Showing results by author "Stephen Paul" in All Categories

In the year 2022, gamers rejoice as Sword Art Online - a VRMMORPG (virtual reality massively multiplayer online role-playing game) like no other - debuts, allowing players to take full advantage of the ultimate in gaming technology: NerveGear, a system that allows users to completely immerse themselves in a wholly realistic gaming experience. But when the game goes live, the elation of the players quickly turns to horror as they discover that, for all its amazing features, SAO is missing one of the most basic functions of any MMORPG - a logout button.

Kirito plunges into a suspicious new VRMMORPG called ALfheim Online to rescue Asuna, who never returned from Sword Art Online. ALO offers many features to entertain players in the wake of SAO: ultra-high-end graphics, action-heavy gameplay, a choice of fairy races, and a next-generation flight engine. Playing as a spriggan, Kirito heads for the location of Asuna's prison—the top of the World Tree, the final destination of every player in the game! Along the way, Kirito nearly falls to a plot hatched by the enemy salamanders.

Kirito has faced innumerable hardships in the two long years since he first awoke in the Underworld, but his greatest battle yet lies ahead. As they near Administrator's chamber at the top of Central Cathedral, Kirito and Alice confront a heartrendingly familiar foe on the ninety-ninth floor. The final obstacle standing before them is none other than Eugeo...wearing the armor of an Integrity Knight! Can Kirito's cries reach Eugeo in the tortured recesses of his mind? Or will Administrator have the last laugh?!

As a scientist, Sherlock Holmes would have certainly been familiar with the famous dictum attributed to Aristotle: Nature abhors a vacuum. In that same vein, fans of the Great Detective must look at 1885 and 1886 and see a somewhat similar void. Conan Doyle set no cases during those years; in fact, if you believe Doyle, Holmes and Watson remained inactive for a period of some 30 months.

Kirito reenters the world of VRMMOs, this time logging in to Gun Gale Online in order to investigate the Death Gun, an in-game item rumored to be responsible for real-world deaths. He immediately runs into trouble when, after transferring his old avatar into the new game, he discovers that he looks a bit more feminine than he'd anticipated! With the help of Sinon the sniper, he enters the Bullet of Bullets tournament and tries to adapt his old skills to the new gun-based combat of Gun Gale Online.

Linked up and logged into the deadly VMMORPG Sword Art Online in both the real and virtual worlds, Kirito is stuck in a hell of one man's making and, like everyone else, unable to escape until the game is beaten. But while some players are crippled by fear and others throw themselves into completing the game, still others relax into everyday life in the face of their cruel predicament and live to the best of their ability...laughing, crying, but always enjoying the game.

Fifty-thousand troops led by Gabriel Miller, aka Emperor Vecta, the God of Darkness prepare to invade the human lands defended by Bercouli and his army of five thousand. Kirito, still out of commission, is left in the care of Ronie and Tiese.

Kirito and Sinon's battle with Death Gun is over, but mere weeks later, something strange is afoot in the next-generation VRMMO ALfheim Online. A new duelist with a custom sword skill is defeating all comers—including Kirito! But when Asuna goes to face this duelist, she receives something she never expected: An invitation to an exclusive guild! But what is their aim? The Mother's Rosary arc begins!

Here's a brilliant parable for everyone who wants to lead a fuller, happier life. Millions of business people have already used the best-selling FISH! books to improve the way they work. Now, the authors turn their attention to life's daily personal challenges, helping listeners deal with them simply and effectively. By applying the FISH! principles of Play, Make Their Day, Choose Your Attitude, and Be Present, FISH! For Life shows readers how to confront life's issues and to reach their full potential.

Administrator's defeat has come at a heavy cost: The death of Eugeo as well as the mental decline of Kirito. Six months after the epic battle atop Central Cathedral, Kirito spends his days in the Underworld wheelchair-bound; bereft of emotion or even a will to live. Although Alice and Bercouli do what they can to help him, it isn't long before the armies of the dark territory are start to move in earnest. The "Final Stress Test" has begun. But will Kirito be ready?

This second volume of a must-listen collection contains 15 bibliomysteries by best-selling and award-winning authors.

For all we know, or think we know, about Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, what we don't know is far, far greater. In one of the duo's most exciting cases, The Adventure of the Speckled Band, we know when Helen Stoner arrives "in a considerable state of excitement" at the door of 221B Baker Street, seeking the assistance of Holmes and Watson: "It was early in April in the year '83..." But what happened during the rest of 1883? Or all of 1884?

The final stress test bleeds into its second day. Driven to desperation by the Integrity Knights’ coordinated assault, the Dark Army reveals the ace up their sleeve! Critter, who has been observing the battle from the Ocean Turtle, has successfully created a gateway into the Underworld and masked it as an invitation to “an open beta test for a new, unannounced VRMMO." This digital invite bolsters the ranks of the Dark Army by the tens of thousands!

Kirito has escaped Sword Art Online, the forbidden VRMMORPG of death, and returned to reality. He heads off to find his game partner and lover, Asuna Yuuki. But Asuna never made it back from the nightmare.

Two years after waking up in a mysterious fantasy world, Kirito and his oddly human NPC friend, Eugeo, continue their quest to become Integrity Knights—and find Alice, who disappeared so long ago and yet has somehow lingered in the back of Kirito's mind. Their journey takes them to the Imperial Swordcraft Academy, where they must train to become two of the top twelve seats in the class to have even a hope of seeing Alice again. Meanwhile, as Asuna desperately searches for Kazuto Kirigaya, she stumbles across the deeper secret of his new world.

In an effort to discover the truth behind Death Gun, Kirito has entered the Bullet of Bullets tournament in Gun Gale Online. Both he and Sinon the sniper girl have made it to the finals, and the reality of what they discover is stranger than anything they could've prepared for. As Sinon is forced to face her own past, lives are on the line once again, and Kirito struggles to connect Death Gun to events in the original SAO game--but can Death Gun's bizarre rampage be stopped in time?

Following a mighty clash, Kirito and Eugeo find themselves separated for the last leg of their journey to the top of Central Cathedral. Kirito, forced into an unlikely alliance with Alice the Integrity Knight, continues his climb from the outside, while trying not to fall to his death. At the same time, Eugeo must face off against the Integrity Knight Commander himself, Bercouli Synthesis One! Although the journey is nearing its end, they'll soon learn that the cathedral is still full of surprises.

The saga of Sword Art Online continues with three side stories set during the Aincrad and Alfheim eras. The game of death took its toll on every player in a different way—when one turns up dead on the fifty-seventh floor, the game's afoot, and it's up to Asuna and Kirito to crack the case. There's also the story of how Kirito got his Excalibur sword in Alfheim (with a little help from his friends). And when the game of death first began, Kirito learned a difficult lesson—one he would never forget.

The Doctor ventures into alternative dimensions in these four exciting novelisations of TV stories.

Kirito awakens in a vast, fantastical forest filled with towering trees. In his search for clues to the truth of his surroundings, he encounters a young boy who seems to know him. He ought to be a simple NPC, but the depth of his emotions seem no different than a human. As they search for the boy's parents, Kirito finds a peculiar memory returning to him. A memory from his own childhood, of this boy and a girl, too, with golden hair, and a name he should have never forgotten—Alice.