Showing results by narrator "Kirby" in All Categories

A hidden world, secrets, love, betrayal...and dragons. Reality? Gone...yanked out from under me like a cheap Ikea rug. Here are the doozies I've learned since coming to the Dragon Born Academy: Dragons exist. Also, bondmates. I'm now bound to Ashe Carrick, who's basically Dragonborn Royalty. The downside? He wants nothing to do with me.

The planet is ravaged by violent storms and failing crops and much of the world is now uninhabitable. Amidst a world of hungry and desperate people, the Department of Environmental Justice have been tasked with finding and executing those who have denied climate change.

The X-Men meets Ocean's Eleven in this edge-of-your-seat sci-fi adventure about a band of "super" criminals. When the deadly MK virus swept across the planet, a vaccine was created to stop the epidemic, but it came with some unexpected side effects. A small percentage of the population developed superhero-like powers, and Americans suffering from these so-called adverse effects were given an ultimatum: Serve the country or be declared a traitor. Some people chose a third option: Live a life of crime.

My name is Isobel Drake. And I have a dangerous secret. I'm a half-human, half-dragon hybrid hiding in plain sight in the humans-only city of Yerba Buena. There are others like me, pretending to be fully human, in a world where dragons are exiled to reservations and face the death penalty if caught in a human settlement. When a half-dragon warrior demands my help to find a stolen dragon's egg, I realize I can't hide anymore. Now, the fate of a helpless dragon hatchling lies in my hands. I have to save her...even if it means confronting dangerous enemies and risking my secret.

It's been happening since Min was eight. Every two years, on her birthday, the same man finds her and murders her in cold blood. But hours later she wakes up in a clearing just outside her hometown - alone, unhurt, and with all evidence of the crime erased. Across the valley, Noah just wants to be like everyone else. But he's not. Nightmares of murder and death plague him, too, though he does his best to hide the signs.

Rahl, a young apprentice scrivener on the island of Recluce, likes life to work out in his favor. And he has a bad attitude, too. To make sure things go his way, he uses a small amount of order magic at opportunistic moments-but his abilities are starting to get the attention of the Council magisters. So the Council sends him to the mage training school for testing, and through misuse of his powers, which are getting stronger all the time, Rahl gets himself banished to the continent and empire of Hamor.

Twenty-two-year-old Aern is done watching his brother destroy the only thing that matters. He never wanted to take Morgan's place among council, never wanted to rule their hidden world. But when the key to the prophecy is found, a young girl named Brianna whom Morgan will destroy, Aern knows he has to take action. What he really wants is for things to go back to normal. But now he's kidnapped a girl, and his brother's men are after him.

Some stories are all about the crime. These stories are about the maelstrom of what happens afterward. A hard-bitten crew of professional thieves pull of the score of their lives, coming away with millions in cash, enough to change their lives, make new identities, start fresh. But that's when the real trouble begins. In this linked anthology, we follow each member of the crew of culprits after the heist and watch as this perfect score ends up a perfect nightmare.

In Fall of Angels, the sixth installment of the Saga of Recluce series, L. E. Modesitt, Jr., introduced the engineer/smith Nylan, the only man among the leadership of the company of "angels" marooned on a high plateau in the west of Candar, and perhaps the one person most responsible for their survival. But the angels are a matriarchal band, and so Nylan must leave his companions and seek a life elsewhere. He travels down from the plateau into the world of warring kingdoms and strange magics with his companion, Ayrlyn, the healer, and his infant son.

Dava Sobel’s thoughtful play brings to life the story of Nicolaus Copernicus, the Renaissance astronomer, and mathematician who proposed the heliocentric model of the universe in which the Sun stands at the center. Plagued by self-doubt and threatened by religious censure, Copernicus resisted the publication of his work until just before his death in 1543. The play follows Copernicus in those final years as he works to complete his research with the help of Georg Rheticus, a young disciple from Wittenberg, Germany.

The Trial Worlds do not forgive mistakes, and Kai will learn this through firsthand experience. He escaped death, but he lost a part of himself along the way. To get it back, he will have to overcome pain and suffering. But he knows it will be worth it. He is no longer a pawn in the world of cultivation. So far, he has been but one of the many participants in the unfolding events, but now it is time for him to become the ringleader.

We have somehow internalized the unbiblical idea that the immaterial aspect of our being (our soul or spirit) is inherently good while the material aspect (our body) is at worst inherently evil and at best neutral - just a vehicle for our souls to get around. So we end up neglecting or disparaging our bodies. But we don't have bodies; we are our bodies. And God created us that way for a reason. Theologian Gregg Allison presents a holistic theology of the human body from conception through eternity to equip us to address pressing contemporary issues related to our bodies.

Officer Violet Babineaux is called to the scene of a suicide where she finds her childhood friend Charlotte Labarre lying on a blood-soaked couch with a gun in her hand. Violet believes she could have prevented her suicide with a simple call. While placed on administrative leave, guilt drives her to investigate on her own, starting with Psychology Professor Daniel Russo who had an inappropriate relationship with Charlotte, his student. Violet portrays a vulnerable facade to entice his interest, however she falls for his charms.

Zack Dylan has a dream. He wants to sing on the biggest stages, for the biggest crowds, and he’ll do whatever it takes to make it come true. But Zack also made a promise to his college sweetheart when he left Kentucky to compete on the popular TV show Fifteen Minutes: If he made it, nothing would change him or his faith in God. Overnight, Zack becomes the nation’s most popular contestant. As his star rises, Zack is often asked to compromise his beliefs. Just as he’s on the verge of winning it all, his choices lead him to the brink of personal disaster.

Meditations with Miya Blue is an upbeat, irreverent story of a wellness influencer living her best (sponsored) life. That is, until a very un-Zen series of events threatens to pull the thread of Miya's calm and unravel her carefully woven world.

Rahl was a young apprentice on the island of Recluce who was sent to the mages' training school for testing, then banished to Hamor. His education now continues under dangerous circumstances. In Hamor, his powers have increased but so has the amount of trouble he attracts. The whole society of Hamor is a new culture for L. E. Modesitt, Jr., to explore, one in which magic is a monopoly of the state. Rahl is a mage now, powerful and still just as dangerous to himself and to others.

Redburn charts the coming-of-age of Wellingborough Redburn, a young innocent who embarks on a crossing to Liverpool together with a roguish crew. Once in Liverpool, Redburn encounters the squalid conditions of the city and meets Harry Bolton, a bereft and damaged soul, who takes him on a tour of London that includes a scene of rococo decadence unlike anything else in Melvilles fiction.

Michael Steeb is an aimless 21-year-old pot farmer in Central California in the 1980s. He has no real plans or interests...until the day he connects with memories of a life that seems to belong to someone else. That "spirit" is Walter, a young American soldier killed in World War II. Michael's task is the near-impossible: to lead Walter's family to closure and peace, to deliver the real truth behind Walter's Purple Heart, and to somehow achieve the forgiveness absent for so many years so Walter can move on.

There are two sides to every story. The surface reality that’s presented to the world. And then, there’s the other side. The real one. The one that matters. Seventeen-year-old self-proclaimed asshole Toby Page is alone. No friends. No family. He trades maintenance work in exchange for room and board. Every day, he fights demons no one else can see. Every day, he wants to give up. But he can’t. Not yet. When Alice Eliot moves in downstairs, she offers Toby some light in his dark world.

Frances Metcalfe is struggling to stay afloat. A stay-at-home mom whose troubled son is her full-time job, she thought that the day he got accepted into the elite Forrester Academy would be the day she started living her life. Overweight, insecure, and lonely, she is desperate to fit into Forrester’s world. But after a disturbing incident at the school leads the other children and their families to ostracise the Metcalfes, she feels more alone than ever before. Until she meets Kate Randolph....