Showing results by author "Chris Cole" in All Categories

The first book in an action–packed new SF adventure series. Vulcan is a factory planet, centuries old, Company run, ugly as sin, and unfeeling as death. Vulcan breeds just two types of native: complacent or tough. Sten is tough. When his family is killed in a mysterious accident, Sten rebels, harassing the Company from the metal world’s endless maze-like warrens. He could end up just another burnt–out Delinquent. But people like Sten never give up.

Raised on the factory planet of Vulcan, Sten soon learns about the survival of the toughest. Now he wants more than survival. The Eternal Emperor rules countless worlds across the galaxy. Vast armies and huge fleets await his command. But when the Emperor needs to pacify the Wolf Worlds, the planets of an insignificant cluster that have raised space piracy to a low art, he turns to Mantis Team and its small band of militant problem–solvers. Sten’s destiny is in his own hands.

Sten had fought his way up from slave labor on a factory world to commander of the Eternal Emperor’s bodyguard, the Imperial Gurkhas. But during his first three months on Prime World, the most dangerous weapons Sten had encountered were the well–phrased lies of Court politicians. It seemed no place for an honest fighting man. But when a bomb destroys a local bar, Sten discovers the danger and corruption behind Court intrigue.

Lust. Revenge. Greed. Hunger. Desire doesn’t care if you’re at the bottom of the ladder or the top of your game. Six masters of psychological suspense craft tales about people crossing moral lines in pursuit of their deepest desires. In these short stories, even the most mild-mannered characters can spin out of control when passion is at play. Hold on tight—there’s no turning back.

Sten embarks on the ultimate treasure hunt: the search for the source of the Eternal Emperor's power. But his quest uncovers the dark secret of the emperor's past - and Sten finds himself questioning his loyalties - and whether the only way to save the human race is to destroy the Empire he vowed to protect.

The Eternal Emperor was dead, and the five members of the Privy Council ruled in his place. But they quickly discovered that their power would collapse around them if they didn’t locate the Emperor’s secret source of Anti-Matter Two, the economic keystone of the Empire. And so they sent a team of crack commandos to capture Sten, one of their late ruler’s few surviving confidantes.

Sten had fully expected to die in a blaze of glory, taking his Emperor's greatest foe with him. Instead he was a slave laborer in a P.O.W. camp deep in the heart of enemy territory. But sitting out the action had never been Sten's style. And now that the war was building to a climax, the Eternal Emperor needed him more than ever. Not even the toughest prison in the known universe could keep Sten from his mission . . .

The greats of comedy, when they were young and struggling, performing their great early routines.

The Eternal Emperor's fleets were taking a beating. Had even Sten met his match? Sten's luck seems to have deserted him. He had barely scraped through Imperial flight school when he was assigned a tacdivision in the Fringe Worlds. The enemy couldn't have picked a better time or place to launch their long-planned attack against the Empire. But Sten won't give up without a fight.

The Eternal Emperor was back and ready to save his Empire from collapse. Only Sten guessed that something was rotten at the core. The Empire is in chaos. The once great Imperial Navy has been shattered in battle and lies burning in space, driven by a civil war that threatens to engulf humanity’s future. For the revered Eternal Emperor is not the man his subjects thought him to be — and may not even be human at all. And it is Sten who now leads humanity’s fight for survival.

Ever since Amalric Antero returned from the legendary Far Kingdoms, bringing with him magic and riches, the people of Orissa believed they lived in a golden age. Even Amalric did not suspect the truth: that dark forces from another world threatened his beloved city. Then a beautiful stranger arrived claiming to be the great-granddaughter of Janos Greycloak, master-wizard and betrayer of Amalric’s youth.

Young, pampered Amalric Antero cared only for real places and possible dreams. But then he met Janos Greycloak, a dashing soldier who dabbled in forbidden magic and who carried on him proof of riches and mysteries beyond imagination. And suddenly Amalric found himself setting out on the adventure of a lifetime, a daring and perilous quest through unknown lands peopled by nightmares, to seek the ultimate in fables... The Far Kingdoms!

A gripping war story. For the first - and only - time in fiction, A Reckoning for Kings tells the story of the Vietnam conflict from both sides - Americans as well as North Vietnamese. In four short months - during the lightning-quick, bloody campaign known as the Tet Offensive - two bitterly opposing armies would clash in an epoch-shattering encounter that would alter the course of the war and the shape of the world forever. It was a time when America won the battle but lost the war.

Captain Rali Emilie Antero came from an illustrious family of traders, wizards, and adventurers. But Rali cared little for magic, and even less for journeying. She was a soldier, captain of the elite Maranon Guard, staunch defenders of the majestic city of Orissa. But her family legacy was about to catch up with her.

Interstellar war has come to planet Earth. Humanity’s representatives have one task: stop Lusus, the Leviathan, from erasing all life as we know it in a ritual called the Qualen. However, among the overwhelming challenges this threat poses, an old foe rises from the ashes to offer a different perspective: join with me, or die. In the thrilling final installment of the Fragments Series, all of humanity is put to the test. Will planet Earth ever be the same?

Jake West, newly named Ambassador of First Contact, has quite the task before him: unite the world against the Voranah, the species responsible for life on Earth. However, healing fresh and millennia-old wounds ripping the global community apart is no easy feat. As the invasion looms closer, Jake becomes the target of two secret organizations hellbent on his destruction. While navigating the public eye once more, Jake must battle assassins, self-proclaimed goddesses, and the Illuminati, all while struggling to remember the people he's fighting for.

Jake and the others have a simple mission: find the Omnia Fragment, and keep it away from Benedetti. But things get complicated as they’re pursued across the ocean to the fragment’s final resting place in the Mariana Trench. They don’t know what they’ll find when they get there, or who out of their group of seven will become The Primarch—the person who can control all the elements.

When Jake West goes on a first date with Jordan Bailey, sparks fly—both figuratively and literally, as an explosion rocks the restaurant. However, Jordan controls the blast, eyes aflame as he saves their lives. But Jordan is not alone. There are others like him, some who want to preserve the planet using the power of the elements—The Keepers—and some who want to be recognized and appreciated for the power they—The Disciples. And for some reason, the Disciples are very focused on making sure Jake doesn't see the light of another day.

Come join the Back Alley Cleanup Crew as they stumble through life trying to survive the mean streets of the Sacred Capitol of Lambrelli, City of the Eternal Goddess. DM Jim hosts this actual-play Dungeons & Dragons 5E podcast, where he guides his party of reluctant adventurers through the twists and turns of life in the big city, where fate seems to have planned anything but a common boring life for this crew. Enjoy our second season adventures as they go live every Saturday afternoon. Roll the dice with us and remember, Sometimes You Crit!

I'm sick of being called Junior. Sure, I'm William Nicholas Martens, Jr., but I just want to go by Nick. I'm sick of my boyfriend mismatching his socks on purpose. And I'm sick of being in the closet. All this changes when my band Taking Back Nick lands a record deal. My friends Casey, Kennedy, Levi, and I are about to make it big. In one night, I come out to my parents and break up with my boyfriend. And then the hard part starts. Casey is my oldest friend, and I move in with him after my breakup. But things...start to happen.