Showing results by author "Michael R. Fletcher" in All Categories

Common knowledge isn't an axiom, it's a force of nature. What the masses believe is. But insanity is a weapon; conviction a shield. Delusions give birth to foul new gods. Violent and dark, the world is filled with the Geisteskranken - men and women whose delusions manifest, twisting reality. High Priest Konig seeks to create order from chaos. He defines the beliefs of his followers, leading their faith to one end: a young boy, Morgen, must Ascend to become a god. A god they can control. But there are many who would see this would-be-god in their thrall....

After a cataclysmic war of the gods, the last of humanity huddles in Bastion, a colossal ringed city. Beyond the outermost wall lies an endless desert, haunted by the souls of all the world’s dead. Trapped in a rigid caste system, Nuru, a young street sorcerer, lives in the outer ring. She dreams of escape and freedom. When something contacts her from beyond the wall, she risks everything and leaps at the opportunity.

The Brain Trade: Grown in crèches and programmed with a tribal warrior code, the minds of children are harvested by the black market. Sold to the highest bidder, they're installed in deadly combat machines and assassin chassis. Griffin, a junior Investigations agent for the North American Trade Union, is put on the case: Find and close the illegal crèches. Installed in a combat chassis, Abdul, a depressed 17-year-old killed during the Secession Wars in Old Montreal, is assigned as Griffin's Heavy Weapons support.

A broken man, Khraen awakens alone and lost. His stone heart has been shattered, littered across the world. With each piece, he regains some small shard of the man he once was. He follows the trail, fragment by fragment, remembering his terrible past. There was a woman. There was a sword. There was an end to sorrow.

Villains take center stage in this collection of 19 dark and magical stories. Listeners will be cheering for all the wrong heroes as some of the most fearsome, devious, and brutal antagonists perform savage deeds towards wicked ends. And why not? These characters are the champions of their own stories - evil is a matter of perspective. Contributors also include Mark Adler, Bradley P. Beaulieu, E.V. Morrigan, Peter Orullian, Matthew Ward, Kaaron Warren, Deborah A. Wolf, and Janny Wurts.

Tired of ineffectual marches and rallies, Millennials turn to terrorist tactics to force change on corporate America. Setting their sites on the company responsible for poisoning the local water supply, they declare war. But now, they swim with sharks. After all, you don’t claw your way to the top of the corporate ladder by being a pushover.

Having returned Mother Death to Bastion, Nuru flees to the inner rings. The Loa heretics seek to turn her to their own ends and topple the nahual from power. As Bastion crumbles, Nuru contemplates the ultimate blasphemy: a world without gods. Broken by his battle with Mother Death, Akachi awakens with renewed purpose. He must hunt the blasphemers who would destroy his beloved city.