Showing results by author "Michael J. Allen" in All Categories

Christians from a variety of denominations and traditions are in middle of an important conversation about the final destiny of the saved. Scholars such as N. T. Wright and J. Richard Middleton have pushed back against the traditional view of heaven, and now some Christians are pushing back against them for fear that talk about the earthiness of our final hope distracts our attention from Jesus. In the familiar Counterpoints format, Four Views on Heaven brings together a well-rounded discussion and highlights similarities and differences of the current views on heaven.

Alien fighters bombard Earth's ruins. Cannibalistic aerobics instructors hunt the wastes. The last free survivors struggle against starvation and enslavement. It's become a world where friendship costs too dearly and heroics verge on suicide. One young man can't resist either until a fed-up AI steals him off the planet. Alone with only a sarcastic, broken-down starship, he braves a whole new verse full of strange new enemies and tech he barely understands.

Suburban soccer moms and soy latte-sipping men have no clue what these blue-collar men and women have to put up with on a daily basis. From chupacabras chewing the cable lines during the big game to zombie infestations boiling out from beneath that derelict double-wide on the other side of the trailer park, the heroes of It Came From the Trailer Park: Volume Two have their work cut out for them! Hold their beer, Romero and Hitchcock. You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!

Join the last vestiges of Humanity and their alien allies (the reptilian Thrynn, the insectoid Velox, and the plant-based Elowan) as they attempt to carve out their own territory in a sector of space filled with wondrous opportunity and deadly threats. Brave explorers seek out new worlds to colonize while merchants cruise from starport to starport, their holds laden with exotic goods. Not all in this futuristic setting have noble intent. For every prospector and trader attempting to make a difference, a dozen pirates, smugglers, and mobsters engage in all manner of criminal enterprise.

Magic has been franchised. Magical conveniences are sold everywhere like designer coffee. Everyday life is filled with technical and magical wonders. Only, the magic is murdering people. Thoth Corp's hot new spell is turning people into ravening monsters. Their only hope to quietly rectify the situation before the epidemic spreads is the spell architect they framed and sent to prison. El's response to his former partners wasn't polite. Homeless, forbidden to use government-regulated magic, and barely surviving out of dumpsters, Eli struggles to rebuild his life.

Two weeks of freedom hasn’t been enough for Eli to rebuild his life. While he races to prepare for looming winter, a killer’s crusade to exterminate Seufert Fells’s homeless drives a knife into the city’s criminal elite. Forced to hunt a killer disguised by magic, Eli’s world becomes a house of mirrors. Friends become enemies. Deceptions abound, and the magic that saved Eli threatens to consume him. With the serial killer targeting everything he loves, even new dumpstermancer spells might not be enough.

In the dark ages, women were property and nobles took whatever they wanted. When a peasant girl is forced to travel through a dark and foggy night filled with ill omens, fortune and misfortune ambush her on the road home. Beneath the glare of the red star, she discovers a rare treasure. Pursued by a mad lord and stalked by a mysterious stranger, her whole world is turned upside down. When everything she loves comes under attack, she must choose between running away and revealing a gift that could alter the kingdom forever....

You wanted the jolly fat man to bring Yuletide joy, but the season has gifted you with a heart breaker and a life taker—Badass Santa. Grab your eggnog and camouflage candy canes, strap on your bulletproof holiday stockings, and prepare for thrills and kills.