Showing results by narrator "Ryan Burke" in All Categories

Mankind's outer colonies are disappearing. Without warning. Without a trace. Fleet command chalks the attacks up to pirates, but Captain Dryker of the UFC Johnston isn't buying it. Defying command, he leads his misfit crew into hostile territory in search of answers. They encounter a technologically superior foe unlike anything humanity has ever seen, one bent on the destruction of all sentient life. After 26,000 years the mythical Void Wraith have returned to begin the next Eradication.

The winds of Fortune continue to try to drive Archer Devereaux onto the rocks of fate. Enemies abroad and incompetent leadership at home combine to make his life dangerously difficult. Luckily, when he’s able to put his hand on the tiller, he somehow manages to steer clear of total disaster. Having demonstrated a knack for achieving results no matter how long the odds, the navy calls on Archer for its most dangerous assignments as the war heats up. Even "tame" assignments turn deadly, as Archer's presence at diplomatic functions seems to guarantee disaster.

The ship survived, but over time, the original crew died out. Their children were left to continue the fight for their home against their sworn enemy, the vicious alien Malibor. They’ve lived their whole lives in space. Their idea of heaven is open air, blue skies, and the quiet of peace. But they'll never have that if they don't take it by force.

Join Josh, Linc, and Hilly one last time as they put the finishing touches on the settlement of Blade's Rest. Brick by brick, plank by plank, they have built up their little haven until their dream is within reach: Blade's Rest might soon be recognized as a town.

What separates great novels from mediocre ones? Story. Authors that master this vital skill keep their readers and listeners up at night, and suffer the deluge of 'when is the next book coming out' emails. Whether you are a first-time novelist, or a seasoned author, Plot Gardening will teach you the fundamentals of storytelling, delivered in a practical way. Through exercises at the end of each chapter you will build your own outline, and you'll do it without sacrificing the creativity that is so vital to telling great stories.

Join us, or die and join anyway. I hate necromancers. They're sneaky, and underhanded, and...damned effective. My father's ghost is going to be reshaped into an assassin sent to kill my mother unless I dance for Necrotis, an unliving goddess and ruler of the Maker's Wrath. A storm rages across the void, with winds upwards of 2,000 kilometers a second in some places, the Catalyst known as Sanctuary. Necrotis wants me to fly inside, find a city that predates the Great Cycle, and find a way inside when no one ever has before.

Imperalis has been lost. The Nameless Ones have returned. The Coalition refuses to fight, leaving the Ganog to wage a war they cannot win. Betrayed and cut off, Khar and Zakanna struggle to survive. Nolan and Burke bring Alpha Company to reinforce the Nyar home world, only to be overwhelmed by the mighty Void Wraith Omegas. Fizgig and Takkar are captured by the sadistic Kthul fleet leader, Azatok.

While rooting around in the mysterious stone chambers of New England, historian Cameron Thorne and his fiancée Amanda Spencer-Gunn stumble upon a reinterpretation of the Biblical passage calling on Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. It is a revelation—long suppressed by the medieval Knights Templar—that threatens to destabilize the Middle East forever. It is also a secret Cam and Amanda want nothing to do with. Not that a rogue faction of puppeteering Freemasons gives a damn what Cam and Amanda want.

In the new edition of this fascinating book, a book that has appeared on MSNBC, CNBC, Slashdot.org, Lifehacker.com and in the New York Times, best-selling author Scott Berkun pulls the best lessons from the history of innovation, including the recent software and web age, to reveal powerful and surprising truths about how ideas become successful innovations - truths people can easily apply to the challenges of today. 

Every survivor has a story. The Purge decimated the planet almost a year ago, leaving small bands of humanity scrambling to find sanctuary from the hordes of unkillable monsters that reside in the darkness.

A man-made plague has ravaged humanity, the military is in shambles, and chaos reigns over the world. Hope seems nothing more than a dream. Captain Dominic Holland is determined to stop the inevitable. His daughters are finally safe, and his crew has found new ways to combat the Skulls. He leads the Hunters on a mission to recover vital research that may hold the key to stopping the biological agent responsible for this apocalyptic new world. Can the Hunters salvage what remains of humanity? Or is it already too late?

What would happen if our world turned into a computer game? It might sound tempting at first, but there's one small detail you should know: in this game, people are nothing but non-playable characters, useful only for the service they provide to the real players. Experience, development, loot, levels—none of that is for us. Our role is merely to dance to the tune of our masters, who have come to our world to turn it into a character farm and a space for their own entertainment.

Historians Cameron Thorne and Amanda Spencer-Gunn uncover a stolen painting which the Nazis believed was a secret map to the Holy Grail and the lost treasure of the Knights Templar. Hitler planned to weaponize the Holy Grail and monetize the treasure as part of his campaign of world dominance. Cam and Amanda just want to find the legendary artifacts. The Nazis failed because they were unable to decipher the secret Templar clues left in the painting. Cam and Amanda may fail—perhaps fatally—because a group of modern-day Nazis remain obsessed with finishing Hitler's work.

 A mysterious race of North American giants. An ancient Hebrew inscription in a Cherokee burial mound. A blood oath made by blindfolded Freemasons. Are these three historical oddities the reason the CIA is trying to brainwash historian Cameron Thorne and his fiancee Amanda Spencer-Gunn? The answer lies buried in the legends of the Knights Templar, within the rituals of the secretive Freemasons and, most significantly of all, inside the bowels of the Smithsonian Institution 

Surrounded by enemies and suffering from heavy casualties, Clay and his motley crew are in their toughest spot yet. Making things worse, their greatest enemy is about to be crowned emperor of Arethkar, granting him unbridled power and abilities. With a new quest and class unlocked, Clay and his pals have 10 days to sneak into the foreign capital, establish disguises, and assassinate the emperor-to-be. Sounds easy, except for the extra tight security, corrupt nobles, and monsters roaming the sewers beneath.

An empire entombed under ash. Four centuries ago, the Stewards decreed that the Elentian Imperium must be punished. For a year and a day, ash rained from the sky forming what is now known as the Ashlands. As a new member of the Temple of Celeste, you are now privy to the truth. Our diviners have scried the infamous lich's final moments. If you dare witness the memory, you will find it transcribed within. The Crown of Command is a short novella set in the Shattered Gods universe.

Major Voria stands ready to accept the cost for her actions at Marid. Stripped of command and resources, Voria must find a ship and rally a crew. Somewhere within the Umbral Depths lays a hidden world, a world that the dead god, Marid, intended her to find. Aran faces a choice. Halt his war mage training and, in the process, give up clues to his past, or abandon Voria. Aran sacrifices everything to follow Voria on a suicidal quest into the one place where even gods fear to tread.

Before he became an archmage to topple an empire, before he met the legendary Eradicator Xal, Saghir was born a free ratkin, living on the streets of Gateway, a perilous desert city at the edge of the Blasted Lands. Each month, the free laborers must pay their tithe in coin, or blood. Every ratkin in Saghir's tribe searches for something of value, lest their whole people be enslaved. Ruthless Corax, carnivorous scarabs, and worse infest the city. There are countless ways for a rat to die, and all it takes is one mistake. There are no second chances.

Our world is tumbling into the sun. The quakes have leveled cities. Soon the continents themselves will break apart. The ships are gone. There's no way off. But I'm not giving up. I'm a Relic Hunter...an archaeologist with a gun, and I have a plan. Our people arrived on Kemet thousands of years ago in the wake of a terrible space battle. The Great Ships are still up there, ancient derelict hulks powered by a combination of technology and magic, created by gods we no longer remember or understand. If I can get one of those ships active, maybe I can save myself.

The Krox have finally reached their end game, and the sector will never be the same. Their relentless fleet darkens the skies of New Texas, home of the fabled Ternus shipyards. Their only hope lies with their sworn allies, the Shayans. But the Shayans refuse to help. Only Aran and his company can keep their leadership alive long enough for Voria to bring reinforcements and the fabled Spellship. If they fail, the entire world burns, and Ternus morale will collapse with it. But the war is merely a smokescreen for something much more sinister.