Showing results by narrator "Marni Penning" in All Categories

The Cornerstone saga continues as a disgruntled Ryan and troubled Jak return from their harrowing scavenger mission to find that there are two mysterious new arrivals in the ville, presumed initiates to the ways of Gaia, the Earth Mother. Krysty explores her relationship with Matriarch in this flourishing paradise founded on the beliefs instilled in her as a child, but there are serpents in this garden. Death and destruction will come to this place of peace, and the true enemy may not be what it seems.

At first, Erika Bolstad knew only one thing about her great-grandmother, Anna: she was a homesteader on the North Dakota prairies in the early 1900s before her husband committed her to an asylum under mysterious circumstances. As Erika's mother was dying, she revealed more: their family still owned the mineral rights to Anna's land—and oil companies were interested in the black gold beneath the prairies. Their family, Erika learned, could get rich thanks to the legacy of a woman nearly lost to history.

Specialist astronaut Evelyn Slater encounters a small, badly damaged, ancient alien artifact on the first ever space junk elimination mission. Where was it from? Who sent it? International governments impose a security clampdown. Evelyn leads a team of handpicked scientists who make amazing discoveries within the alien device. Secrecy becomes impossible to maintain. When the news is finally released, she becomes embroiled in international politics, worldwide xenophobic hatred, and violence.

Alcatraz Smedry is up against a whole army of Evil Librarians with only his friend Bastille, a few pairs of glasses, and an unlimited supply of exploding teddy bears to help him. This time, even Alcatraz's extraordinary talent for breaking things may not be enough to defeat the army of Evil Librarians and their giant librarian robots.

After an amicable divorce, piano teacher Anna Dunlap has built an independent life in New England for herself and her four-year-old daughter, Molly. It's all Anna thinks she needs—until she meets Leo Cutter, an artist who makes her feel desired, unabashedly sexual, and filled with certitude and passion for the first time. All it takes is a single unguarded moment for Anna's perfect world to implode. Leveling shocking charges against Leo, Anna's ex-husband crashes back into Anna's life and takes Molly with him.

Amanda Brooks can’t seem to find a job that suits her. She’s really hoping her new plan is a good one, because she needs something to keep her busy while her boyfriend’s gone.

When a wealthy cattle baroness, Pamela Danvers, hires gunslinger Joe Buckhorn to track down her son, it sounds like easy money. But when he learns that the boy has run off with a girl — whose father is the leader of the cattle-rustling Riley gang — Buckhorn’s only hope is to infiltrate the gang.

It’s 1933. Reporter Cynthia Tynan finds herself drawn into the mystery surrounding the disappearance of several prominent New Yorkers and seeks the aid of the Lobster…but that grim vigilante is investigating break-ins and thefts in a number of science research labs in the city. The two cases quickly intertwine, bringing the Lobster and his associates into contact with German spies, religious lunatics, and monstrously transformed people who have been subjected to hideous experimentation.

Ninety-eight percent of fire magi who attempt the agonizing forbidden ritual known as The Burning don’t survive. Those who do...level up in ways undreamt of by the Unburned. I survived. Now I've got other problems. Headmaster Chaplin charges me with tutoring struggling student April, but when a bully targets April, I feel my control slipping. It doesn't help that he is my crush's evil twin, who - for reasons no one can explain - I share a powerful mage-bond with. It might be enough to push me into darkness. Will I emerge a hero or a fiend? Even I cannot say.

In 1866 Colorado, Ethan Kincaid agrees to a marriage of convenience with the same casual disregard he gives every decision. Audra Gilliland, young mother of two, accepts his proposal because she wants to stop being a burden to her newly married stepdaughter. And suddenly both of them are in far deeper than they'd planned.

Fifteen years ago, seventeen-year-old Vanessa Moran fell in love and lost her virginity, but not to the same boy. Pregnant, desperate, and humiliated, she fled friends and family and Whisper Beach, New Jersey, never breathing a word about her secret to anyone. Now a professional Manhattan organizer, she returns to the funeral of her best friend's husband. She intends on just paying her respects and leaving—though she can't deny she also wants the town to see how far she's come as a successful business woman. But her plans to make this a short visit fall by the wayside.

With a thriving parahuman accounting practice, a steady relationship, and a circle of trusted friends, Fred’s undead life has become more enjoyable than his normal one ever was. Unfortunately, it also seems that he’s no longer the only vampire to appreciate the up-and-coming city of Winslow, Colorado. A new clan of vampires is moving in, and they aren’t well known for tolerating outsiders in their territory.

After several years as a vampire, starting a business, founding his own clan, and proposing to his girlfriend, Fred is finally beginning to settle into life as an undead accountant. Unfortunately, not everyone is happy about his continued survival, or the dangerous friends he's made along the way. The Blood Council has dispatched a representative to determine if Fred is fit for the position he currently fills as head of a clan, and the stakes for failure are deathly serious. Worse, Fred will have to muddle through without the help of Krystal, who is off on a mysterious task of her own.

After discovering just how filled with magic, intrigue, and adventure the parahuman world of being an Undead American can be, Fredrick Frankford Fletcher did exactly what was expected - he became a certified parahuman accountant. Myths and legends, as it turns out, are not so great at taking appropriate deductions and keeping their receipts, and Fred is more than happy to return to a life others view as woefully dull, expanding his accounting business to cater to various monsters and their respective financial needs.

Ever since he left Scotland to start a new life in America, Duff MacCallister has stayed true to the values and traditions of his clan in the Highlands. But as Christmas approaches, he yearns to reconnect with his family - even the ones he hasn't met yet. This year, two of his American cousins - twins Andrew and Rosanna - will be joining Duff for the holidays at the Sky Meadow Ranch. That is, if they manage to get there alive.

High in the hills of Scotland, an ancient evil has returned. One young woman struggling to master her magic is the only hope to stop it. Teaming up with a handsome amateur historian, she uses her earth elemental gift to overturn secrets hidden deep in the soil. But never far from the trail of clues lurks a dark creature on the hunt for prey. As each clue is revealed, she learns more about her heritage and her own family history, revealing an uncomfortable link between herself and the wickedly alluring entity.

Persephone Wilder, a displaced genius posing as the wife of an American diplomat in Namibia, takes her job as a representative of her country seriously and comes up with an intricate set of rules to survive a range of problems: how to dress in hundred-degree weather without showing too much skin, how not to look drunk at embassy functions, and how to eat roasted oryx with grace. She also suspects her husband is not actually the ambassador’s general counsel but instead a secret agent in the CIA. She takes the new trailing spouse, Amanda Evans, under her wing....

In this third Alcatraz adventure, Alcatraz Smedry has made it to the Free Kingdoms at last. Unfortunately, so have the evil Librarians - including his mother! Now Alcatraz has to find a traitor among the Knights of Crystallia, make up with his estranged father, and save one of the last bastions of the Free Kingdoms from the Evil Librarians.

Delaney Reed needs a vacation from her vacation town. Even on a good day, it’s a lot of work to keep the peace in a town full of gods, monsters, and magical beings. Lately all the good days have gone from bad to worse. Luckily, Delaney has a plan to steal away with her fiancé, Ryder Bailey, for a nice relaxing weekend together. Her getaway plans come to a screeching halt when Delaney discovers Crow’s garage sale is selling cursed magical items to anyone who wants one—and everyone wants one.

With his wedding behind him, Fred is looking forward to nightly life finally settling down. Unfortunately, someone from his past has other, far less peaceful, plans in mind. Finding his clan under attack, Fred must scramble to discover who is working against him and how to fight back. Between securing shelter, trading favors, and keeping up with his accounting business, it won’t be easy to stay out of trouble; let alone uncover the identity of his adversary.