Showing results by narrator "Nick Podehl" in All Categories

John Lee has come far from his time as a struggling survivor of the System Apocalypse. But now, his actions have gone too far, and he has drawn the ire of the Galactic Council. Not only he and his friends, but Earth itself, are faced with the displeasure of the Council. With the whole galaxy turned against them, John will have to scramble for allies and make Faustian deals to save Earth. But against the might of multiple empires, will it be enough?

Richard Royal has a hard life. He lives in a corrupt, church-controlled dystopia, his family is soon broken, and the only joy to be had comes from the escapism of his full-immersion gaming. Introduced to a new and very illegal game, he finds himself in the body of a dragon, on a quest to find a dark and evil power to serve. But the game is more than it seems, and the dragon is more than a beast. Soon Rich's life is far, far more complicated than he ever expected. And the threats against him grow, both in-game and in realspace.

Bladerunner and a grievously wounded Charlotte Omandi have escaped from Drac’ath, while also having assured Earth’s survival, by gaining its admission into the Galactic Confederation. Omandi and her crew regroup with their Phadex allies on the hidden refuge planet, Rulia. While there, a long awaited message is unlocked and delivered by Rulia’s lost founder, Talus. It sets off a string of unlikely events that brings Charlotte into a shadowy world of assassins. Meanwhile, Linnea Sorenson travels to the legendary planet Aluria, where strange magics are rumored to exist.

The story of a student who went to extraordinary lengths - including living in a van on a campus parking lot - to complete his education without sacrificing his financial future. In a frank and self-deprecating voice, memoirist Ken Ilgunas writes about the existential terror of graduating from college with $32,000 in student debt. Inspired by Thoreau, Ilgunas set himself a mission: get out of debt as soon as humanly possible. To that end, he undertook an extraordinary three-year transcontinental journey.

In all the ways that matter, Mark is a normal kid. He's got a dog named Beau and a best friend, Jessie. He likes to take photos and write haiku poems in his notebook. He dreams of climbing a mountain one day. But in one important way, Mark is not like other kids at all. Mark is sick. The kind of sick that means hospitals. And treatments. The kind of sick some people never get better from.

Reluctant ruler of the settlements in British Columbia, John and his friends must now face even greater dangers as they seek to free other human settlements from Galactic control in North America. But John's enemies have begun to take notice of the burgeoning resistance and take steps to stop him and the human resistance including bringing in Master Class help. Can John navigate the treacherous waters of Galactic politics and human interests without compromising his beliefs or sacrificing his friends?

The raid on Sinskrill was a success, but the battle is only just beginning. William realizes the stakes at hand. He still has to find a way to prevent Lord Shet, the god of the mahavans, from returning to Earth from the faraway world of Seminal. If he doesn’t, Arylyn will be destroyed. But strange visions plague his mind: an albino monster who infects William with anger. It is Sapient Dormant, the Overward of the necrosed and tasked by Shet to recover a long lost talisman of power.

All vampires suck. Sterling just happens to be very good at it. Vainglorious vampire Sterling is forced to trade his big city hedonism for a trip to a sleepy mountain town, where mangled dead bodies have been discovered. Soon he’s entangled with snooty vampire nobles, territorial werewolves, and a society of law-enforcing sorcerers. The locals aren’t so bad, like the luscious young lady at the fruit shop, or the hunky electrician whose smile sends out sparks. But they’re distractions from the hunt for the mountain murderer.

First Thrills will include never-before-published stories by New York Times best-selling authors including Lee Child, Stephen Coonts, Jeffery Deaver, Heather Graham, Joan Johnston, John Lescroart, Alex Kava and Deb Carlin, Michael Palmer (with Daniel James Palmer), Karin Slaughter, and Wendi Corsi Staub.

The Chronicles of William Wilde continues! William survived Sinskrill, but he’s unable and unwilling to forget what he suffered there. Some hardships endure. And despite his wonderful, new life on the lush paradise of Arylyn, nightmares continue to haunt him. But closure will only come if he finds a means to reconcile himself to that terrible chapter of his life. Only then can he save his loved ones who remain on Sinskrill: the wise troll, Travail, and William’s teacher and one-time tormentor, Fiona. Both remain trapped under the boot-heel of the Servitor, Sinskrill’s terrifying ruler.

Finding his way back to Earth through a portal, John returns to a very changed world. The shackles of galactic control have bound Earth and humanity ever tighter to the system. Now, John has to find a way to free Earth from galactic control while battling stronger, more powerful enemies. And worst of all, he will need to indulge in politics. Good thing he's got a new class and new allies.

After failing to take down the United World Government, Alan is a wanted fugitive on Earth. With nowhere else to go, he leads the Black Rose guild into the Abyss Labyrinth. But hidden agendas thrive within the mercenary guild, and Alan soon discovers larger forces at play.

When driven by a goal, the impossible oft becomes doable, like slaughtering an entire coven of the Twice Cursed God’s adepts without mercy, or leading a legion of demons to storm the last bastion of the Cursed Princedom. But as the impossible hurdles keep on coming, even that drive may not be enough for Krian to escape Demon Grounds, make it to the higher plane, reunite with his sister and friend, and exact vengeance on his mortal enemy....

Life for Sterling the vampire is sweet in sleepy Silveropolis. Blood is in easy supply with college kids and cryptid hunters swarming the town for mountain madness, an annual search for an elusive creature known as Smallfoot. But another corpse is discovered in the woods. Are the Everetts back? Is it a ritual killing or a random murder? With the help of a brooding journalist and a jealous storm god, Sterling must investigate before it’s too late. The victim was staked through the heart, after all.

Meira will do anything to save her world. With Angra trying to break through her mental defenses, she desperately needs to learn to control her own magic - so when the leader of a mysterious Order from Paisly offers to teach her, Meira jumps at the chance. But the true solution to stopping the Decay lies in a labyrinth deep beneath the Season Kingdoms. To defeat Angra, Meira will have to enter the labyrinth, destroy the very magic she's learning to control - and make the biggest sacrifice of all.

No matter how Declan Idrys looks at his situation, he comes to the same conclusion every time: He is about to die at the hands of the first dark elf seen in 700 years. Fate, fortunately, is not so cruel, though, and after barely surviving this initial encounter with the er’endehn of Eserysh, Declan and his friends find themselves in a tentative truce with the war-loving elves. They share a common enemy, after all, and their mutual hate for the Endless Queen and her growing legions is enough for the two groups to set aside their mistrust for one another, if only for now.

Only a few short months have passed since Meghan and Shannon successfully retrieved Kellan from a brutal life in Claudius’ Rome. The Soulborn struggles with how Order, Chaos, and Creation have all left their mark on Kellan during his time as a gladiator. Neither Kellan nor Shannon is given much time to ponder these changes. Upon their return from Rome, Sentinel and Soulborn are caught up in the first act of the culminating struggle between Creation and Destruction.

Jack Rybicki is a high school senior who loves his girl, likes to party, and doesn't have much of a plan for his life. Then fate plucks him from obscurity and Jack, now renamed Jack Noble by his management team, becomes one of the most famous people on the planet. A teenager who likes to indulge himself with limitless resources is not the best recipe for a successful life. But, it's never too late in Middle Falls.

After revealing the deception spread by the Galactic Council and the hidden aspects of the System, John Lee and his friends flee the council building on Irvina. Just escaping the capital planet will tax them to their utmost. Evading the full force of the Galactic Council and their minions might be more than they can handle. While old allies deal with the new truths, friends fracture under the increasing pressure, and all the while, the System Quest hangs over John's head, unfinished. Their only hope - their only clue - lies in the Forbidden Zone.

It's been three months since the Winterians were freed and Spring's king, Angra, disappeared - thanks largely to the help of Cordell. Meira just wants her people to be safe. When Cordellan debt forces the Winterians to dig their mines for payment, they unearth something powerful and possibly dangerous: Primoria's lost chasm of magic. Theron sees this find as an opportunity - with this much magic, the world can finally stand against threats like Angra.