Showing results by narrator "Ryan Burke" in All Categories

An empire entombed under ash. Four centuries ago, the Stewards decreed that the Elentian Imperium must be punished. For a year and a day, ash rained from the sky forming what is now known as the Ashlands. As a new member of the Temple of Celeste, you are now privy to the truth. Our diviners have scried the infamous lich's final moments. If you dare witness the memory, you will find it transcribed within. The Crown of Command is a short novella set in the Shattered Gods universe.

The Void Wraith are not yet ready to begin their war against the Milky Way. Experiments must be conducted. DNA mapped. Slaves created. They move cautiously, their agents infiltrating the governments of every major race. But every invasion leaves clues - clues that one OFI officer has stumbled across. Stations are disappearing. Whole populations gone seemingly overnight. Commander Nolan convinces the Office of Fleet Intelligence to dispatch him to investigate. He discovers something far more sinister and far reaching than he imagined.

Jack Bennet has done the impossible: collected on a bounty in the notorious Pirate Worlds. He’s earned himself a nice boost to his reputation, a hefty payday...and a cult of enemies hell-bent on revenge. Reaching out to a friend at Fleet Intelligence lands Jack an offer he can’t refuse, but to collect, he’ll have to take the plunge back into the viper’s nest.

ll things must end. Welcome to the final Deathless novel. The builder Yoggoth has arrived in our Solar System, but his goal is not to conquer our world. He has locked the sun in a Yoggothian Sphere designed to siphon our star of all power. Earth is hurled into darkness, denied the lifegiving heat of our sun, even as Yoggoth's fleets move upon our world. Our heroes, led by Blair, Liz, and Isis, must deal with the new winter before they can even hope to oppose them.

The Unliving are implacable. Unreasonable. No one knows what they want, beyond souls, and bone for their war machines and ships. Now they've set their sights on the Inurans, and hey, I couldn't wish an army of necromancers on a better target. There's just one problem. I'm trapped on the Inuran Trade Moon, and the necromancers are attacking. Even if I can get the minister back to her ship we'll still need to find a way to fight their flagship. That's going to be tough to do without enough magic to power the Word of Xal.

Dragons with assault cannons? How is that fair? I saved Highspire and the academy from the dissolution of our world. Seventeen-thousand students survived, and I want to keep it that way. The ship is breaking down. Life support needs repairs, and we have almost no food. We need money badly. That means scavenging tech that we can sell to the same people who blew up our planet. Fortunately I'm the best Relic Hunter in the business...though to be fair all the rest died when my world tumbled into the sun. There are six other Great Ships out there, and who knows what we'll find inside?

Contains the complete Void Wraith Origins trilogy: Dryker's Folly, Book One; Dryker's Stand, Book Two; and Dryker's Fall, Book Three.

Now, shattered and stuck behind enemy lines, the remnants of Alpha Company struggle to survive. Between them and escape stand three Planetstriders, thousand-meter monstrosities capable of destroying an orbiting capital ship. In order to survive, they must disable these titanic war machines, an impossible task made even more difficult by the discovery of a terrible secret - one that must reach fleet command, no matter the cost.

Were the Egyptian gods fanciful imaginings of primitive people or something more? Some believe they once walked the Earth as mortals, that they warred and loved just as any of their worshippers. This is their story--the tale of how Isis gained the power of shaping. How mighty Osiris died and lived again. How they discovered the fabled First Ark, a structure older than man. It is the tale of us all, the story that shaped our race from cave dwellers into the people we are today.

They sent me into the blasted lands to die. I refused. I lived. And now...I return to the empire that discarded me. A god, rich with worship. I don't know what has become of Hasra, or the war with the Fomori. I don't know where Li is, or if her homeland is still dealing with the wyrm Khonsu. My sister and mother were freed—the reward for my blood price— but I have no idea what has become of them. It is time to go home. Time to right old wrongs, and to find the legacy left behind by my former incarnation. Three tombs remain. Once I am certain my family is safe I will seek them.

A man-made plague has ravaged humanity, the military is in shambles, and chaos reigns over the world. Hope seems nothing more than a dream. Captain Dominic Holland is determined to stop the inevitable. His daughters are finally safe, and his crew has found new ways to combat the Skulls. He leads the Hunters on a mission to recover vital research that may hold the key to stopping the biological agent responsible for this apocalyptic new world. Can the Hunters salvage what remains of humanity? Or is it already too late?

Attorney Cameron Thorne is thrust into a bloody tug-of-war involving secret societies, treasure hunters, and keepers of the secrets of the Jesus bloodline. Joined by Amanda, an enchanting British researcher with secrets of her own, Cam races around New England with only two choices - unravel the 600-year-old mysteries encoded in the ancient artifacts, or die trying.

Red Sands is the story of Strike Team 3, a combined arms unit consisting of mechanized infantry Strykers, and Tanks. Natanz is a hardened Fuel Enrichment Plant, covering sixty-two square miles located twenty-six feet underground and protected by a concrete wall that's eight feet thick. And on top of that, the Americans will have to overcome a mechanized security force at third larger than their force.

Governments across the globe have failed to stop the spread of the Oni Agent. The biological weapon continues to wreak havoc. Those that are infected become abominations known as Skulls, a fate worse than death. Captain Dominic Holland and Meredith Webb have made it to Fort Detrick. The Army base was once a bastion for America's biodefense. Now, swarms of hungry Skulls prowl outside the walls.

We've discovered Terra, but the cost is bitter. All that remains is the Vagrant Fleet, carrying the refugees from every world. Earth is our only hope, but their leaders don't even believe in magic. We also have to convince the Earth flight protecting them that we're not hostiles. Did I mention the dread fleet is right behind us led by a dark god who seems to have a real hate-boner for Xal'Aran? If we're going to win, then we must harness the most powerful Catalyst in existence, the Eye of Om.

In Red River, the seventh volume of the Winds of War series, WIII continues to rage as Lieutenant Commander Leo Baxter and his Riverines battle Axis forces in the Gulf of Oman, the Gulf of Aden, and finally—on the Niger River in Africa. Nigeria's rightful leader has been kidnapped by the Black Axe arm of the Neo Black Movement, and is being held for ransom.

Wonderbook has become the definitive guide to writing science fiction and fantasy by offering an accessible, example-rich approach that emphasizes the importance of playfulness as well as pragmatism. The book features sidebars and essays from some of the biggest names working in the field today, including George R. R. Martin, Lev Grossman, Neil Gaiman, Michael Moorcock, and Karen Joy Fowler. For the fifth anniversary of the original publication, Jeff VanderMeer has added writing exercises, creating the ultimate volume of inspiring advice.

War between empires is now inevitable, but Dillon and Sherisza have never accepted being pawns of fate. With the technology at their disposal, they're called upon to do whatever they can to prevent the war or, at least, make sure the Kwaagi and the other powers of the known galaxy emerge victoriously. If they push the bounds of what their ship can do, they may be able to do more than that. Are the theories of time travel correct, or can history be altered to save the future? And how just how far will Sherisza go to protect her people, her love, and her cubs?

A lot has changed for Dillon Mackey in just a few months in space. Solving the mystery of who wiped out his mentor's people has closed one chapter, but if anything, life has become more complicated on that front. An attack upon their Kwaagi friends adds a new wrinkle to things, but that's hardly the worst of it as a mysterious black ship begins pursuing Dillon and Sherisza across space-time to issue a deadly warning. What lies beyond the veil of space-time, and what new dangers will it bring into their lives as they try to save her species?

It's been six years since a terrifying breed of seemingly unkillable creatures emerged from the darkness to topple the unprepared governments of the world, in the process knocking mankind down the food chain. Survivors called it The Purge. A few brave souls rose from the ashes of the old world to fight back, often against overwhelming odds. Led by indomitable heroes, they risked everything to achieve a final, stunning victory over the supernatural "ghouls" in The Battle of Houston. Five years later, what remains of the ghouls have fled back into the shadows.