Showing results by narrator "Ray Porter" in All Categories

After thwarting the Federation's attempt to take over her ship, Captain Sarah Blythe vowed to make President Pleyal himself pay for her cargo losses. Their lone Fed prisoner told them enough of the President's plan: Confiscate all vessels to help equip the fleet he's gathering to end the Venus rebellion once and for all. But the citizens of the Free State of Venus have different ideas. Joining forces with the legendary Piet Ricimer and Stephen Gregg, Captain Blythe plans on making back more than her losses.

It’s hot in the jungle. And with the Rat Bastards, what’s hot becomes sheer hell. Prison can slow them down. Women can make them happy. But it’s killing that keeps them going. In the jungle, every shadow, every noise can mean friend - or foe. They shoot first and ask questions never. For them, the war is always just beginning.…

"History Lesson" was first published in the May 1949 issue of Startling Stories. Sir Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008) is regarded as one of the most-influential science fiction writers of all time. He was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.

The Venus Asteroid Expedition is en route to the "Mirror," an impenetrable membrane to another universe that holds all the riches of the Federation, but the only point of entry is the point through which Landolph and his men traveled long ago - with most of the men never returning.

Dog Star was first published in the April 1962 issue of Galaxy. Sir Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008) is regarded as one of the most-influential science fiction writers of all time. He was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.

The Ascendant Humans have conquered Earth and banished mankind to a distant star. There, the refugees war in space over the resources rationed to them. In an orbital habitat, Commander Rylan Shaw labors against the inter-colony arms trafficking when an informant gives him horrific news. The ruthless cartel boss, Lilith, has stockpiled weapons of mass destruction. Worse, she has permission from the Wardens, humanity’s robot overlords, to unleash them upon the system.

The enemy wants them dead. Their own side wants them to shape up. They’re the Rat Bastards. They steal. Lie. Kill. And they never respect the rules. The stuntman. The Indian. The gangster. The bum. The most awesomely effective fighting team in the history of man-to-man mayhem. And now they’re all that stands between the Japs and their plan to retake the bloody Pacific island of Bougainville.

"The Food of the Gods" was first published in the May 1964 issue of Playboy. Sir Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008) is regarded as one of the most influential science fiction writers of all time. He was named a grand master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.

Fourteen-year-old Ellis is getting ready to leave the Southwest for a boarding school in the East. This means leaving behind the only real father he has ever known, Goat Man. Goat Man has been raising a herd of goats all the while teaching Ellis the meaning of stability, caretaking, and commitment. And when a skeptical Ellis returns for spring break, he and Goat Man will be forced to re-evaluate their relationship.

"The Last Command" was first published in the November 1965 issue of Bizarre! Mystery Magazine. Sir Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008) is regarded as one of the most influential science fiction writers of all time. He was named a grand master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.

LAPD detective and former vice cop Hayden Glass is a sex addict. The addiction has ruined his marriage and continues to complicate every aspect of his life. But regular attendance in Sex Addicts Anonymous meetings has helped keep his behavior from affecting his career. That is, until he suspects that three macabre and seemingly unrelated murders are linked to his meetings and targeted directly at him.

Nox Dormienda is the award-winning debut novel of critically-acclaimed author Kelli Stanley (City of Dragons), and the first of a series in a new genre: Roman Noir. Featuring Arcturus, a hardboiled protagonist in the best Philip Marlowe tradition, Nox is a different kind of historical mystery, a suspense thriller that combines a classic noir style with the rich texture of the ancient past.

Edgar Laplante was a small-time grifter, an erstwhile vaudeville performer, and an unabashed charmer. But after years of playing thankless gigs and traveling with medicine shows, he decided to undertake the most demanding and bravura performance of his life. In the fall of 1917, Laplante reinvented himself as Chief White Elk: war hero, sports star, civil rights campaigner, Cherokee nation leader - and total fraud.

The dire legend of Thagrosh Hellborne began in cold and darkness... Thagrosh has known nothing but bondage and grueling labor for all his adult life. Prisoners of Khadoran slavers, he and the other ogrun of his village have spent their lives toiling in the lightless depths of a mine. Yet Thagrosh and his brother Vargal have a plan to escape their misery and flee to the nearby nation of Rhul. When their bid for freedom is discovered, Thagrosh is forced to escape alone into the wilderness once again.

Sam Hunter is a bit of an animal. He's a former Twin Cities cop who lost his badge because of excessive force. Abusive husbands, child molesters, and other lowlifes wound up looking like they'd been mauled by a dog...or a wolf. In this short story taken from Beneath the Skin, Sam is hired by a mysterious woman to stop a group of killers who are skinning young women alive.

President Daniel Carlson is the most popular president in history. But he has a secret big enough to bring down his whole administration. It wasn't the marijuana he smoked after graduating from Harvard. It wasn't the fact he won the presidency with the help of computer phenoms hired to hack into an electronic voting source code. It wasn't that his political family wasn't pure.

The enemy’s plotting against them - while they’re tearing at each other’s throats! Malaria could lay them on their backs. Jungle fever threatens to strip their sanity. An army of death marches through bloody war zones looking to tear their guts out. But over the roar of grenades and the swish of Samurai swords you can always hear the spine-curdling battle cry of the guys who kill their way to victory.

The Japs are staging a surprise attack.

But a bigger, bloodier surprise is waiting for them! Whoever controls New Guinea can turn the tide of the war. That’s why the Japs are mounting a bold sneak attack designed to wipe out the Americans. But the Rat Bastards know when and where the enemy plans to strike. Can they quit thrill-hunting and fighting each other long enough to become the killer combat until the Yanks need to survive?

To the victor go no spoils in the bloody battle for New Guinea. This is the Rat Bastards’ kind of war. They don’t fight for glory, but for survival. Reluctant heroes and outlaw soldiers, they hate the steaming, Jap-filled jungles, but they wouldn’t trade places with anybody. So for a high kill ratio, the Army calls on the experts. The Rat Bastards. Making history is what comes naturally to them.

God often chooses unsuspecting heroes and writes unlikely endings to his stories. Many of the characters in the Bible are even unnamed, yet their adventures reveal the kind of lasting impact that God intends each of us. Why do the vast majority of us live out unremarkable days in spite of our God-given hunger for significance? Unsung is one thing, but why settle for uninteresting? Or even worse, uninvolved? If you have the eyes of faith to see and the courage to act, you can join God's roster of unforgettable heroes.