Showing results by publisher "Podium Audio" in Urban

Seventeen-year-old Truth Medici scavenges for scraps to eat; weathers his parents' abuse; and battles derelicts, killer pimps, and demons in the soul-crushing stretch of desperation he calls home. Even the cops steer clear of the toxic Harban slums. But just across the canal live the magical elite, with their wealth, flying carpets, gorgeous mages, and custom spell beasts, all thanks to the patronage of the almighty Starbrite Corporation. Getting there, and taking his three vulnerable siblings with him, is Truth's only dream.

When the fourth princess of Istalam is due to dedicate herself to a path serving the crown, she makes a choice that shocks everyone, herself most of all: She leaves. In hiding and exiled from power, Miyara finds her place running a tea shop in a struggling community that sits on the edge of a magical disaster zone. But there's more brewing under the surface of this city—hidden magic and hidden machinations—that threaten all the people who've helped her make her own way.

Ajax Demos finds himself lost in society. Graduating shortly after artificial intelligence is allowed to enter the workforce, he can’t get his career off the ground. He clings to what he believes a responsible adult should pursue, but it just isn’t in the cards. As his last hope for a steady paycheck disappears new opportunities open. Ajax gets a chance to play a brand new Immersive Reality game. Things aren't as they seem. Mega Corps hover over what appears to be a simple game. Two unlikely women hiding their real identities join his party....

Not long ago, Gary was just another punk teenager living in a ramshackle house in a ramshackle town. To survive, he worked as a gofer for a brutal street gang—until a simple job went bad, and he ended up paired with a Werewolf System that enhanced his strength, stamina, and attitude. But as Gary quickly learned, this gift could also be a curse, costing anyone who got too close to him their life. Now, he's trying to figure out how to use his system to make things better for those around him. Unfortunately, before things get better, they're going to get much, much worse.

I've been betrayed. I spent years hiding my magic from the world, but now I've got new powers I can't control. Everyone around me is at risk, and if my secret is revealed, I'll be hunted. But I don't have time to worry about the monster I might become. Someone has stolen a dangerous artifact that could turn my world upside down. It could get me and my friends killed and bring destruction down on my city.

Queen Isadora reigns with secrets and lies and will do whatever it takes to keep her throne, including killing the rightful heir. Hunted by the queen, Kenna is thrust into the center of a rebellion that seeks to end her tyranny. Now, she must learn what it means to rise up and rule, but does she have what it takes? Or will the cost of the rebellion be more than she can give? As the stirrings of war threaten to tear the country apart, Kenna must fight to hold her Chosen together before they too become another causality.

The enemy unknowingly opened a portal to the Netherworld, and our world’s only wizard somehow managed to close it. Unfortunately, something got through. Something big. A dragon. Now Kaz Wolfe, with help from his dog Duke who is channeling the spirit of a wizard from ancient Babylon, and with no help from Azib the Cowardly Genie, must find the dragon before someone gets a cellphone video of the thing, and the world learns that magic is real. Or, you know, before the dragon eats someone.

Year One classes have begun in the enchanted halls of Blackbriar Academy, and they're more challenging than anything I've ever faced in my life. Surviving the Academy means brutal training, advanced magic, and a bloodthirsty student who is developing a dangerous hunger for my power. Worst of all, it's clear someone knows my secret. And they have my father locked away. Deep in the rubble of an ancient ruin, we find evidence of a ritual. One we don't fully understand, but one which most definitely involves me in some way.

Blackbriar Academy is an enchanted school on a magical island, and everyone wants in. It’s a home away from home for the most advanced mages in the world—and only the absolute best of the best are given an invitation. By some freak accident, I managed to get one. If I pass the trials, I get to stay. With nowhere else to go, Blackbriar is my one shot at having a real life, and I won’t let anyone take this from me. But there’s a catch. It turns out the people on this island are being trained to hunt the darkness—basically, they’re being trained to hunt me.

A cold dawn rises after a civil war, but far worse lurks over the horizon. Nathan barely finishes burying friends before he must rally a furious, discordant nation around a new empress and stem the tide of holy war. Two prophets fight for the hearts and minds of a desperate, divided populace. The Empire's greedy nobles posture for pride and territory while Traufaumh's priests dither and their inquisitors brutalize from the shadows. Amid all this, the demonic Messengers grow in power, threatening to destroy Doumahr overnight.

A Yakuza demigod lurks in the city, wounded but not defeated, and Vince needs to bring her down for good. He needs a team fit for slaying a god, even if he has to ask for favors from old bosses and cross boundaries to build it.

As the world plunges into chaos, Nathan knows he has only one shot to save it. He barely fended off the demonic messenger Artemis, but now Trafaumh faces an invasion from without and open rebellion from within. If it falls, all of Doumahr goes with it. Saving a country comes with hard decisions. He's turned a blind eye to Trafaumh's atrocities in the past. With the Inquisition on the verge of collapse, Nathan can remove some of the worst people from power. The cost may be paid in the lives of innocents, however.

Having barely escaped the Overcavern Forest with his life, Ben is ready for some peace and safety in the city of Solas. Unfortunately, he won't find it, not in that nightmare of a city. Especially not with the pristine body of Betsy the Purebeast safely sealed away in his Utility Pocket; a treasure so rare that it's garnered interest from all the wrong kinds of powerful people. With Vivi once again accused of the very same crimes he'd was exiled for, the power of Solas are determined to use this farce of a trial (by human standards) to rip Betsy from the teams still cooling fingers.

Juniper Smith is finally starting to feel at home in this new world. Everywhere he looks are familiar pieces of the game worlds he used to make back on Earth. The last druid has died, and with her, a rare and precious magic is slowly seeping its way out of the world. The ritual to bring her back as an infant only requires a little messing around with devils and simply hacking the game system on his soul, which is practically routine, but to speed the process along will be another matter entirely.

Lucas Rurik used to be part of the Raven Guild. That is, until someone murdered all of its members—except for him. That was seven years ago. Now, Lucas keeps to himself, avoiding getting too close to anyone lest they become targets themselves. But when one of his oldest friends at the Rift-Crime Unit calls upon him for help with a case that’s already taken down people who mean a lot to him, Lucas can’t resist stepping back into the fray. Something is killing FBI and RCU agents alike—something unlike anything Lucas has ever seen before, on Earth or in the Rift.

Juniper Smith is trapped in a prison that seems to be of his own design. Everywhere he looks are bits and pieces of the game worlds he used to make back on Earth. Now, he finds himself on the run from the law and helping out criminals, looking for magical solutions to centuries-old magical spirits trapped in bottles. Can he trust an elf that's been locked away since the bad old days of the Second Empire? Danger lurks around every corner, and trust is hard to come by, even within the party that grows more like family with every passing day.

Juniper Smith was always a creator of worlds rather than the one who walked within them…until now. Somehow, the tables have turned in the most dramatic way possible. Juniper finds himself in a world filled with the wildest fantasies a mind could come up with, and his fingerprints are all over it.

In this world, where academic success could literally mean the difference between life and death, many students develop emotional baggage. Fortunately for Alexa, she does not suffer from the problems that plague most of her peers. Gifted with an intelligent mind to start, she realized early on that applying herself to both her academic and sports competitions was the number one way to succeed in this world. How can she do it? Shuffle studying, school work, and sports practice, all while being a teenager? The answer is simple: she has no emotions.

Contains books 1 and 2 of The Game of Gods series. The Beginning, book 1: The gods have gotten bored, and humanity is the answer. Charles earns the ultimate surprise one morning when he awakens to discover the world has ended, or rather the gods of old were bored and decided to redesign how it worked. Only Charles gets cursed by the gods. The Death of Champions, book 2: The gods have begun to change Earth, leaving humanity confused and desperate. Charles and Alli have managed to survive the first week of the apocalypse; unfortunately for them, it isn't over yet.

Nathan's preparations will be tested, as this war will be won with ancient spells and forbidden magic, not sword and bow. He'll need to gather his battered allies and utilize every trick and spell he's learned to keep the war from spiraling out of control. Storm clouds loom in the east, however. Civil war brews in the joint republic of faeries and elves, and someone or something is fanning the flames. Nathan finds himself playing both general and peacemaker.