Showing results by narrator "Tim Campbell" in All Categories

The Age of Rifts began thirteen years ago when the first black sphere appeared on Earth, teleporting everyone within its radius to an alien realm where they fell prey to otherworldly creatures. Those who survived and returned home found white crystal shards grafted onto their chests. Imbued with energy, these Riftshards grant people supernatural abilities. Known as Rifters, they have become Earth's first line of defense against this unpredictable invasion, able to enter the spheres and fight the monsters and evolving with greater powers after every battle.

Jim Craig was a platoon commander with the Marines on Iwo Jima. This is his story, as told to his nephew John C. Shively. In a particularly vivid and exciting account of some of the most intense fighting of the Pacific War, the immediacy of the story is heightened by the detail that Shively's research has added to Craig's recollections. The result will pull you onto the beach, into the foxhole, and over Mount Suribachi with those who lived, fought, and died on Iwo Jima.

An enemy threatens the kingdoms of Issalia, bent on conquest with the desire to vanquish Chaos magic forever. The Empire has returned. Assassinations, subterfuge, and betrayal have fueled a rapid rise to power - a rise backed by fire-powered weapons. This enemy army swells with superior numbers and threatens the western kingdoms of Issalia. With King Brock gone, the domination of Issalia is merely a matter of time. The wardens, agents from a clandestine organization known as ICON, work in secret to stop this radical enemy.

For the six lucky scientists selected by the Destination Mars! corporation, a one-way ticket to Mars - in exchange for a lifetime of research - was an absolute no-brainer. The incredible opportunity was clearly worth even the most absurdly tedious screening process. Perhaps worth following the strange protocols in a nonsensical handbook written by an eccentric billionaire. Possibly even worth their constant surveillance, the video of which is carefully edited into a ratings-bonanza back on Earth. But it turns out that after a while, even scientists can get bored of science.

In a broken-down Middle American town, the disintegration of a struggling family—its ambitions and emotions worn thin—is laid bare through the cold eyes of its only son. While studying at the local community college to finish his degree, he works what his divorced parents deem to be menial jobs and tries to stay out of their way, keeping his pitiless observations about their lives to himself.

Noted as one of the first pieces of literature to feature vampirism effectively, The Vampyre follows the adventures of a wealthy young man named Aubrey who befriends a mysterious, suave nobleman named Lord Ruthven. As Aubrey begins to realize just how dangerous Lord Ruthven is, he discovers that his beloved sister is in the monster's sights.

Triumph. Tragedy. The empyreal. The infernal. Even the mundane, filtered through the fantastical. Superheroes are, appropriately enough, a sort of super-genre, encompassing all other story types. This YA anthology features thirteen short stories that creatively turn superhero tropes on their head, while still paying homage to the genre that has found fans for more than eight decades. And there will be no mistake—superheroes don’t have to just be generic handsome white dudes.

In the mountainous highlands of Arvon is the small but ancient community the Stoneholding, which has held out against the gathering forces of the evil Ferabek. Here by tradition, from earliest times, the High Bard has resided as guardian of the Sacred Fire, as well as the golden harp called the Talamadh. But in his search for the lost prince, Ferabek has attacked the Stoneholding with his Black Scorpion Dragoons and razed it to the ground. Wilum, the aged High Bard was forced to flee for his life with a ragged band of survivors, including Kalaquinn Wright, the wheelwrights's son.

Urgency forces ICON to accelerate the training of their new recruits, for a new Empire has captured the eastern kingdoms and seeks to conquer all of Issalia. If the Empire succeeds, magic users will be persecuted. The Wardens might be the only hope of stopping the enemy and preventing the end of Chaos. Everson is a gadgeteer, tasked with harnessing a magical power source. Leveraging his brilliance, he enhances existing machines and creates new inventions that astound his superiors. His next amazing discovery might save lives...or it could destroy them.

Kidnapped and held to ransom by Duke Leopold of Austria after the Third Crusade, Richard the Lion Heart, it is said, was found by his faithful troubadour Blondel de Neel. But how? And what trials did the faithful and long-suffering lyricist have to overcome to find his king? Gore Vidal paints a broad, colorful, and poignant picture of a man searching for his master; for the symbolic king who is the goal of man’s eternal quest; for the spiritual centre of his life.

Long ago, Ritakhou was a flourishing empire filled with light, life, and magic. Then came the Schism. Now the kingdom is called Rimbaku and is a pale shadow of its former self, a land stripped of its glory and its power. The only magic left comes from aitachi, the Relicant Touch - the ability to absorb skills and memories by consuming aishone: the bones of the dead.

When their paths first cross, Ben Livingston is a fledgling screenwriter on the brink of success; Tatum Connelly is a struggling actress tending bar in a New York City dive. They fall in love, they marry, they become parents, and they think only of the future. But as the years go by, Tatum's stardom rises while Ben's fades. In a marriage that bears the fallout of ambition and fame, Ben and Tatum are at a crossroads. Now all they can do is think back....

Born with the power to control minds, hypnotize others, and read thoughts, Ren Lewis is certain of one thing: God made a mistake. No one should be born with so much power. A monster awoke in him the same year he received his gifts. At 10 years old. A prepubescent boy with the ability to control others might merely abuse his powers, but Ren allowed it to corrupt him. And since he can have and do anything he wants, Ren should be happy.

Summer 1941. As America edges closer to joining the struggle against Hitler, reluctant operative Ryan Lemmon returns to Nazi Europe. Although his undercover assignment targets the Reich's covert operations in Paris, the rescue of close friends from a fascist internment camp takes top priority. Ryan finds in occupied France a cauldron of deception and unbridled cruelty.

Led by a mysterious diabolical menace, cunning dark elves hatch a deadly scheme that will destroy Nath Dragon and his kin. Forced to run or die, Nath is thrust from the sanctuary of Dragon Home and into the wild. With nobody to trust and nowhere to go, the young warrior sets out to uncover answers that his rivals will kill to protect.

It so happened that a big ship went down in a terrible storm. By chance and good fortune, Rat, Mouse, and Gerbil scrambled safely into an empty lifeboat. A cautionary fable about greed featuring a rat, a mouse, and a gerbil. A tale about overuse of resources by the powerful at the expense of the small and vulnerable.

Luckily for humanity, scientist Marie Curie applied her brilliant mind and indomitable spirit to expanding the frontiers of science, but what if she had instead drifted toward the darkness? At the cusp of between child- and adulthood, at the crossroads between science and superstition, a teen Marie Curie faces the factual and the fantastic in this fabulous collection of stories that inspire, delight, and ask the question: What if she had used her talents for diabolical purposes?

Bern, Switzerland—known for its narrow cobblestone streets, decorative fountains, and striking towers. Yet dark currents run through this charming medieval city and beyond, to the idyllic farmlands that surround it. When a rave on a hot summer night erupts into violent riots, a young man is found the next morning bludgeoned to death with a policeman's club. Seasoned detective Giuliana Linder is assigned to the case. That same day, an elderly organic farmer turns up dead and drenched with pesticide.

Ever since the first Rift appeared more than a dozen years ago, humanity has fought for its very existence. Destructive forces of alien nature, Rifts erupt as black spheres, encircling communities and transferring people to unearthly realms, where monstrous entities feed on them like cattle. Some humans, however, have found white crystal shards implanted in their chests, granting them physical and magical powers that help them survive the Rifts.

A mistaken identity. A forced marriage. A secret baby. When a pregnant woman escapes to the past, will she find love and passion in a vengeful Viking's arms?