Showing results by narrator "John Pirhalla" in All Categories

Out of work and on the run after a shocking betrayal by his brothers-in-arms, the ex-Special Forces commando hasn’t stopped moving for months. He can’t. Some of the same soldiers who left him for dead in the Middle East still want his head. And they’re getting closer. So far, he’s been lucky. But Dak is low on money and nearly out of time. All he needs is an easy gig. A place to lie low, bank some cash, and quietly figure out his next move.

In the small town of Montgomery, Arizona, Kyle Decker's book shop is barely breaking even. When a bank opens in the empty storefront next door, he hopes the new establishment will bring in more foot traffic. Trouble is, nobody has ever heard of the First People's Bank, and the local branch has appeared mysteriously overnight. Their incentives for new customers seem reasonable...at first. But is it a coincidence when Kyle's wife has her identity stolen and his son receives emails that seem to know his private thoughts? Or when the manager of a competing bank dies a gruesome death?

Fantasy. Sci-fi. The world was brought back from the brink of annihilation, but its still-new institutions are rattled once again as heroes and criminals clash in a neon-drenched cyberpunk metropolis.

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.

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?

Tales of blood, magic, and steel by masters of the craft!

At the height of World War II, LOOK Magazine profiled a small American community for a series of articles portraying it as the wholesome, patriotic model of life on the home front. Decades later, author Matthew Rozell tracks down over thirty survivors who fought the war in the Pacific, from Pearl Harbor to the surrender at Tokyo Bay. Rage is instantaneous. He's looking at me from a crawling position. I didn't shoot him; I went and kicked him in the head. Rage does funny things. After I kicked him, I shot and killed him. ~Thomas Jones, Marine veteran, Battle of Guadalcanal

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.

Sam Levine knows what it means to struggle. After several missed opportunities, he's been forced to turn his talents to freelance work, picking up whatever dirty job he can find only to make ends meet. But there's an end in sight. An opportunity to change everything. And when a dangerous, high-profile job comes his way, he sees light at the end of the tunnel. Hope has been in rare supply, but even with the dangers inherent in his decision, he puts his life on the line for a chance to elevate his situation.

Grand Master of the Science Fiction Writers of America and winner of countless awards—including the Hugo, Nebula, Edgar Allan Poe, and Bram Stoker—Harlan Ellison proved once more that he was both unpredictable and irrepressible in this second collection of innovative science fiction. Again, Dangerous Visions—the middle installment in a planned three anthology series—includes award-winning stories from incomparable writers such as Ursula K. Le Guin, Gene Wolfe, Ray Bradbury, Kurt Vonnegut, Piers Anthony, Dean Koontz, and James Tiptree, among many others.

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.

The vanhat are within the walls, and mankind’s days are numbered. Mathison has a desperate plan. A suicide mission. Infiltrate fortress Sol to shut off the defenses long enough for a d-bomb strike to kill the vanhat invaders.

The festival was intended as a getaway from UCLA for Gary, his girlfriend, Joan, and their friends. But soon after they arrive, Joan vanishes. Calls to her parents’ home yield only dead air. Her school records are gone. And there’s no evidence that Joan, or even her roommate, ever existed. Most disturbing of all is what they do find. Among Joan’s belongings is a prayer written on a small scroll. It’s a safeguard — and a warning — from something called The Outsiders. For Gary and his friends, it’s the only clue.

The Moonlight Relic sits high atop the Western Reaches, an ancient fortress against invasion from beyond. An age ago, its enchantments were designed to stabilize the dimensions and defend those who lived there, as well as to be a model for other relics of the same type. Not long after it was built, it was shattered in a cataclysmic war.

In book 10 of The Things Our Fathers Saw® series, Over the Hump/China, Burma, India, we will visit with the veterans of most overlooked theater of World War II as they prepare to fly over and march through the most inhospitable terrain on the planet, from the Himalaya Mountains to the jungles and mountains of Burma, battling elite Japanese forces, sickness, and tropical disease.

Beaten, bloodied, and barely alive, the survivors of Black River’s cursed families have been cut off from their bloodlines for violating old traditions. But they continue their battle to end the evil of the Bell Witch and release the town from her reign of terror. Pursued by the witch’s minions, the group takes shelter in the Leviathan, an abandoned opera house built a century ago. Its corridors exude supernatural power, and they soon discover that the haunted old building was designed for a very special purpose...to trap the Bell Witch within its walls.

Welcome to Sunset Academy, the most coveted elementary school in Miami Beach, where there are three categories of families: rich, wealthy, and ultra-wealthy. Perfectly tanned and smiling Charlotte Giordani is Sunset Academy’s alpha mom. With a sleek blowout and relentless charm, Charlotte’s brashness serves her well. She’s up for election as the PTA president and is riding high, having just secured a massive donation from billionaire Don Walker and his socialite wife Patricia.

Emperor Wolf Mathison has given Feng permission to build a SCBI-equipped legion. Composed of ODT, Guard, and Fleet loyalists, they will follow the Emperor and Stathis in the fight against the vanhat… but is it too little, too late? The vanhat are about to deploy their elite cohorts—millions of fierce warriors that have been sleeping in tombs, waiting for the call to battle. And they aren’t worried about SCBI-equipped troops, because they have sentient implants of their own.

Every light casts a shadow. Ronan Renzo is that shadow. Ronan Renzo lives a somewhat pampered life as the son of a merchant, but all that changes when his family home is visited by a strange, black-clad man. This man's clothing is so dark that it seems to swallow light, and he bears the symbol of the crescent moon upon his breast. He is, according to Ronan, a member of the Night Guild. A guild of thieves and assassins, who commit dark deeds in homage to the one they serve: the Night God.

In California, Sonny Boden, fresh out of prison for killing his grandparents, hides behind a mask of normalcy while luring hitchhikers to their deaths. But when paranoid schizophrenic Dwight Paulson witnesses one of Sonny's murders, he believes they share a twisted bond and begins his own killing spree. Meanwhile, Joe Wilder, a shattered family man plagued by apocalyptic voices, is drawn into the carnage. As their paths intertwine, bodies amass, and Sonny’s carefully constructed lie begins to unravel. He’s caught between two killers—each one threatening to expose his crimes.