Showing results by narrator "Eric Messner" in All Categories

In the conclusion to his first adventure, Apropos' difficulties are compounded when a routine mission to escort the King's daughter home after a long absence goes horribly awry. Suddenly Apropos finds himself saddled with trying to survive while dealing with a berserk phoenix, murderous unicorns, mutated harpies, homicidal warrior kings, and - most problematic of all - a princess who may or may not be a psychotic arsonist.

The fiery destruction of nuclear war and its deadly aftermath have driven the free world to its knees, enslaved by the victorious Soviet invaders. John Thomas Rourke - ex-CIA Covert Operations Officer, weapons specialist and supreme survival expert, leads the forces of freedom in the bloody fight against oppression to save an all but devastated future Earth. In a world marching to its final battle John Rourke leads the forces of good into the maw of evil. If good prevails, can John Rourke survive the peace?

In a wild frontier boomtown like Rattlesnake Wells, it’s hard to know who to lock up, who to let out, and who to gun down. But as town marshal, it’s Bob Hatfield’s job to separate the sinners from the saints — or at least keep them from killing each other. Now there’s a new boy in town. He’s fresh out of prison. He swears he was wrongfully convicted of embezzling from his boss at the local mine. He wants to clear his name and reclaim the woman he loves.

Rather than accepting a marriage arranged by his mother, the powerful military matriarch of Westwind, Creslin chooses exile, setting out to find his own identity and developing his magical talents through conflict with the enigmatic white wizards of Candar. What Creslin doesn't know is he stands in the way of their plot to subjugate the world.

Aliens and humans alike play positions based on physiology, creating receivers that jump 25 feet into the air, linemen that bench-press 1,200 pounds, and linebackers that literally want to eat you. Organized crime runs every franchise, games are fixed, and rival players are assassinated. Follow the story of Quentin Barnes, a 19-year-old quarterback prodigy that has been raised all his life to hate, and kill, those aliens. Quentin must deal with his racism and learn to lead, or he'll wind up just another stat in the column marked "killed on the field."

The worst has happened: Fleet is tearing itself apart. Some of the mutineers see injustice in the unequal spread of the rejuvenation drugs that offer virtual immortality to the rich; others are simply thirsty for power, or for blood. The Loyalists, meanwhile, fight desperately to preserve the rule of law in Familias Regnant space. But when Esmay Suiza-Serrano is unceremoniously booted out of Fleet, the apparent victim of family politics, she has no idea of the whirlwind of conflict into which she is about to be drawn.

Set against the backdrop of a professional American football franchise seven centuries in the future, the Galactic Football League puts huge humans on the field with five alien races to create a game that is faster, stronger and deadlier than anything we know today. Quarterback Quentin Barnes has grown from a racist, small-town standout into a proven leader, a uniter of peoples, and the Galaxy’s most-famous being. Willing to do anything for his team, his Ionath Krakens have bound together through shared sacrifice, tragedy, devastating losses and thrilling victories.

Gabrielle Williams has done the impossible. She pierced the Veil, entered the Beyond, and located the long-lost leader of the Echo Team, her husband, Cade. But the world they return to is not the one they left behind. All they fought for, everything they sought to preserve through their sacrifices, seems lost. As they struggle to find familiar faces in an unfamiliar world, one question burns in the forefront of their thoughts. What happened to the Templars?

In his trademark suit of black armor and skull-like helm, armed with a demon-forged axe, Corvis Rebaine twice brought death and destruction to Imphallion - willingly slaughtering countless innocents in pursuit of a more just society. But that was the old Rebaine. Before he killed the mad warlord Audriss and banished the demon Khanda. Before he lost his wife and children, who could not forgive or forget his violent crimes. Now, in a distant city, under a false name, Rebaine is loathe to resurrect his bloody ways, even when the neighboring nation of Cephira invades his Imphallion.

It’s the early days of the Mexican revolution. J. T. Latham is about to be killed by a Yuma Prison gang when an old nemesis, Deputy Del Buchman, intervenes. Latham will get a pardon if he uses his knowledge of the area and his experience with the Yaqui to guide Buchman’s posse deep into the Sonoran desert to rescue rich man’s kidnapped wife and children. The guerrilla general responsible wants machine guns for their safe return, but there is more to the ransom than guns.

It’s been 15 years since brothers Michael and Andrew Lewis came from Tennessee to Mexican-run Texas to hunt wild horses. They have settled and found wives, and they’re now joined by their brother and sister, James and Annie. James becomes a volunteer in a fledgling army of rebels led by Sam Houston. Michael and Andrew are separated from their families and each other, being drawn into the conflict as the drive toward independence from the government of Mexico City gains momentum.

The ongoing battle between star quarterback Quentin Barnes and team owner Gredok the Splithead is coming to a head. Endless threats and promises of ultraviolence hang on their every word. With sentients of several groups trying to manipulate or kill him, Quentin must chart a new course if he is to survive and overcome his injury to once again lead his beloved Krakens into battle.

The city of Haven has changed Hawk and Fisher from what they once were...but what, or who, were they? Discontent and a political assassination draw them to the Forest Kingdom. King Harald is dead and the kingdom is in turmoil. The King's Questor seeks out Hawk and Fisher to find the killer break some spells and help restore a kind of peace.

Hewey Calloway and his brother Walter are young men looking for work. Their first job puts them in the middle of a territory war between two powerful ranchers, C.C. Tarpley and Eli Jessup. It's a tough trail for two green cowpunchers and the forks in that trail may lead the brothers in different directions.

Set in a lethal American professional football league seven centuries in the future, The MVP puts huge humans on the field with four alien races, creating a game that is faster, stronger, and deadlier than anything we know today. Star quarterback Quentin Barnes has spent three seasons putting together a hard-hitting, hard-fighting team that combines rookies, rejects, discarded free agents, and seasoned veterans from all five species. He has fought against racism and bound his team together through shared sacrifice, blood, tragedy, and victory.

In the 1870s, as the country recovered from the War Between the States, the expansion of railroads and the discovery of gold opened the American west to both civilization and savagery. Men and women on both sides of the law were drawn by the chance to make a fortune, and there was often a big difference between Law and Justice. Into this whirlwind rode Nathan Stone, a man whose trail of vengeance gave him a reputation for speed with a gun. He tracked and killed the seven men who murdered his family after the war.

Nathan Stone was a living legend in the West as a lawman, as an outlaw, as a gambler, as a wanderer through the wildest towns and terrain. He blazed a vengeance trail, giving no quarter and asking for none. Fearlessly, he played his cards and used his Colt .45s as best he could in games of chance, skill, and savagery, for stakes of life or death. Now he was riding on a course that would test his rawhide nerve and lightning draw against the likes of Doc Holliday, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, the fleeing James brothers, and the incredible John Wesley Hardin....

From a woman who lays claim to Chet's heart to a land ripe for grazing, the Arizona territory begins to open its arms to the dauntless determination of the Byrnes family. But with every success there comes a rising danger. There’s a sheriff who refuses to do his job. Trigger happy outlaws competing to kill them. And a mysterious rancher who’s hell bent on running a herd across Chet's land - and forcing the Texan into a war...

Aliens and humans alike play positions based on physiology, creating receivers that jump 25 feet into the air, linemen that bench-press 1,200 pounds, and linebackers that literally want to eat you. Organized crime runs every franchise, games are fixed, and rival players are assassinated. Follow the story of Quentin Barnes, a 19-year-old quarterback prodigy that has been raised all his life to hate, and kill, those aliens. Quentin must deal with his racism and learn to lead, or he'll wind up just another stat in the column marked "killed on the field."

King Malcom of the kingdom of Redhart is dead. The kingdom has been overrun by the forces of the Unreal. Statues live, corpses walk and nothing is as it seems. One of Malcom's three sons may assume the throne, but two will have to die. Jordan, the great actor, is hired to impersonate Prince Viktor, who is ill, but can't be seen in public as weak.