Showing results by narrator "James Patrick Cronin" in All Categories

Only I have no idea who Sefu is, much less how to find him or her. And my magic’s not talking. But with demons on the hunt, and fiendish whispers of Sefu being some sort of ultimate weapon, failure could spell apocalypse. One of those demons happens to be an enemy I cast into the Pits, a former vampire lord whose twisted mind drips vengeance. Worse, he knows about my relationship with Detective Vega and her son. Meaning I have much more than Sefu to protect.

Waiter to the Rich and Shameless is not just a peek into the secretive inner workings of a legendary five-star restaurant; it is not just a celebrity tell-all or a scathing corporate analysis. It is a top-tier waiter's personal coming-of-age story, an intimate look into the complicated challenges of serving in the country's most elite, Hollywood-centric dining room while fighting to maintain a sense of self and purpose.

Clara and Henrik are married and living in a beautiful inherited villa in Oslo. She is a single-mindedly ambitious child-rights activist at the Ministry of Justice. Having grown up in rural Western Norway, she is also an Oslo outsider. Henrik is a doctor from a well-to-do Oslo family. Though their marriage is under serious strain, they share a devotion to their twin sons and their work. Then a Pakistani Norwegian child is admitted to Henrik’s hospital and dies in his care. The boy had clearly been the victim of child abuse. Soon after, a related murder rocks the city.

As two worlds reel from a colossal final pulse that cuts off all contact between them, two unimaginable discoveries raise the stakes even further. In a secret American facility, a power hidden from society for a decade is about to break free. And something much bigger, buried deep beneath the Scottish Highlands for thousands of years, is about to rise up.

Richard doesn’t have a past. For him, there is only the present: a new marriage to Tamara, a first chance at fatherhood to her son, Elijah, and a quiet but pleasant life as an art teacher at Elijah’s elementary school in Danvers, Virginia. Then the body of a rabbit, ritualistically murdered, appears on the school grounds with a birthday card for Richard tucked beneath it. Richard doesn’t have a birthday - but Sean does.... Sean is a five-year-old boy who has just moved to Greenfield, Virginia, with his mother.

Steven Whipp, a normal, poor college student, is kissed and shot on the night of his 20th birthday. He realizes three things: He’s bulletproof; he’s a dragon; and everything he’s ever wanted is within his reach. But the attempts on his life are just the beginning of his troubles. Steven is a Dragonsoul - a magical race of beings who have thrived, hidden from the eyes of humans, in control of the world. And not just any Dragonsoul but the last in a long line of Arch-Sorcerers, thought long dead.

When I catch a fire druid lurking around the latest victim, the deaths don’t seem so innocent. Add a kidnapping case involving Manhattan’s most hallowed cathedral, and I’m seeing dangerous parallels to my first major outing as a wizard. The one that landed me face-to-face with a demon lord.

Terribly wounded during the battle for Hermes, Ryan Hendrix was repaired with cybernetics, transformed into a weapon by Fleet Intelligence...and covertly dropped onto the enemy-occupied colony at Aphrodite to sabotage the enemy and build up a civilian resistance. While Ryan fights the real battle behind enemy lines, Travis Miller and Jessica Leer struggle with politics...and their new commands.

In Polar City - the capital of Hagar, one of the planets in the forlorn Star Republic - a human-dominated entity is caught in the power politics between the enormous Interstellar Confederation and the Coreward Alliance. The leaders of these entities keep their alien eyes on the Republic in the hopes of one day adding its territory to theirs. When an alien member of the Confederation is found murdered in Hagar's public square, the situation turns dangerous fast.

Joe Mandel is a perfectly ordinary guy from a perfectly ordinary town - a college student and community volunteer who dreams of one day publishing a novel. When a series of strange intuitions leads him to a crime in progress, Joe jumps headlong into danger without hesitation. In the aftermath, he wonders about the uncanny impulse that suddenly swept over him. Until new friend Portia Montclair, the strangely wise daughter of the local police chief, explains to him what sent him ricocheting around town like a crazy pinball.

Savid DelaCrotia, leader of Princess Brona’s Shadows, finds himself facing multiple threats to the Kingdom of Montshire. The return of his horrifically changed friend and battle buddy, Ash Newberry, is almost the least of his worries as a traitor is revealed close to home just as a conspiracy on Montshire’s valuable coastline leads him far from Haven. Once again Savid finds himself a vulnerable game piece in the deadly politics of the king’s court at the worst possible time.

All Cam Alvarez has known is war. For three years, he’s fought the marauding alien Tahni on one God-forsaken planet after another, leading a squad of armored Drop Troopers. But the war is about to change. Cam is an officer now, fresh out of OCS and taking charge of his old platoon, and things have reached a tipping point. Instead of fighting a desperate holding action against the enemy, the Commonwealth is finally ready to take back the human colonies the Tahni seized early in the war. To free the people the enemy have kept as human shields.

The greatest philosopher who ever lived. A dissolute tyrant in need of an education. What could possibly go wrong? Plato was the most brilliant thinker of his age. Head of the Academy in Athens, friend of the best minds of his generation, his philosophy was famous across the Greek world. But would he ever get the chance to try his ideas out?

To protect Vega and her son from the demon-vampire Arnaud, I’ve secured spots for them in a powerful safe house. The price? Pledging my services to the Upholders - a group searching for stolen loved ones. My new teammates are a young minister, a snarky half-fae, a hulking mermaid, and a druid with major control issues. Bonded by said druid’s magic, I couldn’t wriggle out of this deal if I were coated in wizard’s oil. Now, we’re hunting demons in a past version of New York City that’s on the bad side of strange.

Grimshaw Griswald Grimsby may have one case under his belt, but he’s still a novice Auditor in Boston’s Department of Unorthodox Affairs. And he’s already made mistakes. Desperate to repair his fraying friendships, he doesn’t ask too many questions when a mysterious patron offers him the chance to join a heist of an otherworldly vault—and in the process find answers that could make things right.

Hausos is a peaceful farming colony. Once controlled by the Tahni, it's now settled by a collection of homeless refugees and war veterans, among them Cam and Vicky. Their life is pleasantly boring, quiet enough for demons from the war to nag at the corners of Cam’s mind on lonely nights. He fights the demons back with willpower and alcohol, determined to make this place home. But the peace doesn’t last.

Keenan has lived all over the world but nowhere quite as strange as Centerlight Island, which is split between the US and Canada. The only thing weirder than Centerlight itself is his neighbor Zarabeth, a.k.a. ZeeBee. ZeeBee is obsessed with the island’s history as a Prohibition-era smuggling route. She’s also convinced that her beloved dog, Barney, was murdered - something Keenan finds pretty hard to believe. Just about everyone on Centerlight is a suspect, because everyone hated Barney, a huge dog - part mastiff, part rottweiler - notorious for terrorizing the community.

From street criminal to war hero. From outcast to Marine officer. The journey has been a long one, but now it’s reaching the end. Cam Alvarez leads his platoon of Drop-Troopers into the Tahni Imperium, into the final days of the war and the bloodiest battles yet. The Tahni will throw everything they have into the defense of their core worlds, and when that includes using their own civilians as shields, Lt. Cam Alvarez will have to decide whether to follow orders and fire on civilians or follow his conscience and risk his caree...

It’s the 22nd century. The galaxy has opened up to humanity as a hyperactive beehive of stargates and new technologies, and we suddenly find ourselves in a vast playground of different races, environments, and cultures. There’s just one catch: We are pretty much at the bottom of the food chain.

When millionaire industrialist and scientist Tony Stark puts on his gleaming high-tech armor, he becomes Iron Man! When Stark is kidnapped, his corporation must turn to another armored hero, and Stark's best friend, War Machine, to fulfill the ransom. And War Machine won't just take orders from kidnappers... Meanwhile, Stark is trapped in a cell with no hope of escape, forced to create a new suit of armor for his captor. Stark must use his genius to navigate a cyber-space maze, defeat a virtual-reality trap, and retrieve his own Iron Man armor.