Showing results by narrator "Darla Middlebrook" in All Categories

Speculative fiction stories that are set in or about Archaeological Ruins. The protagonist in each story is an archaeologist who is a woman of color. Ruins range from those in the American Southwest to Central America, to the Andes Mountains to Egypt to the Middle East, Egypt to Aboriginal Australia, and across other areas. Some incorporate mythology of the ancient cultures who built and inhabited the ruins. Some of the protagonists are descendants of the ancient peoples of the ruins.

Deor Smithfield had it all figured out. She had a great education, a new job teaching at a good university, and a plan to move across the country to start her new life. Then her body betrayed her, and she seemed to be falling prey to the same wasting sickness that killed her mother. When medical science failed her in spectacular fashion, Deor's grandmother told her that her long-lost father was more than just another deadbeat dad - he was a faerie, and she's a Changeling, half-human, half-fae.

It was 1939, and a close-knit South African family found themselves in need of a new home. Peter van der Westhuizen, a husband and father of seven who spent most of his days on the road as a truck driver, did his best to provide for them. Then he found Opsaal. It’s an Afrikaans word that means "saddle up", but it was also a place: a farm, to be exact - a lonesome speck of nothing on the edge of a dirt track nowhere near a main road in the South African wilderness, somewhere in the Adelaide district.

Deanna was just another third-rate colony in the Terran Empire - and it was pretty much as boring a lump of rock as could be expected. That is, until Gary Beck, a.k.a. Beck the Badfeller, ran over an obsidian crow with his jeep on the highway to San Fedora and didn’t have a spare tire. Things pretty much went down hill from there.

Canadian vigilante Laura Amour takes her crusade against child exportation to France to take on an international human trafficking organization. What she exposes goes far beyond anything she has ever expected to deal with. Against her is a powerful statesman with vast resources and one of the world's most active anti-terrorist police forces. She must partner up with a rogue anti-terrorist police officer and a teen prostitute or thousands might die.

In the ruins of the collapsed United States, private inspector, Cybil Lewis and her inspector-in-training, Jane, fill a need. When Jane insists they look into her cousin's disappearance, Cybil agrees and is catapulted into a world of lies and deceit. As they investigate, they move far into the reaches of the divided states and deep into the upper crest of political turmoil. Caught up in the malestrom of betrayal and corruption, Cybil and Jane unearth long buried secrets and survive attempts on their lives.

The abandoned house in the country. You've passed by it. In a state of decay, its walls have witnessed the triumphs and tragedies of generations. There's nothing left but memories forgotten. If you believe that, you haven't been inside. Kayla buys a house in the Flint Hills town of Sycamore Falls, Kansas. The property includes a dilapidated old house out back.

Do you want to live forever? Ever since Jacob Benjamin touched his dead grandmother's cheek while she lay in her coffin, he has had a fascination with death. The mystery of the grave and what lies beyond it became a lifetime quest for the young man. His Master's Degree thesis project explores the decades-abandoned Waxley Mortuary, sitting in ruins. His research partners join him on a journey through life and legacy, but Jacob discovers there is still activity inside the dilapidated walls of Waxley. Jacob realizes that there is one figure standing between him and his legacy, salvation, and redemption: The Mortician.

This collection of stories from some of the brightest fantasy writers in the world run the gamut from steampunk to horror, from steamy romance to weird western, from Victorian thriller to contemporary bondage. But they all feature one thing in common - the corset. From vampire comedy to steampunk action to BDSM, Cinched is certain to free your mind. What else will follow?

Tales of a Minstrel follows the adventures of a minstrel named Finbar as he travels from village to village telling his stories. His own experiences, however, tend to outshine even the most exciting story he tells.

One of America's first civil rights activists was a former slave named Sojourner Truth. Truth was born into slavery around the year 1797, and would wait thirty years to win her freedom. Her 1850 autobiography brought attention to the evils of slavery, and her work during the Civil War, her speeches highlighting injustice, and her efforts to ensure greater equality for all Americans inspired those who would follow.

After that disappointing and sudden end to what had been a promising career, Mei rewarded herself with a long, relaxing vacation in the outback to celebrate her gender reassignment and her new start in life. The first stop on her journey turned out to be a little backwater planet called Deanna....

After a virus wipes out all life on the planet, Ryan Steward believes he's all that's left. Now, a race of scavengers descends on Earth, ready to consume the remaining resources. Ryan, tasked with preserving humanity's written word, must travel the country in hopes of saving books from their destruction.

"If your death ever comes before mine, I hope the gods take my life soon after." Duli and her husband had stated those words to each other several times. Then the day came when his dwarf kin brought his body back from the field of an ambush...Duli only wishes her own death, but in the process sparks a liberation movement that shakes the subterranean city to its core values. Even if the women win over their clan, they must still prove they have the mettle to face their husbands' killers, and the magic that humans command.

Rachel doesn't know what's weirder - that there's a dragon in the woods by her school, or that Scott Morrison actually thinks she's beautiful. Or maybe it's the elves. Yeah, it's totally the elves. It was an ordinary weekday for Rachel Hampton. You know, like every day - you wreck your bike on the way to school because the gorgeous queen snot of the universe slams on the brakes of her spanky little convertible right in front of you, so you swerve to miss her and get run over by Scott "Oh My God" Morrison who is so nice and so cute and so out of your league.

Forty-seven-year-old housewife Marge Christensen finds her husband, Gene, dead in their garage, slumped over the steering wheel of his still running BMW. The police rule the death a suicide. Marge does not believe Gene killed himself and determines to discover what really happened to him. In the process, she discovers all their money is missing. So, what was Gene doing before he died? Why did he die? And what was she going to do now?

Deanna, a small backwater Terran colony generally known as an idyllic tourist-magnet (if watching birds blow up if they flew too high were your kind of thing) had just hit a speed-bump on the highway of Life called the Deannan Un-civil War.

When an old friend comes calling, Caroline finds herself embroiled in a case involving clandestine meetings, bank robberies, a shady import-export business, and the murder of an FBI agent. And where this fearless female sleuth goes, Tupper Jones is sure to follow—only this time, following her could mean a long walk off a short pier into Lake Michigan.

Retired FBI agent Tupper Jones has made a name for himself as a private investigator, but nothing could prepare him for this. His partner and right-hand woman, Caroline Collins, woke up next to the body of the FBI's star mob witness with no memory of what happened. It's a race against time to solve the case before the Chicago DA puts Caroline away for murder.

Priceless artifacts looted from Chicago museums with no evidence left behind except a unique calling card that Caroline Collins recognizes. Tupper Jones fears a confrontation with his partner—can he convince her to take the string of robberies seriously, or will the FBI force him to choose between his lucrative contract and his irreverent partner?