Showing results by narrator "John Pirhalla" in All Categories

The magical kingdom of Havenwood is everything a girl could want...except a girl like Bella. While everyone else there loves painting dragons, fairies, pixies, and other such creatures of light, and bringing those paintings to life, Bella finds herself drawn to the darkness. To death and rot and the undead. Her best friend is an undead dragon called Nemesis, after all. She just doesn’t fit in...and she knows it. So when Gideon offers to take Bella to a faraway city to meet Petrusa, the Queen of the Dead, Bella jumps at the opportunity.

Sean Wyatt quit working for the United States government years ago but after recent events, he's come to realize his particular set of skills might still be needed to keep the world a little safer. With an evil mastermind behind a twisted plot, Sean is on the clock with less than 72 hours to find a Nazi device known as die glocke [the bell] before a for-profit terrorist cell known as The Black Ring executes an innocent woman.

The Space Marines may have won the battle against the Kuiper Knights on LAM, but the war continues in the shadows. The Master is dead, but some of his top lieutenants evaded capture, and the UNT wants them to pay. To get revenge, UNT President Okoye signed the Swift Sword Protocol, which authorized the pursuit and assassination of certain fugitives.

Centuries after being driven from Earth as part of a massive diaspora triggered by an alien invasion, can the Valers face their worst—and unimaginable—nightmare? Can they withstand the might of the Komran Empire as it sweeps across the galaxy in a campaign to conquer all in its path? When the conflict reaches a crisis point, will they recognize that what they see as their greatest strength is their greatest weakness before it’s too late? Sometimes, situations are so ugly that only an ugly solution will suffice.

It was just supposed to be a birthday party, a mobile celebration with a group of college friends on a modified fire truck. But at some point, things take a dark detour. As the pulsating beats of dance music reverberate over an endless stretch of asphalt, the temperature suddenly plummets, and the reality of the situation becomes chillingly clear: the driver will not stop. After frantically attempting to contact the mysterious motorist, the passengers begin to suspect this party may never end.

Daring heists. Clever schemes. Snarky quips in the face of danger. Meet Jerrell Landish: A thief, a con artist, and an utter rogue. Clever, inventive, and skilled, he executes plots that astound his patrons and confound his enemies. When Jerrell hires out his services, he soon discovers that the schemes of ambitious wizards involve risks any sane person would avoid. Well, this thief is just crazy enough to manipulate the ruling wizard class against one another...until he finds himself the victim of even greater machinations.

When Dion Semele moves to Napa, all he wants is to fit in. But something really strange is happening to Dion, and odd-girl-out Penelope understands completely. Something is happening to her, too. You see, they were made for each other. As Dion's new life becomes a twisted nightmare, he learns that maybe he and Penelope were made to raise hell together, too. Soon, they are caught in a battle for control of their souls, as malignant forces plunge Napa into an abyss of debauchery and blood.

In VOLUME 9 of The Things Our Fathers Saw® series, ‘Homefront/Women At War’, we will take an often-overlooked view of the story of World War II. You will visit with the people on the homefront, from schoolkids navigating growing up during the Great Depression and the War, to the women on the factory floor and the armed services, newly independent but having to fight for their rights and later, their jobs, laying the seeds of societal change for the future.

The darkest secrets of a Russian oligarch - a legacy from Stalin. A hidden batch of the CIA’s Stinger missiles. And the insatiable Afghan thirst for revenge. Ex-CIA war crimes investigator Joe Johnson is sucked into an inquiry which delves into the deadly world of Soviet and US undercover operations in Afghanistan during the 1980s - and mysterious connections to current US and Russian politics.

Special Forces are accustomed to crazy ops, but orbiting a black hole to slow down time and fight Earth’s dirty wars in the future? That’s new, even for them. But that’s the mission for Owen Quarry, Anaya Pretorius, and the rest of COG, a company of elite, disgraced, soldiers from around the globe. They join a defrocked company commander, an AI warship with self-confidence issues, and a crew of misfit troopers on a dizzying time-quest: prove the concept of stationing armies in space-time. If they complete ten missions, they’ll be redeemed as citizens in good standing.

In Beverly Hills, a wealthy CEO goes on a bloody rampage and videotapes the slaughter. He leaves behind a chilling cryptic message: “This is where it begins." Miles away, an alarmed mother receives an unsettling letter from her estranged husband, stained with bloody fingerprints. And all across California, children are becoming affected by a monstrous change - and their parents by a mounting fear. Social worker Carrie Daniels and reporter Brian Howells are determined to find the link between these baffling crimes....

For nearly 2000 years, the Catholic Church has revered and protected its priceless, sprawling inventory of holy relics. From the bones of apostles to pieces of the cross Jesus died on, Catholics worldwide have long viewed their cherished relics as sacred - reminders of the possibility of miracles, of the power of the Almighty. But, some of the holiest relics in all of Christendom have been lost down through the centuries to war, thieves, or worse. And, the Catholic Church has spent untold blood and treasure to recover them - often to no avail.

Something wicked is going on in the village of Ascension. A mother wasting away from cancer is suddenly up and about. A boy trampled by a milk cart walks away from the accident. A hanged man can still speak, broken neck and all. The dead are not dying. When Rabbit and Sadie Grace accompany their friend Rose to Ascension to help take care of her ailing cousin, they immediately notice that their new house, Bethany Hall, is occupied by dozens of ghosts. And something is waiting for them in the attic.

Ghosts, specters, wraiths.... Restless undead spirits wail beneath the full moon and reach out for you from the swirling mists. The pain and loneliness of death drives them to seek the one thing they cannot have - the spark of life within your soul.... Scare Street presents volumes seven through nine of Terror in the Shadows, gathered into one spine-tingling tome. More than 30 stories of supernatural fear and suspense lurk with this macabre collection. Each one packed with a ghoulish assortment of creatures from beyond the grave.

When Sean Wyatt and his longtime friend, Tommy Schultz, try to help a troubled Japanese woman, they find themselves right in the thick of a power struggle between some of the most dangerous gangsters in the world. Now Sean and company must race across Japan, unravel clues that were left decades before, and discover the true location of a blade made by the greatest sword maker of all time: Honjo Masamune.

Executioners don’t solve crimes; they punish those who commit them. Or, so Finn thought before apprenticed to one. Poverty-stricken Finn Jagger would give anything to heal his ailing mother. With his father imprisoned, Finn has joined a thieving crew to earn the money he needs to save her. When the latest heist turns to disaster and lands him on death row, Finn’s future seems to be tied up with a noose. Until the king’s executioner claims him as an apprentice. Finn soon learns an executioner has far more power and greater responsibility than he’d ever realized.

The key to finding the one responsible for the attack on Terndahl involves crossing the waste, but is Tolan willing to risk the tenuous peace they've achieved for revenge? Now a master shaper, Tolan must serve the Academy, but he understands the risk his mother poses. While others want to study the power out on the waste, Tolan sees the need to look beyond Terndahl. His mother remains at large, and they still don’t know her ultimate goal.

It begins in a small Southwestern town. Then, it spreads. Across the country, a series of strange deaths have overtaken the living. And a stranger compulsion has overtaken the dead. In a travesty of life, they drift with bizarre purpose toward an unknown destination. The walkers have become an obsession for investigator Miles Huerdeen. His father is one of them.

Two thousand years ago the Celtic Queen Boudica waged war against the Roman army. She nearly won, though history cannot explain why. When Harry Fox uncovers lost documents from Aristotle and Emperor Nero, he learns Queen Boudica used an unearthly weapon to nearly topple Nero's army. And this weapon may still exist.

The festival was intended as a getaway from UCLA for Gary, his girlfriend, Joan, and their friends. But soon after they arrive, Joan vanishes. Calls to her parents’ home yield only dead air. Her school records are gone. And there’s no evidence that Joan, or even her roommate, ever existed. Most disturbing of all is what they do find. Among Joan’s belongings is a prayer written on a small scroll. It’s a safeguard — and a warning — from something called The Outsiders. For Gary and his friends, it’s the only clue.