Showing results by narrator "Patrick Cronin" in All Categories

In one harrowingly destructive instant, a mysterious seismic pulse in the Scottish Highlands rips away all semblance of global security. Complacency grew in the years since Dan McCarthy brought humanity into contact with intelligent aliens, but those days are gone. When peace is shattered, fear takes over.

How do you raise a boy who can bend reality with his mind? How do you keep him levelheaded, sane, and good? Raising any child is a tremendous undertaking, let alone one blessed by the goddess herself. Levi Guildersleeve, retired soldier and successful collector of rare books, finds himself as the only male role model of the most powerful witch ever born.

As the relentless approach of a truly gargantuan mothership sparks chaos on Earth, many believe the end times are here. The unknown beings are more technologically advanced than humanity can even comprehend, let alone match. For the first time since Dan McCarthy's initial contact with aliens a full 16 years earlier, the whole world is united against an existential threat. But while billions understandably cower in fear, a few stand defiant. A showdown is coming. And be it on Earth or in space, the McCarthys will be there.

With his wife waging the fight of her life, Jason is desperate to get home, Blue Wolf or not. But DAWA, an advanced warning system for doomsday events, has just sounded the alarm. A disease outbreak on tribal land is the latest in an ominous pattern that heralds the imminent end of the world.

Moving on from the trauma of combat in Afghanistan, former Green Beret Captain Sam Dale has just begun to settle down in his hometown of Castle Rock, Colorado. Now the owner of several small businesses, he is unaware that his world is about to be turned upside down. The call comes in at 2:30 a.m. The skies outside have opened up, unleashing a torrential rainstorm. Sam’s small towing company is being tasked with the retrieval of some kind of crashed aircraft.

Beware the shadow of many faces, but fear the master of many places.... It’s Monday morning, and I’ve recovered a strange glyph-covered chest from a landfill. By Monday afternoon, someone’s stolen it from my warded loft. Before I can suss out who, why, and most importantly how, I’m neck-deep with the NYPD on a murder case. A bigshot CEO is dead in his penthouse, his kidneys harvested in a way that screams black magic. Only there’s no magic in evidence. Before I can suss out who, why, and most importantly, how, I’m neck-deep with the NYPD on a murder case.

Sometimes the only way out is to fall further in…

As Earth's leaders gather to usher in a new era of interplanetary cooperation, a remarkable discovery in the skies above New Kerguelen threatens to destroy the peace on both worlds....

Must the sins of America's past poison its hope for the future? Lately the American Left, withdrawing into the ivied halls of academe to rue the nation's shame, has answered "yes" in both word and deed. In Achieving Our Country, one of America's foremost philosophers challenges this lost generation of the Left to understand the role it might play in the great tradition of democratic intellectual labor that started with writers like Walt Whitman and John Dewey.

Everson Croft here, professor of mythology and nervous as sin. Tonight's the night I tell Caroline the truth: about my feelings, my magic, everything. So why am I surprised when Detective Vega calls me to a new case? An elusive creature is chewing up residents in a housing project run by rival gangs. One more mangled body and the place will explode into warfare. Problem is, someone's protecting the killer.

The year is 2117. In the farthest reaches of Earth's territorial space, a spree of depraved murders has local cattle ranchers fearing for their families. A fear, they will soon discover, that is more than justified. Apparently, John Gallic's reputation proceeded his arrival to the fringe-world of Muleshoe. A reputation suggesting he be given a wide berth. As the new Territory Abettor, commonly referred to as a Frontier Marshal, Gallic would be there for the long haul.

Three years ago in a large Victorian house on the Jersey Shore in the town of Harbor Haven, fledgling private investigator Paul and his client, Maxie Malone, were murdered. Since then, recent divorcée and reluctant ghost whisperer Alison Kerby and her 10-year-old daughter, Melissa, have moved in and converted the place to a guesthouse, where Maxie and Paul are now checked in for an eternity and ready to solve any case that comes their way - or at least spook the guests (who love it). Alison’s got a lot on her plate at the moment, however, so when Paul discovers the 300-year-old ghost of a small boy in the house, he decides not to involve her in the case.

With Declan O'Carroll on Fairie and Chris Gordon on Earth, what could go wrong? Try everything. Scheming elves, deadly zombies, killer goblins, flaming dragons, and dirty diapers. With a growing, insidious threat to Earth, Chris and Tanya race to save lives while Declan, Stacia, and friends work just as hard to save their own lives on an alien world, far removed from the comforts and safety of home. Only together will they overcome the odds. But, come on, with this team, maybe the odds should look out.

Arlo Finch is a newcomer to Pine Mountain, Colorado, a tiny town of mystery and magic, but he has already attracted the attention of dark and ancient forces. At first he thinks these increasingly strange and frightening occurrences are just part of being in Rangers, the mountain scouting troop where he learns how to harness the wild magic seeping in from the mysterious Long Woods. But soon Arlo finds himself at the center of a dangerous adventure, where he faces obstacles that test the foundations of the Ranger's Vow: Loyalty, Bravery, Kindness, and Truth.

A simple distress beacon.... A mining colony in the outer reaches.... Supposedly another routine deployment for Mike Barton of the Combined States Marine Corps, but what they find on the surface is unlike anything anyone had ever encountered. Horribly wounded in a battle with an unknown quantity, Barton only survives through a chance encounter with two special operators. As if the skirmish wasn’t enough, what comes next will be beyond his imagination.

Something was coming. Arlo felt certain about that. For Arlo Finch and the Rangers of Pine Mountain Company, summer camp is more than canoeing and hiking. It's also a chance to search for ancient forest spirits and discover mysterious messages encoded in tree bark. But when Arlo and his best friends Indra and Wu stumble upon clues about the long-lost Yellow Patrol, Arlo uncovers a stunning history that leads right back to his very own family.

It's the final showdown between Cam and a rogue Tahni general.... And it might be the end of everything. Cam and Vicky are chasing down Zan-Thint to his last fortress, a lifeless world deep in Tahni space. If they can't take him down before he activates an ancient alien weapon, a swarm of biomechanical killing machines will wipe out all life in the Commonwealth.

Both sides take a step back to regroup, after a desperate battle over one system leaves the Combined States and the New Russian Confederacy reeling from heavy losses. Utilizing the might of their allies, the Combined States push for control over systems that would cut the NRC’s supply lines and force them to sue for peace.

Hausos is a peaceful farming colony. Once controlled by the Tahni, it's now settled by a collection of homeless refugees and war veterans, among them Cam and Vicky. Their life is pleasantly boring, quiet enough for demons from the war to nag at the corners of Cam’s mind on lonely nights. He fights the demons back with willpower and alcohol, determined to make this place home. But the peace doesn’t last.

Adventurer on the Run! Once Shandril was a humble kitchen maid. Now she's one of the most powerful magic-users in the land. And a lot of people want her dead. The evil Zhentarim, the powerful Cult of the Dragon—all of them want her spellfire, and they'll kill whoever they must to get it. There's only one thing for Shandril to do: run. With the aid of Elminster of Shadowdale, the Knights of Myth Drannor, her lover, and a determined dwarf, she'll wield her magic for the cause of good. But if her magic becomes too powerful, her friends won’t have a choice.

Sorch is an orc mage in a world where orcs are cursed with stupidity every time they cast a spell. The only spell he can safely cast is Enhance Intelligence, which boosts his IQ for a second before the curse drains it all away again. Normally casting such a spell would be pointless, but Sorch's tribe has found a way to benefit. Magic that is cast near a mysterious artefact called the ‘Voodoo Engine’ causes invisible hands to appear, and these hands get work done for his tribe. Sorch is a slave to the Voodoo Engine, casting a single spell over and over again to avoid being beaten.