Showing results by author "Michael Scott" in Science Fiction & Fantasy

After untold centuries of absence, the evil Ancients have returned. Their magic appears unstoppable and their hunger for conquest is insatiable. To protect the country of Nia, Duchess Nadea and Scholar Paug make a desperate journey to find a human legend: a man known to have destroyed these Ancient foes with a powerful army. But legends can lie. When Paug and Nadea revive their hero from sleep, his virtue is far from clear. Is he really their savior or their destroyer?

Villains take center stage in this collection of 19 dark and magical stories. Listeners will be cheering for all the wrong heroes as some of the most fearsome, devious, and brutal antagonists perform savage deeds towards wicked ends. And why not? These characters are the champions of their own stories - evil is a matter of perspective. Contributors also include Mark Adler, Bradley P. Beaulieu, E.V. Morrigan, Peter Orullian, Matthew Ward, Kaaron Warren, Deborah A. Wolf, and Janny Wurts.

The country of Nia has fallen to the Ancients and circumstances are grim for the humans. Kaiyer must return to the broken castle to save his friends, reconcile his past, and find a way to break the hold that the enemy agents have over the country.

Jessmei thought she had escaped. But the Elvens know that her protector is gone. They will not rest until she has been found, captured, and made to serve their agenda. Can the beautiful princess navigate this political web and restore her kingdom?

The Empress almost has control of the world she was promised and soon her enemies will not be able to thwart her. There is just one man keeping her from her prize: Kaiyer.

Imagine: a fantasy world, but not one based on medieval/Dark Ages European culture and myth, but rather on the tropes of the spaghetti Western and Chinese Wuxia. Add steampunk elements. Mix well.

In the early days of the Roman Empire, the noble Etruscan civilization in Italy is waning, Vesi, a young Etruscan noblewoman, is violated by a renegade supernatural being. Outcast then from Etruria, Vesi bears Horatrim, a child who carries inexplicable knowledge and grows to manhood in only six years. But a savage Roman attack leaves Vesi unresponsive and Horatrim homeless and vulnerable, and he travels to Rome where his talents confound powerful businessman Propertius, who arranges to adopt Horatrim as a son, changing his name to Horatius.

In a refugee shanty town on the outskirts of a vast and opulent imperial capital city, an insidious sect of demon worshippers, the Cult of Ebon, began to prey upon the Gathered, a diaspora of peoples displaced from their nations in the aftermath of a mad tyrant's ceaseless wars of conquest long ago. Unwilling to overlook these heinous crimes against a vulnerable, underserved populace, Constable Lukarde Alfans began an investigation that brought him far too close to the truth, leading him to become the cult's next target.

Studying ancient sites on a backwater planet, Archaeologist Nosuma Okande finds more of them than The Institute has on record...On her first day, she digs up an odd statuette, and after she receives death threats, the Institute sends Nosuma to another excavation site. There, she unearths a second artifact and later the same night, stumbles upon a strange ceremony in the village square. Not deterred by this, Nosuma decides to unearth the mysteries the planet holds. But as a deeper truth slowly emerges, can she untangle the enigmatic past of an edifice abandoned?

Every week, Cale and Scott talk about the most interesting stories in games, esports, and other creative spaces. From Pokémon to Twitch streamers and everything in between, Timesphere is a show about boosting cool content and the people who make it through discussion and interviews.Have a story you want to hear about or a comment about the show? Contact us at TimesphereShow @ gmail.com. You can also connect with our content on YouTube and other platforms!All Links: https://linktr.ee/XJustifiedTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/xjustifiedYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TimesphereShowTikTok: https...

An engineered virus that attacks the brain leaks from a research lab and spreads quickly, causing infected people to go into psychotic rage. Before almost anyone knows what is happening, a well-armed America is terrorized by a pandemic of violence. Kanetha Wilson—friend of the first victim—is first to recognize that something is not as it seems. She inspires a small cadre of scientists and others into a breakneck, lonely, and lawless mission to identify and stop the murder plague.

After three people disappear into the mysterious portals that hold the empire together, Culann Penrose is called in to investigate. After he discovers that the ancient system binding the gates is crumbling, he orders them to be shut down. Meanwhile the Druids, still seething at his denunciation of magic 20 years ago, oppose Penrose’s plans.

Tressalayne is a member of a murderous witches’ coven. An attack by witch hunters forces the coven to escape through a hastily constructed portal of magic. Ripped from her medieval world, the portal hurls Tressalayne and the coven’s leader, Morganna, into present-day East Texas. Critically injured in the passage, Tressalayne awakes in a hospital with no memory of her previous life. Lucas Beckett finds himself in charge of the mysterious patient’s recuperation, and soon develops more than just a medical interest in her recovery.

The premier's adult daughter begins to behave with an utter absence of wherewithal and insight. An admiral's dreamboat son engages in five years of profligate behavior after his sterling, top-of-his-class academy graduation. A doctor called in to examine both scions determines they're mutaclones.

One by one, three ancient talismans disappear. After Columba Riverford’s induction to the Hall of Swords, the sacred sword Genesyx is stolen and Columba is accused of its theft. Meanwhile, Aridisia Myric obtains membership to the Crypt of Scrolls, and the One Scroll Canodex vanishes. Soon after, the One Stone Luxullian disappears and Baron Marl Gneiss’ access to the Vault of Stones is denied. Banished, the three embark on a quest to recover the artifacts and restore their names.

Anime bloggers Scott Spaziani and Michael Camacho talk about Anime, Video games, life , and everything in between.

A near-term princess is betrayed in her battle to conquer the galactic core. Her unborn daughter Serena is taken from her body, raised in a foreign empire, and trained to be a lethal weapon. Twenty years later, multiple attempts are made on her life, but Serena will defy anyone who would use her toward their own ends.

On a distant planet, xenobiologist Janine Meriwether finds herself haunted by a recurring dream: being dragged to her death by the Nartressan seaweed. Soon, she learns of three others - a traumatized emergency responder, a troubled seafood mogul, and a high-priced escort - who share the same nightmare.

Engineer Janet Thompson steps through a Doorport to San Diego, but lands in San Francisco instead. Trying to fix the portal system, she realizes that years of use have begun to have an effect on our world. As the space-time permutations become increasingly numerous and pervasive, Janet must save our dimension from complete collapse. The worldwide Doorport network had operated without a glitch for decades. What could possibly be going wrong?

After growing up on a planet occupied by indigenous alien moss, Allison finds herself in the middle of a power struggle: the shrinking moss supply is threatening the planet’s clone production industry. In the middle of increasing clone unrest, Allison discovers alarming evidence about her birth, and begins to question her whole existence.