Showing results by narrator "Shelby Lewis" in All Categories

When Alice tumbles down, down, down a rabbit-hole one hot summer's afternoon in pursuit of a White Rabbit, she finds herself in Wonderland. And there begin the fantastical adventures that will see her experiencing extraordinary changes in size, swimming in a pool of her own tears, and attending the very maddest of tea parties.

It is finished... Sweat dripping off her brow as the threads started long ago start to fuse together. It’s time to make plans, hide the truth, and get the HELL off her throne. But how to accomplish creating a federation when those coming together want to gut her empire? Anyone who understands the Queen Bitch knows she won't accept that condition without a fight. However, to accomplish meeting her love again in a system far away, she will accomplish the impossible. Her eyes start to glow red. No one will stop her from getting back to Michael.

The Leath are fighting for their Gods, but Bethany Anne is fighting for freedom. Then, the Leath make a very fatal mistake. On another planet, the Leath dishonor the Etheric Empire's warriors and Bethany Anne unleashes her new avatar and there will be hell to pay.

In California, Frank Morgan nearly found a home. But now he’s pulled up stakes and hit the road again, aiming to reach the high desert of Arizona. For Frank, the plan changes when he steps into a saloon in a dusty boom town called Los Angeles. That’s where he learns that his nemesis, Val Dooley, has found a new business: the selling of young women into prostitution, with the victims as young as 12 years old and the survivors ending up drugged and beaten.

The Skull Throne of Krasia stands empty. Built from the skulls of fallen generals and demon princes, it is a seat of honor and ancient, powerful magic, keeping the demon corelings at bay. From atop the throne, Ahmann Jardir was meant to conquer the known world, forging its isolated peoples into a unified army to rise up and end the demon war once and for all. But Arlen Bales, the Warded Man, stood against this course, challenging Jardir to a duel he could not in honor refuse.

Notes from the author: The following is a short story I wrote in the Elantris world back in January of 2006. There were always a few holes in Elantris where I decided not to include viewpoints or sections of explanation in the name of streamlining, particularly at the end. In the back of my mind, I knew what happened. This story talks about one of those holes; it is meant to be heard after you’ve finished the novel and takes place during the events of the climax.

Thaddeus Bolton sees himself as a cattle king. His ambitions are as big as the land and stock he just purchased near Smoke Jensen’s Sugarloaf ranch. Bolton and his family are friendly enough, although in the case of his wife Emmaline, perhaps too friendly. While her husband stakes his claim with plans to spread throughout the territory, she’s set her sights on Smoke. But fending her off is the least of Smoke’s worries when outlaws sweep across the valley on daring rustling raids—hitting every ranch except Bolton’s.

Heris Serrano - formerly a commander in the Regular Space Service - must take whatever job she can get after her resignation under a cloud. What she can get is the captaincy of a rich old lady's space yacht...a rich old horsewoman, who has little liking for the military, and whose spoiled nephew Ronnie (and his equally spoiled friends) have been foisted on her after his folly embarrassed the family. Lady Cecelia's only apparent interest is horses - she intends to go fox hunting on the private pleasure planet of a friend of hers, Lord Thornbuckle.

Building a ranch takes heart and grit. Smoke and Sally Jensen are more than capable of meeting the challenges of shaping the land, raising the livestock, and establishing their brand. But Smoke wasn’t always an entrepreneur. He’s more apt to settle accounts with a fast draw than a checkbook. And when he learns his old friend Preacher has been ambushed by outlaws, he wastes no time saddling up and hitting the vengeance trail with his fellow mountain men Audie and Nighthawk.

The completion of a new railroad line from Colorado to Texas is a dream come true for Smoke Jensen and the other ranchers of Big Rock. But this dream turns into their worst nightmare when the first herd they load onto the train is stolen by a vicious gang of kill-crazy rustlers. This is no ordinary train robbery. It’s an inferno of slaughter that includes the friendly rancher who volunteered to take Smoke’s place on the trip. Now Smoke is saddling up and riding out—to get the prairie rats who murdered his friend.

For years, like millions of other Americans, John Thomas Rourke had planned for what seemed inevitable — the destruction of civilization. There were various possible causes: global economic collapse, some uncontrollable pestilence, a world famine — or nuclear war. And the rumbling signaling the coming of Total War was becoming increasingly strong as Rourke, ex-CIA Covert Operations Officer, weapons expert, and survival authority, made his last desperate gambit to save his estranged wife and two children before the button was pressed.

For Ky, it’s not just about liberating the star systems subjugated by Turek and defending the rest of the galaxy’s freedom. There’s also a score to be settled and payback to be meted out for the obliteration of the Vatta Transport dynasty...and the slaughter of Ky’s family. But the enemy have their own escalation efforts under way - including the placement of covert agents among the allies with whom Ky and the surviving Vattas are collaborating in the war effort.

Major David Valentine and his fugitive battalion are the remnants of an expeditionary force shattered in its long retreat from disaster in the Appalachians. Between a raging blizzard, bands of headhunters, and the need to recover wounded soldiers lost during the retreat, Valentine is in for the toughest winter of his life. And Valentine is losing allies fast. Some of the clans in the region have declared themselves in favor of the Kurians, throwing Kentucky into civil war. But the Kurian overlords have determined that the region isn't worth the effort of another conquest.

It's now generations after the firestorm that nearly consumed the Earth, but the survivors haven't yet finished paying for the sins of the fathers. All of life suffered and of those that survived, not all survived well. This cradle of life is now home to forms fallen far from their human inheritance.

Reece Quaid doesn't want to be known as "The Man Who Killed Smoke Jensen." But when the legendary mountain man shows up in the middle of a stagecoach robbery, Quaid has no choice but to shoot him. He didn't even know his victim was the famous Smoke Jensen—until he goes through his pockets and finds his papers. That's when Quaid comes up with a plan. Since he resembles Smoke, he'll simply assume his identity. Rob some banks. Hold up more stagecoaches. And shoot anyone who tries to stop him. Soon the whole world will be asking. Has Smoke Jensen gone bad?

Life is precarious in post-apocalyptic America, threatened by the toxic environment and the return to savagery. Born into this bleak reality, Ryan Cawdor roams the hell trails of Deathlands with his band of warrior survivalists. All they know is to endure and seize whatever chance they get for a better tomorrow. In the sands of California's Guadalupe desert, Ryan and companions fear that they have crossed time lines when they stumble upon a settlement straight out of fabled Egypt.

Michael Severance survived five tours of duty with the Air Force in the war torn Middle East. But he could not survive five months of marriage to Wendi Davidson. Wendi, a young veterinarian in the isolated city of San Angelo, Texas, decided the solution to her problem was to give her husband a lethal injection.

World War III has passed and John Thomas Rourke, ex-CIA Covert Operations Officer, weapons specialist and survival expert has at last reached his home, only to find that his wife and two children have fled for their lives. With the knowledge that his family has survived the nuclear holocaust, Rourke, with the aid of young Paul Rubenstein, must find his loved ones. 

For Smoke and Sally Jensen, the Sugarloaf Ranch is the American Dream come true. A glorious stretch of untamed land near the Colorado-Kansas border, it’s the perfect place to stake their claim, raise some cattle, and start a new family. But when a man claiming to be an army colonel arrives in Big Rock—with a well-armed militia—the Jensens’ dream becomes a living nightmare. This stranger calls himself Colonel Lamar Talbot. He’s come to warn them about a looming war with the Cheyenne Indians. And only he can save them from a bloody massacre—by launching a counterattack that’s even bloodier.

For most couples, the marriage vows end with “‘Til death do us part.” But when Smoke Jensen takes Sally Reynolds as his lawfully wedded wife, it’s just the beginning. The tragic deaths of Smoke’s first wife and child weigh heavily on his heart. Thankfully, Sally is there to give him the support he needs when they return to Colorado, where it all happened. She’s ready to embrace her husband’s past—for better or worse—and to welcome his friend Preacher into the family. But when outlaws make an attempt to kidnap a local girl, Sally is forced to use the gun skills she had learned from Smoke.