Showing results by narrator "S.J." in All Categories

With a warrant out for his arrest and a price on his head, Willem Jaantzen has gone to ground, but he and his crew aren't out of the game. If they’re going to take down an opponent as powerful as a Chief Justice, they need a bulletproof plan — and that's going to take time. But as their rival’s net tightens around them, time is the one thing Jaantzen and his crew don’t have. And his goddaughter Starla is about to head out on her own on an adventure that could shake the foundations of human understanding — if it doesn’t get her killed first.

Jaantzen may have brought stability to the city of Bulari, but not everyone’s grateful. Allegiances are shifting sand, and he’s made a miscalculation that earned him a deadly new enemy - one who plays a viciously different game than the one Jaantzen is used to winning. Jaantzen and his crew fight to gain the upper hand, but secrets buried in shallow graves are coming back to haunt them. And as Starla and Toshiyo edge closer to understanding the growing mystery that’s been dropped in their laps, their search is awakening darker things than any of them can imagine.

Trouble is dead. Long live trouble. Killing the leader of a violent cult was supposed to make the city a safer place, but instead it created a power imbalance that’s left a deadly war raging in the streets of Bulari. When Willem Jaantzen is approached for help by local casino magnate Phaera D, he has the sinking feeling the only way to end this war is to betray the people he loves the most. And he’s starting to suspect that Phaera wants more from him than just his help. Whatever decision he makes feels like the wrong one.

In the fight to save a dying land, can there still be a victor? Their champion lost, those who still stand against the Supremacy fight on in the wake of their latest defeat. Cornered at last, and with no hope of escape, the family Nadon left behind must unite the land against a common foe. It's become a war of survival, but, when things are at their darkest, hope returns to rally Atala's defenders for one final, desperate gambit. With the noose ever-tightening, Nadon's family is pushed to their limit.

Willem Jaantzen didn't ask to be a hero. He just wants to keep his family safe in the shifting sands of Bulari's underground - and to get the city's upper crust to acknowledge just how far he's come since his days as an orphaned street kid. With his businesses thriving and his dark past swept into the annals of history, it looks like he has everything he could ever ask for. Until, that is, his oldest rival turns up murdered and the blame - and champagne - begins to flow.

Falcon Crest and its hidden machinations have taken much from the Heroes of Dragon’s Nest, but the cost just might not have been for nothing. Change is on the horizon in the form of holding the powerful to task and the possible formation of a new royal lineage. The burden of completing the task for ancient, now-revealed entity, however, soon pushes Jack, Tanner, Allie, and Gefnar back out across a war-torn continent, and new obstacles arise.

In the final installment of the Core series, the Razznians are defeated, yet no one feels like a winner. New Lassa is devastated, Azrom is in shambles, and planet Razzna itself has had its surface razed, forcing the population to flee - which leaves a bad taste on everyone's palate. With so many secrets filled with animosity and shame now brought to light, both Azrom and New Lassa must face their own demons.

Sex. Horror. Discomfort. In five stories and one poem, you'll find questions and answers, and you might learn something about yourself along the way. Something uncomfortable. Something dark. Come on in and join us. Lean back, open up, and let us take a look at that tickle. We're sure it's nothing serious. Just...something in your mouth.

The Core Series continues with the second installment, where we see the battle on earth over and Chardon taking his place as the leader of New Lassa. Halfar returns to Azrom resuming his role as Supreme Ruler. A new conflict rises from the reptilian race, Razznians. Bitter about a broken deal set up long ago by Chardon’s mate, Sestis, they are coming to collect. Discontent among the Lassians and Azrominans rears its ugly head yet again as members in their trusted circle seem to have their own agendas. The two leaders have a lot of work to do as an enemy assault lurks in the horizon.

Stacy Goldman is a garden-variety Jewish girl from New York. Except, she's a chess champion. And she doesn't believe in anything she can't prove. Especially monsters. When Stacy moves from NYC to Richmond, Virginia, in the wake of 9/11, she enrolls in the academically aggressive St. Ignatius Prep in order to graduate early and get home to New York.

Jasper rolled into my life like a loose wagon wheel - taking out everything in his path just to get to me. It was all for show, until it wasn’t. No part of me was prepared to be swept away. After all, gravity is supposed to keep us grounded. He had other plans, and didn’t give a damn about the chaos we were about to unleash. They say secrets are like a silent death. Only, I never knew the depth of it until now.

Born into a wealthy family on the west side of the Naga Kingdom, Djinn De’monte has always lived a life of undeserved luxury. But when an unexpected tragedy strikes, the rug is suddenly yanked out from under him. Djinn is forced to sink or swim. Join him on his forced pilgrimage as he reluctantly discovers that there is more to life than having everything served to you on a silver platter. Will he learn just what he stands for, or will he be swept up with the rest of the garbage?

Dozens have fallen before a mysterious menace hiding among them. Their only connection is the grisly condition of their bodies — hollowed-out chasms where their eyes used to be. Setting aside the aging case on his wife’s murder, Detective Greg Loren has returned to the city with the task of stopping the bearer of the Medusa coin — an artifact with power over Death himself — from continuing to slaughter the people of Portents.

This is your unique opportunity to join the murderous spree of an escalating serial killer who is hell-bent on achieving his sick goal of killing in each and every state of the USA. Through the killer's increasingly unhinged diary entries, gain an insight into his thoughts, imaginings, and internal struggles, as he fights against his primal urge to satisfy the growing bloodlust, and to justify his nefarious actions to a rapidly crumbling mind.

A man who's reincarnated through several "game-like" worlds bites off much more than he can chew when he decides to visit a world with an "impossible" clear difficulty. Will lifetimes of previous knowledge be enough to combat the effects of deadly curses? Oh, and did I mention - he can only level by purifying curses?

Takuma has taken the brunt of several curses, some life threatening. Despite this, he finally makes it to safety. Unfortunately, he still has much to learn about being a Relic Meister.

The beasts Detective Loren and Soriya Greystone battled in Lou Paduano’s debut book Signs of Portents were just a hint of what lurks in the city. Tales from Portents explores the city’s immersive history, including stories of Loren’s descent after his wife’s death - and his opportunity to have her rise from the grave. Soriya battles gremlins, navigates lessons with Mentor, and meets the werewolf Luchik. Follow new characters with expansive histories as they come face to face with the horrors of Portents - both human and otherwise.

When you've lost everything, there's only one way to go...unless you find a new direction. Stranded in the scablands, Twist is lost in the dust again. To find his way out, he’ll have to make new allies, learn new skills, and overcome crippling self doubt. Will Twist find himself in time to save Canyon City?

Wizened and invigorated by their losses, fears, and ultimate triumph in the elven ruins of Kadason, the Heroes of Dragon’s Nest seek to continue the mission of their looming benefactor by traveling on to the magic-infused stronghold of Falcon Crest. Arriving in the great city, however, they find its people as distrusting of outsiders — especially those of half-breed blood — as they are enamored with their protectors; the Samanir Order and its champions.

Ava is shocked at the cheap purchase price of the house. But that should have been a warning to stay away. Something horrible happened in that house a long time ago, and the man who lived there has never left. As Ava learns the shocking secret of the child's cries and the sinister purpose of that locked room, her life will never be the same. Can she stop the evil from being unleashed? Or, will Ava fall victim to the deadly secret of the house?