Showing results by narrator "Neil Hellegers" in All Categories

Say hello to the new and improved Clyde Hatchett...who's only a level-four nothing. He's on a (seemingly never-ending) quest to get back to his life in Glaton. And now, all that stands in his way are the Empire-hating Carchedonians, a death cult, and a traitorous party member. Oh, and a mythical city that very probably doesn't exist.

Dion Fortune was one of the first to bring this "secret tradition" to a wider audience with her clear and comprehensive exploration of the Qabalah tradition. The Mystical Qabalah remains a classic in its clarity, linking the broad elements of Jewish traditional thought - probably going back to the Babylonian captivity and beyond - with both Eastern and Western philosophy and later Christian insights.

Dying the first time sucked. Matt's trying to avoid a repeat performance. Having to save the world after being reincarnated is rather enjoyable. In a soul-crushing responsibility kind of way. For Matt, joining Earth's last line of defense in a magical realm might just be what he was re-born for.

Will refused to admit to the HR lady at Radical Interactive that he'd never played their debut virtual reality MMORPG The Realm. With the company's failed attempt at entering the gaming industry, they switched their sights to focus on smaller scale educational programs. Being a beta tester for Radical Interactive was not the dream job that Will had envisioned, but he had hoped it would get his foot in the door to one day becoming a graphic designer for the company. He never realized that he was literally signing his life away.

The Tradesmen are no more. With the help of his allies, Charles finally managed to oust the nefarious guild and free Liora of its iron grip. Yet, the destruction of the Tradesmen had an unexpected effect. The vast territory they were controlling is now up for grabs, triggering a race for all Champions to claim as much land as possible. And in that rush, new dangers and enemies arise. 

It's a warm and muggy Saturday night in August of 1942. The Nazis are liquidating the ghetto of Shedlitz, an industrial town east of Warsaw, Poland. Zippa, a 27-year-old Jewish woman, finds temporary shelter in a small attic, together with her baby daughter and 100 frightened Jews. When the Nazi noose is tightened around her neck, Zippa asks her husband Jacob, a Jewish policeman in the ghetto, to save their little girl from certain death. The young father manages to smuggle his wife and daughter to the gentile part of town.

Clyde Hatchett hadn't planned on running away to become a pirate - that's just what happened. Now he's on a seaside mission far from Glaton, desperate to find the only mage capable of freeing Clyde from the corpse-king taking over his body. Get ready for a nonstop joyride full of secrets, betrayal, loot - and mermaids.

Azure and the gang discover the Keeper's identity and begin their ultimate quest of collecting all the Stones of Blessing. There will be more than a few hiccups along the way, though, literal ones. A drinking quest has Azure and the gang testing their mettle against a bunch of ale-swilling dwarves.

Betrayed by those closest to him, Viktor's soul couldn't move on for decades. Pitied by one of the Gods, he was given the chance to participate in the next round of bets between the gods. It was an eternally violent game known as Towers and Rifts. The world he found himself in was nothing like the one he'd spent centuries cultivating and becoming stronger. He was right back at the bottom along with everyone else but for the knowledge he retained.

The time is now. Ever since he first set foot in Liora, Charles had to suffer the Tradesmen's criminal practices, but now is the time for him to strike back and take them down for good. But as our dear Champion gets ready to make his move, his plans are smashed to bits. While he counted on his trading with Liskoa to bring him the money needed to fund his retaliation, he can only watch as a pirate ship sinks one of his vessels, cutting off the cash coming in.

Ever since his 16th birthday, disaster has loomed over Micah Silver’s head, threatening him and everything he loved. Twice he tried to deny his fate, only to suffer for his hubris. Finally, he made the sacrifices necessary to confront the danger facing him head-on. Micah succeeded. At the head of an army of daemons, he defeated the Durgh Khan and saved Basil’s Cove from disaster. Only, it wasn’t to be.

Since that free-for-all that saw every Champion hurry to claim as much land as they could, many of the weaker rulers have been eliminated. As a result, the whole land of Liora is now under the control of eight single coalitions. Can they be trusted to keep to themselves and play nice, or should they be treated like threats and dealt with accordingly? That is one of the main questions Charles and his allies intend to answer when they meet up to finalize their own union. 

Gnat the Devourer is becoming a more prominent figure in grand space politics. Sure, he may not be totally independent yet, but he has enough leeway to be able to differentiate Earth's interests from those of its Geckho suzerains and act exclusively for the good of his own kind. Gnat must balance obligations to his almighty suzerains against a desire to advance humanity's position in space, and his home planet's search for ever more allies.

His life hanging by a thread, will Charles manage to once again dodge the bullet? And if he does pull off a miracle, how will he go about stopping the Storm of Souls which is rumored to spell the end for all? The story of Charles Morris and the Empire of Tine is about to come to an end, one way or another. The question is: will it be in joy and victory, with Charles and his allies on top, or will it be in tears and defeat, with Logan claiming yet another round?

Charles and his allies of the Commonwealth were facing their toughest challenge yet with the Northern Collective forcing them to bend the knee or face a terrible and costly war. But once again, Charles turned the financial tools at his disposal into a ruthless weapon and managed to defeat his enemies without even landing a single blow.

In his account of the sensational life and murder of Grady Stiles Jr., also known as the legendary carnival freak Lobster Boy, author Fred Rosen explains how Stiles' death was engineered by his wife, Mary Teresa, the carny known as the Electrified Girl. Rosen describes how Mary Teresa arranged for her husband's murder after years of physical and emotional abuse. During Mary Teresa's dramatic trial, Rosen becomes a character in his own book.

The Army of Earth is being sent on its first tour of duty. Its 50,000 proud and valiant troopers are the best of the best, full of hope for brilliant victories and spoils of war that can help Earth's humanity along in its development. There's just one little problem, though. The operation's Geckho commanders view their human vassals as mere cannon fodder, good only for plugging up holes in their defensive line and shipping out to the space war's most punishing hotspots where the chance of surviving is practically nil.

Ignatius Lohman longs to make his mark, to be someone. But in a world populated entirely by superpowered beings, he’s nothing but a powerless white-collar civilian. Iggy’s plight is not helped by the fact that his father, General Lancelot Lohman of the defense agency PEERLESS, is one of the most powerful men on the planet. Then, suddenly and unexpectedly, Iggy finds himself in the crosshairs of Erle P. Van Owen, a megalomaniacal corporate overlord with the astonishing ability to neutralize any superpower.

Welcome to The Deathlands, a country where danger lurks around every corner. Towns and villages are surrounded by metal walls to keep the nighttime monsters out, while bandits threaten daytime travelers. On top of that, the God of Death isn't like any other god that Azure and his friends have faced before. Will Azure and the gang be able to make it through The Deathlands without turning into villains themselves?

For almost thirty years, Shirley Jackson Award–winning horror author Gemma Files has consistently served up tale after tale celebrating monstrosity in all its forms: the imperfect, the broken, the beautifully alien, and the sadly familiar. Her characters make their own choices and take their own chances, slipping from darkness into deeper darkness yet never losing their humanity—not even when they’re anything but.