Showing results by narrator "Tom Taylorson" in All Categories

When Dr. Ayers uses the DNA of a long-dead alien life-form known as the Sansein, the Last Reaper finds himself caught up in an unprecedented situation. The Sansein, as it turns out, were not as extinct as Ayers originally believed. Possibly benevolent, definitely dangerous - these aliens are bound to react poorly to what has been done with their fallen kin. The life of a Reaper is never simple. The exodus fleet has old enemies that can’t be avoided for much longer. But those same enemies have a secret as well...and it just might save them all.

On a sunny green world, a little girl watches as meteors fall, bringing death and fire from above. She isn’t alone. Thorn Stellers is there, watching, unsure of his connection and what he can do to save the child from a fate like his parents, all those years ago. Reaching across the lightyears, Thorn sets a chain of events into play that will shift reality as he knows it. For this little girl is no ordinary child, and the meteors are no accident. The Nyctus have targeted her green world for destruction, and the girl along with it.

When the idyllic planet Nebo is scorched into oblivion, it’s obvious that the Nyctus are moving massive fleets into human space again, and their intention is clear: Even if they lose their ships, they will render planets into ash. To add to the damage, they seem to have key intelligence that could only have been obtained by a human crew. Only one ship has ever gone missing, its disappearance unexplained and its crew never to be found: The Pool of Stars, one of the first starships. And she’s been missing for centuries. Now, it’s up to Thorn to find it.

A high-end stolen car is discovered in Vermont. A car filled with stolen items from a far-flung two stage burglary spree. But it’s what is in the trunk that brings Joe Gunther and his team from the Vermont Bureau of Investigation. In the trunk is the body of burglar in question—one Don Kalfus. Complicating matters, while the body was found in Vermont, it appears he was probably killed in the next state over, New Hampshire.

Thorn Stellers and his daughter are a problem, and not just for the Nyctus. With their power taking shape in directions like no one has ever seen, the Orbital Navy is faced with an unwelcome reality: The Starcasters are beyond control. Kira and Damien are assigned diplomatic roles in the growing sphere of galactic relations, leading them to a stunning discovery - humans are not alone in their fight against the Nyctus. Worlds are being destroyed by an unseen foe, with no defense against their attacks.

Avalon was thriving. The cold sleep colonists from Earth had settled on a verdant, livable world. The fast and cunning predators humans named “grendels” were under control, and the mainland outposts well established. Avalon’s new mainland hydroelectric power station was nearly complete, and when on-line would compensate for the nuclear power systems lost in the Grendel Wars. Humans would have power, and with power came the ability to make all the necessities for life. They would survive. They would not survive as a spacefaring people.

When the body of a young woman is found near a trail at a popular ski mountain, the case falls to Joe Gunther and his team at the Vermont Bureau of Investigation (VBI). They quickly have a suspect, Mick Durocher, and a confession, but not everyone on the team is convinced. Despite Mick’s ready admission, investigators quickly sense there might be more going on than is immediately apparent.

With Joe Gunther and his Vermont Bureau of Investigation team spread thin on assignment everywhere, from the remote dairy country of Northwest Vermont to the slums of Newark, New Jersey, they're pushed to their absolute limit when a string of serial arsons across the Green Mountain State evolves into the most shocking series of murders the bucolic region has ever known.

Joe Gunther is sent to the neighboring town of Bellows Falls to investigate harassment allegations against a fellow officer. But as Gunther doggedly pursues the truth, what begins as a seemingly open-and-shut case starts to look more and more like a frame job, and he soon finds himself feeling around the edges of a statewide drug distribution network.

It is said a bright and clear bomber’s moon is the best asset to finding one’s target. But beware what you wish for: what you can see at night can also see you, often with dire consequences. Two young women form the heart of this tale. One is an investigative reporter, the other a private investigator. Uneasy allies from completely different walks of life, they work together - around and sometimes against Joe Gunther and his VBI cops - in an attempt to connect the murders of a small-town drug dealer; a smart thief; and the tangled, political, dark goings on at a prep school.

The Vermont Bureau of Investigation (VBI) has been pulled onto three cases at the same time; meanwhile, VBI head Joe Gunther has to take time off to care for his ailing mother. Those cases are now in the hands of the individual investigators. Sammie Martens is assigned a murder case. The victim is a young woman, the roommate of the daughter of medical examiner Beverly Hillstrom. A recent transplant from Albany, New York, Sammie must find out what put a hit man on the trail of this seemingly innocent young woman.

When, in the course of a week, a young heroin addict is gunned down while trying to rob a convenience store, a narcotics dealer is found hanging from a bridge, and the granddaughter of a political bigwig dies of an overdose, Vermont detective Joe Gunther vows to stop the flow of drugs into his beloved state.

An apparent accidental death turns out to be only the first of many murders. Ben Kendall was a troubled man. Coming back from Vietnam with PTSD and scars that no one else could see, he hid away from the world, filling his house with an ever-increasing amount of stuff, until finally the piles collapsed and he was found dead, crushed beneath his own belongings. But what on first glance looks to be the tragic accidental death of a hoarder maybe something much more - and much deadlier

During a standard patrol, Thorn finds the scarred remains of a planet that has been reshaped by an unknown race. Massive machines were used to alter the landscape, and the only thing missing from the site is magic. Whoever is changing the galaxy, it isn’t the Nyctus.

Halek Cain has one chance to save everyone. The Alon Empire has redoubled its efforts to conquer Yansden and strip the planet bare. Their massive fleet devours every star system it encounters. They demand total surrender and show no mercy. The Neverseen are rising from the forests, oceans, and desert wilderness and thirsty for blood. Cain and his allies have stopped both of these enemies once, but their backs are to the wall, and they must escape or die.

Halek Cain and his crew jump into one slip tunnel after another to escape a psychopath with an armada of deadly warships. Every system is a trap; every encounter a potential battle. When Cain and his friends receive a distress call from the Bold Freedom, innocent lives will hang on their every decision. And Cain still has debts that need to be paid. People who helped him off the exploding prison station are going to die horribly if he doesn’t pull of the impossible. But they don’t call him the Last Reaper for nothing.

Even with his immense new power, James comes to realize that he is still playing into the hands of the System. If they are to free Earth and redeem the billions of dead, James and his crew will have to do more than journey into the pits of hell or slaughter countless armies of demons—they'll have to find the god-like forces orchestrating the apocalypse, break every rule, and utterly defeat them.

News travels fast in the small state of Vermont. In this tight-knit society, police officers and investigators proudly maintain a kinship that transcends the boundaries of their jurisdictions. When an unidentified body is found in the peaceful town of Brattleboro, local police and the Vermont Bureau of Investigation both appear at the scene. But before investigator Joe Gunther can begin to gather evidence of murder, a family emergency sends him to his hometown, where the lives of his mother and brother have suddenly been threatened.

A legend among Vermont cops, Joe Gunther has solved more local whodunits than a whole squad of detectives. But his latest case takes him and his team off their Brattleboro home turf, 42 miles west, to chip-on-its-shoulder, blue-collar Bennington. On the edge of town, Gunther encounters the lifeless body of Michelle Fisher. Her corpse, pale and seemingly at peace, offers him no clues about who she was or how she died. There are no signs of violence, no disorder. Snapshots and postcards show a woman who laughed hard and lived harder.

Fresh off their first major victory against the Nyctus, the Orbital Navy is moving forward in confusion. Starcasters, led by Thorn Stellers, are not trusted - magic has not replaced the power of steel and naval might, and humanity is at a crossroads. As Thorn and Kira define their roles in the new navy, magic refuses to stay still. When Thorn discovers he has untapped power, Mol Wyant helps him use it. The results will change every rule, along with the known galaxy, for Thorn Stellers isn’t just a magician of unknown power. He’s a weapon of undiscovered fury.