Showing results for "Michael Williams" in Fantasy

Although Raistlin and Caramon urge him not to go, Sturm Brightblade attends an annual Solamnic ceremony that is interrupted by...a stranger, taunting challenge. Clues from the past. Death. Once he accepts a mysterious gauntlet, young Sturm must make a dangerous journey with some curious friends, rescue a fair if querulous maid, defeat a traitor knight, and learn the secret fate of his long-lost father. He must also learn the meaning of honor.

Galen Pathwarden, known unaffectionately as "the Weasel", would give anything to stay clear of adventure, danger, or heroism. But that is before young Galen is pitch-forked into the center of a centuries-old curse, one family blood-feud too many, and a knightly tournament unto death. Together, Galen, the great Solamnic Knight, Sir Bayard Brightblade, and a non-too-bright centaur Agion must overcome the schemes and traps of a sinister illusionist known only as the Scorpion.

Becoming a knight has changed the Weasel very little. Galen Pathwarden is still reluctant to adventure, still out to save his own skin at virtually any cost. But when his brother Brithelm vanishes mysteriously, Galen sets aside his better judgment and embarks on a quest that leads under the earth, deep into a conspiracy of darkness, and to the end of his courage. Galen returns to imperiled Solamnia in this exciting sequel to the top-selling Weasel's Luck, also by Michael Williams, the bard of the DragonLance Saga.

When sworn protectors of Earth, the Justice Platoon, are all horribly killed, their former arch-enemies come crawling out of the woodwork. Outnumbered, outgunned, and out of options, the US Government has no choice but to activate the Sidekicks Initiative, dragging the Platoon's middle-aged ex-sidekicks out of retirement. Now these three reluctant, out of shape former child-wonders must work together to stop the rising tide of supervillainy, avenge their former mentors' deaths, and bring the world back from the brink of destruction.

Kate and the former Beast Lord Curran Lennart are finally making their relationship official. But there are some steep obstacles standing in the way of their walk to the altar. Kate’s father, Roland, has kidnapped the demigod Saiman and is slowly bleeding him dry in a never-ending bid for power. A Witch Oracle has predicted that if Kate marries the man she loves, Atlanta will burn and she will lose him forever. And the only person Kate can ask for help is long dead. The odds are impossible. The future is grim. But Kate Daniels has never been one to play by the rules.

Lacking health insurance when he was diagnosed with cancer, Shawn Speakman asked friends in the science fiction and fantasy writing community to donate short stories he could use to counter mounting medical debt. The result was Unfettered, an anthology offering tales from some of the best authors working today. Now, in Unfettered III, Speakman continues to pay forward the aid he received, raising money to combat medical debt for SF&F artists and authors.

It’s Monsters Night, the annual event where the portals to other realms and realities open, and monsters flood the streets to search for their potential mates. And I’m one of the candidates. Why? Because I broke all the rules. I fought back against the elitist system hellbent on enslaving humankind. And f--k if I’m going to let one of these monsters claim me. Let alone three of themOrcus.

When mirror twins Seth and Hadrian Castillo travel to Europe on holidays, they don't expect the end of the world to follow them. Seth's murder, however, puts exactly that into motion. From opposite sides of death, the Castillo twins grapple with a reality neither of them suspected, although it has been encoded in myths and legends for millennia. The Earth we know is just one of many "realms", three of which are inhabited by humans during various stages of their lives...and their afterlives.

Haunted by a ghost from the future, Shilly and her man’kin allies are drawn into the snowbound mountains on a mission to save the world. Yod, trapped by the Castillo twins in the Void Beneath, may finally be close to breaking free. Hard on Shilly’s heels are Sal and his father, and an uneasy alliance of Sky Wardens, Panic and foresters. The stakes are high. Strange and ancient forces struggle for ascendancy, including the glast and a dragon with its own agenda.

In a remote city on the edge of two worlds, where blood has power and water is more precious than freedom, three far-flung friends unite on a quest to save their families. Sal Hrvati's estranged father has brought more into the world than the woman he loved. Instead of saving her from the Void Beneath, he has summoned an unknown creature - a creature with a mission of its own and a past that stretches back to the beginning of the world.

Ancient enemies stalk ghostly fog forests as legends come to life. The Divide is flooded. Habryn Kail and the Homunculus are missing, presumed dead. Sal and his companions seek the source of the flood in the legendary Hanging Mountains, hoping to head off a crisis that was put in motion a thousand years ago. As conflict erupts between two long-forgotten civilizations, the outsiders find that allies are hard to come by. Taken captive and separated, they uncover uncomfortable truths about the world and how it relates to the one that came before - our world.

After a life of hiding and laying low so as not to end up trapped in the Underworld, that's exactly where Reagan finds herself. It could be worse, though. She could've had a hostile father as her jailor instead of a man eager to teach her magic. She might've been trapped with someone other than the steadfast Druid. She could've gone her whole life without riding a dragon! When push comes to shove, maybe the Underworld isn't so bad. Or maybe Lucifer is doing what he does best—deceiving her to get what he wants.

Sal and his friend Shilly have been joined by a third refugee, Skendar, by the time they make their way to the remote island that is the home of the famous, feared Haunted City, home of the Sky Wardens. Sal's great aunt, the Syndic, is also there and she is determined to keep Sal under control, even if she has to imprison him to do it. But there are greater threats even than that. The ghosts that live behind the ancient glass of the City are restless.

Sal's life has been thrown into turmoil, and he's on the run - from more than one pursuer, it appears. He is accompanied by his new-found friend, Shilly, and he's not entirely sure where he wants to go. But Shilly is. She wants to find her teacher Lodo's old teacher, the Mage Van Haasteren, which means they must head north to the Interior, where Sal's mother was born. The journey is over rugged, mountainous country on the Old Line, and it's dangerous.

Two centuries after Skydark, Earth remains chained to a sinister destiny spawned by hybrids and human traitors manipulating humankind from deep inside the chaos of forgotten worlds. Once a stone-cold protector of the ruling order, Kane and his compatriots strike back against the tide of extinction threatening to engulf the human race in a conflict with no boundaries in time, space or reality....

When Vampire Hunter D entered the town of Sedoc, it was in search of answers to the meaning of a dying vampire's last words: "Find Muma." But when he meets Mia, the daughter of the local fortuneteller, he learns the mists emanating from a smoking crater on the outskirts of Sedoc have reanimated thousands of corpses, compelling them to crawl from their graves and hurl themselves into the smoking chasm.

Granny Viper is a "people finder," a searcher for lost souls along the roads of a forbidding wasteland. Her latest mission: the safe return of a young woman named Tae, kidnapped eight years ago by vampire nobility and held in Castle Gradinia on the Frontier's far border. But rescuing Tae is only half the battle—Viper knows she and the girl can't cross the formidable expanse to the town of Barnabas alone. After making the fatal mistake of hiring the mercenary Bullow Brothers to help her, Granny turns to the legendary Vampire Hunter D for salvation.

Pyn-Poi's mother Marak wants her to grow up to be the matriarch of the tribe, learning how to cook, to make medicines, how to care for everyone, but Pyn-Poi would rather be out among the trees like her father Sook-Sook, learning how persuade tree roots into bridges, to feel when shoots are too crowded, when drooping leaves need attention. Then something starts going wrong in The Real: when the rains come, instead of nourishment, they bring a noxious stench that's poisoning people and plants alike.

On the coast of the Strand, Sal and his father arrive in the small, apparently normal town of Fundelry, where the locals are suspicious of newcomers and of anyone who stands out or appears different. Sal and his father are on the run from an unnamed someone...or something. When a local bully attacks Sal, he is rescued by Shilly and her teacher, Lodo. Lodo is marked with mysterious tattoos and seems to know a lot more about Sal than Sal knows about himself.

Arch-criminal Tyvian Reldamar has gotten complacent. For him, he's reached the pinnacle of all he's really hoping to achieve: he's got money, he's got women (some of which aren't even trying to kill him), and he's got his loyal friends and family nearby and safe. Except...maybe not so safe. Because this is Eretheria, a city known as much for its genteel aristocracy as for its diabolical scheming. Long without a king, the scions of the ruling families scrabble for control - including levying cruel taxes and drafts on the peasantry in order to wage "polite" wars against each other.