Showing results by narrator "Mark Royse" in All Categories

Of Ice and Villains is a dark fantasy romance that blends the macabre sensibilities of Dexter with the supernatural thrills of The Exorcist. When a serial killer becomes the pawn in an eternal struggle between good and evil, no one's soul is safe.

Jack Buckley always admired his father. even after he found out he was a serial killer. As Jack grows older, and he begins helping his father, he begins to develop an unhealthy obsession with him; an obsession that would send both of their lives crumbling into decay.

George Barrett is a detective in the Sioux Bend Police Department. For the first time in six years, George and his family are going on vacation to the most exclusive resort in the west—Moonlight Cove Resort in Wild River, Wyoming. The first morning there, George and his daughter, Karen, go for a run. Near the end of the trail, Karen hears music. When she follows the sound, she discovers two young people tied to pine trees, with arrows in their stomachs. One victim was the son of the Lakota County sheriff and the other was the daughter of the executive director of Moonlight Cove.

“Don’t give up! I’ll help you!” barks Rex, the hero of Władysław Reymont’s Revolt of the Animals (1924), “carried away with wrath and compassion” at the sight of his friend the old donkey with “his head covered in a hempen sack, being whipped by boys harrying him towards a pit of lime.” Who would not be roused to a righteous indignation at the sight of such wanton cruelty, inflicted upon a wise, sentient creature–for the perverse pleasure of man, that “crown and lord of all creation,” to whom dominion over this world was supposedly given by the Lord at the dawn of creation?

Proponents of human exceptionalism claim that only humans possess certain morally significant capacities, and as a result, are entitled to be treated better than members of all other species. In the last 50 years, scientists have discovered how these capacities are shared by other species, which only raises the questions of how and why we evade responsibility for inhumane behavior, not only to animals but to one another.

David is shy to a fault, introverted, and doesn’t know how to defend himself. That’s why he keeps toiling away at his job, even if his boss is malicious. Mick, a member of the Kinsmen, a motorcycle club for those of Nordic descent, gets a flat on his motorcycle, so he stops at a tire shop he’d never used before to get it fixed. There he meets David, who he finds attractive, and thinks about asking him out before his boss enters the garage in his normal, abusive fashion.

Hecate, the three-faced Goddess of Magic, is searching for a special soul. One free of burdens, bloodlines, and destiny. She needs it to mold it into a tool that can help soothe the egos of the gods and stem the tide of war on the mortal world. Eager for this soul, she listens early to any call, desperate to fulfill her duty as the Ambassador to the Gods.

Adam soon charms his way into Miles’s bed, and they lose themselves in a summer idyll, safe from the compromises and claims of reality. But Adam’s life, with all it demands, is waiting for him. And Miles, uncertain of Adam’s true feelings, is battling demons of his own. Somehow, the man who’s never home and the man who never leaves it must find the strength to fight for a future together.

Immerse yourself in the haunting and mythic world of the Arctic with Mebet by Alexander Grigorenko, translated by Christopher Culver. This compelling narrative follows Mebet, a Nenets hunter revered as "The Gods’ Favorite," who seems immune to harm and grief. His life of seeming invincibility is upended when a supernatural messenger leads him to confront the realms of the living and the dead.

Step into the enthralling world of 1938 Lviv with The Night Reporter, a gripping murder mystery by Yuri Vynnychuk. Follow journalist Marko Krylovych, known as the "night reporter," as he delves into the underbelly of the city to investigate the murder of a candidate for president of the city government.

The second in the Oaths of Dante series, watch as Dante strives to fulfill the oaths presented to him by Gaia and Hecate. Will he and Christopher find peace as werewolves or will they fall to the Hatred of Zeus lingering in the dark magic of his curse. Can they, together, find salvation? Can they survive the hate of eons, hidden away by the kindly faces of those claiming to be friends?

The story of Persephone and Hades and their beautiful marriage, distant and old, wrapped up in centuries of misconceptions and lies, finally retold as it really was. Without Demeter's lies, the Olympian's cruel jokes, and so many other distortions, we finally see the beauty, the softness, and the tragic resolution brought on by outside forces.

And the Train Kept Moving is about Bryan Meigs, a gay alcoholic with OCD who struggles with the aftermath of getting date-raped and potentially infected with HIV. As Bryan works up the courage to confront his rapist, he must confront his present fears of infection, ghosts from his past, and brutal truths about himself.

For 17-year-old Shaun Treadway, terror and rage are a way of life. Living with the fear that his abusive stepfather will one day kill his mother, Shaun decides to kill him first—by setting fire to his childhood home with his stepfather inside.