Bram Stoker—Harlan Ellison proved once more that he was both unpredictable and irrepressible in this second collection of innovative science fiction. Again, Dangerous Visions—the middle installment in a planned three anthology series—includes award-winning stories from incomparable writers such as Ursula K. Le Guin, Gene Wolfe, Ray Bradbury, Kurt Vonnegut, Piers Anthony, Dean Koontz, and James Tiptree, among many others.

Dying the first time sucked. Matt's trying to avoid a repeat performance. Having to save the world after being reincarnated is rather enjoyable. In a soul-crushing responsibility kind of way. For Matt, joining Earth's last line of defense in a magical realm might just be what he was re-born for.

On Karell, you are either blessed by the gods, granted a unique power and the ability to gain experience and levels, or you are forgotten. Micah Silver was a boy picked for greatness. Chosen by the gods to bear a mythic power, he longed to take his place amongst the heroes and legends he grew up reading about. Unfortunately, his primary blessing only allows him to travel into the past by sacrificing his class, wealth, and levels - a psychological burden that Micah is reluctant to shoulder. But, even if Micah is unwilling, fate has a way of forcing you to face your destiny.

Having weathered the storm, Viktor and his group of newfound friends arrive at the rift. The first thing to do is to survey the new lands and get their hands dirty. Monsters and hostile locals that outnumber them 100-to-1 are just the beginning.

Now a Level 3 village, Tine has grown considerably since that fateful day Charles Morris got thrown in Liora by mistake and decided to become its Champion. With threats of uprising behind him, Charles could focus on bringing the Satisfaction and Happiness rates higher than ever, while also adding the basic structures that would generate enough weekly income to keep Tine growing steadily. But as with the companies he used to run in his previous life, he'll find that the bigger a village gets, the bigger the problems.

Doctor Talbot Harrison, a professor in archaeology, receives a phone call one day which will destroy everything he perceives as reality. His brother has been mysteriously killed and within moments, the United States military appear at his door, literally dragging him from his home. Thrown into a helicopter under intense armed guard, it doesn't take long until they are attacked by something which cannot possibly exist, something drawn to destroy the one man who can stop the beasts from a land beyond Hades.

Since that free-for-all that saw every Champion hurry to claim as much land as they could, many of the weaker rulers have been eliminated. As a result, the whole land of Liora is now under the control of eight single coalitions. Can they be trusted to keep to themselves and play nice, or should they be treated like threats and dealt with accordingly? That is one of the main questions Charles and his allies intend to answer when they meet up to finalize their own union.

Andross Silver has a nice life...until he is pushed off a building and finds himself in a new world. Reborn into a family that wants to kill him, gifted with a System, and armed with determination, Andross must rise to the challenges of a strange new world he suddenly finds himself in. His only blessing is the Mark of the Crijik, a magical gift from a divine being that bestows great powers onto those that possess it. It also kills them at the age of 25. Andross must master magic to help him carve a path to greatness.

Book two of an isekai LitRPG adventure about an unexpected hero coming of age in his new home, progressing in power and abilities as he unlocks the secrets of magic and a System that may not be as trustworthy as it seems.

Years have passed since the demon Tarrik and his master, the sorcerer Ren, destroyed the servants of Samal and suppressed the very essence of the vile lord. The cost was greater than even a demon could have imagined. But in the realms of demons and humans, no evil can be fully controlled, and no one’s true fate can be foretold. Including Tarrik’s. He’s been summoned once more, now by the vengeful Linriel, who’s fallen in with one of Samal’s ravaged survivors.

Fenrir the wolf howls. Bifrost beckons. And Wes answers. The enigmatic Australian SAS commando awakens into a maelstrom of death and destruction, his memory in tatters, and his former friend and companion dead. In his hunt for answers, Wes uncovers much more than he was searching for, and enters a war which could see the entire planet destroyed as beasts of ice and perils from outside our realm of reality threaten humanity's very existence.

Charles' crazy wager paid off. After facing near annihilation, he managed to upend Nicos the warmonger and secure a new strip of land near the coast. With Tine growing steadily, he can now turn his attention to developing this new village and turning it into a new powerhouse. But as always, nothing ever goes as planned. For one, the borders of his new territory do not quite reach the water, so he cannot build a Seaport until he levels up his village. He cannot even access the resource tiles such as the fish, making this place completely depend on Tine for food.

Deep within Heroes of Mythian, a game world where retirees exchange their physical bodies for an eternity of adventure, Howard learns a terrible secret: The game is glitched, and it’s killing its mightiest players forever. Desperate to save his friends and countless innocents, he hatches a plan to fix things. Doing so will require skill, determination, and help from a number of unlikely heroes along the way.

After their recent victory over an incredibly powerful alien foe, Captain John Duggan and his crew are expecting some downtime while the ESS Crimson is refitted. It is not to be. In a war for survival, the Space Corps' best officer can't be permitted to languish on base with his feet up. Soon after landing on planet Atlantis, Duggan gets the call once more. This time there's to be no holding back - his superiors want him to take the fight to the enemy, rather than wait it out in Confederation Space.

A landmark short story collection that put the more character-based New Wave science fiction on the map, Dangerous Visions won several prestigious awards and was nominated for many others. This now-classic anthology includes thirty-three stories by thirty-two award-winning authors, over half of whom have won multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards.

Dion Fortune was one of the first to bring this "secret tradition" to a wider audience with her clear and comprehensive exploration of the Qabalah tradition. The Mystical Qabalah remains a classic in its clarity, linking the broad elements of Jewish traditional thought - probably going back to the Babylonian captivity and beyond - with both Eastern and Western philosophy and later Christian insights.

To be on a starship that's just sustained serious damage in a space battle and lost its thrusters and to find yourself in a totally different galaxy.... You might think that would be cause for panic or, at the very least, despondency, right? Not at all! Gnat maintains optimism, gradually gets his space frigate back in working order, and even finds upsides to what happened.