Showing results by narrator "Neil Hellegers" in All Categories

We put an end to the war with the Dark Faction, but still humanity's problems are far from over. More than half of the game's promised tong of safety has elapsed, and yet humankind is no closer to forming a unified front. We've just begun building one of the 12 planetary shield generators necessary to give Earth complete protection, but we don't have enough construction materials, players, or time. Should we ask the parallel magocratic world for help? After all, an invasion from outer space would hurt them just as bad. The mages, though, have plenty of problems of their own.

Space is a dangerous place. Here, you're either a predator or soon to fall prey to a ruthless neighbor. And if you aren't tough enough to make it on your own, you'll need the backing of a formidable power to keep you safe from bigger fish. Earth used to have such protection—the great Geckho race. But unfortunately, the Geckho fell to an enemy onslaught, leaving planet Earth to fend for itself. And now, Earth humanity has precious little time to prove to their galactic neighbors that they are not to be trifled with.

The game was something Viktor was starting to dread more and more. Things didn't go according to plan, people were swayed by a sweet promise of power and quickly changed allegiances, leaving his back open to attack. Still, not everything was so bleak. Taking the reins over one's future is the only way to survive in such a mad world, and no matter how much he thinks he can trust others, Viktor is proven wrong over and over again.

Adventure calls! Reality and fantasy finally collide when a new member joins Azure's party. A dangerous encounter with a mimic makes him think twice about touching large chests. And learning magic proves to be a bigger pain than he could have ever imagined. 

Gnat the Devourer is becoming a more prominent figure in grand space politics. Sure, he may not be totally independent yet, but he has enough leeway to be able to differentiate Earth's interests from those of its Geckho suzerains and act exclusively for the good of his own kind. Gnat must balance obligations to his almighty suzerains against a desire to advance humanity's position in space, and his home planet's search for ever more allies.

Eric McCaffrey has come face-to-face with the developers of Battlegrounds Online. They have shown up at his doorstep. He's used to seeing those faces in the game, not inside his apartment. He knew the game had been physically affecting him. Turns out he was right, and Hastech wants to run some tests. Battlegrounds Online was designed as a training simulator for the military. They want to know why Eric is being affected.

Ever since his 16th birthday, disaster has loomed over Micah Silver’s head, threatening him and everything he loved. Twice he tried to deny his fate, only to suffer for his hubris. Finally, he made the sacrifices necessary to confront the danger facing him head-on. Micah succeeded. At the head of an army of daemons, he defeated the Durgh Khan and saved Basil’s Cove from disaster. Only, it wasn’t to be.

Cormac and Amelia take a job at a quaint Victorian mountain lodge: Keep an eye on the famous psychic there to judge whether the place is haunted. Simple, right? Three problems: The blizzard that snows everyone in for the weekend, the murdered body that shows up in the morning, and the fact that everyone is sure Cormac did it. So much for the nice mountain getaway.

From the watery depths off the coast of Brazil, an eighty-year-old mystery emerges: the wreckage of a plane that crashed during an escape attempt by high-ranking Nazi officers at the end of World War II. The downed plane is of particular interest to historians, as it holds a watertight box in the largely undamaged cockpit that is said to contain a logbook with plans for a secret weapon developed by inventor Nikola Tesla—with which the Nazis had hoped to win the war. But the coveted container is nowhere to be found . . .

I'm Cisco Suarez and this is the end of the line. I've been beaten, shackled, killed once or twice, but hey, who's counting? I put my foot down at being lit up like a candle at my daughter's tenth birthday party. Some things you take personal. Revenge won't be easy. The Miami voodoo underground turned on me. An uppity wizard cartel is creeping into my business. And I keep seeing the same damn black cat everywhere. None of it matters. I've got laser focus on my archenemy, a jinn with a knack for fire. Connor Hatch is going down, even if I have to drag him to hell myself.

In The Dinosaur Tourist, Caitlín R. Kiernan’s 15th collection of short fiction, 19 tales of the unexpected and the uncanny explore that treacherous gulf between what we suppose the world to be and what might actually be waiting out beyond the edges of our day-to-day experience. A mirror may be a window into another time. A cat may be our salvation. Your lover may be a fabulous being. And a hitchhiker may turn out to be anyone at all.

Howard Fast began to formally practice Zen meditation after turning away from communism in 1956. The Art of Zen Meditation, originally published by the antiwar political collective Peace Press, in 1977, is the fruit of Fast’s study: a brief and instructive history of Zen Buddhism and its tenets, written with a simplicity that is emblematic of the philosophy itself. Fast’s study of Zen also inspired his popular Masao Masuto mystery series about a Zen Buddhist detective in Beverly Hills.

Micah fought the Third Prince of Elsewhere once. He was defeated more thoroughly than he had ever thought possible. Even when he fled from his failure through time itself, the prince pursued him, dogged and unwilling to give up on an injured quarry. The gods gave him a quest: gather the artifacts needed so that he could contend with an evil capable of devouring existence itself. He fought and bled, finally acquiring the tools he thought he would need for the climactic battle waiting for him when he returned home. Unfortunately, his adventures didn't prepare him for one simple truth.

With Eden now behind Jack, he and the group set out to find the mysterious Doc Klein, who may know how to put a stop to the zombie plague and bring peace back to our world. But the task won't be an easy one. While traveling through the wasted East Coast, Jack and the gang get caught in a war between two groups - human cannibals and the Wranglers, the latter led by an ancient, clairvoyant woman named Mother. It is Mother who warns Jack of the Doc's insanity.

Horsetooth Reservoir is an artificial body of water in land-locked Colorado. So how did a mermaid end up there? Cormac, former bounty hunter turned supernatural problem solver, doesn't much care how she got there. But he's determined to get her home, no matter who tries to stop him. And a surprising number of people are trying to stop him.

What exactly is the difference between a love letter and a suicide note? Is there really any difference at all? These might be the questions posed by Dear Sweet Filthy World, Caitlin R. Kiernan’s 14th collection of short fiction, comprising 28 uncollected and impossible-to-find stories. Here are 28 tales of apocalypse and rebirth, of miraculous transformation and utter annihilation. Here is the place where professing your undying devotion might be precisely the same thing as signing your own death warrant or worse.

Having weathered the storm, Viktor and his group of newfound friends arrive at the rift. The first thing to do is to survey the new lands and get their hands dirty. Monsters and hostile locals that outnumber them 100-to-1 are just the beginning.

Now, the academy is sending its students to a holy land called the Burning Lake. Treasures beyond imagination lay at the heart of this mystical realm, guarded by fearsome beasts and wild magics. But chaos lurks behind the allure of the holy land. Forces once dormant have begin to stir, and when they make their move, nobody will be safe. With both his, and the lives of his friends in the balance, Andross' only chance of survival may be revealing his greatest secret to the world.

Azure has come face to face with the notorious bandit, James Bower. Completely surrounded, what can he possibly do to survive the encounter with an enemy almost double his level and emerge victorious? Things won't be easy for Azure as he faces more perils than ever before. Even if he does survive, he still has the Darkness status effect to contend with, sorting out his friends from his foes, and starting his journey to the God of Land. Perhaps he'll end up being the biggest backstabber in the end.

A tale of Gilded Age corruption and greed from the frontier of Alaska to America's capital. In the feverish, money-making age of railroad barons, political machines, and gold rushes, corruption was the rule, not the exception. Yet the Republican mogul "Big Alex" McKenzie defied even the era's...