Showing results by narrator "J. Arquin" in All Categories

Valora Keri’s problems are multiplying like moles. Every time she whacks one, three more pop up. First, a good friend turns up dead under mysterious circumstances. While Val is busy trying to figure out why, witch hunters show up at her door, demanding she stand trial for crimes committed years ago. She needs time to sort it out, but instead she’s coerced into a new job she doesn’t want, forcing her to rub shoulders with powerful people. Add in a dash of necromancer and a pinch of pissed off vampire queen, and Val is in a stew bubbling with all the ingredients for disaster.

Helping a holy order find a missing sister should be a simple enough job—and Ruby owes the Aymaya Apostles everything after they took her and her brother in as children. Simple enough, until the missing holy sister's trail takes an unexpected turn, landing Ruby and the rest of the crew in the middle of a high-society soirée—and into the crosshairs of Ruby's ex, Kitty. Something sinister is lurking beneath the surface of whatever Kitty and the holy sister are caught up in, and the skills of the entire crew are put to the test when they go head-to-head with the ultimate con artist.

When a ghost from Lasadi’s past hires the crew of the Nanshe to find a crashed plane with mysterious origins, they take the job despite the troubling client. The good news? The cover story is Lasadi's childhood dream: flying in the Liluri Star Run, a wildly popular off-the-grid race through the Liluri Mountains. Soaring through emerald jungle canyons in search of their prize—and the fabled Blood River—this job has the potential to do more than net these five misfits a payday. It could turn them into a real crew.

Gage Cross was a retired assassin from another world. A world he only vaguely remembered as Earth. Since being dropped onto this new world as a boy, he’d become one of the best assassins on this planet. He’d left the life of an assassin behind—given all of it up for a woman named Alani and his daughter, Shaunna. He was supposed to live a simple, peaceful life. Then his old life caught up with him. Assassins came. They burned down his house. They killed his wife and child. Now, Gage will find the person responsible and make them pay—and no one will stop him.

Madison only joined the Koyesta Online's early access because her brother begged her. Of course, the fact that they're awarding brand-new cryptocurrency to the early players for in-game actions might have something to do with it too. Thrust inside the world's most immersive fantasy VRMMORPG, Madison, her brother, and two cousins find themselves in some backwater little town. Determined to make the most of it, they set out on a series of adventures and stumble upon hidden ruins and a secret quest capable of reshaping the face of the game before it's even been officially released.

Lasadi doesn't like strangers on her ship, but she'll need a bigger crew if she's going to steal a mysterious artifact from a dead pirate's long-lost space station. She takes a chance on a charming grifter named Raj, along with a skilled hacker and her genius little brother. And it's...nice? If Lasadi isn't careful, she's going to start enjoying having a crew aboard. Raj's last bit of luck capsized right before he ran into Lasadi, and this job could finally get his life back on track—as long as Lasadi never learns the truth about his past.

Floating in a sentient space balloon with his pants around his ankles, Geddy watched a competing salvage trawler swallow his one-of-a-kind ship. Could it get any worse? Most definitely. The For Sale Make Offer's fateful trip to Kigantu ended with a daring escape, but Geddy's checkered past as a partly reformed henchman came back to haunt him. Now, the Penetrator is gone, and he doesn't know where. The newly expanded crew of the Fizmo welcomes him as their new captain, but it'll take more than a can-do attitude and witty repartee to be a working ship.

Fired from his dream job and exiled among the misfits and mutants of the Undercity, Tak has gone from wunderkind to washed-out failure in record time. His last hope of reclaiming his life in the shining city above is to somehow prove his wild theories correct. In order to continue his research, Tak accepts a job at a shady underground laboratory, where he struggles to reconcile what he believes to be right with the things he must do to survive. But when a strange plague rips through the people of the Undercity, Tak’s knowledge becomes their only hope of survival.

How do leading companies win by changing the game? Established businesses like Amazon, Starbucks, and Tesla and emerging players like Peloton, Halo Top, and Seedlip have a secret system for winning. These and other “transcender” companies do not play the traditional brand game that every other company plays; they create their own game and force competitors to play by their rules. Brands Don’t Win reveals the proven, practical three-step transcender system that leading companies use to transcend their rivals and own their markets....

After eight years alone on Earth 2, Geddy Starheart is ready to get off. Off-world, that is. But before he can, someone steals his ship. His quest to find it takes him on a hilarious, galaxy-spanning adventure with his only friend--the ancient alien trapped in his head. Geddy rose through the ranks of a shady auction house dealing in stolen goods. When it got too dicey, he fled to Earth 2 and changed his identity. Years later, he watched the last transport leave for Earth 3. Everyone figured him dead, and he was good with that.

In this, the final chapter of the Bulari Saga: Willem Jaantzen has never wanted fame and never wanted notoriety. All he’s ever wanted is to keep the people he loves safe, but now the fate of Bulari - and the rest of humanity - rests on his shoulders. And he has one final play to end this game once and for all.

With a warrant out for his arrest and a price on his head, Willem Jaantzen has gone to ground, but he and his crew aren't out of the game. If they’re going to take down an opponent as powerful as a Chief Justice, they need a bulletproof plan — and that's going to take time. But as their rival’s net tightens around them, time is the one thing Jaantzen and his crew don’t have. And his goddaughter Starla is about to head out on her own on an adventure that could shake the foundations of human understanding — if it doesn’t get her killed first.

Jaantzen may have brought stability to the city of Bulari, but not everyone’s grateful. Allegiances are shifting sand, and he’s made a miscalculation that earned him a deadly new enemy - one who plays a viciously different game than the one Jaantzen is used to winning. Jaantzen and his crew fight to gain the upper hand, but secrets buried in shallow graves are coming back to haunt them. And as Starla and Toshiyo edge closer to understanding the growing mystery that’s been dropped in their laps, their search is awakening darker things than any of them can imagine.

Trouble is dead. Long live trouble. Killing the leader of a violent cult was supposed to make the city a safer place, but instead it created a power imbalance that’s left a deadly war raging in the streets of Bulari. When Willem Jaantzen is approached for help by local casino magnate Phaera D, he has the sinking feeling the only way to end this war is to betray the people he loves the most. And he’s starting to suspect that Phaera wants more from him than just his help. Whatever decision he makes feels like the wrong one.

The beautiful Sally Anne has everyone fascinated, including Tommy's best friend, George, who kisses her the first chance he gets. But it isn't just a regular kiss! Sally Anne's kiss is ice cold. Even knowing her chilling gift, Tommy can't help but get close to her and ultimately discover her big secret.

Willem Jaantzen didn't ask to be a hero. He just wants to keep his family safe in the shifting sands of Bulari's underground - and to get the city's upper crust to acknowledge just how far he's come since his days as an orphaned street kid. With his businesses thriving and his dark past swept into the annals of history, it looks like he has everything he could ever ask for. Until, that is, his oldest rival turns up murdered and the blame - and champagne - begins to flow.

In the final installment of the Core series, the Razznians are defeated, yet no one feels like a winner. New Lassa is devastated, Azrom is in shambles, and planet Razzna itself has had its surface razed, forcing the population to flee - which leaves a bad taste on everyone's palate. With so many secrets filled with animosity and shame now brought to light, both Azrom and New Lassa must face their own demons.

Martial arts master Lin Su Yoshimura is a force to be reckoned with. Now in the US after being shunned as a mixed-race Chinese-Japanese girl, then kidnapped as a teen and sold into the sex-trafficking trade, Lin Su is rescued from an abusive New York pimp by one of the city’s top-level cocaine dealers. Navigating both back alleys and opulent venues with lethal grace, Lin Su finds her way forward through the underbelly of the city, as she wrestles with the horrors of her past.

The Core Series continues with the second installment, where we see the battle on earth over and Chardon taking his place as the leader of New Lassa. Halfar returns to Azrom resuming his role as Supreme Ruler. A new conflict rises from the reptilian race, Razznians. Bitter about a broken deal set up long ago by Chardon’s mate, Sestis, they are coming to collect. Discontent among the Lassians and Azrominans rears its ugly head yet again as members in their trusted circle seem to have their own agendas. The two leaders have a lot of work to do as an enemy assault lurks in the horizon.

Captain James Henry has finally gained what he long desired - redemption. Yet not even his restored military honors and reputation can wipe away the bitter taste in his mouth after 15 years weighed down by guilt and shame. Before deep-seated betrayal sends Jim to the bottom of another whiskey bottle, the past again rears its ugly head when the Shadow Wolf’s first mate is kidnapped by an unholy enemy alliance. To rescue her from their clutches, Jim swallows his injured pride and accepts assistance from an unlikely source.