Showing results by narrator "Kevin Collins" in All Categories

He left behind the Northern Kingdoms, tired of their wars and schemes. The golden waves of the Sea of Sand didn't drown him in fire, but the Evening Stars ultimately didn't bless him with their light. Despite his many adventures, despite the fact he's already endured enough hardship to last him several lifetimes, his soul was restless. Finally, Hadjar Darkhan and his friend, Einen the Islander, reached the capital of the Darnassus Empire - Dahanatan.

When his satirical musings in a college newspaper got him discharged from the Air Force, it became clear to Walt Williams that his destiny in life was to be a writer - he just never thought he'd end up writing video games, let alone working on some of the most successful franchises in the industry - Bioshock, Civilization, Borderlands, and Mafia, among others. Williams pulls back the curtain on an astonishingly profitable industry that has put its stamp on pop culture and yet is little known to those outside its walls.

It has been four years since Darian saw his village sacked and burned by barbarians. Taking refuge with the Hawkbrothers, he soon finds his life's calling - as a Healing Adept. But even as he learns the mystical ways of this ancient race, Darian cannot escape the dangers threatening his future. Another tribe of barbarians is approaching. The time has come...to stand up and fight.

The country of Nia has fallen to the Ancients and circumstances are grim for the humans. Kaiyer must return to the broken castle to save his friends, reconcile his past, and find a way to break the hold that the enemy agents have over the country.

Without warning, something has gone terribly awry. In the remote and unnoticed places of the world, small pockets of death begin occurring. As the initially isolated extinctions spread, the world's eyes focus on this unimaginable horror and chaos. Out of the ecological imbalance, something new and extraordinary is evolving and surviving to fill the voids left by these extinctions. Evolution is operating in ways no one could have expected, and environmental damage may be the catalyst.

Best-selling author Julianna Baggott presents the second volume in her new post-apocalyptic, dystopian thriller trilogy. We want our son returned. This girl is proof that we can save you all. If you ignore our plea, we will kill our hostages one at a time. To be a Pure is to be perfect, untouched by Detonations that scarred the Earth, and sheltered inside the paradise that is the Dome. But Partridge escaped to the outside world, where Wretches struggle to survive amid smoke and ash.

Welcome to the challenge. You're an absolute nobody here—nothing, a zero, a useless lump of meat filled with bones. You're but a delicious morsel for your antagonists and those who got lucky at the start. The only goal you can have in your miserable existence is to kick the bucket as soon as possible.

Americans today are frustrated and anxious. Our economy is sluggish and leaves workers insecure. Income inequality, cultural divisions, and political polarization increasingly pull us apart. Our governing institutions often seem paralyzed. And our politics has failed to rise to these challenges. No wonder, then, that Americans - and the politicians who represent them - are overwhelmingly nostalgic for a better time.

From out of the clear blue sky, an unknown chunk of rock from the frozen void strikes the Earth with unimaginable force, gouging a wound into the very crust of the planet. Millions die in an instant, and millions more await the end as the looming catastrophe unfolds...Thousands of miles away from the disaster, a call comes in the middle of the night. Families act, and react, and while panic spreads, the world keeps on spinning. Maybe a little slower, and perhaps with a teeny bit more of a tilt, but such things are a mere trifle to the existence of a planet.

Seventy baseball seasons ago, on a May afternoon at Yankee Stadium, Joe DiMaggio lined a hard single to left field. It was the quiet beginning to the most resonant baseball achievement of all time. Alongside the story of DiMaggio's dramatic quest, Kennedy deftly examines the peculiar nature of hitting streaks and with an incisive, modern-day perspective gets inside the number itself, as its sheer improbability heightens both the math and the magic of 56 games in a row.

While in London, Peaches, Simon’s faithful hellhound manages to grow to the size of a small bus, shocking Monty & Simon with his new transformation. Realizing the danger of a Peaches XL, the Montague & Strong Detective Agency take steps to control these growth spurts. They acquire a special collar to regulate the size shifts, but it’s not working. The situation is growing out of control…literally.

In Rhapsody, a fellowship was forged - three companions who, through great adversity, became a force to be reckoned with: Rhapsody, a singer of great talent and even greater beauty; Achmed, an assassin with unearthly talents; and Grunthor, a giant sergeant-major whose jolly disposition stands at odds with his deadly skill at weapons. Having fled the F'dor - an ancient, powerful evil - the three emerged on the other side of the world only to discover 14 centuries had passed.

Erin feels that she has reached a breaking point in her cancer treatment. Having gone through two exhausting programs of medication and facing a third, she decides to take a week off from doctors and hospitals and even her family, and to fly from her home in Washington D.C. to a retreat in California that is designed for cancer victims with no chance of survival. So when the plane encounters extreme turbulence and comes apart in midair, she accepts the reality. Only fate has other ideas, for she miraculously survives not only the explosion but also the fall from the sky.

With the events of the brutal Devil's Nest now behind him, Feng Yu had finally reunited with his allies Dai Lin, Lang Kuang, and the rest. Once more, having assembled, they begin their journey in the ever so dangerous dunes of the Southern Wastelands, striving to make the most of their limited time to prepare themselves before the rumored Ruin Openings. Nevertheless, as they travel across the unfamiliar southern sands, encountering both old and new adversaries, slowly they will discover that the south might be more than they could ever imagine.

"The Red House”, a story by Robert McCammon, was originally published in the 1985 anthology Greystone Bay and was selected for inclusion in The Year's Best Fantasy Stories 1985.

His deal with the Demon Prince has taken Hadjar deeper and deeper into the Strange Lands, where every step could be his last. With the aid of Abraham's squad, he's looking for clues and uncovering all sorts of secrets and mysteries, but the Raven Sect's fanatics are on their trail. What will this new twist of fate bring? Will Hadjar be able to fulfill his part of the deal? Did he make a mistake when he agreed to destroy the oldest and most powerful sect of the mortal realm?

Autumn, 1864. Rebel bushwhackers have seized and looted a small town in Missouri. Wounded and left for dead by his half-brother, 17-year-old Owen Wainwright is captured and conscripted by the Confederate Army. As the troops' blacksmith, he witnesses the horrors of war firsthand: the savagery of General Selby's Iron Brigade, the massacres of Union troops, the bloody battles at Lexington, Westport, and Mine Creek. Against all odds, Owen survives with the help of an unlikely ally-a new friend in arms and the only person he trusts. But if fate is cruel, war can be crueler.

Brian Cuban was living a lie. With a famous last name and a successful career as a lawyer, Brian was able to hide his clinical depression and alcohol and cocaine addictions - for a while. Today, as an inspirational speaker in long-term recovery, Brian looks back on his journey with honesty, compassion, and even humor as he reflects both on what he has learned about himself and his career choice and how the legal profession enables addiction.

Since the apocalypse began, Bain Lee has survived with a class that should never have been intended for combat. Using his ability to see into the true nature of the System, he has turned the ocularist class into a powerhouse on the battlefield. His time on this new Earth has changed him, transformed him into what he was always meant to be: A leader among humanity, a general among all sentient species.

Two years after his parents' disappearance, Darian has sought refuge and training from the mysterious Hawkbrothers. Now he has opened his heart to a beautiful young healer. Finally Darian has found peace and acceptance in his life. That is, until he learns that his parents are still alive - and trapped behind enemy borders....