Showing results by narrator "Steven Brand" in All Categories

Vaelin Al Sorna is a living legend, his name known across the Realm. It was his leadership that overthrew empires, his blade that won hard-fought battles - and his sacrifice that defeated an evil more terrifying than anything the world had ever seen. He won titles aplenty, only to cast aside his earned glory for a quiet life in the Realm's northern reaches. Yet whispers have come from across the sea - rumours of an army called the Steel Horde, led by a man who believes himself a god.

Born into the troubled kingdom of Albermaine, Alwyn Scribe is raised as an outlaw. Quick of wit and deft with a blade, Alwyn is content with the freedom of the woods and the comradeship of his fellow thieves. But an act of betrayal sets him on a new path - one of blood and vengeance, which eventually leads him to a soldier's life in the king's army. Fighting under the command of Lady Evadine Courlain, a noblewoman beset by visions of a demonic apocalypse, Alwyn must survive war and the deadly intrigues of the nobility if he hopes to claim his vengeance.

Nobleman and born soldier Ben Stiger never backs down from a fight. Even as the son of an infamous imperial general, an outcast from society, he refuses to crumble under the unforgiving shadow of his once-powerful family’s disgrace. When he’s reassigned from his crack company to the struggling southern army, he’s eager to help turn the tide against a growing deadly rebellion.

Part of John Muir's appeal to modern audiences is that he not only explored the American West and wrote about its beauties but also fought for their preservation. His successes dot the landscape and are evident in all the natural features that bear his name: forests, lakes, trails, and glaciers. Here collected are some of Muir's finest wilderness essays, ranging in subject matter from Alaska to Yellowstone, from Oregon to the High Sierra.

The Downs, the poor district of the city of Avarest, is home to cutthroats and thieves, pickpockets and prostitutes, all of whom pay tribute to one of two powerful crime bosses. It is also home to Aaron Envelar, a disillusioned sellsword known as the Silent Blade, who cares nothing for the criminal overlords or their schemes, who only wants to survive and make a little coin. But when a group of thugs steal his mother’s necklace, the only link he has to his murdered parents, Aaron decides that sometimes gold isn’t enough - sometimes, blood is the only payment worth taking.

The most accomplished mountain runner of all time contemplates his record-breaking climbs of Mount Everest in this profound memoir - an intellectual and spiritual journey that moves from the earth’s highest peak to the soul’s deepest reaches.

The realm burns. Vaelin Al Sorna is tired of war. He's fought countless battles in service to the Realm and Faith. His reward was the loss of his love, the death of his friends and a betrayal by his king. After five years in an Alpiran dungeon, he just wants to go home. Reva intends to welcome Vaelin back with a knife between the ribs. He destroyed her family and ruined her life.

The new star of British fantasy returns with The Waking Fire, book one of the Draconis Memoria series, a thrilling new epic fantasy of exploration and adventure, spies and assassins, explosive magic and the battle for empire. For decades the lands of the Ironship Syndicate have been defended by the 'blood blessed' - men and women able to channel the powers contained in the potent blood of wild drakes. Elite spies and assassins, their loyalty has established the Syndicate's position as the greatest power in the known world. Yet now a crisis looms.

A quest for bloody vengeance forces Derla, a skilled veteran of the Varinshold underworld, into the service of arch schemer King Janus. Charged with protecting the renowned drunkard and cardsharp Sentes Mustor, Derla finds herself drawn into a high stakes game with the notorious criminal overlord known as One Eye.

Aaron and his companions return from Baresh with the truth of what the alliance faces, yet such knowledge is little comfort. Throughout the city, men and women whisper of demons, of monsters. But though they might disagree on the nature of Kevlane's twisted creations, there is one thing they have in common. Fear. For the creatures they face are not men - not any longer. They are death given form and function. They are, it seems in the darkest hours - and there are many such now - Telrear's doom.

Jimmy Porter barely ekes out a living running a candy stall by day and playing jazz trumpet by night. Although he usually takes his frustrations out on his emotionless wife, Jimmy's scathing tongue and self-loathing seem destined to destroy everything. Set in the UK at the dawn of the '60s social unrest, this savage morality tale spawned the phrase “angry young man".

Cal Lovett has spent half his life telling other people’s stories on his true-crime podcast. But the police are close to solving the mystery of his sister’s disappearance—now he might finally get to tell Margot’s story. Cal seeks respite on a holiday in the Scottish Highlands, but is dragged into a new cold case: an unsolved murder that shattered a family fourteen years ago.

The star sailing ship HMSS Daring is running at full sheet with a letter of marque allowing them to capture enemy vessels involved in illegal trading. Sailing under a false flag to protect the ship and its mission, Daring’s crew must gather intelligence that will lead them to the pirates’ base. But their mission is threatened from within their own ranks when Daring’s enigmatic captain makes a series of questionable choices, and rumblings of discontent start bubbling up from below decks, putting the crew on edge and destroying morale.

Ridmark Arban is the Shield Knight, the defender of the realm of Andomhaim from dark magic. But when dark magic stirs in the mountains of Taliand, the power of the Shield Knight might not even be enough to save Andomhaim....

They called her the Witch Queen.... Driven from her kingdom, the would-be queen now seeks haven in the land of her mother, but Ashlyn will not stop until justice has been done. Determined to unlock the secret of powers long thought impossible, Ashlyn bends her will and intelligence to mastering the one thing people always accused her of: sorcery.

Cal Lovett's sister, Margot, has been missing since he was a child. When Marc Dubois, The Woodland Killer, learns of Cal's true-crime podcast, Finding Justice, he invites Cal into his cell to talk. Dubois has famously refused to speak about his crimes, so why has he asked Cal to meet with him? And why does Dubois know so much about him?

The Turine army is on the brink of victory against the Geneshans. Sergeant Tyrus and his unit are tasked to steal an artifact from the enemy that some believe has the power to destroy the world. Taking such power from the Geneshans would end the decade long war. Upon their success, Tyrus' unit is among the first wave of soldiers discharged from the army. War has robbed him of time with his wife and children, but now the life he has dreamed of every day for the last 10 years is just a long journey away.

Four hundred years ago the Alkomian Empire clawed its way from the long dark, uniting the splintered factions of mankind under one banner. Harnessing the mysterious power of runes, the empire of man spread across the land, exploring and inhabiting the ancient fortresses that they plundered for runestones. For centuries humanity has stood unopposed, masters of their own destiny. Until now. In the east a darkness stirs. An evil beyond myth and memory sends its agents to plant the seeds of mankind's destruction.

The Alkomian Empire lies in ruin. An army of traitors marches on the capital, forcing the emperor from his throne. In his absence, chaos reigns. Villages burn as the blood of innocents runs in the streets. Entire provinces are reduced to rubble, demolished by terrible rune-power. Darkness and despair covers the land as hope for deliverance is consumed in the flames of destruction. On the border of the empire, two young heroes stand bloodied but unbroken.

Months have passed since Tyrus ended a decade of war between Turine and Genesha by destroying the Geneshan's sorcerous artifact. He had hoped that taking his family south would grant him the peace he desired, but even in the Southern Kingdoms, war welcomes him instead. Ava strikes a deal with the Southern Kingdom leaders to protect her brother, taking his place in their fight to protect their lands from invading forces. Having spent her adult life entrenched in battle, Ava doesn't hold any illusions as to what awaits her.