Showing results by narrator "John Kielty" in All Categories

I draw the line at serving people grasshoppers for dinner. As luck would have it, on the same day I quit my job as head chef at Suzette’s, a fine-dining restaurant in Boston, I was offered an opportunity to open a restaurant at a castle in Scotland. But now that I’m here in Loren Brae, I’m not so sure this city girl can hack it.

An acclaimed novelist, playwright and comic book writer, Denise Mina has won numerous awards, including the CWA John Creasy Dagger for Best First Crime Novel and the Theakstons Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year Award (twice). Her 'Paddy Meehan' series has been adapted for BBC TV, and she has presented numerous television and radio programmes. Included here are six of her stories, as heard on BBC Radio, plus a bonus biographical programme.

The militant Warriors of the Cross, have come to Shadows Fall to capture and wrest control of the legendary Forever Door from Old Father Time and a town they see as being filled by sinners, witches, and demons. James Hart makes a startling discovery about his grandfather. And Mayor Rhea Frazier and the revenant Leonard Ash renew their relationship, after his return from the dead.  

Set high on top of Widows Hill, Harrow House has remained empty for years. Now, on behalf of an anonymous prospective buyer, Ishmael and Penny are spending a night there in order to investigate the rumors of strange lights, mysterious voices, unexplained disappearances, and establish whether the house is really haunted.   

One night after roller derby practice, 12-year-old Tamora Carter discovers a pair of goblins digging through the dumpster behind the rink. The scruffy pair passed through a magical portal into our world, and they're not alone. Do these creatures know the truth about what happened to Tamora's best friend Andre? She won't rest until she finds out. But there are things far more dangerous than goblins....

Set roughly half a century in the future on the artificial-island arcology of New Avalon, Tangent Knights centers on Corazón “Cory” Kagami, a bright but impulsive college student who believes in following her passions, resisting the path laid out for her by her mother, the head of a tech conglomerate responsible for astonishing breakthroughs. 

Continuing the legacy of decades gone by, these fast-paced standalone stories offer wondrous settings, philosophical sci-fi questions, and twists that pack a punch.

As sleepy as Buffalo Peak's been, legendary marshal, Elwood "Firestick" McQueen, and his deputies "Beartooth" Skinner and "Moosejaw" Hendricks never expected a couple of drifters to wake it up—by kidnapping two lovely ladies in town. Hardly the sharpest quills on a cactus, these dim drifters call it courtin'. Firestick doesn't see it that way. Now the woman snatchers are heading for West Texas with their reluctant brides-to-be—and unwittingly plunging trackers Firestick and Moosejaw headlong into a rescue.

Keeping the peace in a West Texas town like Buffalo Peak should be easy for a legendary frontiersman like Marshal Elwood "Firestick" McQueen. He’s got his longtime buddies "Beartooth" Skinner and "Moosejaw" Hendricks as his deputies—not to mention the famous rifle that earned him his nickname. But when Firestick learns that their ornery old friend “Rip” Ripley just rode into town, all bets are off. It’s darn near impossible to keep the peace when Rip’s specialty is disturbing it. Firestick finds a decade-old wanted poster for Rip—the reward is one dollar.

Humans have gone too far, wrecking planet Earth. We might need to find a new planet. But who could possibly help us do that? The AstroNuts! Lucky for us, back in the 1980s, NNASA (NotNASA) created four secret superpowered Animal Astronauts - AlphaWolf, SmartHawk, LaserShark, and StinkBug. They were built to be automatically launched into space to check out possible Goldilocks planets if things on Earth ever got too bad. Unlucky for us, things just got too bad.  

He’s back. Despite absolutely no requests at all, Sir Apropos of Nothing - he who was spawned from the violent assault of a tavern wench by a group of drunken knights - has returned. This time his voyages take him to the land of Rogypt, a surprisingly ancient realm where the tragic people known as the Shews labor endlessly in building pyramids for their masters. When Apropos inadvertently interferes with he who is destined to be their savior, no less than a deity reaches down and points his fickle finger upon him, informing him it is now his responsibility to liberate the people.

Abandoned by her allies, the Republic of Venice holds out as the last beacon of resistance against the hobgoblin armies. Armed with new weapons the Southern Horde drives upon the floating city by land and sea. The Northern Horde drives deep into the heart of Europa and all fall before it. The Horde is vast beyond measure. Assassin daggers lurk in every shadow. Necrotic evil seeps and infects.

Abandoned by her allies, the Republic of Venice holds out as the last beacon of resistance against the hobgoblin armies. Armed with new weapons the Southern Horde drives upon the floating city by land and sea. The Northern Horde drives deep into the heart of Europa and all fall before it. The Horde is vast beyond measure. Assassin daggers lurk in every shadow. Necrotic evil seeps and infects.

Twenty years ago, the Black Flu decimated the population of the world. The infected died and then rose again as flesh-eating zombies. The UK’s response was to create Safe Zones, providing sanctuary for those that survived. Chloe only barely made it to safety and now her daughter Sammie wants to go outside. When Sammie makes a discovery that could bring hope to all the survivors, one man’s twisted greed turns that dream into a nightmare. Don't miss the great-stopping second installment of the Safe Zone Trilogy.

When Sammie made a discovery that could bring hope to all the survivors of the Black Flu, one man’s twisted greed turned that dream into a nightmare. He destroyed Safe Zone E and caused the deaths of thousands. After the destruction of her Zone, Sammie was voted in as leader of the former residents. She made them three promises: she would find them a new home; she would find her nemesis, Brian Crowe, and make him pay; and she would build a better future for her people. Sammie intends to keep these promises at any cost. Can the people of the UK find their Serenity?

Jamie MacCallister remembers the Alamo—especially one brave frontiersman who died fighting there. Now the fallen veteran’s granddaughter needs Jamie’s help. She’s found a letter written by her grandfather with a map to the spot where Alamo legend Jim Bowie supposedly hid a fortune in silver and gold. Jamie never believed the story. Countless treasure hunters had scoured the area and come up empty handed. But his friend’s granddaughter is convinced it’s hidden where no one has ever dared to search—deep in the heart of Comanche country.

At long last former Knight Commander Cade Williams has defeated the adversary, but his victory has come at a terrible cost. His wife, Gabrielle, is no more. His reputation lies in tatters, his trust in others broken. His closest friends and allies are now at risk from the very order they pledged their lives to maintain. If it could go wrong, it has. Unable to bear the reality of what he has done, all Cade wants to do is find a deep hole and pull it in after him. Let the world go on without him, for all he loves is lost, and he sees no reason to continue.

They called him the Young Pretender, a Prince of England whose throne was stolen from him. Charles Stuart risked a blood bath for his crown. To fund his war between Scotland and England, Charles had millions in gold buried by his followers and lost to time. Annja, Roux, and Garin team up to hunt for the Jacobite treasure from the underground alleys in Edinburgh, to the misty hills, lochs, and castles of The Highlands.

Preacher has agreed to escort Barnaby Cooper through Dakota Territory’s hills to establish a trading post. Accompanied by his friends Lorenzo and Tall Dog, the mountain man hopes they’ll be able to protect Cooper from Sioux warriors who don’t want any white man trespassing on their sacred grounds. But the Sioux aren’t the only hostiles staking their claim in the region.

Three nights in a log cabin, out here in the Scottish wilderness with no one else for miles around. Three nights in this idyllic kind of halfway house. Three nights to reflect on the incident at my own pace and draw a line under my recovery. The sights and sounds will soothe you, they said. Doctor Chambers told me to listen for the birds. The guidebook on the table promised deer and red squirrels. But no one mentioned the lights in the sky. No one mentioned the Visitors.