Showing results by author "Ben" in All Categories

The newly sworn in vice president of the United States has a problem. Her son, off in college, doesn't care for his security detail. So when spring break comes around, he slips away from his bodyguard, picks up his best friend, and heads to Mexico for an intended week of sun, sand, women, and hoped-for debauchery. But when he arrives at the airport, a team of well-armed kidnappers grab both him and his friend and escape. Now they're demanding that an exorbitant ransom be paid in only a few hours - and if it's not, both boys will be killed.

There's something going bump on the Metropolitan line, and Sergeant Jaget Kumar knows exactly whom to call. It's PC Peter Grant's specialty.... Only it's more than going 'bump'. Traumatised travellers have been reporting strange encounters on their morning commute, with strangely dressed people trying to deliver an urgent message. Stranger still, despite calling the police themselves, within a few minutes the commuters have already forgotten the encounter - making the follow-up interviews rather difficult.

The successor Chapters of the Space Marines number in the hundreds, founded to fight for the survival of the Imperium. Across 13 short stories by 10 different authors, discover the history, customs and stories of 12 different successor Chapters, from famed warriors to unsung heroes.

At 15, Chance Fortunato has seen more evil than most people ever will. Indentured by his father to the demon count Dulka, he's been taught dark magic and forced to do his infernal master's dirty work for eight years. But now Chance has figured out a way to defeat his master and free himself. His new life with his mother and sister is far from easy, and freedom has its own perils. Normal life is hard enough, but even in a mundane-looking high school, there are paranormal threats from both sides of the mystical fence.

Transported two thousand years into the past, readers are introduced to Antipas, a Roman civic leader who has encountered the writings of the biblical author Luke. Luke's writings spark Antipas's interest, and a correspondence transpires between them. As the two delve deeply into each other's lives, Antipas begins to see things in fresh ways, causing him to rethink the values upon which his life had been founded.

Thaless is still reeling from the actions of the assassin known as the Emperor's Mask, and in the aftermath, believers in magical superiority have been greatly emboldened. When a goblin girl named Tinga Vreeg goes missing, it seems like a tragic consequence of the atmosphere of hostility and anger toward the non-magical. But when Tane and Kadka investigate, they find a much deeper mystery. Tinga isn't the only one missing—and she might have been on the trail of something important herself.

We talk about everything the home inspector needs to operate a successful business, including advanced training, business essentials, and marketing strategies. Become an InterNACHI® Certified Home Inspector. And make more money.

When an airship crashes under mysterious circumstances, the Magebreakers find themselves embroiled in an investigation that takes them across the Audish Channel to foreign shores. In Belgrier, many blame Audish sabotage for the accident, and for the death of the influential nobleman on board—a dear friend of the Belgrian Kaiser. And if Tane and Kadka can't prove otherwise, it could become a diplomatic catastrophe. But the suspicion of a government that views all Audlanders as dangerous pro-magical radicals isn't the Magebreakers' greatest concern.

Despite the deception of friends and family, Robin Icethorn has become the King he was destined to be. But enemies still surround him, some hidden behind the smiles of those he trusts. His world is thrown into chaos when the god's become more than just stories. And Robin will do anything to save his father, his last living relative. Even if that means striking up a deal with the father of the person who tried to murder him.

The Second Draeken War has yet to occur, but his victory is assured. When all life stands on the brink the nations will be forced to gather but it will be too late. The army built to exterminate them will not fail in its purpose. Unless the future is altered. Eleven impossible tasks will give the races a singular hope, to defend their lives as one people. Their completion will not be known. Their impact cannot be measured. But even the Oracle cannot do it alone.

From the publisher of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies comes a new tale of romance, heartbreak, and tentacled mayhem. Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters expands the original text of the beloved Jane Austen novel with all-new scenes of giant lobsters, rampaging octopi, two-headed sea serpents, and other biological monstrosities.

Since its first show in 2010, The Last Podcast on the Left has barreled headlong into all things horror, as hosts Henry Zebrowski, Ben Kissel, and Marcus Parks cover subjects spanning Jeffrey Dahmer, werewolves, Jonestown, and supernatural phenomena. Deeply researched but with a morbidly humorous bent, the podcast has earned a dedicated and aptly cult-like following for its unique take on all things macabre.

The original Dungeons & Dragons released by TSR (Tactical Studies Rules) in 1974 created a radical new medium: the role-playing game. For the next two decades, TSR rocketed to success. But by 1997, a series of ruinous choices and failed projects brought TSR to the edge of doom—only to be saved by their fiercest competitor, Wizards of the Coast. Unearthed from Ben Riggs’s own adventurous campaign of in-depth research, interviews with major players, and acquisitions of secret documents, Slaying the Dragon reveals the true story of the rise and fall of TSR.

When televangelist Peter Boothe decides to build a megachurch on the banks of the Pedernales River, he thinks his biggest problem will be a few unhappy neighbors. However, when backhoe operator Hollis Farley unearths a rare fossil on the construction site - a discovery that could lead to plenty of embarrassing Darwinian publicity - the cover-up begins.

Deke Gilbert was a legend on the central Texas demolition derby circuit, until a suspicious late-night crash ended his life. Unfortunately, Deke left behind a teenage daughter, Christie, who now has nowhere to go. That’s when good ol’ boys Red O’Brien and Billy Don Craddock step up and, in a rare moment, do the right thing. They give Christie a place to stay until her 18th birthday, just a few months away. But things get complicated when Christie brings home gossip that draws Red and Billy Don into an investigation of Deke’s death.

When retired FBI Agent Patrick Henderson calls in an 'X-Ray Sierra India' incident, the operator doesn't understand. He tells them to pass it up the chain till someone does. That person is FBI Special Agent Kimberley Reynolds. Leaving Quantico for snowbound Northern Wisconsin, she finds that a tornado has flattened half the town—and there's no sign of Henderson. Things soon go from weird to worse, as neighbors report unsettling sightings, key evidence goes missing, and the snow keeps rising—cutting off the town, with no way in or out . . .

Life in rural Blanco County, Texas, isn't what most folks would call exciting - and that suits game warden John Marlin just fine. He's happy to spend his days and nights protecting the local wildlife from poachers. But when the tequila-slamming, skirt-chasing treasurer of the local Rotary Club goes missing and his vehicle is found in the river the day after a flood, Marlin finds himself in charge of the search efforts.

Married to a ruthless prince, for years Max had to serve and obey the vicious magical nobles. Now, he is one of them. When the heir to the throne attacks him, Max accidentally responds with a lethal burst of magic. Max is certain he will be executed. But his power is too rare and precious for that....

So long as we are alive, so long as we feel, so long as we love, everything in us is an energy we can use. He is born into a world of poverty, ignorance and injustice, but Azaro awakens with a smile on his face. Despite belonging to a spirit world made of enchantment, where there is no suffering, Azaro chooses to stay in the land of the Living: to feel it, endure it, know it and love it. This is his story.

Some of today's greatest storytellers reveal their choices of the ideal grown-up bedtime story: writers such as Margaret Drabble, Ken Follett, Tessa Hadley, Robert Macfarlane, Patrick Ness, Tony Robinson, and Warsan Shire. Fold away your laptop and shut down your mobile phone. Curl up and crash out with the ultimate bedside book, one you'll return to again and again. Full of laughter and tears, moonlight and magic, Bedtime Stories for Grown-ups joyfully provides the dream way to end the day - and begin the night....