Showing results by narrator "Christian Rummel" in All Categories

It's the 48th year of the Kurian Order. The alien, vampiric Kur and their avatars, the Reapers, control most of Earth - their new feeding ground. Humanity is scattered and survives only at their new masters' whims.

But the Resistance is attempting to reclaim Earth. David Valentine, member of the elite Cat spy force, is in enemy uniform aboard the aging gunboat Thunderbolt.

A fascinating look at a bizarre, forgotten epidemic from the national best-selling author of The American Plague. In 1918, a world war raged, and a lethal strain of influenza circled the globe. In the midst of all this death, a bizarre disease appeared in Europe. Eventually known as encephalitis lethargica, or sleeping sickness, it spread worldwide, leaving millions dead or locked in institutions. Then, in 1927, it disappeared as suddenly as it arrived.

In a valiant rebellion against a half century of occupation by the Kurians, the newly formed Texas Republic and Ozark Free Territory have dealt the vampiric aliens their first major defeat. Resistance member David Valentine is revered as a hero for his part in fighting to regain Earth's freedom. But a dangerous enemy within his own ranks soon has Valentine facing charges for his handling of the Quisling prisoners - humans who have become pawns of the Kurians in order to survive.

It has been three years since David Valentine's forced exile from his friends and allies in the war against the Kurians. But that hasn't stopped him from fighting his own battles and his personal demons. Brought back into the fold by his old teacher, Duvalier, Valentine discovers that the Lightweavers, Earth's allied in the conflict, have all but vanished. Without their aid, mankind cannot possibly stand against the Reapers and other life-forms the Kurians use to subjugate the planet.

In the fourth book of the Extinction Wars series, Abaddon commands a Karg-Jelk Super Fleet bent on annihilating humanity. He's the galaxy's most ruthless strategist wielding superior technology. That includes the perfect raid-ships, able to teleport anywhere at will. Humanity has Commander Creed, and he has his Assault Troopers. He's going to take the fight to the enemy. He's buying time, learning secrets and setting up for the greatest space battle in the Orion Arm.

A personal message written in human blood is left for crime reporter Molly Wilson at the murder scene of her boyfriend, San Francisco Homicide Inspector Cliff Hooper. The horrific death of a revered cop shocks the San Francisco Police Department's Homicide Detail. Shaken to the core, his grieving fellow detectives go flat out to find his killer under the glare of the city's news media.

Bill's in trouble again. A hideous outer-space infection has transformed one of his feet into a satyr's hoof; he has two right hands; and the nurses at the hospital where he lies recovering from his last escapade are steel robots. But soon he's off again in search of science fiction's greatest clichés.

Vitus Adamson has a second chance at life now that he's no longer a zombie. But after killing his brother, Jamie, Vitus lands in prison on murder charges. Jamie's death exposes secret government projects so deep in the black they cannot be seen - without Vitus, that is. Sprung from jail, the government hires Vitus to clean up Jamie's messes, but tracking down his brother's homemade monsters gone rogue is easier said than done. The first of them is a convicted killer assumed to be safely behind bars.

The wait is over! Welcome to the Pacchi Festival! As Shinshioka launches into the much-awaited week-long event, Seiki and his friends race to solve the mystery of the recent treasures from the Shussebora Cave. Having gone against what appears to be the most powerful clan in the game, they now try their best to balance progression with just the right amount of politics to keep everyone out of trouble. However, amid the dazzling allure of the activity-filled festival, with its own promise of lucrative rewards, danger lurks in many forms....

In the remote, rugged corner of Montana’s Glacier National Park known as the Devil’s Grasp, little Paige Baker of San Francisco disappears with her dog, Kobee, while on a camping trip with her family; or so her mother and father have told authorities. A multiagency task force launches a massive search as Paige fights to survive in the wilderness. Time hammers against her, and soon the nation is gripped by the life-and-death drama.

In the 43rd millennium of human history, Imre Bergamasc awakens after 200 years to the realization that he has been the victim of an elaborate murder plot - one that has destroyed the intergalactic transport milieu known as the Continuum. But now that Imre has been reborn, he will stop at nothing to help bring forth the rebirth of the galaxy.

When Roberto sneaks off to see a movie in his Italian village, he has no idea that life as he knows it is over. German soldiers raid the theater, round up the boys in the audience, and pack them onto a train. After a terrifying journey, Roberto and his best friend Samuele find themselves in a...

Here Comes the Night: Bert Berns and the Dirty Business of Rhythm and Blues is both a definitive account of the New York rhythm and blues world of the early '60s, and the harrowing, ultimately tragic story of songwriter and record producer Bert Berns, whose meteoric career was fueled by his pending doom. His heart damaged by rheumatic fever as a youth, doctors told Berns he would not live to see 21. Although his name is little remembered today, Berns worked alongside all the greats of the era.

On the darkest night of 1945, a 20-year-old B-24 navigator assists in the liberation of a German concentration camp. His haunting trauma is prologue to destiny. Flash forward to present-day Manhattan. Warren Hunter, reigning master of the financial universe, is poised to close the world’s first trillion dollar deal. Coincidences are not what they seem as the past collides with the present in a way that will change lives forever.

A few years after his release from a North Vietnamese prisoner-of-war camp, in 1973, Colonel Joseph Kittinger retired from the Air Force. Restless and unchallenged, he turned to ballooning, a lifelong passion as well as a constant diversion for his imagination during his imprisonment. His primary goal was a solitary circumnavigation of the globe, and in its pursuit he set several ballooning distance records, including the first solo crossing of the Atlantic in 1984. But the aeronautical feats that first made him an American hero had occurred a quarter of a century earlier....

Bill has been recruited by Captain Kadaffi - better known as Captain Cadaver - for a suicide mission on the planet Eyerack. Bill has orders to die trying - but trying what, he doesn't know. Will he lead the mission? Will he survive the bombs, blondes, and booze? Will he ever find a foot?

The first body is found in a hamper in the woods. Her feet were tied with a leather belt. There are traces of incense on her dismembered body, candle wax on her skin, and strange crumbs on her lips. As more butchered adolescent corpses turn up - the victims of a serial killer whose signature is the communion wafer left in each one's mouth - the evidence leads NYPD lieutenant Vince Cardozo into the sacred and moneyed world of Manhattan's exclusive parishes.

NYPD homicide cop Vince Cardozo must unmask a cunning killer in best-selling author Edward Stewart’s powerhouse tale of crime and punishment. When it comes to the dark side of humanity, Vince Cardozo has already seen plenty. But his encounter with cult leader Corey Lyle will challenge even Cardozo. Lyle stands accused of a brutal terrorist bombing and the murder of a Manhattan power couple. His trial transfixes the city - but nothing about the case is what it seems.

Captured and sold to the Kurian-allied Maynes Conglomerate, to work as a slave in the coal mines of Appalachia, Ahn-Kha is angered and appalled by the dangerous working conditions, and the brutal treatment inflicted upon his fellow miners. When a protest against shortages is deliberately and bloodily suppressed, Ahn-Kha sets himself against the ruling Maynes family and sets out on a trail of vengeance through the Coal Country. Finally, the people of the Coal Country are driven to the breaking point....

Twelve science fiction stories about the oncoming future, each of them representing a possible glimpse of what could be just around the corner... or much further down the corridor. These stories previously appeared in places like Clarkesworld Magazine, The Year's Best SF, Subterranean Magazine, and in various anthologies. They deal with the future of war, our climate, and technology's effect on our lives.