Showing results by narrator "Matthew James" in All Categories

The elves come for two things: war and wives. In both cases, they come for death. Three-thousand years ago, humans were hunted by powerful races with wild magic until the treaty was formed. Now, for centuries, the elves have taken a young woman from Luella's village to be their Human Queen. To be chosen is seen as a mark of death by the townsfolk. A mark nineteen-year-old Luella is grateful to have escaped as a girl. Instead, she's dedicated her life to studying herbology and becoming the town's only healer. That is, until the Elf King unexpectedly arrives... for her.

A world on the precipice of the apocalypse. A secret forged in the flames of war. A chance to start over. For John Sutton, only one of those three things matters. Retired from a decade of brutal war, he wants nothing more than a quiet pastoral life while he does his best to stem the steady increase of his Doom Points before they hit 100, signaling the start of the end. He’s been given a small farm on the outskirts of the empire as a thanks for his service, but no matter how far he travels, it's impossible to escape the war's devastating effects on the world.

When the world of Quadravidia comes under attack by the insidious tau, only one man can defeat the aliens and save the planet in the Emperor's name – the legendary Hero of the Imperium, Commissar Ciaphas Cain. When the aliens call for a ceasefire, Cain expects the worst, and his fears are answered in the form of the dread menace of the tyranids. As a hive fleet approaches Quadravidia, Cain must try to forge an alliance between the Imperium and the t'au – but can he truly trust the inscrutable xenos?

Kieran is here for revenge. He's here to kill the most powerful man in Magical San Francisco—his father. He'll destroy anything in his way. And I've managed to catch his eye. I live in the shadows for a reason, split between the worlds of the magical and the mundane. I'm a punching bag for both societies, but with the magic of Hades, it's the only way to stay alive. To stay free. If the powers that be knew what I was, they'd slap me in a cage and make me their weapon.

It is finished... Sweat dripping off her brow as the threads started long ago start to fuse together. It’s time to make plans, hide the truth, and get the HELL off her throne. But how to accomplish creating a federation when those coming together want to gut her empire? Anyone who understands the Queen Bitch knows she won't accept that condition without a fight. However, to accomplish meeting her love again in a system far away, she will accomplish the impossible. Her eyes start to glow red. No one will stop her from getting back to Michael.

Junior year has come for the remaining students of Melbrook Hall, and it promises to be the most difficult one yet. With one of their own gone and another under serious investigation, none of the former Powereds knows how many days remain for them in the Hero Certification Program. The time they do have will be filled with more trials and classes, honing their skills as they work toward the increasingly difficult goal of becoming Heroes.

Hallik has been training his whole life to become a Grimnir, a magic-wielder who can aid in keeping their island safe from the monster hordes outside the shield protecting them. Hundreds of years ago, Grimnirs created a shield around their island. Hallik has waited his whole life to become one of the elite Grimnir who can keep their enemies at bay. But when monsters start showing up on the island, it appears they aren’t as safe as they thought.

Charlotte Sauvin has always seen the world differently. At home on 33 Place Brugmann, in the heart of Brussels, her father and her closest friends and neighbours – the Raphaëls from the fourth floor, and Masha from the fifth – have ensured her secret is safe. But when the Nazis invade Belgium, and Masha and the Raphaëls disappear, Charlotte must navigate her new world alone.

The Leath are fighting for their Gods, but Bethany Anne is fighting for freedom. Then, the Leath make a very fatal mistake. On another planet, the Leath dishonor the Etheric Empire's warriors and Bethany Anne unleashes her new avatar and there will be hell to pay.

Martin Christmas is a local government worker in the Sanitation department, whose days are shaped by endless recycling initiatives and green league tables, and whose nights are shadowed by his failed relationships and curmudgeonly interior monologues. While Martin is trying to cultivate his inner peace, things keep getting in his way.

Captured and sold to the Kurian-allied Maynes Conglomerate to work as a slave in the coal mines of Appalachia, Ahn-Kha is angered and appalled by the dangerous working conditions and the brutal treatment inflicted upon his fellow miners. When a protest against shortages is deliberately and bloodily suppressed, Ahn-Kha sets himself against the ruling Maynes family and sets out on a trail of vengeance through the Coal Country.

Greed and Fear, two emotions that rule both individuals...and Countries. Now, China has decided that they will do whatever it takes to acquire TQB technology. There was a glaring flaw in their plan. When they kill an unborn little baby in a raid, the Queen Bitch is Released. Now, China has two options...Kill Bethany Anne, or Sue For Peace.

Skies darken. Sirens wail. Buildings tremble with each distant boom. You grasp your loved ones close to you. Any second could be your last. Howls from the Wreckage will push you to the edge of imminent disaster—and drown you in the heartbreak of its fallout.

A queen of punk before her time. A duo on the brink of stardom. A night that will define their story for ever. Opal is a fiercely independent young woman pushing against the grain in her style and attitude, a Black punk artist before her time. Despite her unconventional looks, Opal believes she can be a star. So when the aspiring British singer/songwriter Neville Charles discovers her one night, she takes him up on his offer to make rock music together.

This final play from the pen of Oscar Wilde is a stylish send-up of Victorian courtship and manners, complete with assumed names, mistaken lovers, and a lost handbag. Jack and Algernon are best friends, both wooing ladies who think their names are Ernest, "that name which inspires absolute confidence." Wilde’s effervescent wit, scathing social satire, and high farce make this one of the most cherished plays in the English language.

The Moonstone, a priceless yellow diamond, is looted from an Indian temple and maliciously bequeathed to Rachel Verinder. On her 18th birthday, her friend and suitor Franklin Blake brings the gift to her. That very night, it is stolen again. No one is above suspicion, as the idiosyncratic Sergeant Cuff and the Franklin piece together a puzzling series of events as mystifying as an opium dream and as deceptive as the nearby Shivering Sand.

A dark tale of hubris, lust, and self-destruction… as told by a man who famously fell prey to those same impulses in his own life. Oscar Wilde wrote his original interpretation of the Biblical story of Salomé in French, and the play was so controversial that no theatre in England would produce it for nearly four decades. Includes a conversation with director Michael Hackett and Wilde scholar David Rodes. An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast production.

Starring James Marsters, this classic comedy of manners from 1773 is still widely performed and studied. Love, lies, and dysfunctional families. Sound like your last family gathering? Try this one on for laughs. Two randy young gents, Charles and George, set out to woo the alluring and upper-crust Kate and Constance. But inexperienced Charles is shy and clumsy around upper-class ladies, so it’s the barmaid who catches his eye. But is she really who she seems?

The final year at Lander has finally arrived for the Melbrook students and their peers, and with it comes a whole new set of challenges. Still reeling from the events of their junior year, the remaining students will have to push past their pain—and so much more—if they hope to be one of the ten to claim the title of Hero upon graduation. Constant tests and trials await the senior students. Beyond simulated missions and classes, they’ll also have to buckle down to learn about agents, prospective teams, internships, and other seemingly endless elements of being a Hero.

It’s March 1918, and World War I is raging in Europe. In the trenches in northern France, a group of British officers, led by the war-weary Captain Stanhope, ready themselves for a major German attack while facing their worst fears. R.C. Sherriff drew on his own experiences in World War One to create the play, which premiered in 1928 and is now considered one of the preeminent works about the horrors of war.