Showing results by narrator "Ode McGuire" in All Categories

Atra Hart’s shadow has grown teeth. It moves on its own and whispers her name. She calls it Dread, and it threatens to devour her mind. When a fire breaks out at the asylum where she’s locked up, Atra seizes the chance for freedom, only to witness an electric-purple rift split the sky open. Like Dread, the rift is visible only to her. Then, she awakens back in the asylum, unharmed, as if the fire, the escape, and the rift never happened. But everything feels wrong. No one remembers her old life. Her family, her friends—even her past—have vanished.

In 1984, 15-year-old Celestine Tolland and her parents were part of a crew of explorers who set off into space. Months after their departure, a virus ravaged the crew of the Phaeacia, killing nearly everyone aboard. The few survivors finally returned to Earth after nearly two years. However, because they were traveling near the speed of light—causing an effect known as time dilation—more than 30 years have passed on Earth.

The stories in Magic and Myth reveal the connection between everyday occurrences and the otherworldly. The place where we pause to reassure ourselves that the world is full of the mundane and unmagical in every way–even as we check beneath the bed for monsters.

“Once upon a time, two sisters held the fate of a kingdom in their hands. One chose the light. One chose the shadows. Both were destined to fall.” Avalora was a land of promise, its rivers golden, its orchards heavy with sweet fruit, its princesses the pride of the realm. But desperation is a hungry thing. It gnaws at the bones of kings and queens alike. When famine gripped Avalora in its dying breath, Snow White, the fairest of them all, turned to forbidden magic, and the magic answered. Not with mercy. Not with hope. But with hunger.

In this collection of stories, a man and woman travel back in time, viewing history in reverse, and discovering love along the way. A woman is swept up in the glitter of a party only to become a permanent guest. A Muse of Poetry does her best to rescue the words of the most talented man she's ever known. A girl experiences the transformation that comes from deep grief. A selkie longs for the sea, ghosts watch a loved one, and there is a breathless moment of rebirth.

Hiroshi has always dreamed of becoming a sumotori. His late father was always respected in the local sumo scene. This was Hiroshi’s ticket to a local tournament. When he wins that he might be able to compete in the capital city. He’s recruited by the legendary Oyakata Kenjiro and goes the fabled Hajima stable. There he learns being a sumotori is harder than he ever expected. He has a master who is strict and unforgiving, an Oyakata who seems to be losing his grip and a stable bully that seems to be set on making his life hell.

Sitting alone in his apartment, nursing a drink and the weight of past regrets, Walter Regin barely registers the sudden blare of the Emergency Alert System. But when the message sinks in—nuclear war is underway—time takes on a terrifying new meaning. With just 90 minutes until impact, he’s faced with a choice: stay put and accept his fate, or fight for a chance to see his estranged wife and son one last time. As chaos erupts around him and the clock winds down, every decision could be his last.