Showing results by narrator "Rish Outfield" in All Categories

Poker: a high-stakes, deadly serious professional sport. Doc Hill knows all too well the risks involved. Or so he thinks. But when one of the greatest poker players of all time dies, the stakes rise even higher. Doc must solve an increasingly frightening series of murders - and win the biggest tournament of his career - before he finds himself forced to fold his cards for good.

Retired Detective Bayard Lott hosts the weekly poker games at his home. The group calls themselves the Cold Poker Gang. And they succeed at closing old cases. Lott's very first homicide case as a brand-new detective had gone cold more than 20 years earlier. But retired Reno detective Julia Rogers, new to the Cold Poker Gang, suggests they look at that case again for personal reasons.

Storm is born into a world of secrets - an island no one visits, names no one will say, and deaths that no one will talk about. The answers are locked in his species' troubled past, guarded by the fierce creasia cats. But when Storm's friends are threatened, he decides that he must act, pitting himself against the creasia to show that they can be resisted and outwitted. To prove his point, he must stay one step ahead of clever hunters, who have more to lose than Storm imagines.

Mercenary. Galactic traveler. Survivor. Earl Dumarest is all those things - and more. For he claims to come from the mythical planet of Earth. And those claims have just attracted the attention of the sinister Cyclan. Stranded on Gath with no way off, Dumarest becomes embroiled in the schemes of a sadistic prince and a dying matriarch. Plots within plots unfold. Dumarest is the key to their success. For amid the schemes of prince and matriarch alike, all have come to experience the legendary Winds of Gath.

On the eve of Charder’s age-related death, 10 years after the events in the Hunters Unlucky novel, Arcove comes to tell Charder goodbye. Their conversation sparks a chain of events that will have a profound impact on the rest of the island, as well as on Arcove personally. “Lullaby” appears for the first time in this collection.

Still driven by his search for Man's fabled birthplace, Earl Dumrest accepts a commission to guard the Lady Derai, heiress to the proud House of Caldor, on the feudal world of Hive. On Derai's home planet, Dumarest had hoped to meet a living witness to Earth. But instead he finds himself in the lists of the deadly Contest on Folgone - with the Lady of Caldor as prize.

While the crew of the Scarlet Albatross struggles to survive her harrowing voyage, Gerard is busy keeping his promise to his father. He and Silveo return to Holovarus for a brief farewell visit. However, chaos is threatening to overwhelm the Great Islands, and even little Holovarus will not be spared. Gerard's father and brother are facing difficult decisions, and they need help. Gerard feels torn between his old kingdom and his new family.

Anaroo is an airship slave, destined to spend her days running on a treadmill, winding the great springs of the Scarlet Albatross. When a storm threatens to sink the ship, Anaroo and her fellow slaves seize the opportunity to escape. Now, at last, she can go home. However, the airship nearly sank for a reason - violent unrest among the island kingdoms below. The world is changing, and the surviving inhabitants of the Scarlet Albatross will need to cooperate to survive.

The planet Toy was a bauble of a world, designed for the pleasure of those who owned it. It was founded long ago as a corporate Utopia, and had the oldest computer banks in the Galaxy. Now Toy was in the hands of a decadent young Toy Master, whose greatest pleasure was the pain of others. Dumarest had come to Toy to consult the great Library, in hopes of locating long-lost Earth. He stayed to fight for his life.

Eve is an inquisitive baby rat who regularly escapes from her cage. One night she meets a strange creature in a glass tank across the room, a boa constrictor named Malachi. The snake is amused by Eve's questions, and he awes her with stories of the wilds where he was caught. What will happen to their friendship when Eve discovers what Malachi eats?

A dying man's last words brought Dumarest to Loame, "the garden planet". Its name was a mockery - Loame's gentle citizens could only watch in horror as their fields were ravaged by a mutated vine that destroyed all it touched. They were sure the acid-dripping vine was the work of their enemy world, Technos.

Aboard the small trading ship Moray, Earl Dumarest headed into the Web, a region of space twisted and wrenched out of shape by the dense remnants of dead suns. He had no money, no goal, and no tomorrow - only his memories and an undying hope. Somewhere in the vastness of the galaxy he would find the person who could hear his question: "Have you heard of a planet called Earth?" - and answer, "Yes."

Dumarest came to the world called Scar with nothing but the skills of his hardened body and a blood-red ring on his finger. Deadly fungus-covered Scar, where drifting spore made every breath a wager from death - but among them are the Golden Spore that give eternal life, and are the most sought-after treasure in the galaxy. Earl Dumarest sought that treasure to gain the wealth he needed to continue his search for the world of his birth, a forgotten planet called Earth.

The planet Logis was a violent world, where “bloodtime” made a duel to the death a legal way to settle the smallest quarrel. On this dangerous world, in the street at bloodtime, Dumarest met the woman Kalin - Kalin of the flame-red hair, with eyes that shone like pools of green fire. Kalin, who could see the future. The people of many worlds hated her, and called her “witch.” A few sought to possess her, to enslave her talent for their own gain. Dumarest held her, for love of her, and for the faint memory she held of a planet called Earth.

Imagine a Victorian house where every room is cursed with a frightful existence. Are monsters in the halls? Ghosts left to fester in the library? Or are the rooms themselves enchanted with malevolent energy? What was summoned long ago and what doorways were left open? Manor of Frights is a collection of tales all set in different rooms of the same house.

When Layla Shonauer and her identical twin sister Shayla are separated due to a high school trip to Washington DC, something happens to change Shay in some ominous, hard-to-identify way. Wait, it is still her sister, isn't it?

When Jacob and his brothers discover the ability to capture fog from the marsh behind their house, they bring it back with them. The fun game turns to danger as they realize perhaps something else accompanied them home. Is it too late to escape the Deathly Fog?

When teenage neighbors Rick and Talia go hiking in the Arizona hills, they discover an exotic-looking egg, which contains an unusual hatchling.

Rish Outfield narrates a sampling of his short stories, including "Remember the Future", "Try Your Luck", "Dying Is Easy", "Roll with the Changes", and "Who Can It Be Now?", along with a couple of tales only available in this collection.

When Brielle Montrose and her little brother Brent encounter a frightening being from the boy's closet, Brent makes an unlikely ally. But can you truly be friends with the boogeyman?