Showing results by narrator "Stewart Crank" in All Categories

It’s not just a box: it’s an ancient weapon capable of destroying entire cities. Deep within the badlands, warped and twisted by tainted magic and weirdlings, the box holds secret wisdom lost in the Cataclysm. The archaeologists who discovered it are selling it to the highest bidder. If it falls into the wrong hands, their fragile civilization’s uneasy peace will be shattered once and for all. John and his fellow adventurers are hired to steal this ancient artifact so it can be safely destroyed. Stealing it is one thing; surviving it is another.

Gravely wounded and separated from his army, Gregor stumbles upon the exquisite Anice, locked outside of the nunnery in the midst of one of her regular punishments. His decision to save her has more to do with her beguiling blue eyes than his need of assistance. Anice is only too happy to escape the discontent of Jardine. When the brawny chief of the Kincaids rescues her and then promptly collapses from his wounds, she doesn't think twice about secreting and nursing him until his army comes to collect him.

The man who has been brought to Gemma's home to recover from wounds suffered at the hands of the English is not like any man she has ever known—cold and dark, as stormy as the windswept sea. But Gemma pretends to pays him no mind, waiting on her long-lost love to return. This man will leave, and with him the strange fascination she entertains to know more of him.

Adrian was born a couple hundred years too late to witness humans ruling the stars. The days of relentless scientific advancement are long gone. Humanity's former cradle has become the birthplace of nightmares, so Adrian lives on a world far from Terra. But Adrian has a secret. His eyes are failing him, and in this age, blindness means death. When the chance arrives to earn a couple quick credits for a new pair of cybernetic eyes, he jumps on it. Only, Adrian gets more than he bargained for.

With the help of Renie and Edmond, the battle for Belle Morte has been fought and won. However, the bigger fight is not over, as enemy vampires have escaped into the city and the future of vampirekind hangs in the balance. The escapees must be brought to justice—and fast.

Fourteen-year-old Jaime Pappas expects to live the remainder of his life on the chilly Alps of the Air Kingdom. But he doesn't expect the king's men to arrive to his farmstead - or burn his brother for treason. Forced to run, Jaime's world upends when he discovers a chilling prophecy that will call him to exchange his farmer’s cowl for a crown.

Once a prisoner of the English, Nicholas MacRory cannot refuse so lucrative an offer: rescue the daughter of the powerful John de Graham and in return, the baron will invest his faithfulness, coin, and his considerable army in the Sottish cause. Nicholas doesn't count on resistance, or that the strong-willed lass will challenge the veracity of his claims, that he is there to take her home. And he certainly doesn't plan on being bitten by a fascination with the brave and breathtaking Alice.

Maisie Barron is over it. A small-town girl with big dreams, her frustrations lead her to make a silly wish at the standing stones outside Loren Brae. Little does she know, the magick found there will transform her wish into a catastrophic event that threatens the upcoming Christmas Book Festival. Weston Smith needs a break. Burnt out from his tenure-track professorship, he decides that a holiday in little Loren Brae, Scotland, will be the perfect escape he needs to recharge his batteries. The last thing he expects is to find the woman he's been waiting his whole life for.

Once, there was a shining civilization grounded on magic, with sorcerers, flying cities, iron ships, castles in the clouds, and wonders beyond the dreams of mortal men. Then, in a single cataclysmic moment fifty years ago, magic flared and the wondrous world came to an end. The few who survived are struggling to reclaim what they lost. Meanwhile, darker forces plot to shape the future to something more to their liking.

James Joyce is one of the greatest writers in English. His first book, A Portrait of the Artist as A Young Man, laid down the template for the coming of age novel, while his collection of short stories, Dubliners, is of perennial interest. His great modern epic, Ulysses, took the city of Dublin for its setting and all human life for its subject, and its publication marked the beginning of the modern novel. Joyce's final work, Finnegans Wake, is an experiment in narrative and language. But if Joyce is a great writer he is also the most difficult writer in English.

Cymin's final tournament representing the East Deity for Lux Temple promises to be thrilling and bittersweet. After it's done, all his skill and power must feed a Storm Tower to protect the world from fei'lux storms. But before his conscription, he intends to put on a dazzling show and enjoy his last glorious outing. The streets are thronged with cheering crowds, and the grand procession shimmers with spells. Film stars and government ministers claim the best seats in the stands. 

Daisy meets Adam on their first day of university. Immediately, they become friends. But when tongues wag and their relationship is questioned, Adam shares his secret with Daisy, who promises to stand by him. When their grandmother dies, Adam’s older brother Ryan returns from abroad, and Daisy quickly falls for him. After a troubled upbringing at the hands of a drunken mother and jailbird father, Adam and Ryan have only each other. In adulthood, their bond holds firm, glued together by Daisy with whom they are now both in love. 

The Prince is a 16th-century political treatise by the Italian diplomat and political theorist Niccolò Machiavelli. The Prince is sometimes claimed to be one of the first works of modern philosophy, especially modern political philosophy, in which the "effectual" truth is taken to be more important than any abstract ideal. It is also notable for being in direct conflict with the dominant Catholic and scholastic doctrines of the time, particularly those concerning politics and ethics.

After nine years of servitude to the enemy, Toran Binn is eager to come home - only for poverty to pummel him in the gut. Before he can recall why he escaped home in the first place, royalty is murdered. Toran must find the true killer by the end of summer or watch his best friend’s execution.

Raul has a destiny: claim his birthright as the last surviving heir of King Balbainus and lead his conquered people to freedom. The signs are all there—his birthmark, in the shape of Balbainus’ halfmoon and dagger sigil, the gemstone-hilted sword he found in his parents’ inn, and the...

In 2015, climber and documentary maker Joe French was filming in the Himalaya when tragedy struck and he found himself caught in an earthquake that killed nearly 9,000 people. Miraculously, he survived—but this wasn't the first accident from which he was lucky enough to escape. On a previous expedition to the Himalayas, Joe's team of Sherpas had been wiped out by an avalanche. Back in Scotland, his wife Julie was fighting her own battle against cancer and, on his return, Joe found himself at home caring for their two young girls.

Having escaped conscription to the Storm Towers at the last moment―thanks to some very quick train-hopping―Cymin is thrilled to at last be living his dream of seeing new lands and making friends with the fascinating secular mages outside Lux Temple. There's even a chance he could win over the enigmatic Laithondi and officially join the ranks of the student bound for Saigrath.

Heretics is a collection of 20 essays and articles by G. K. Chesterton, in which he appraises prominent figures of his time in the worlds of literature and the arts. He scrutinises the work of luminaries such as George Bernard Shaw, Rudyard Kipling, and H. G. Wells with insight and wit, criticizing those who hold incomplete and flawed views of "life, the universe, and everything".

In a North American British province, a group of Norweigan settlers have carved a life for themselves in a lakeshore village called Skarkavik. Hunters and fishermen, they raise their families in peace under the natural cover of the surrounding forest. Decker Galloway believes the land’s natural resources are being wasted on the few when so many have a greater need. Having made his fortune logging the wilderness of the eastern provinces, he wants to turn his axes and saws loose on the untouched western region. And no villagers are going to stand in his way. 

1989 heralded a unique prospect for an enduring global peace, as harsh ideological divisions and conflicts began to be resolved. Now, three decades on, that peace has been lost. With war in Ukraine and increasing tensions between China, Russia, and the West, great power politics once again dominates the world stage. But could it have been different? Richard Sakwa shows how the years before the first mass invasion of Ukraine represented a hiatus in conflict rather than a lasting accord—and how, since then, we have been in a 'Second Cold War'.