Showing results by narrator "Patrick Cronin" in All Categories

In the crypt-like depths of Ochre Mountain, an evil vampire rises from a slumber of centuries. Eager to pay homage to the Dark Lord, he unleashes a legion of zombies to conquer the land of the living, and to at least breach the boundary of the Dark Divide.

Seattle, 2078. The future hasn't been kind to the spirit of humanity; commercial obsession and technological fetishism rules the day, religion and belief has died screaming in the fires of war, and what remains is moral decrepitude. Life in the future is hard on the soul. As an agent of the Industrial Security Bureau, Thomas Walken knows that better than anyone. His job is to keep the worst kind of black-market technology out of the hands of citizens, technology born out of the shadowy nation nicknamed Wonderland.

In the wasteland of commercial culture that is future America, police are operated not by government but by private companies. In Seattle, that role is filled by Civil Protection, and Daniel Gray is a detective in Homicide Solutions. What used to be considered an important - even glamorous - department for public police is very different for the corporate species, and Gray finds himself stuck in a dead end job. That is, until the Spine Thief arrives. When a serial killer begins harvesting the spinal tissue of corporate employees all over the city, Detective Gray finds himself plunged into the first truly major case of his career.

When Daniel Duane became a father, this San Francisco surfer and climber found himself trapped at home with no clue how to contribute. Inept at so many domestic tasks, and less than eager to change diapers, he took on dinner duty. Duane had a few tricks: pasta, stir-fry...well, actually, those were his only two tricks. But he had a biographical anomaly: Chef Alice Waters had been his preschool teacher. So he cracked one of her Chez Panisse cookbooks and cooked his way through it.

In the time of the Crusades, in a world at war, a prince of immortal lineage and a spirit of fire who was once an assassin prepare to celebrate a royal wedding. But he is Christian and she is Muslim, and there are those who hate them not only for their disparate faiths but for their power and magic.

The philosopher Jacques Barzun thought that "whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball". And whoever wants to know baseball had better learn about umpires. As Larry Gerlach points out in The Men in Blue, these arbiters transform competitive chaos into organized sport. They make it possible to "play ball", but nobody loves them.Considering the abuse meted out by fans and players, why would any sane person want to be an umpire? Many reasons emerge in conversations with a dozen former major-league arbiters.

When Benedict left home, it was maybe the first time he'd stood up to his family. It was also meant to be the last. "No contact," he said. "I'm disinvesting." In all honesty, they weren't sorry to see him go. Ben had never had their talent, never had the family spark. When you run a city - especially the way the Macallans ran theirs - the last thing you need is a reluctant passenger.

Ben’s back - and this time he means business. Family business...Benedict Macallan, protagonist of Dead of Light and wonder-worker malgr lui, has travelled the length and breadth of Europe and still discovered no family like his own. Maybe Macallan blood really is a biological sport, a freak of evolution. What Ben does discover is that he can’t escape his birthright. He can run to the sun and hide among strangers, but he can’t hide his powers from himself, and when a friend asks for help he has to use them.

Magentite. The rarest of gems, one capable of turning any mage into an unstoppable force of destruction. A gem found only in the empty lands surrounding the Tyber River. And now war has come. Endless war between Esteria and the native Tyberons, a savage and mysterious people who prowl the grass-covered land with spearpoints ready. Unable to end the conflict the Esterians rely on mercenaries to bolster their military, desperate men like Dain Gladstone, a disgraced Paladin.

They are four outcasts brought together by the god Vili, bonded by a sacred oath and sworn to each other's fealty. Bith the young sorceress. Cal warrior and outlaw for a crime he didn't commit. The troll Hathor who has foresworn his people's barbarous ways. The enigmatic elf Endril. Each had pledged to defeat the Dark Lord and his minions...or give their lives trying.

Two years have passed since Agent Thomas Walken and Bobbi January found themselves at the heart of a conspiracy of unimaginable greed and cruelty. The Genefex Corporation remains shrouded in mystery, and Bobbi faces a life of unanswered questions and mounting disillusionment to look forward to. But when she receives a mysterious message from one of Walken’s former comrades, she is drawn back onto the trail.

Constantinople, A.D. 1203: a great army camps outside the City of Cities, and threatens it with conquest. Within the City, a Greek witch and a renegade monk who is also a white enchanter do their utmost to hold back the tides of war. But even their great powers may not be able to save Byzantium’s empire from the Western Crusade.

In Polar City - the capital of Hagar, one of the planets in the forlorn Star Republic - a human-dominated entity is caught in the power politics between the enormous Interstellar Confederation and the Coreward Alliance. The leaders of these entities keep their alien eyes on the Republic in the hopes of one day adding its territory to theirs. When an alien member of the Confederation is found murdered in Hagar's public square, the situation turns dangerous fast.

Rick is an unassuming limo driver and former petty thief, quietly struggling to come to terms with the sins of his past and his hopes for the future. While the anti-hero longs to one day find love and peace, he cannot easily forget his crimes and leave the past behind. A noir tale of love, murder, and reconciliation, Of Ghosts and the Living sheds light on the nature of human compassion and many ways it can manifest in our lives.

Reveals the truth behind the controversial issue of vaccine-related injuries. Proponents declare that vaccines have saved millions of lives. Critics claim that the success is overstated and that vaccines may even be dangerous. Many consider mandatory vaccinations a violation of individual rights or religious principles. Many in public health argue that vaccine mandates are critical and justified and that antivaccination sentiment has resulted in outbreaks of preventable childhood illnesses.

A twisting thriller that taps into a deep well of erotic obsession, sexual betrayal, madness, and murder, Darkness Bound goes to fearless extremes to become an authentic and shocking suspense novel. In darkness…. Two strangers meet. A woman without inhibitions…a man without limits…for a private game between two consenting adults. In darkness…. They indulge in every secret fantasy, cross every boundary of sexual deviation. But one of them has a secret yet to be shared, a desire yet to be explored…

Bith the sorceress and her companions - Cal the outlaw, Hathor the troll, and Endril the elf - have armed themselves with powerful weapons and magic. They are ready to do battle with the Dark Lord's minions, be they orc or dragon. But are they ready to confront their own nightmares?

Swordsman Caltus Talienson, sorceress Bith, Hathor the troll, and the elf Endril band together to battle the forces of the Dark Lord of Mistwall, an evil force that has so far decimated the defenders of the Westwoods.

Garth Kristinsson’s parents were free - traders, the aristocracy of con artists, able to fleece the dishonest with their own greed. But his father’s last scam went horribly wrong, and at the last, both his parents were dead. Garth wanted answers no authority could give him, so he searched for decades for any clue, any lead on his father’s partners-in-crime. One of them still lived - he would find her on the mysterious planet Nuala.

For generations, the urban legend of Granny Hatchet has plagued the quiet residential area of Suvikylä in northern Finland. As the story goes, this immortal killer murders her victims with a hatchet then buries the hearts in a potato field and eats them after they've rotted black. But not everyone is convinced it is just a story.