Fantasy Patrick

The best-selling Extinction Cycle series by Nicholas Sansbury Smith first introduced listeners to a world ravaged by an engineered virus that turned men into monsters. Humanity's only hope was not a cure, but another bioweapon. When deployed it killed 90 percent of the infected, but the remaining 10 percent transformed into even more terrifying creatures called Variants. Here's a collection of Extinction Cycle short stories that explore the human spirit and the fight for survival in the face of overwhelming odds from some of the leading voices in the post-apocalyptic genre.

Now that I know what Dracula has planned for me, the pressure is on. Failure is hardly an option.... At the same time, if I'm supposed to one day preside over the Wallachian Vampires, how am I supposed to prove myself to those that are centuries older than me? I have to get stronger, be smarter. I have to succeed. Meanwhile, my rivals in House Wolf seem likely to call off the truce at any moment. Actually, that's the least of my worries. It turns out that there are legendary beings from other worlds trying to steal the Netherveil away from Dracula—and it's going to be my job to help defend it.

Chris Gordon and Tanya Demidova are the world's top close quarters battle experts. As fast and powerful as elder vampires, with supernatural weapons that match their supernatural speed, strength, and senses. But how does a close quarters warrior fight an enemy that is literally light years away - 25,000 light years away?

After fighting off a group of bandits, Cha Ming helps a people rebuild. His heart is heavy with guilt, but he can’t stay long. To face an inevitable foe, Cha Ming must journey to Quicksilver City, where he’ll meet the man who once enslaved him. Will he find the courage to face him?

Sarah Dewhurst and her father, outcasts in their little town of Frome, Washington, are forced to hire a dragon to work their farm, something to which only the poorest of the poor ever have to resort. The dragon, Kazimir, has more to him than meets the eye, though. Sarah can’t help but be curious about him, an animal who supposedly doesn’t have a soul but who is seemingly intent on keeping her safe. Because the dragon knows something she doesn’t. He has arrived at the farm with a prophecy on his mind.

Hausos is a peaceful farming colony. Once controlled by the Tahni, it's now settled by a collection of homeless refugees and war veterans, among them Cam and Vicky. Their life is pleasantly boring, quiet enough for demons from the war to nag at the corners of Cam’s mind on lonely nights. He fights the demons back with willpower and alcohol, determined to make this place home. But the peace doesn’t last.

After two decades of training in the Heartforge Realm, Cha Ming’s soul is finally on the mend. He and his friends have advanced to the second phase of the Heartforge Trials, where they must defend a dying world from fiendish invaders. Yet it isn’t just his friends who have come, but his enemies as well. When two aggressive neighbors start to nibble away at his territory, Cha Ming volunteers to buy his allies time. His actions instigate an all-out war between three regions, and countless innocents are dragged into the conflict.

With Earth in chaos and life on New Kerguelen shaken like never before, a discovery on the mysterious world of Sanctuary blows apart humanity's understanding of just about everything. The consequences are almost unfathomable, the urgency unprecedented, and the revelations of a kind that even Dan McCarthy isn't ready for. One way or another, nothing will ever be the same. And this time, it's final....

Dorian et Léona n'en ont pas fini avec les ennuis. Leur dernière décision a des conséquences terribles : l'instabilité de l'Écosse est plus forte que jamais. Mais leurs yeux se tournent maintenant vers l'Italie, où de puissantes familles rivales ont renversé les Gianni. Léona et Dorian embarquent pour Palerme afin de restaurer l'ordre. Là-bas, rien ne se passe comme prévu : des nouveau-nés se baladent en ville et le secret de l'existence des vampires est à deux doigts d'être révélé ! Si c'était le cas, le monde serait à feu et à sang pendant des semaines !

With a four-legged companion and no food in the pantry, Grant Walton faces an uphill battle. His wife is still missing; downtown is a smoldering crater; and radiation is killing more people every day. Torn between searching for his wife and gearing up for what's sure to come, Grant is forced to put more than his morals to the test. Leah Walton escaped a nuclear bomb that flattened her hospital and vaporized her friends. Now she's racing to find her husband miles away. She'll have to rely on the kindness of strangers to survive and hope none of them kill her in the process.

When a massive meteor lights up the sky over the remote island of Kerguelen, the world holds its breath. In Birchwood, Colorado, Dan McCarthy gets to work. Following his incredible experiences of the previous year, Dan knows this was no natural occurrence. The Messengers are back - to finish what they started - and they didn't come all this way for nothing....

Now I've been taken to a demiplane between worlds where Dracula rules supreme, and all he wants is to... start a school for vampires? It turns out the next generation of vampire is built differently, and I'm in on the ground floor of that new enterprise. What's more, I have a unique suite of abilities that helps me further stand out from the crowd. So much, in fact, that I've started attracting the attention of multiple gorgeous women.

I'm lost in the middle of nowhere on a freaking alien planet. Running away from the Hyrrokin mafia. It's as terrible as you can imagine. I haven't eaten in two days and it's raining in the wildlands. Lightning strikes overhead and thunder rumbles in the distance. I slip and fall in the mud. And then I sit at the bottom of a ravine, crying. There's a blur in the distance. Is that a mirage? No, its a deadly, satanic-looking male with a bare chest, huge black horns and a barbed tail racing right for me. I scream as this monster looms overhead.

When the Inkolana Cartel's experimental computer network comes under attack, they give white-hat hacker Clay Knight two hours to fix the problem. If he succeeds, he'll be rich beyond his wildest dreams. If he fails, he's a dead man. But when Clay hacks the hackers, he stumbles into an ancient ritual that summons him to the dusty, forgotten world of Soketra...Clay finds dungeons, monsters, and a fierce pride of beautiful cat women who believe he is the reincarnation of the ancient Dungeon Lord Rathokhetra. Listen to find out more.

R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) is a science-fiction drama that was first presented in Czech in 1921. It introduced the term "robot", which is derived from a Czech word meaning "worker," to international vocabulary. The action opens in a factory that has successfully produced thousands of robots, who are essentially mindless drones. An idealistic humanitarian activist launches a plan to imbue some of the robots with human traits. The robots which have been humanized then assume leadership over the other robots and seek to organize them in a revolution to take over the world.

For the past four decades, no film saga has touched the world in the way that Star Wars has, capturing the imaginations of filmgoers and filmmakers alike. Now, for the first time ever, Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman, the best-selling authors of The Fifty-Year Mission, are telling the entire story of this blockbuster franchise from the very beginning in a single exhaustive volume.

Immerse yourself in a world of strong men and the beautiful women who adore them. From Dragon Lords and Greek Gods to Dungeon Masters and Barbarian Kings. Whether you're an avid harem fan or just want to spice up your sci-fi and fantasy habit, Dangerous Playmates from Black Forge Books brings battle babes and bad boys together in an explosive boxed set you'll listen to again and again.

When Sky decided not to join our pack, I thought that would be the end of our dealings with the enigmatic wolf. But she's pulled back into pack business when Sky's the first one on the scene of a murder attempt of one of our pack members. At first, I mark it off as a coincidence but I'm proven wrong. After more attacks are made on the pack and assassins go after the vampires, Chris, my ex, discovers a link between Sky and the person behind the attacks.

The urge to explore and discover is a natural and universal one, and the edge of the unknown is expanded with each passing year as scientific advancements inch us closer and closer to the outer reaches of our solar system and the galaxies beyond them. Generations of writers have explored these new frontiers and the endless possibilities they present in great detail. The Final Frontier delivers stories from across this literary spectrum, a reminder that the universe is far large and brimming with possibilities than we could ever imagine, as hard as we may try.

We colonized 700 planets. Humankind enjoyed the benefits of expansion room and the end of wars. We even disbanded our military. Then the Krall found us. The Krall have used thousands of years of combat to select the genes of the strongest and fastest warriors. They are a species determined to dominate the entire galaxy, through destruction and annihilation of every opponent.

Koban is an uninhabited high-gravity planet with impossibly fast savage animals, which employ organic superconducting nerves. This deadly world is where the Krall tested humans for war capability.