Showing results by narrator "Neil Hellegers" in All Categories

The stories in this anthology range from quietly strange to ambitiously speculative. Humans transform into cosmic energy or sentient algae. A man wakes up in a new body in a world with continents cut out, months absent from the calendar year, and souls misplaced. Students at a high school regularly vanish without a trace. A woman descends into the depths of the ocean and encounters all-knowing creatures who may have the answers to her deepest questions.

Years have passed since the demon Tarrik and his master, the sorcerer Ren, destroyed the servants of Samal and suppressed the very essence of the vile lord. The cost was greater than even a demon could have imagined. But in the realms of demons and humans, no evil can be fully controlled, and no one’s true fate can be foretold. Including Tarrik’s. He’s been summoned once more, now by the vengeful Linriel, who’s fallen in with one of Samal’s ravaged survivors.

Now, the academy is sending its students to a holy land called the Burning Lake. Treasures beyond imagination lay at the heart of this mystical realm, guarded by fearsome beasts and wild magics. But chaos lurks behind the allure of the holy land. Forces once dormant have begin to stir, and when they make their move, nobody will be safe. With both his, and the lives of his friends in the balance, Andross' only chance of survival may be revealing his greatest secret to the world.

After escaping with the information they needed, Kyle and his team must plan their next move. While working hard to discover many things about himself, his shipmates, and his denti body, Kyle finds not one...but three stowaways. An exotic female Kiain who helps him unlock his Kenosi potential, and a deadly Sitha mother protecting her young son. He doesn’t throw them out of the airlock, but pirate and monster infested space isn’t exactly the safest place to be raising a child.

My name is Cisco Suarez, but I've been called a lot of things. Wizard, hit man, black magic outlaw. I guess one day I finally went too far because someone left me for dead in a dumpster. That should've been it for me. End of story. But I'm not like most people. Compelled by equal doses of voodoo and sheer grit, I came back...and I want answers. Which might explain the zombie pit bull sniffing after me. And the automatic weapons. But I'm too stubbon to back down. I'll go through a voodoo gang, a shape-shifting trickster, and a bloodthirsty vampire if it gets me out of this.

This collection of 22 short stories by the author of Daughter of Hounds and Alabaster firmly established Caitlín R. Kiernan as one of the preeminent voices in dark fantasy today. Through a cycle of interconnected narratives, Kiernan unflinchingly explores a surreal world where the fantastic and the mundane are never separated by more than the insubstantial thickness of a shadow.

Ten years have passed since Gormon Hughes joined the Scarlet Citadel. Now a legendary agent of its power, Hughes is confronted by a much darker legend. A recent spate of killings has been tied to the old story of Spring-Heeled Jack. Approached by a grizzled officer from his home District, Hughes commits himself to solving the mystery. Does Jack really exist, or is he just a myth?

The new Trinity Nation, formed from the Molten Fist, Infernal Marauders and Ilus has stabilized itself. Jaxus comes to the four horsemen with a mission. Ships have gone missing holding the Nether Forge’s weapons. The Limos Trading Company’s reputation is on the line and they need their problem solvers. The Four Horsemen need their information from Limos.

There are no victors in war. That's the refrain that goes through Matt Fang's mind. With losses mounting, not just among his units but his Heroes too, Matt is struggling with confidence and the mounting pressure. That's, of course, when a ship is sighted on the horizon; opening up a whole new front. In the final volume of the Magic Kingdom at War series, Matt is about to learn the reason why. Whether it's enough, well... even he's not certain.

The only thing worse than an assassin is a zombie assassin. And this killer is no ordinary zombie, and Cisco Suarez, the Miami Police Department's resident supernatural consultant and a practicing necromancer, has to untangle his story and solve the case.

A mystical and transcendent journey of two wanderers, an 11-year-old boy and an old man to whom the boy has been entrusted by his father, a Jew, fleeing the ravages of the war by the late award winning author, Aharon Appelfeld. The old man is a former Ukrainian commander, revered by the soldiers under his command, who has gone blind and chosen the life of a wanderer as his last spiritual adventure.

When the supernatural rears its head in Miami, the sleuthing's usually up to me, Cisco Suarez, resident necromancer and all-around hard case. All I ask is to kick back in paradise once in a while, spend some quality time with my girl, and maybe even find that special moment to pop the question. But life doesn't always play fair, and neither do monsters. Turns out, old grudges die hard. So come after me. Maybe I deserve it. But going after my family crosses the line.

Kyle and the crew have one chance to win the war on Tolsa. They are constantly moving between battlefields and helping the rebels in a desperate bid to find parts that they need, only ever staying a single step ahead of Motaki. One slip-up, and Kyle's team will be surrounded on all sides. With no respawn facilities - and trapped by bounty hunters - Kyle and his crew are torn between their own safety and doing the right thing. Cure a dying species, or snatch the finest mech they've ever seen.

Hate your job. Start all over. Become an assassin. Roman Martin's life continues to take twists and turns he could have never seen coming. A month after losing his power, Roman is greeted by an exemplar named Orange who has some damning information for him. Later, he's given an ultimatum that forces him to become a government assassin, where he's sent to the Western Province in pursuit of a Centralian fugitive he knows intimately. It's not something Roman is comfortable with doing, but if he hopes to survive and avoid prosecution by his own government, it may be his only choice.

Azure has come face to face with the notorious bandit, James Bower. Completely surrounded, what can he possibly do to survive the encounter with an enemy almost double his level and emerge victorious? Things won't be easy for Azure as he faces more perils than ever before. Even if he does survive, he still has the Darkness status effect to contend with, sorting out his friends from his foes, and starting his journey to the God of Land. Perhaps he'll end up being the biggest backstabber in the end.

Raised as Jehovah's Witnesses and frustrated with their parents' repressive rules, Bryan and David Freeman rebelled as teenagers. Encouraged by an acquaintance he met while institutionalized at a reform school, Bryan became a neo-Nazi. Bryan then indoctrinated David, and their flair for defiance took a dark turn. After callously murdering their father, mother, and younger brother, the skinhead brothers took flight across America, with police from three states in hot pursuit.

Eric McCaffrey has come face-to-face with the developers of Battlegrounds Online. They have shown up at his doorstep. He's used to seeing those faces in the game, not inside his apartment. He knew the game had been physically affecting him. Turns out he was right, and Hastech wants to run some tests. Battlegrounds Online was designed as a training simulator for the military. They want to know why Eric is being affected.

Horsetooth Reservoir is an artificial body of water in land-locked Colorado. So how did a mermaid end up there? Cormac, former bounty hunter turned supernatural problem solver, doesn't much care how she got there. But he's determined to get her home, no matter who tries to stop him. And a surprising number of people are trying to stop him.

On the run from a shadowy cabal of the world's most powerful men, ex-Navy Seal Michael Gannon heads to the safest place he can think of: his war buddy's ranch in the wilds of Utah. But when his friend's brother is found dead in the rocky mountains, Gannon realises he can't stay off grid. Is the death connected to a string of grisly murders occurring in national parks...or something even more sinister? Flushed from cover, Gannon finds himself sucked into a lethal conspiracy that has infiltrated the highest levels of the US government.

What exactly is the difference between a love letter and a suicide note? Is there really any difference at all? These might be the questions posed by Dear Sweet Filthy World, Caitlin R. Kiernan’s 14th collection of short fiction, comprising 28 uncollected and impossible-to-find stories. Here are 28 tales of apocalypse and rebirth, of miraculous transformation and utter annihilation. Here is the place where professing your undying devotion might be precisely the same thing as signing your own death warrant or worse.