Showing results by narrator "John Richards" in All Categories

William Shakespeare, long hailed as history's greatest dramatic writer, has been lauded for his mastery of poetic expression, his insight into the human condition, and his deep exploration into the psyche and motivations of his characters.

Set roughly half a century in the future on the artificial-island arcology of New Avalon, Tangent Knights centers on Corazón “Cory” Kagami, a bright but impulsive college student who believes in following her passions, resisting the path laid out for her by her mother, the head of a tech conglomerate responsible for astonishing breakthroughs.

The accidental gunslinger Dooley Monahan has quit wandering and settled down to a farmer’s life. But when the itch for adventure gets too strong, he packs up and rides west. Along with his horse General Grant, and Blue, a dog who’s too smart for his own good, Dooley rides for the Black Hills to strike it rich in the gold fields of Colorado. But fate has other ideas.

Nearly a hundred years after Russia's thermonuclear first strike turned America into a radioactive wasteland, the brave survivors and fierce FreeFighters of that shattered nation have forced the brutal Sov invader to the peace table. But a new and unexpected danger suddenly appears in the skies over America - from orbit. Someone is reactivating the ancient space systems of the 1980s...one by one the nuke-armed space missiles of the past change orbit to threaten every major population center of the world.

A surprise Russian thermonuclear first strike nearly a century earlier had transformed the United States into a decimated wasteland, its people enslaved by rampaging hordes of brutal Soviet invaders. But one man has refused to allow the flames of freedom to flicker out. The ultimate champion of a lost democracy, he is Ted Rockson - the Doomsday Warrior!

Former temple assassin Aral Kingslayer has a price on his head and a mark on his soul. After his goddess was murdered, Aral found refuge in the shadow jack business, fixing problems for those on the fringes of Tien’s underworld. It’s a long step down from working for the Goddess of Justice, but it gives Aral and Triss - the living shadow who is his secret partner - a reason to get up in the morning.

Othello follows the story of the Moor through love, jealousy and deceit. Iago is furious about being overlooked for promotion and plots to take revenge against his general; Othello, the Moor of Venice. Iago manipulates Othello into believing his wife, Desdemona, is unfaithful, stirring Othello's jealousy. Othello allows jealousy to consume him, murders Desdemona and then kills himself.

Cotton Pickens got where he is by virtue of a quick draw and slow wit. He knows the difference between lawbreakers you have to lock up...and the kind you might as well just let go. Deputy Rusty Irons, though, ain't the sharpest tool in the shed. Someone kidnapped Rusty's mail order brides. They were probably doing Irons a favor, but a deputy in love is blind.

These eerie tales include "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" by Edgar Allan Poe, "The Adventure of Silver Blaze" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, "The Old House On Vauxhall Walk" by Charlotte Riddle, "Levison's Victim" by Mary Braddon, and "The Woman With the Yellow Hair" by Anonymous.

From some of the hottest names in crime fiction today come original stories written expressly for this collection. These four taut tales, loaded with tension and charged with uncertainty, bring each victim - the unsuspecting, the hunted, the fearful - into the deadly sights of a hired killer's gun.

Set in 1970s Melbourne, The Removalists tells the story of sisters Kate and Fiona, who have come to tell the police about Fiona's husband Kenny's physical abuse.

Black humor and even blacker lives collide in a tale of love and murder on an old Scottish Borders family estate. In a grotesque story told from two consummately contrasting angles, we find the arrogant genius Frank, known as "Superbo", and his hated, ponderous brother Hubert.

Ozark Free Territory, 2071: The Kurian Order has reigned for 50 years. Using the dreaded power of their Reaper avatars, the alien, vampiric Kur hold dominion over the earth and its inhabitants. Yet there are those who would rather die fighting than surrender to the unquenchable thirst of the enemy - those like David Valentine.

Lou Prophet is in mixed company these days. He doesn’t mind being close to his pretty pistol-packing partner, Louisa Bonaventure. Known as the Vengeance Queen, she has his back — and dare he say it, part of his heart. But accompanying the vile outlaw Blanco Metalious back to Nugget Town to see him hang isn’t exactly Lou’s idea of a good time.

"Work Sets You Free" by David Barnett is an original short story featuring the protagonist of the forthcoming novel Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl. Gideon is a young fisherman in Yorkshire, England, in an alternate 1890, who embarks on a journey to find Captain Lucian Trigger, the famed Hero of the Empire, to deal with a mystery plaguing his home village.

It’s high-stakes, win-or-die football action in the far future, as aliens and humans fill positions based on physiology and leave their blood, sweat and tears on gridirons across the galaxy. Last season, 19-year-old rookie quarterback Quentin Barnes overcame his racism and unified his team. He led the Ionath Krakens to a lower-tier championship, a championship that earns them promotion into the meat grinder known as “Tier One.”

In the 1870s, as the country recovered from the War Between the States, the expansion of railroads and the discovery of gold opened the American west to both civilization and savagery. Men and women on both sides of the law were drawn by the chance to make a fortune, and there was often a big difference between Law and Justice. Into this whirlwind rode Nathan Stone, a man whose trail of vengeance gave him a reputation for speed with a gun. He tracked and killed the seven men who murdered his family after the war.

Nathan Stone returns to his Virginia home to discover that the horrors of the Civil War are not over; his family has been wiped out, and their home burned by seven renegades. Nathan swears an oath on his father’s grave to find and kill each of the men responsible. He begins a lonely journey that will take him south and west, on a vengeance trail that crosses the paths of some infamous figures, including “Wild Bill” Hickok, Roy Bean, and Frank and Jesse James.

In post-Civil War Texas, Andy Pickard, once known to his Comanche "family" as Badger Boy, is now in his mid-20s and riding with the Texas Rangers. While delivering a prisoner for trial, he becomes entangled in a feud between the Landon and Hopper families. Andy works to help Jayce Landon, while at the same time keeping the boy Scooter Tennyson from being pulled into a life of crime. Lives are at stake, loyalties tested, and the worst aspects of human nature are exposed, in Texas Vendetta.

Young Andy Pickard, known among the Comanches as Badger Boy, is now a teenager, and has been learning to live with the Texans from whom he was stolen years before. His divided loyalties between the Comanches and the whites lead to another kidnapping. Five-year-old Billy Gifford is taken by a warrior named Fights With Bears. Andy must save his honor by trying to recover Billy.