Showing results by narrator "Chelsea Stephens" in All Categories

Set to protect the surviving elementals, my siblings and I spread the word through the network of empowered guilds that we're leaving our lives in the Human Realm behind. With Sasobek on the loose and the hostile opposition to Briar fulfilling his destiny as the true king of Litaui, our new beginnings will be hard-won. But hey, what else is new?

The war we feared has come, and leading the invading army is the only remaining dragon, the "Black Death". If it's not stopped, the dragon will slaughter thousands. I'm Angie Ritter, former army mage and the first source mage to be born in centuries. I might be able to stop the dragon. If I can learn to control my new magic. If I can master the ancient entity possessing me. If I can act like a grown-up and stop fantasizing about the sexy were-jaguar I'm traveling with.

Elisabeth R. Anker reckons with the complex legacy of freedom offered by liberal American democracy, outlining how the emphasis of individual liberty has always been entangled with white supremacy, settler colonialism, climate destruction, economic exploitation, and patriarchy. These "ugly freedoms" legitimate the right to exploit and subjugate others. At the same time, Anker locates an unexpected second type of ugly freedom in practices and situations, often dismissed as demeaning, offensive, gross, and ineffectual, but that provide sources of emancipatory potential.

With the inevitable return of Coleman looming, Sawyer knows their army is not enough. On a journey to convince an ally to join their war, Sawyer discovers why the stars have placed the fate of the human race in her hands, but can she accept her destiny even if it means working with the man who tried to kill her? Kenzie is her enemy. He’s tried to kill Sawyer more than once, and the control Coleman has over him will not fade. Yet, she can’t stay away from him. Both drawn to each other in a way neither can explain, they must learn to trust one another.

After barely escaping an attempt on her life, veteran demon hunter Karian Vanador must root out infiltrators within her own order. At the same time, she is presented with a unique opportunity: Infiltrate the very realm of the demon kings to bring back a possible defector. With a family to consider and the risk of inciting a war between two worlds, Kari must decide: Is the life of a Syrinthian priestess worth the risk?

Emily Joiner was once part of an inseparable group—she was a sister, a best friend, a lover, and a rival. Summers without Emily were unthinkable. Until the fire burned the lake house to ashes with her inside. A year later, it’s in Emily’s honor that Chelsea and her four friends decide to return. The house awaits them, meticulously rebuilt. Only, Chelsea is haunted by ghostly visions. Loner Ryan stirs up old hurts and forces golden boy Chase to play peacemaker. Which has perfect hostess Kennedy on edge as eerie events culminate in a stunning accusation.

Paramedic Maya Talbot assumes her children to be safe at Grandma's. However, nothing could have prepared her for the chaos created when a strange obelisk rises from the ground and generates an impenetrable dome over the city. Riots, looting, and violence run rampant. The situation in Nashville deteriorates, and then they arrive, thrusting Maya into a desperate race to escape the dome and save her children from the dangers on the ground and from above. When darkness falls, the intergalactic visitors manifest our worst fears and threaten the future of humankind.

When their hopes for ending Moquoia's brutal system of bondage are crushed, unlikely allies Lark and Veran are forced to flee into the harsh desert. With no weapons or horses, they must make their way to safety across the 50-mile expanse of waterless plains known as the water scrape. It is an odyssey filled with unexpected dangers that challenge even a skilled outlaw like Lark - though the farther they travel, the more she wonders if she even fits the fearsome title of the Sunshield Bandit anymore.

With the world in chaos and the aliens swarming the domed city of Nashville, Maya Talbot continues on her quest to find her children while destruction rains down from above - the aliens have arrived and the invasion has begun. With a crew of unlikely allies and a mother's incredible determination, she must find her kids and get to safety before it's too late. But what if Maya can't outrun the alien invaders, and what if there isn't anywhere left for the survivors to hide? The race is on and the clock is ticking because the aliens seem bent on annihilating the human race and destroying the planet.

What explains the insistent pull of Roe v. Wade? Abortion law expert Mary Ziegler argues that the US Supreme Court decision, which decriminalized abortion in 1973 and was overturned in 2022, had a hold on us that was not simply the result of polarized abortion politics. Rather, Roe took on meanings far beyond its original purpose of protecting the privacy of the doctor-patient relationship. It forced us to confront questions about sexual violence, judicial activism and restraint, racial justice, religious liberty, the role of science in politics, and much more.

Since freeing our elemental powers, my siblings and I have been attacked, threatened, heckled, and told our entire life has been a massive magical cover-up. We are orphans of the decimated elemental kingdoms of the Fae Realm. The learning curve of our new lives has been butt-kickingly steep and all the things I thought I knew for sure . . . I didn't. Seelie warriors, amorous trolls, hellhounds, and a hunky fire guy with too many secrets. How's a girl to find her footing?

To Charles Fort, with Love is award-winning fantasist Caitlín R. Kiernan’s third collection of short fiction, a haunting parade of the terrible things which may lie beyond the boundaries of science, the minds which may exist beyond psychology, and the forbidden places which will never be located in any orthodox globe. A deceptively even dozen, this collection includes Kiernan’s celebrated stories “Onion” and “Andromeda Among the Stones”, as well as a number of more obscure pieces.

When Alex first began posting unscripted family moments and motivational messages online, she had no intention of becoming an influencer. Overnight it seemed she’d amassed a huge following, and her hobby became a full-time job—one that was impossible to manage without her sharp-as-a-tack personal assistant, AC. But all the good-will of her followers turns toxic when one controversial post goes viral in the worst possible way.

Art-history student Zelda Richardson is working at the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam on an exhibition of bis poles from the Asmat region of Papua - the same area where a famous American anthropologist disappeared in 1962. When his journal is found inside one of the bis poles, Zelda is tasked with finding out more about the man's last days and his connection to these ritual objects. Join Zelda as she grapples with the anthropologist's mysterious disappearance 50 years earlier and a present-day murderer who will do anything to prevent her from discovering the truth.

These seventeen tales take listeners into the uniquely twisted mind of “one of Canada’s most promising new horror writers” (Publishers Weekly). From a live necrophilia show starring reanimated corpses to a confrontation between a security guard and inhuman squatters, from who can be found at an all-night laundromat to what lies in wait at the bottom of the sea, from undead addictions to all-consuming obsessions, Kissing Carrion is “a journey through some of the most beautifully rendered visions of darkness and death to be published this past year."

When Bakkali insisted I take a month off to rest and regroup before joining The Guild of the Laurentians, I had my doubts. Being away from police work has been tough, so when an end of summer celebration takes a disastrous turn, I'm eager to unravel the mystery. One thing is for certain—something is in the water. With multiple fatalities, injuries, and missing persons, my siblings and I set out to uncover what happened at Clock Tower Beach.

In the wake of a deadly attack, veteran demon hunter Karian Vanador faces a daunting task: Sending her friends and family into danger without being at their side. With her pregnancy progressing, she must uncover a spy within her own Order, expose servants of the demon kings living right in her home city, and match wits with enemies that she knows little, if anything, about. And in all of this, she must act as a general, putting the lives of her friends and family at risk to see to an end she can't accomplish herself.

Who answers the call when the mundane police dial 911? Matt Bordelon—former Silver Griffin, wizard, and the Big Easy Bounty Hunter. Matt has a good thing going. Deliver justice to magicals? Check. Keep the world safe from threats? Check. Make good money doing it? Cha-ching. Unless his bounty ends up dead when the paperwork specifies alive, that is. Good thing he’s a pro at avoiding that. Then he stumbles across a dark witch embroiled in a vicious spell battle with a dark wizard and feels compelled to aid her.

Detective Abish Taylor left Utah for a reason. But with her husband’s passing, it’s time to come home. Reconnecting with her family means dealing with her past: the father she abandoned and the community she left behind. Her one escape is serving as the sole police detective in the small town of Pleasant View. But when the quiet Mormon suburb in the Wasatch Mountains is shaken by a macabre death - with the hallmarks of a sacred ritual dating back to the days of Brigham Young - Abbie is called into action.

Time has run out for Maya and her children. The alien invasion has created hell on earth, and the creatures are determined to destroy humankind. But a chance discovery leads to a glimmer of hope. Maya must mobilize before it’s too late, risking a daring move that could end her life and life on the planet as we know it. Encounter is the new post-apocalyptic thriller from best-selling authors, J. Thorn and Zach Bohannon, the third book in the War for Earth trilogy.