Showing results by narrator "David Savard" in All Categories

Labor organizer Padma Mehta is on the edge of space and the edge of burnout. All she wants is to buy out a little rum distillery and retire, but she's supposed to recruit 500 people to the Union before she can. She's only 33 short. So when a small-time con artist tells her about 40 people ready to tumble down the space elevator to break free from her old bosses, she checks it out - against her better judgment. It turns out, of course, it was all lies.

A post-quake San Francisco is ruled by a private corporation called the Bay Area Security Service. Its founder, Saul Rabin, is revered by many as the savior of the city, but by others he is feared and loathed as a fascist tyrant. And because of the cutting-edge antigravity technology being developed by his company, this controversial figure is about to become the most powerful man in the world.

For Lawson, the horrors that stalked the Civil War battlefield at Shiloh were more than just those of war. After being forcibly given the gift of undeath by the mysterious vampire queen LaRouge, Lawson chose to cling to what remained of his humanity and fought his way free of the Dark Society's clutches.

Lewis Deathstalker and his beloved Jesamine Flowers are fugitives from the Empire, and fate has assembled a bizarre company of companions for them. Brett Random, a scoundrel claiming to be descended from Owen Deathstalker’s comrades Jack Random and Ruby Journey, Rose Constantine, a psychopathic female gladiator from the Arenas, and Saturday, an eight-foot tall reptilian alien, have attached themselves to the reluctant rebels, who have determined to carry out their own quest to find the long-lost Owen Deathstalker, deemed the only one who can save humanity from the coming Terror.

In the near future, a post-quake San Francisco is ruled by a private corporation called the Bay Area Security Service. BASS has established and maintained order in this new city-state with a police force of “peacers” who have a license to kill, and the company has developed a cutting-edge antigravity technology coveted by the rest of the world. Michael Ares has recently inherited the throne of BASS, and immediately finds himself marked for assassination by an even more powerful leader, the Chinese general Zhang Sun.

In his human skin, Baron Cobalt's quest for power nearly destroyed Cerberus. Now, evolved into his godly Annunaki form as Overlord Marduk, he's reconsolidating his power and claiming the Mediterranean. As Marduk's Nephilim-led forces challenge the ruling Hera Olympiad and her legion of cybernetic demigods to a death dance, Kane and the Cerberus warriors harness the power of a cyber army eager to bring retribution and justice to the real monsters of antiquity.

Two centuries after a nuclear holocaust, America continues to resurrect itself, survival being the primary impulse for the hammered masses while absolute power remains in the hands of the reborn barons and their Magistrate enforcer corps. Yet this gradually weakening elite remain an integral part of an unfathomable destiny - defiantly challenged by those driven to free humanity from ancient, alien domination.

The fall of the baronies has led Earth deeper into the darkest days of a bitter struggle as old as the planet itself — a war for righteous destiny. As a force of elite rebels dares to break humanity free from the iron chains of alien rule, they face an ever-changing matrix of cunning and retribution. Area 51 remains a mysterious enclave of eerie synergy and unleashed power — a nightmare poised to take the world to hell. A madman has marshaled an army of incorporeal, alien evil, a virus with intelligence now scything through human hosts like locusts.

Decades after the nukecaust, Earth's fate remains in a stranglehold. The stunning otherworldly design of the blueprint for domination is crucial to rescuing humanity from eternal slavery. As the Cerberus exiles dare to challenge the planet's increasingly powerful usurpers, the battle to navigate time and dimension continues — aided by brute force and the age-old strategies of war.

Deep in the Malaysian jungle, a group of scientists gets a lethal surprise and a lone survivor rants about a prehistoric monster who eats men alive. The survivor dies with bizarre symptoms - and CURE's Dr. Harold Smith wants answers. So Remo, his favorite problem solver, finds himself armed with a brand-new doctorate and joining an international expedition to look for the next Jurassic park.

Rupert didn't especially want to be a prince. And he certainly never asked to be the second son of a royal line that really didn't need a spare. So he was sent out to slay a dragon and prove himself — a quest straight out of legend. But he also discovered the kinds of things legends tend to leave out, as well as the usual demons, goblins, the dreaded Night Witch — and even worse terrors hidden in the shadows of Darkwood.

For nearly a century, a wasted and savaged America has struggled to rise from the radioactive ashes of a Russian thermonuclear sneak attack. And one man has led the desperate fight to free a once-great nation from the enslaving clutches of the brutal Red Army invaders. He is Ted Rockson - the Doomsday Warrior.

Finn Durandal’s traitorous scheme is all coming together, as Parliament becomes the bloody scene of Finn’s carefully orchestrated civil unrest. But King Douglas begins to see betrayal much closer at hand, and the pain of it may leave him a shattered man. Lewis Deathstalker’s struggle to hold honor above his own needs is put aside momentarily, as the riot on Parliament’s doorstep puts him in a battle to the death with Finn’s brutal assassin Rose Constantine, undefeated gladiator of the Arena.

Diana Vertue, known in an earlier life as the terrifying esper Jenny Psycho, had been a hardcore terrorist and a saint of the uber-esper Mater Mundi, but she'd outgrown both those roles. Now it’s time for a psychic showdown with the Mater Mundi herself.

Detan Honding is determined to survive this war, even when caught between not one but two besieging armies! After rescuing the renowned engineer Nouli from the clutches of the empire, the valiant rogue has returned to his aunt’s city - to find it under siege by Thratia’s army. With Nouli’s help, they manage to turn back the tide, at least until imperial forces descend, prepared to hammer the Thratian force against the anvil of the city’s walls. Worse yet, the imperial advance is aided by an elite force of dark magicians.

A cruel, hated man collects a fortune, then disappears in the desert. The Texas Rangers think it's murder and put one of their best on the job - but he'll need help. There's evil here that no one suspects.

Original story published in Lariat story magazine - July 1947.

Julia's daddy was the judge in town. He used to be fair, but recently it seemed that had changed. What cost to regular folks would there be?

Wayne D. Overholser, winner of three Spur Awards from the Western Writers of America, weaves a magic spell in this story with his consistent skill in presenting vibrant characters and his uncommon sensitivity to the depths of human personality.

Honest presentation is only one characteristic of Frazee’s well-crafted tales. He tells a convincing, satisfying, and unusual story even when employing stock Western situations. A major strength is his understanding of the nuances of character, of how people are motivated, of the good and bad within each person, and of the conflicts between man and his environment. Drawing upon his years in the mountains of Colorado, he can vividly and realistically depict a variety of Western settings and do so in such a way that the settings assume a character of their own.