Showing results by narrator "Steve West" in All Categories

Prince Leander of Alinor boarded a ship to make his family’s traditional pilgrimage to the Isles of the Gods, to strengthen the goddess Barrica. The Mellaceans had other ideas. Only Selly, the prince and I survived from that ship. We fled from Laskia and her crew, were chased across the Crescent Sea, and arrived at the Isles with only moments to spare. There, at the Isle of the Mother, we believed we witnessed Laskia’s death. We were wrong.

Ranna Abramson wants to disappear. But she knows she can’t keep running when a former enemy tracks her down in Mumbai with dire news: her onetime lover, journalist Alex Derksen, has disappeared back home in South Africa. Torn between her desire for him and fear of a homecoming, Ranna knows she’s the only one who can find him. But only two things in South Africa would welcome her - the inside of a cell or the bottom of a grave. There, to the police she’s the prime suspect of three murders. To the press she’s the serial killer Black Widow.

When Temple wakes up in a filthy hotel, he doesn't remember a thing. Not how he got here. Not even his name. Temple just happened to be the first word he read on the bible sitting on the dusty nightstand. When he discovers that he and all those around him are caught in the apocalyptic hellscape of a collapsing metropolis, he must carefully weigh the balance between charity and self-sacrifice as he sets out into this strange new world. Grasping at a chance for purpose, he befriends young Nina.

Explore the dark under-belly of Eberron with it's version of the private detective - The Inquisitives! A series of grisly murders has shaken the small city of Aruldusk. Both the Church and the Crown send in agents to investigate. But when the body count continues to rise, these rival factions will have to learn to work together to track down the killers - even if it means hunting through the highest reaches of power.

Many years ago, the storytellers say, the great King Arthur brought justice to England with the help of his gallant Knights of the Round Table. There was Sir Lancelot the Great, Sir Kay the Loyal, Sir Bedivere the Just, and others, including young Givret, who was known for being...well, short. Poor Givret: His size makes him so easy to overlook. But there’s more to knighthood than height, and before long, Givret’s quick thinking lands him a place at the famous Round Table!

The Inquisitives are the "private eyes" of the Eberron world, solving murders with magic and steel. A diplomat has been murdered and an innocent man has been accused. An up-and-coming young Inquisitive is brought in to solve this high-profile case, but corruption, money, and power stand in her way.

Captain Torius Vin and the crew of the Stargazer have given up the pirate life, instead becoming abolitionist privateers bent on capturing slave ships and setting their prisoners free. But when rumors surface of a new secret weapon in devil-ruled Cheliax, are the Stargazers willing to go up against a navy backed by hell itself?

Successful screenwriter Finn Masters just landed his dream job writing for Neighbors, one of Hollywood's highest-rated, longest-running sitcoms. The only downside? It will put him back in proximity of the show’s universally adored, optimistic, altruistic star, Lavender Rhodes, who has been inadvertently ruining his life since they were school chums in England. But she doesn't even know she destroyed his acting career and wrecked his relationship with the love of his life.

Tim Diamond - the world’s worst private detective - takes on his most dangerous case yet, and it’s going to be up to his brother to keep him out of trouble. A short story from Guys Read: Thriller, edited by Jon Scieszka.

Psychology professor Jackie Strelitz thinks she’s over Harlan Crispin, her ex-lover and colleague. Why should she care if Harlan springs a new “friend” on her? After all, Jackie has everything she ever wanted: a loving husband and a thriving career. Still, she can’t help but be curious about Harlan’s latest. Nasira Amari is graceful, smart, and appallingly young. Worse, she’s the newest member of Jackie’s research team.

Many years ago, the storytellers say, the great King Arthur brought justice to England with the help of his gallant Knights of the Round Table. Which makes destiny a splendid thing for King Arthur and his noble knights, but what about a knight who is destined to bring disaster to everything he touches? Such a knight is poor Sir Balin, who bears the burden of a childhood prophecy of doom. And sure enough, whenever he’s around, things seem to go sour. Whether he’s battling an invisible knight or accidentally overthrowing kingdoms, Sir Balin does his best but always expects the worst.

King Arthur’s Knights were brave like Sir Lancelot the Great. They were smart like Sir Givret the Short. But they didn’t always act quite as...gallantly as a true knight should. Even King Arthur’s nephew, known at that time as Sir Gawain the Undefeated, was too full of himself to accept a token of thanks from a rescued princess! Someone, like a giant Green Knight, needed to teach Sir Gawain that courtesy and friendship are just as important as strength and courage. Come ride along on this exciting year-long quest of Sir Gawain the Undefeated-but-who-may-learn-a-lesson-along-the-way.

After her brother loses their entire family fortune in a wager he cannot afford, Alice ventures into the Rose Briar Woods to make a deal with the formidable Fae marquis who now owns her family’s estate—a portrait in exchange for her brother’s freedom. But instead of Lord Ambrose, the young artist meets a mysterious masked man who saves her when her carriage is attacked by goblins. Right away, Alice realizes Lord Ambrose is not what she expects. He’s kind when the Fae are supposed to be cold. And he’s hiding a painful past—one that seems to have something to do with Alice.

Tales of blood, magic, and steel by masters of the craft!

When an executed original of a secret treaty between England and France, known as the French Treaty, is stolen from the country estate of Lord Halifax, Scotland Yard asks Joanna, Dr. John Watson, Jr., and Dr. John Watson, Sr., to use their detective skills to participate in the hunt for the missing treaty. As the government becomes more restless to find the missing document and traditional investigative means fail to turn up the culprit, Joanna is forced to devise a clever plan to trap the thief and recover the missing treaty.

Cora Grim, daughter of the Grim Reaper, is suddenly thrust into her father’s role. Leaving the Underworld on her own to bring back the dead souls, she discovers that the Master of Death neglected to tell her one thing. She can still fall in love.

Justice always comes. Claire Vetra is looking for two men. The first man she’ll kill. The second man she’ll also kill - after she makes him watch as she destroys everything he’s built. This is only the start of Claire's revenge against the World Alliance Order, which held her hostage for a year and subjected her to live human testing in the name of medical science. But when Claire begins to unravel her past, she discovers that unlocking the memories of what happened to her might destroy the remaining shreds of her sanity.

From the best-selling author of Republic of Fear, here is a gritty and unflinching novel about Iraqi failure in the wake of the 2003 American invasion, as seen through the eyes of a Shi‘ite militiaman whose participation in the execution of Saddam Hussein changes his life in ways he could never have anticipated.

The second volume in the Guys Read Library of Great Reading is chock-full of mystery, intrigue, and nefarious activity. Featuring some of the best writers around, and compiled by certified guy Jon Scieszka, Guys Read: Thriller is a pulse-pounding collection of brand-new short stories, each one guaranteed to keep you riveted until the final page.

Imagine you looked up at just the right moment and saw something completely unexpected. What if it was something so marvelous that it transformed time and space forever? The Body in the Clouds tells the story of one such extraordinary moment - a man falling from the sky and surviving - and of the three men who see it, in different ways and at different times, as they stand on the same piece of land.