Showing results by narrator "Gareth Richards" in All Categories

Who are you when you dream? Rick isn't sure anymore.... Is he Rick, living in the here and now? Working a boring job, married to Cath. Or is he Dan, living 600 years and half a galaxy away? Exploring an alien planet with Vanessa by his side. Two worlds, one man. While he's awake in one place, he's asleep in the other. Simple enough, until people from Dan's world start turning up in Rick's life. Confusing? But then it gets worse. Dan is accused of a crime he didn't commit. Ricks wife leaves him and both realities are falling apart. Which life is real? Will either go back to how it was?

Spicy the goblin is the first creature Fath the dragon has trusted in generations. Now the dragon’s apprentice, Spicy has a chance to learn lore hidden away from human and goblin-kind alike. But Spicy has a dilemma. Five children were kidnapped from his village, along with his best friend Rime. Saving them means bringing the dragon and Hog, the ever-hungry troll, with him on an unplanned detour. His journey will lead them into lands where few of his kind have ever gone.

We decided upon the shopping list theme for this particular volume of horror short stories as an antithesis to those wildly successful writers (they know who they are) of whom it is often said "we would read their shopping list if they published it!" Well, we have given 21 of the hottest new horror authors in the independent scene the unique opportunity to have their own shopping lists listened to by you - along with their most terrifying tales, of course!

After his return from Aeris with the gem of air, Pettic receives a letter from the king. He is to see Torren and rekindle their relationship. Soon after, Torren and Pettic meet a strange man and their lives change drastically, as they're dragged into a mystery surrounding the red dragon Monarlisk and his former mate. But will Pettic's magic be enough to help them finish their quest in time - and in the end, will the rightful king be crowned?

A city of rogues. A seedy bar. A thief who stole the wrong prize. When Isabel sought refuge in the Dragon and Rose with a jeweled watch in hand, Digger’s biggest mistake was hiding her. After all, the treasure in her possession looked like an easy score. But the gang of mercenaries on her heels want it for themselves. Soon assassins and lawmen join the pursuit and begin scouring the city in their efforts to capture the thief. Isabel and Digger must race to discover who the watch really belongs to - and why they’re willing to kill anyone in their way to get it back.

Humans have countless dirty tricks up their sleeves. It’s a good thing Spicy the goblin is a fast learner. He’ll need every wile and skill to survive what’s coming. Two pirate crews know about the dragon Fath’s presence in the secluded delta village, and both will go to any length to recover the bomb recipe Alma and Blades stole. Spicy will have to race to be the first to catch the thieves, all while deciding who among the gangs of criminals he can trust. His journey will take him deeper into the heart of the world of humanity.

In the 1840s, the Donnelly family immigrates from Ireland to the British province of Canada. Almost immediately problems develop as the patriarch of the family is sent to the Kingston Penitentiary for manslaughter, leaving his wife to raise their eight children on her own. The children are raised in an incredibly violent community and cultivate a devoted loyalty to their mother and siblings, which often leads to problems with the law and those outside of the family.

London. 1854. For years, Fern Hall has lived in an orphanage in the East End of London. It’s a brutal life of endless chores and punishments for even the smallest infractions. She’s able to escape it for a time when she’s hired out as a temporary maid to the wealthy Hawk family, but a servant’s lot is little better. Gerard Hawk, the second son of the prosperous merchant, is drawn to Fern from their very first meeting when she comes to work for his parents.

What image does Venus draw to your mind? A great planetary body of deadly gases neighboring Earth, existing as its own world, mysterious and alluring? Or an image of a more fantastical nature, such as the jungles described by Edgar Rice Burroughs? Or do you think, perhaps, of a goddess who holds power and beauty beyond measure, whose name, throughout the ages, has been synonymous with love? Within this book, you will find tales of wonder, some of space, some of the heart, some that follow in the footsteps of the goddess herself.

Mars. The Red Planet. Bringer of war, the God of war itself. The planet that gave birth to the modern era of science fiction when H.G. Wells gazed upon the red light in the night sky and envisioned an army gathering upon its plains to invade our world. These are the stories of Mars. Stories of adventure, conflict, and war.

It wanders through space in fiery temperatures that make Hades look like a vacation spot by comparison. The first planet in our Solar System that races around the Sun once every 88 days. Named after the Roman god of commerce, eloquence, messages, travelers, boundaries, luck, trickery and thieves, he also serves as the guide of souls to the underworld. These, then, are the tales of Mercury.

In a land plagued by war, King Dorvin and Queen Shiara are expecting their first child. They are excited until the good fairies tell of a prophecy – that their daughter is the key to winning the war against the Shadow tribes. To protect her, mages of the kingdom create a tower to keep her and her guardian hidden until her 18th birthday.

With her son's life in the balance, Catherine Fry is forced to locate and steal the priceless Ruby Cross of the Knights Templar. She knows who has it—it's just a matter of coercing Thomas Glanville, the handsome and incredibly stubborn captain of the ship she's captured, into telling her the exact location. Captain Thomas Glanville has the cross and he'll be damned if he's going to hand it over now that he finally has the means to buy a ship of his own. He's at the mercy of a fiery woman who will stop at nothing to achieve her goal. But Catherine has no idea who she's dealing with.

Ivy Harris is twice unwanted by the time she's two years old. Thrown away both by her parents and her grandmother, she has no choice except to live with her aunt, Bertha. As brilliant, kind, and loving as Bertha is, she's also a crook and a thief - and her ways get them both into trouble more often than not. When Bertha dies, Ivy’s whole world ends - until she meets charismatic, compassionate, golden-haired George, the leader of a gang of street children living in an abandoned warehouse. Despite the best efforts of jealous Jane, Ivy falls for George.

To date, more than a million insect species have been described, with probably at least another 5-8 million species waiting in the wings for a name. Insects are a fascinatingly diverse and beautiful spectrum of animals. They range in size from the tiny parasitic wasp, measuring a mere 139µm, to the aptly named Titan beetle, which can reach lengths of up to 17cm. They can be found on all continents of the world, from the Sahara Desert to the frozen wastes of Antarctica. While no insects live beneath the waves, the intrepid sea skaters skim the surface of some of the world's oceans.

Cara Cooper’s third Christmas starts out as the best she’s ever known. As the daughter of a kitchen maid, she’s just old enough to be really excited. When a kind stranger appears and takes Cara to a beautiful house filled with toys and Christmas treats of every description, she is thrilled. Little does the toddler know that the kind stranger, Edna, has an ulterior motive. Now kidnapped, Cara’s life is set on a collision course with tragedy.

Christine is a powerful sorceress with a one desire only: to leave her sheltered village and find the brother who went missing years ago. When she embarks on her epic journey, she finds instead a group of mysterious, handsome men who claim to be dragon shifters. Unraveling the secrets of her and her brother’s pasts destroys the tenuous trust she’s formed with these royal brothers, and it puts her life in danger. Can Christine and the dragons of Chartreuse Castle remedy their historic wounds, and will they let her claim them all?

Artists in every era and medium have depicted Neptune as a tempestuous god with ever-changing moods, so it’s fitting that his anthology follows suit. In these sections, you’ll find stories by turns heroic, comic, pensive, absurd, uplifting, and ambiguous. They also reflect different conceptions of what it means to be “related to Neptune”, as this volume was intended to be. Some anchor themselves in mythology, while others focus on the planet, and still others are weird amalgams of Neptunian themes.

Hidden deep within the sewers of our world roosts a vile creature known only as the Dark Goblin. He holds in his possession the Spellmaster’s Book, a text with the power to make him practically immortal. He fears no one and turns all those who dare cross him into brainless goblins who obey his every command.

King Alfred never achieved his dream of uniting the disparate Anglo-Saxon kingdoms into one Perfecta Saxonia. The man destined to fulfill Alfred's dream is his grandson, Athelstan, as the spark of unity begins in the Saxon kingdom of Wessex. Abandoned by his father and raised by his uncle, young Athelstan faces numerous adversities on his way to becoming a mighty warrior and diplomat. But can he overcome the odds to transform England from an insignificant island off the Western European mainland, into the leading centre of 10th-century diplomacy and learning?