Showing results by narrator "Luci Christian" in All Categories

In the title story, a white aspiring professor is convinced she is being followed. No need to panic - she has a handgun stowed away in her purse, just in case. But when she turns to confront her black male shadow, the situation isn't what she expects. In "The Rescuer" a promising graduate student detours to inner-city Trenton, New Jersey, to save her brother from a downward spiral. But she soon finds out there may be more to his world than to hers.

Under normal circumstances, a Time Fetch sends out its foragers to collect only those moments that will never be missed or regretted. It then rests, waiting to be called back by the Keeper, who distributes the gathered time where it is needed in our world and others. When eighth grader Edward innocently mistakes a sleeping Fetch for an ordinary rock, he wakes its foragers too early, and they begin to multiply and gobble up too much time. Soon the bell rings to end class just as it's begun. Buses race down streets, too far behind schedule to stop for passengers. Buildings and sidewalks begin to disappear as the whole fabric of the universe starts to unravel.

Imprisoned by Caleb and at the mercy of the king, Aria is determined not to let them break her. However, the more atrocities she witnesses, the more she realizes there are some horrors no one can withstand, and sometimes survival isn’t always the best option.

Though she is free of the palace, rescued from her position as a blood slave, Aria is haunted by the memories of her time spent within the fortress, tormented by memories of Braith, the prince that betrayed her and shattered her heart. Every day is a struggle to get through, and the only solace she is able to find is with Max, her best friend, and fellow captive.

Whispers, rumors, and horror stories abound about The Barrens and the strange creatures that lurk within them. Determined to find the remaining vampires that stood against his father in the war, Braith knows that it’s dangerous to enter the inhospitable land, but that they must if they are to have a chance at gaining allies to help overthrow the king.

Aria is determined to hate the prince, determined not to give into him in anyway, but his strange kindness, and surprising gentleness astonish her. Torn between her loyalties to the rebellion, and her growing love for her greatest enemy, Aria struggles to decide between everything she has ever known, and a love she never dreamed of finding.

It's been two months since Pandora English left her small hometown to live with her mysterious great-aunt in a haunted mansion in Spektor - the fog-wreathed suburb of Manhattan that doesn't appear on any map. With the help of her great-aunt and the beautiful - but dead - Lieutenant Luke, Pandora is beginning to understand the significance of the Lucasta family heritage her late mother kept secret from her. Pandora is heir to a great gift. And with that comes frightening responsibility....

This is not a simple story. This is not even just one story. There’s a boy, and there’s a girl. But there’s so much more than that. I was going home. Not forever; only long enough to watch my eternally irresponsible father marry a girl who happened to be my childhood enemy. There were no plans to embark on some crazy sex odyssey with a wild 19-year old baseball player. Easton Malone is insufferable, crude, and far too close. The hot, reckless days we shared should never have happened. I would forget him.

Life as a teenager is never easy. But for Natalee Murray, things have just gotten way more difficult. Bored with life, she can't wait to graduate high school and get out of town, especially considering the famous band members from AD2 suddenly start attending her school, making her once-boring life absolutely insane.

I'm Ivy Lane, and I've had about enough of Faerie. The enemy has captured the surviving Mage Lords, and death faeries are preparing to unleash terror on this realm. Torn between saving the people I love and saving the world, I'm forced to appeal to the very faerie lords who ruined my life. It's up to me to unite faeries and non-faeries alike to take out the oncoming threat. Failure isn't an option. Good job I'm used to defying the odds....

When the leader of the local witch coven is murdered, all evidence suggests foul play of the faerie variety. With a group of anti-supernatural assassins running around town, I have to figure out their connection with the dark faeries before my best friend Isabel, the new coven leader, becomes the killer's next target. Nobody ever crosses the witches and escapes unscathed, but with the ancient Sidhe, all bets are off. I need to have my wits about me, otherwise one mistake might spell the destruction of our world.

I'm Ivy Lane, and lately, my life has been suspiciously free of faerie-related drama. But there's a storm coming. Now, the lords of Faerie know I have their magic. What they don't know is that I killed a powerful faerie, and might just have doomed both our worlds in the process. With hellhounds camping out in my garden and a dark uprising amongst the half-faeries, something bad is on the move in Faerie.

When ghosts start appearing all over town, my witch friend Isabel and I are pulled in to help the necromancers exorcise the wayward spirits. With the dead refusing to stay dead, it's easier said than done. And there's something worse hiding on the wrong side of the grave. As an old adversary puts a dangerous plan in motion, I'm forced to learn more about the magic I stole from Faerie's darkest corner.

I feared that using my magic would bring me closer to the faerie realm I tried so desperately to escape. I was right. I made a promise to a faerie, and they've come to deliver. A powerful talisman has disappeared, and without it, the faeries in this realm are losing their magic. Getting involved wasn't in my plan, but if I refuse to help the faeries find the talisman, I'll die.

An intense interracial friendship between two high school girls. McSweeney's is a literary journal based in San Francisco.

Listeners know that few authors are able to create an atmosphere of unease and terror as well as Oates, a fact confirmed by the four novellas presented here. All the novellas in this collection revolve around the theme of love gone wrong - horribly, shockingly wrong.

Katherine Shaw. Rich girl? Check. Spoiled and obstinate? Check. A sexy fireball who pushes every button ex-SEAL Jason Garrett has? That was not listed on the dossier he received when he was assigned as one of her bodyguards. The last thing he ever expected was that his tempting client would prove to be more sinful and dangerous than those he’s protecting her from. It’s been five years since a family tragedy tilted her world off its axis, and Katherine Shaw still relives the nightmares of that night. She escaped. The danger should’ve been over.

Whoever said singles were missing out by not finding true love and getting married before the age of 30 had never experienced the sheer pleasure of nightly romantic comedy viewings in their underwear while eating one of Licked's famous Crazy Cat Lady sundaes. Because life just doesn't get better than that. At least, it doesn't for Shayne Callahan. It didn't take more than a handful of broken hearts after college to solidify that she was better at pairing up those around her than herself.

As one of the most prestigious wedding coordinators in Los Angeles, Paige Iris Traynor-Ashcroft is known for being classy, elegant, and the orchestrator of many happily-ever-afters. But in the words of Paige herself, “What a crock of shiitake.” Known affectionately (or not) as P.I.T.A. to those closest to her, she’s never been one to buy into the whole monogamy thing for herself. Sure, her BFFs are getting picked off by Cupid one by one, but his arrows have nothing on her semiautomatic.

Two months after Sunan, Sousuke and Kaname are in a holding pattern. He'll fire his rifle off the school roof. She'll yell at him to stop. Lather, rinse, repeat. That all changes one day when Sousuke's commanding officer Teletha "Tessa" Testarossa shows up at his apartment, trying to hide a key to a terrorist superweapon of unprecedented power. Tessa is brilliant, pretty, and the same age as Sousuke, and her presence might put a serious crimp on his relationship with Kaname... assuming the city survives the night!