Showing results by narrator "John Pirhalla" in All Categories

Gloria Burtzlaff feared for her life one day back in April of 1991 when her abusive husband, Larry, drunk and violent, slapped her, hit her, and began pelting her with glasses. After he tried to drown her in a tub, she got the family shotgun and confronted him in his underwear. “Larry, I’m going to kill you,” she declared. Defense lawyers would later claim he lifted a glass as if to say, “Have at it, sister.” Have at It, Sister is a true-crime tale about Gloria, a South Dakota woman who shot her abusive husband and was put on trial in a precedent-setting case.

Torian Ranth is no longer the struggling student he once was. Now a skilled sahir to be reckoned with, Torian arrives at the devastated university. It still stands amid the remnants of the Rusav onslaught.

Astral threads cut across the world, drawing Sam to them like a fire from the past. He discovers that his new race is intrinsically tied to the Void and the stars. Meanwhile, hints of the First War are returning to Aster Fall as the dimension trembles. Flaws are appearing more rapidly than ever, putting pressure on cities across the kingdom. In the shadows, dangerous artifacts related to Outsiders reveal a troubling connection. The relic also holds ancient secrets, some of them powerful enough to change the balance of power in the land.

There are none at the university who can teach Torian what it means for him to be a valsahir. When the headmaster suggests he convince the Viper to teach him, Torian must first prove he’s worthy. As secrets begin to unravel, the distinction between friend and foe blurs. The Viper, once thought an adversary, becomes an enigma, compelling Torian to grapple with a dangerous dilemma. Is the Viper genuinely the sinister force they have all feared?

Executioners don’t solve crimes; they punish those who commit them. Or, so Finn thought before apprenticed to one. Poverty-stricken Finn Jagger would give anything to heal his ailing mother. With his father imprisoned, Finn has joined a thieving crew to earn the money he needs to save her. When the latest heist turns to disaster and lands him on death row, Finn’s future seems to be tied up with a noose. Until the king’s executioner claims him as an apprentice. Finn soon learns an executioner has far more power and greater responsibility than he’d ever realized.

Could you sacrifice the lives of millions to save your daughter? When an archaeologist's daughter is abducted, he must find a powerful ancient relic to save her life but at the cost of millions of lives. Or is there another option?

The island of Tarawa, a tiny spit of sand out in the middle of the Pacific, teemed with five hundred pillboxes filled with artillery pieces and highly motivated Japanese soldiers. Their commanding officer encouraged his troops, saying, “It would take one million men one hundred years” to conquer Tarawa. They were convinced that the Americans would be slaughtered before they ever got ashore.

With the threat of rogue elementals escaping from the element bond and fear of another attack by the Draasin Lord, life at the edge of Terndahl is difficult for Tolan. Without any magic of his own, he spends his days working a menial job as a carpenter’s apprentice. When an elemental attack draws the attention of the Inquisitors from the Academy, everything changes.

Fresh from fighting bugs and clones on Pada-Pada, Second Lieutenant Abner Fortis and Third Platoon look forward to some well-deserved liberty on Eros-69, a plutoid colony built to provide all the earthly pleasures available in the far reaches of space. When Fortis’ nemesis reroutes Third Platoon to Eros-28 instead, though, the Space Marines discover they’ve been sent to an industrial colony with limited R&R opportunities and no way back to the flagship. Everything

Prime Minister Mathison must consolidate power and bind the Governance to his will if he is to save the human race. And for that to happen, Stathis will have to become the spearhead of his efforts, because the vanhat will not give up, and they are not the only threat. Becket must also be dealt with, or he may destroy the Governance from within. But is Stathis ready to be the spearhead? He’d better be, for there is no one else Mathison can turn to, and the need is greater than they know.

Commander Kyle Griffin was a good soldier. Perhaps the perfect soldier. Owner of countless victories in an unyielding galactic civil war, he was bred to be the harbinger of death for the meager Splinter rebellion, and he did not disappoint. He and his team of elite Infinity Force operatives had the war all but won. Until he finally met an adversary he could not defeat: the truth.

Zarinth is a dangerous city at the edge of the kingdom, illuminated by the constant fire of the nearby volcano Ishantil. For thief Ty, it’s more than a city filled with valuable ancient dragon relics. It’s the home he could never leave. Ty wants one last score before finally leaving the city—and his past behind. All while the notorious Dragon Thief chases the same prize. The Dragon Thief has a reputation for a reason, but Ty begins to think there’s more to the job than he ever expected. If he succeeds, he might stop a war.

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.

Struggling to piece together his fractured memories, Vincent Donnelly and former Scion, Dezzy Walker, travel to Arizona to seek a strange group known as the Sight Unseen. But, following their tracks leads Vincent and Dezzy to the Abyss - a hi-tech facility, hidden below the desert rocks, and the brainchild of a scientist Vincent has already met in the past. Trapped beneath the Earth, Vincent must find the last surviving member of the Sight Unseen. But the now-abandoned lab holds secrets of its own....And horrors beyond imagination.

Subtlety is a game Joe is capable of, but he always preferred a more hands-on approach. Unluckily for him, the Komran are no longer satisfied with a war of attrition, and there’s no choice but to play. After intercepting the Komran battleplans on his last suicide mission, Joe gets the request to take on the most challenging mission to date: diplomacy.

Without the threat of the Witch’s bloody harvest, the family elders have fallen into chaos. Internal squabbling has left them blind to this new enemy in their midst. Local legends have barely begun to fade when a group of tourists go missing. Some say the Witch has returned. But Basheba, Mina, and the others believe it could be something even worse. As the survivors dig deeper, they discover that one of their own may have been corrupted by an ancient evil - a power greater than anything they have faced before. But is the Bell Witch behind all this?

At first, Dr. Gideon Wolf thinks the guy standing in front of him is insane. Ten million bucks for what amounts to a glorified treasure hunt. Ten million dollars, this man offers him, to find a mythical amulet based on, apparently, some maps he printed off the internet and his outsized faith in make-believe. Turns out the unwelcome interlocutor isn’t just some garden-variety kook. He’s Vicente Carrillo, the world’s most feared drug lord, and Gideon learns fast that the deal is nonnegotiable.

For nearly 2000 years, the Catholic Church has revered and protected its priceless, sprawling inventory of holy relics. From the bones of apostles to pieces of the cross Jesus died on, Catholics worldwide have long viewed their cherished relics as sacred - reminders of the possibility of miracles, of the power of the Almighty. But, some of the holiest relics in all of Christendom have been lost down through the centuries to war, thieves, or worse. And, the Catholic Church has spent untold blood and treasure to recover them - often to no avail.

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.

CHICAGO, SOMETIME— Two people meet in the Art Institute by chance. Prior to their encounter, he is a doctoral student who manages his destructive thoughts with compulsive calculations about time travel; she is a bipolar counterfeit artist, undergoing court-ordered psychotherapy. By the end of the story, these things will still be true. But this is not a story about endings.