Showing results by narrator "Rayner Gabriel" in All Categories

In the frozen ground of the Hürtgen Forest, Lieutenant Eric Granville digs a grave. A grave for yet another of his men lost to the brutality of World War II. He prays he will have to dig no more, for everyone knows the war is drawing to a close. But as German lines bend, then break, the Allies gain access to vast tracts of territory, including areas believed to contain advanced military research projects where the Nazis desperately work on war-ending super weapons. 

June, 1993. Claire has been dumped in rural Indianola, Texas, to spend her whole vacation taking care of mean, sickly Grammy. There's nothing too remarkable about Indianola: It's run-down, shabby, and sweltering, a pindot on the Gulf Coast. Except there is something remarkable. Memories shimmer and change. Lizards whisper riddles under the pecan trees. People disappear as if they never existed. Yesterday keeps coming unspooled, like a video tape. And worst of all, a red-lightning storm from beyond our world may just wipe the whole town off the map.

In the brutal, unforgiving wastes of the Arizona desert, Chet Byrnes built a cattle ranching empire with his bare hands, steel will, and a fast draw. As a US marshal, he risks his life to bring law to a lawless land. When a new railroad route is planned to pass through Navajo territory, Chet fights to get the Indians a contract to supply the locomotives with coal. But the corrupt politicians in Tucson and D.C. have other ideas.

There's no hiding from an enemy who knows your next move. Everything I've ever known is gone—forever. My fated mate is an alpha with incredible strength, who will stop at nothing to protect me. But my newfound pack is at risk because of me. Secrets that have been kept from me are only reinforcing the truth that Griffin and I are in serious danger. The closer we become, the more danger surrounds us. One thing is clear, there's no way to win if we don’t even know who we’re up against. My only hope is that we make it out alive.

Maisie Barron is over it. A small-town girl with big dreams, her frustrations lead her to make a silly wish at the standing stones outside Loren Brae. Little does she know, the magick found there will transform her wish into a catastrophic event that threatens the upcoming Christmas Book Festival. Weston Smith needs a break. Burnt out from his tenure-track professorship, he decides that a holiday in little Loren Brae, Scotland, will be the perfect escape he needs to recharge his batteries. The last thing he expects is to find the woman he's been waiting his whole life for.

The woods surrounding Lake Huron are filled with danger and bounty alike. Pirates frequent the waters, cold-hearted cannibals and stickies wander the woods, and the mystical Sea Hag and her Hag-Sworn keep an eye on it all. A local moonshiner has offered to escort the companions through the forest to the nearby Martkplatz where they can resupply at the ville’s annual trade festival. However, the companions get more than they bargained for when forces converge on Marktplatz and kick off the festival with a bang. 

In the title story, "Dark Nocturne", D is hired to unlock the secret of a siren's song that is drawing men in their twenties to their deaths in the hills outside Anise Village. In "Notes on Imagined Autumn", D finds himself caught between two lovers during a ritualistic sacrifice in the village of Shirley's Door, but if D can't stop the sacrifice will all in the village be doomed? And in "Legend of the War Demons", two living weapons, genetically engineered creatures who are the last remnants of a war waged hundreds of years in the past, find that battle is not so easily forgotten. 

Building a ranch takes heart and grit. Smoke and Sally Jensen are more than capable of meeting the challenges of shaping the land, raising the livestock, and establishing their brand. But Smoke wasn’t always an entrepreneur. He’s more apt to settle accounts with a fast draw than a checkbook. And when he learns his old friend Preacher has been ambushed by outlaws, he wastes no time saddling up and hitting the vengeance trail with his fellow mountain men Audie and Nighthawk.

A romantic getaway for vampires Cat Crawfield and her husband Bones is cut short when they’re called on to guard a spoiled heiress with a price on her head, and an undead hitman on her trail. What starts as a simple bodyguard job ends up being a fight for survival that neither Cat, nor Bones, saw coming.

Settling the American West required true grit, fortitude, and when necessary, shedding blood. It also required men like Preacher and MacCallister to enforce peace in a land where the law was scarce—and justice was delivered from the barrel of a gun. Wagon trains carrying immigrants along the Oregon Trail are falling prey to outlaws. Most families surrender their valuables and goods peacefully, but anybody brave enough to resist gets a bullet. The gang’s latest victim was a wagon master who sought to protect his charges only to die in the dust

Loki - mercenary spy ship and bounty hunter. It's the legal arm of the Merchanters' Alliance; but once enlisted, no crew member leaves Loki alive. Bet Yeager - a killer elite Earth Company Marine whose side lost. Now she's forced to escape aboard Loki, surrounded by enemies and hunting her old comrades. Yeager has nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. A single wrong word can give her away. And the fighting skills she must use to survive may be her death warrant.  

Frustrated by her pathetically useless powers, Larkspur can only dream of being accepted by true elementals. And as the bastard daughter of the king, she lives under the constant wrath of his jealous wife. When she’s falsely accused of attacking the cruel woman, she must choose between military service or banishment...and both lead to certain death. Seizing her slim chance for survival, Lark embarks on training as a soldier for the unforgiving kingdom. But though she excels in her new role, it may not be enough to stay safe from a queen out for her blood.

My name is Larkspur, and I am an Elemental. My people use the power of the earth to sustain life and defy our enemies. I should be at my father's side as a royal princess. But as a half-breed, bastard child, that isn't going to happen. The King is missing and his mind is cracked. It is up to me to find him before the Rim is taken over by the bloodthirsty heir to the throne.  

My people use the power of the earth to sustain life and defy our enemies. I should be at my father's side as a royal princess. But as a half-breed, bastard child, that isn't going to happen. In a world of lava and fire, I am about to face my hardest trial yet. Not one of strength, or power, but intrigue and manipulation. However, my tolerance level for anyone outside of my family is at an all-time low, and the queen who rules the Pit expects complete obedience.  

Not many men get a second chance at life. But thanks to a chief U.S. Marshal who needs their help, the bank-robbing duo of Jimmy "Slash" Braddock and Melvin "Pecos Kid" Baker are on the right side of the law. As unofficial marshals, they've agreed to pick up three prisoners from a Milestown jail and escort them to Denver. Sounds easy enough—until they learn the prisoners are an unholy trio of sadistic cutthroat killers known as Talon, "Hellraisin'" Frank, and the Sioux called Black Pot. And they've managed to escape before Slash and Pecos even show up.

On the moon, Ronin Hayashi trains to protect the colonies from the inevitable invasion of the machines. While he prepares to stand his ground, Sergeant Tadhg Walsh is planning an escape mission to deliver a weapon to the resistance on Earth. At Neptune Station, Captain Akira Hayashi and Shadow Squad have returned from a deadly journey into enemy territory where they learn the machines are building an army at an astonishing rate. After continued attempts to contact the Lunar Defense Corps for help, Shadow Squad accepts the hard truth—the LDC isn’t coming.

He’s back. Despite absolutely no requests at all, Sir Apropos of Nothing - he who was spawned from the violent assault of a tavern wench by a group of drunken knights - has returned. This time his voyages take him to the land of Rogypt, a surprisingly ancient realm where the tragic people known as the Shews labor endlessly in building pyramids for their masters. When Apropos inadvertently interferes with he who is destined to be their savior, no less than a deity reaches down and points his fickle finger upon him, informing him it is now his responsibility to liberate the people.

When children go missing, and the Humans have no leads, I'm the one they call. I am their last hope in bringing home the lost ones. I salvage what they cannot. The clock is ticking, and I can feel the weight of the final battle with the demon hordes looming over my head. The puzzle pieces are becoming clearer, but the casualty list is growing. And with each name that is added to those we've lost, my confidence cracks a little more. Yet there is hope...

Preacher is no hired killer. When a wagon train is ambushed on the Santa Fe Trail, though, he can’t say no to the St. Louis businessman willing to pay him for justice. It’s not the stolen gold that’s convinced Preacher to take the job. And it’s not the missing body of one of the wagon train’s crew, a prime suspect who may have plotted the ambush and taken off with the gold. No, it’s the suspect’s lovely fiancée, Alita Montez. She believes her boyfriend is innocent—and has run off to find him. Preacher can’t abide the idea of a young woman alone on the Santa Fe Trail.

As an Ender, it is my place to protect the royal family at all costs. Despite being the best Ender our world has ever beheld, I have failed time and again as the personal sacrifices continue to mount. Lark has been banished to the desert by her father who is blind to the manipulation he has again fallen prey to. To bring about justice, I must seek out and destroy the one who intentionally wields her powers to bring pain to my people.