Showing results by narrator "John Pirhalla" in All Categories

The empire defeated the Swarm at the Battle of Iris, but it came at a great cost. To win, Hazard King needed to reveal he was Crown Prince Henry and take command of the Imperial Fleet as War Leader. Now their enemy is suing for peace, something many in the empire don't want to give. There are even officers in his own fleet that wish to restart the war and eradicate the Swarm. Hazard and his mother, Empress Elizabeth, face not only issues in the Isis System but across the empire.

Special Forces are accustomed to crazy ops, but orbiting a black hole to slow down time and fight Earth’s dirty wars in the future? That’s new, even for them. But that’s the mission for Owen Quarry, Anaya Pretorius, and the rest of COG, a company of elite, disgraced, soldiers from around the globe. They join a defrocked company commander, an AI warship with self-confidence issues, and a crew of misfit troopers on a dizzying time-quest: prove the concept of stationing armies in space-time. If they complete ten missions, they’ll be redeemed as citizens in good standing.

The key to finding the one responsible for the attack on Terndahl involves crossing the waste, but is Tolan willing to risk the tenuous peace they've achieved for revenge? Now a master shaper, Tolan must serve the Academy, but he understands the risk his mother poses. While others want to study the power out on the waste, Tolan sees the need to look beyond Terndahl. His mother remains at large, and they still don’t know her ultimate goal.

For Sergeant Pete “Hardball” Talbot, recently returned from being wounded on Tarawa seven months earlier, Saipan is just another battle as the United States leaps island to island toward an invasion of the Japanese homeland. But the Japanese have learned, all too well, how to defend their islands, with carefully constructed and concealed bunkers and machine gun nests. Talbot and the dozen men of Second Squad have no idea they are running headlong into thirty-five thousand Japanese soldiers who have sworn to fight to the last man.

Awakening from cryo sleep after barely surviving the Tarrant System Battle, Captain Hazard King begins working on restoring the wrecked Imperial Fleet. The Swarm forces smell blood and press their victory, sending a strike fleet to attack the Fleet base at Icarus. In the past, the Empire had ten years between attacks. This time, they'll only have two. Even worse, the Empire doesn't have the forces or the technology needed to stop the massive Swarm fleet, and Hazard is stymied at every turn by an entrenched bureaucracy that is unable to give Hazard the resources required to win the war.

In Locksburg, Pennsylvania, a former coal and steel town whose best days seem long past, five thousand residents have toughed it out, and have reasons for both worry and hope as this neglected place teeters between decay and renewal. For some of them, their biggest troubles have just arrived.

Artorian welcomes home old friends, glad for their company. Having finally returned Cal to the seat of his sanctuary, he must cast aside other whims and assume the mantle of Administrator, continuing the diplomacy that came with the creation of Accords. Regardless of agreements, some diplomacy must always be spoken with fists. To prepare for the second coming of Eternium, Cal’s space must stand firm, resolute, and without danger...even if Artorian must contend with a city of tears to attain that result.

Considering she had just attended her mother's funeral, Gloria Jaymes never expected to see the woman again, but then her dead mom shows up at her house. Gloria's mom is...different. She's younger than when she died, dressed in clothes from the 1980s. And nobody else in Gloria's family seems to recognize her. As Gloria tries to figure out the reason for her mother's reappearance and the odd behaviors the woman begins to exhibit, other bizarre events occur. The changes to Gloria's world are small and subtle, at first...then they become much more startling.

Artorian wakes in youthful form version three, and happier he could not be. Exploring Avalon is a treat to the senses, with cat cafes galore and gossip flowing evermore. Lectures on Laws and leisurely walks fill his days, with plenty abound to catch the eye. All is well on this enthusiastic stroll until a Heavenly falls from the sky, and Artorian can kiss his simple days good-bye.

Almost half a century has passed since prison ships en route to Australia discovered the mysterious Tower rising out of the Indian Ocean, known as Gaia. Monarchies, republics, and trading giants came together to build a city around it, and contain the monsters spilling out of the rune-covered structure.

Hazard King was ready to get back to a normal life… Well, as normal a life as the next emperor of the Brittania Empire could expect, anyway. Hazard wanted to continue his naval career—to grow and take on positions of higher responsibility—because he knew the Swarm would be back, and he intended to be there to fight them when they returned. He had learned how to delegate, though, and while he was training, the rest of Team Hazard was tasked with eliminating the Marxist spy network, which they had discovered was mostly made up of rogue Imperial spies.

It's 2182. Stuck on a dull space station, 17-year-old Loni Solace's heart is failing her, and not just metaphorically. In search of one last thrill, she jumps aboard a freighter to see the galaxy for the first and last time. She expects adventure, but what she gets is a nightmare as crewmates start to disappear, and crazed robots start attacking. Enter Hardy: a combat ChronoBot with a messed-up memory, now Loni's unexpected ally in a system aimed against her. Loni, Hardy, and a few badass crewmates are thrown into high-octane battles and face-offs.

Harry Fox hunts artifacts for the Italian mob. When a forgotten manuscript suggests Great Britain's most famous king may not be fiction, Harry plunges headlong on a dangerous path to uncover the truth. Little does he know a shadowy alliance with ties to three of mankind's most powerful organizations follows his every move, desperate to stop him before he can uncover the truth behind the legend. Surrounded by enemies, Harry barrels across the globe and discovers the myth of King Arthur is far more real than anyone ever imagined. Can Harry survive to reveal the true story?

When you step off the landing craft into the sea, bullets flying at 0630, how do you react to your vision of your mother opening the telegram that you have been killed? When your glider crashes and breaks apart, what do you when you are shot and the Germans are bearing down on you, and you know your dog tags identify you as a Jew?

The arrival of a dangerous sorcerer forces Gavin to confront his past. As Gavin works with the El’aras to master his connection to the ring, he learns of an El’aras prophecy that speaks of the Shard and a Champion. One must destroy the other. Though Gavin doesn’t believe in prophecy, he can’t deny that he’s caught up in something greater than he understands - and begins to suspect he’s been guided toward his fate. The arrival of a powerful sorcerer tests Gavin’s belief.

Bentley Little was born in Arizona a month after his mother attended the world premiere of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. He is the author of 10 previous novels, including The Revelation, The Mailman, The Summoning, Death Instinct (published under the name Phillip Emmons), University, Dominion, The Ignored, The Store, The House, and The Town. An acknowledged master of horror, he is currently at work on his next novel.

In his first collection of short stories, Ron Ripley delivers eight spine-tingling tales of the strange and the macabre. Weaving an intricate web of storytelling, listeners are asked to join him on a journey through some of the darkest of his works. Book a room at the old Crowe’s Bed and Breakfast, but be certain you can leave. Join the treasure hunter as he digs up graves and awakens more than just the dead. Lay beside a homeless man in a shelter, but make sure you’re not trespassing.

When a known Komran outpost that has recently been upgraded shows signs of staging an invasion, there are only two options: commit to a full-force assault and lose many lives and ships to take the base, or send in a small, elite team to take on an entire base by themselves. The council believes the barbarian has done well so far. Why not risk his team’s necks first and see how it goes before scheduling that assault? Joe and his team must make their way to a planet that has been under Komran control for decades.

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.

The odds are against Mathison and his Marines. The Republic has abandoned them, and the Governance has collapsed. The vanhat are sweeping through human space almost unopposed, crushing the few humans still scattered throughout the ruins of the Governance.