Showing results by narrator "Steven Brand" in All Categories

The quest of the Seven Swords has freed the shadows to prey upon mankind. Ridmark has learned that the sorceress Cathala holds the secret of the Seven Swords and quests to free her from the grasp of an imprisoning spell. But the Maledicti priests know of Ridmark's quest and plot to stop him with a deadly new weapon. Ridmark and his companions find themselves caught in the war between the final remnant of the dying gray elves and the brutal muridach horde. Unless Ridmark can save the gray elves, he and his friends will die, and the New God will rise in power to enslave the world.

Aaron Envelar thought a sellsword's life was as dangerous as any life could be. He was wrong. Trapped in a conquered city with a reward on their heads, Aaron and his companions must find a way to elude the soldiers pursuing them while he struggles to understand his bond with Co, a magical creature of myth and the Virtue of Compassion. There is power within the bond, power that could help him protect his friends, if he's lucky enough to master it before the darkness within the bond consumes him.

A nobleman from an infamous family, imperial legionary officer, and born fighter, Ben Stiger is trapped in the past and cut off from everything he has known. The World Gate is sealed behind him, and Delvaris, the man he traveled through time to save, is dead. With this great man’s death, the future has been altered by the evil god Castor. Stiger has lost his purpose. For the first time in a great long while, no one needs saving, and no one needs killing. Cast adrift in a time not his own, Stiger believes his time as a leader of men is at an end. But the gods are not done with him yet.

The emperor is dead. The White City of Amalt has fallen. Those who defy Savaroth's tyranny are enslaved, thrown into chains and forced to carry out his sinister designs. As Savaroth's corruption claims the Alkomian empire, an ancient and terrible evil rises from the bowels of the earth. Rumors of a creeping, entangling horror sweep through the war-torn countryside. But from deep within a living forest, Aventine leads a fragile rebellion against Savaroth's forces. Yet even as they seek to strike out against the tyrant, they are hunted by an eldritch monster that hounds their every step.

Ridmark Arban is the Shield Knight, the only Swordbearer in the realm of Owyllain. He is allied with the noble King Hektor Pendragon, who fights to reunify the Seven Swords and to end the destructive war they have unleashed. But the tyrannical King Justin Cyros is marching to war against Hektor, and King Justin knows the secret of the malevolent New God, a secret that will kill everyone in Owyllain. Meanwhile, the Necromancer of Trojas wields the Sword of Death, and with it he has summoned a vast host of the undead.

If life has taught the jaded sellsword Aaron Envelar anything, it’s that hope is for fools and causes are a sure remedy for breathing. But when his latest job leads him to the corpse of a prince and a conspiracy that threatens to destroy the entire realm, Aaron is forced to choose sides in a war he doesn’t want, between forces he doesn’t understand. Thrust into a world of mythical assassins, a madman with superhuman strength, and a nagging ball of light with a superiority complex who claims to be the embodiment of compassion, Aaron takes on his hardest job yet - staying alive.

The Alkomian Empire lies in ruin. An army of traitors marches on the capital, forcing the emperor from his throne. In his absence, chaos reigns. Villages burn as the blood of innocents runs in the streets. Entire provinces are reduced to rubble, demolished by terrible rune-power. Darkness and despair covers the land as hope for deliverance is consumed in the flames of destruction. On the border of the empire, two young heroes stand bloodied but unbroken.

Four hundred years ago the Alkomian Empire clawed its way from the long dark, uniting the splintered factions of mankind under one banner. Harnessing the mysterious power of runes, the empire of man spread across the land, exploring and inhabiting the ancient fortresses that they plundered for runestones. For centuries humanity has stood unopposed, masters of their own destiny. Until now. In the east a darkness stirs. An evil beyond myth and memory sends its agents to plant the seeds of mankind's destruction.

Mungo Park’s Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa has long been regarded as a classic of African travel literature. In fulfilling his mission to find the Niger River and in documenting its potential as an inland waterway for trade, Park was significant in opening Africa to European economic interests. His modest, low-key heroism made it possible for the British public to imagine themselves as a welcomed force in Africa. As a tale of adventure and survival, it has inspired the imaginations of audiences since its first publication in 1799 and writers from Wordsworth and Melville to Conrad.

The best-selling, award-winning author of Stiger's Tigers delivers the action-packed next installment in the Tales of the Seventh series. In this military fantasy, Ben Stiger is given a simple mission: march his understrength company to the Cora’Tol garrison far to the southeast. Once there, he is to take a fellow officer into custody and promptly return. But when Stiger arrives, he finds the Rivan have destroyed the garrison and slaughtered the inhabitants of the valley. Suddenly, what was supposed to be a quick and easy task turns into something far more dangerous.

Author's note: The following story takes place in the same world as my novel Blood Song, the first volume in the Raven's Shadow trilogy. I wrote it because I wanted to more fully explore characters who appear in Blood Song and the sequels Tower Lord and Queen of Fire. Readers familiar with my work are sure to recognize a certain pale-eyed, raspy-voiced Sword Master of the Sixth Order, and those curious as to the origins of the Tower Lord of the Southern Shore will find answers here.

Nobleman and born soldier Ben Stiger never backs down from a fight. Even as the son of an infamous imperial general, an outcast from society, he refuses to crumble under the unforgiving shadow of his once-powerful family’s disgrace. When he’s reassigned from his crack company to the struggling southern army, he’s eager to help turn the tide against a growing deadly rebellion. 

Captain Ben Stiger captured Castle Vrell and rid it of a minion of a dark god. Now he finds himself cut off from the empire, with a hostile rebel army marching on the legion's fortress where they guard the entrance to Vrell Valley. It is not in Stiger's nature to simply wait for the enemy. Badly outnumbered and facing odds greater than 20 to one, he sets out to impede the enemy's advance and show them the steel that the legions are made of.

After a long and terrible war, the realm of Andomhaim is at peace. But dark powers threaten other lands. Ridmark Arban, the Shield Knight and defender of Andomhaim, finds himself fighting for his life, and for the lives of his family, when a mad elven wizard comes to the High King's court. For the quest of the Seven Swords has begun. And the quest will kill anyone foolish enough to seek its secret.

A nobleman from an infamous family, an imperial legionary officer, and a born fighter, Captain Ben Stiger has successfully thwarted the attack from an army of the Cyphan Confederacy. Now Stiger, his men, and his new dwarven allies have fallen back behind the great walls of Castle Vrell. Stiger finds himself named Legate of the Vanished, the long-lost 13th Legion. This title and his own word binds him to the terms of the Compact, an ancient and mystical alliance formed nearly 2,000 years before.

Months have passed since Tyrus ended a decade of war between Turine and Genesha by destroying the Geneshan's sorcerous artifact. He had hoped that taking his family south would grant him the peace he desired, but even in the Southern Kingdoms, war welcomes him instead. Ava strikes a deal with the Southern Kingdom leaders to protect her brother, taking his place in their fight to protect their lands from invading forces. Having spent her adult life entrenched in battle, Ava doesn't hold any illusions as to what awaits her.

The Turine army is on the brink of victory against the Geneshans. Sergeant Tyrus and his unit are tasked to steal an artifact from the enemy that some believe has the power to destroy the world. Taking such power from the Geneshans would end the decade long war. Upon their success, Tyrus' unit is among the first wave of soldiers discharged from the army. War has robbed him of time with his wife and children, but now the life he has dreamed of every day for the last 10 years is just a long journey away.

A nobleman from an infamous family, Ben Stiger finds himself freshly assigned to Third Legion, Seventh Company as a lowly lieutenant in the opening stages of war between the Empire and the Kingdom of the Rivan. Third Legion has been tasked with pursuing a retreating Rivan army back to the border where the Empire can take the fight into enemy territory. However, a major obstacle stands in Third Legion's path: the river Hana.

Ambition and jealousy - all set to music. Devout court composer Antonio Salieri plots against his rival, the dissolute but supremely talented Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. How far will Salieri go to achieve the fame that Mozart disregards?

Ridmark Arban is the Shield Knight, the defender of the realm of Andomhaim from dark magic. But when dark magic stirs in the mountains of Taliand, the power of the Shield Knight might not even be enough to save Andomhaim....