Showing results by narrator "Patrick Cronin" in All Categories

Volume two. Four more stories: the mind of a mind reader, babysitting the supernatural, packing up, and what's it like to be a queen.

Captain Galvin Quintos had returned home to Earth soon after liberating Ironhold Station from a ruthless band of Pylorian pirates. But the Grish had been waiting for his transport ship - an attack he barely survived. Now, three months later, he’s still recuperating within the walls of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

In one harrowingly destructive instant, a mysterious seismic pulse in the Scottish Highlands rips away all semblance of global security. Complacency grew in the years since Dan McCarthy brought humanity into contact with intelligent aliens, but those days are gone. When peace is shattered, fear takes over.

Adventurer on the Run! Once Shandril was a humble kitchen maid. Now she's one of the most powerful magic-users in the land. And a lot of people want her dead. The evil Zhentarim, the powerful Cult of the Dragon—all of them want her spellfire, and they'll kill whoever they must to get it. There's only one thing for Shandril to do: run. With the aid of Elminster of Shadowdale, the Knights of Myth Drannor, her lover, and a determined dwarf, she'll wield her magic for the cause of good. But if her magic becomes too powerful, her friends won’t have a choice.

It should be simple - a dragon defeated, a slumbering princess in a castle, a prince poised to wake her. But when the prince falls asleep as his lips touch the fair maiden's, it is clear that this fairy tale is far from over. With a desperate fairy's last curse controlling her mind, Princess Aurora must escape from a different castle of thorns and navigate a dangerously magical landscape - created from her very own dreams.

An AI calling itself Schema has assimilated Earth into its System. As a consequence, everyone gained access to status screens, power-ups, and skills. This AI turned these concepts from fiction to fact. It's easy to become intoxicated with leveling up and becoming stronger. To some, it's too good to be true, like living out a dream. For Daniel, however, it's closer to a nightmare.

They came in peace. But that was last time.... As the world gears up for the first anniversary of Contact Day, Dan McCarthy’s year-long effort to stay out of the limelight collapses in an instant. A direct call from the Messengers throws Dan into urgent action, but the fallout plants a troubling seed of doubt: This time, maybe they didn’t come here to help....

When Robert Worth relocated his law practice to the Venice Beach boardwalk, he never thought he’d be cutting movie deals. But when his pal Reyes needs legal help with his film project, Robert agrees to look into it. The road to Hollywood fame takes a crooked turn after a potential billionaire backer turns up dead in his Brentwood mansion - and Reyes is arrested for first-degree murder. Robert may not have any criminal-law experience, but with the help of his girlfriend, Gia, and his buddy Erik, a retired cop, he takes the case.

Although the king's illegitimate son had promised he would never seek the throne, he breaks his oath and gets himself into so much trouble that his only hope lies in rescue by the greatest Paladin...who won't be born for another 500 years.

I vowed to protect my brother and my pack at all cost, but this time the debt for the protection might be my life. A war between my pack and the witches is long in the making. They'd do anything to destroy us. When a close ally is nearly killed by them, Josh goes rogue and retaliates. It's not without deadly consequences. While I'm handling the mayhem that's threatening to destroy my brother and pack, an alpha from another pack is causing havoc in the only thing in my life that isn't a wreck - my relationship with Sky.

Stark Enterprises has unleashed the Infinite Engine, which promises to be an energy source unlike anything ever seen before. But saboteurs from both A.I.M. and Hydra have set their sights on the engine as well - along with Dr. Doom. When a respected scientist is killed and the Engine taken over, Spiderman and Iron Man join forces to safeguard the Infinite Engine - and all of humanity.

In Incurable Me, a maverick physician brings transparency to some of medicine's most closely guarded secrets. As he establishes a link between commerce and medical research, K. P. Stoller also explains how to treat some of the most worrisome diseases and conditions afflicting humans today - including Lyme disease, brain trauma, dementia, and autism.

Days from a cure for his lupine curse, Jason takes an urgent mission. A medieval invader has returned to a remote corner of Eastern Europe. Backed by seven undead knights and a zombie horde, Lord Drago threatens the region’s oldest province with ghastly force. Drochia is like nowhere the Legion team has been before - a land of brooding ruins, savage wolf packs, mass graves, and secrets that lurk as quietly as the ever-present mist. Even their cheery client seems to be hiding something.

In his oppressively small 10x10 cell at the Norfolk Naval Station’s Brig, Captain Galvin Quintos sits awaiting his impending court-martial when he's unexpectedly contacted by Fleet Commander Admiral Block. He’s proposing an off-book, secret operation, coming at the request of the Pleidian Weonan Empress Shawlee Tee. For Quintos, telling Shawlee “no” was never an option. Unfortunately, according to the admiral, this very well could be a mission of no return.

For Vicky Sandoval, home is wherever the she and Cam can make a life together, whether that’s back in the Commonwealth or right there in this strange new part of the galaxy. But the only way for any of them to find a home is to hunt down the mysterious Seekers, the faction of the ancient alien Predecessors who were tracking the source of the mindless Skrela war drones which had chased them off Earth tens of thousands of years ago. The Seekers have the gate and, just as importantly, they know where to find the demonic Skrela and put an end to them.

Icelin thought she had escaped the horrors of her past - until they come hunting her, forcing her to go to ground. But when things go from bad to worse, and her friends start paying for her mistakes, Icelin learns she has to embrace the talents she fears, accept the past she runs from, and confront those threatening her future. Ed Greenwood, beloved author and creator of the Forgotten Realms, presents the second book in a brand-new series dedicated to showcasing both the City of Splendors and our most talented up-and-coming authors.

2069: Earth is dying, and society is on the brink of collapse. We are out of time to save the planet. All that’s left is to watch the world burn, but the apocalypse is about to take an unexpected twist. Alice Rice has discovered the impossible: a potentially habitable world in close proximity to Earth. The media is calling it Planet B.

With a four-legged companion and no food in the pantry, Grant Walton faces an uphill battle. His wife is still missing; downtown is a smoldering crater; and radiation is killing more people every day. Torn between searching for his wife and gearing up for what's sure to come, Grant is forced to put more than his morals to the test. Leah Walton escaped a nuclear bomb that flattened her hospital and vaporized her friends. Now she's racing to find her husband miles away. She'll have to rely on the kindness of strangers to survive and hope none of them kill her in the process.

Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the first issues of Weird Tales Magazine, 100 Years of Weird is a masterful compendium of new and classic stories, flash fiction, essays, and poems from the giants of speculative fiction, including R. L. Stine, Laurell K. Hamilton, Ray Bradbury, H. P. Lovecraft, Tennessee Williams, and Isaac Asimov.

A wondrous, uproarious, and surprisingly informative account of a year spend surfing, Caught Inside marks the arrival of an exuberant new voice of the outdoors. This remarkable narrative of Daniel Duane’s life on the water is enhanced by good-humored explanations of the physics of wave dynamics, the intricate art of surfboard design, and lyrical, sharp-eyed descriptions of the flora and fauna of the Pacific wilderness.