Showing results by narrator "Matt Thurston" in All Categories

This short steampunky adventure with a flavour of thirties movie serials was inspired by a Twitter conversation the author had with singer Thea Gilmore in early 2013, and then by her song "Start As We Mean To Go On". As the story progressed, other Thea songs lent their titles easily to the remaining three episodes, and more song titles found their way into the text. The name "Moth Girl' came out of an anagram of Thea's name in fact Ratporchrico's opening phrase in this story is that very anagram.

Arriving in the royal city of Cynegil just after the good king's death, Liam and his traveling troupe face arrest for entertaining during a time of mourning. The new king, Riordan, offers them a choice: play for the court as he demands or be punished for the crime. With little recourse, they acquiesce. While the troupe entertains within the hall, Liam witnesses the dissension between the king and his twin brother, Shamus.

The first time Darrion struck her, Lana loaded her wagon and left Cynegil. Two-year-olds should not hit like that. She draped the windows of her cottage with dense cloth and worked by a single candle. If she timed her flight well, she could pass through the market during changing of the guard. In another era, under another king's reign, Lana would have rejoiced that Darrion had inherited his father's gift. Now, if Lana does not present her son to the king, she could lose her head.

Xana Jace keeps her head down. It isn't easy when you stand seven feet, eight inches tall. She works the night shift and stays out of trouble, striving only to be reunited with her son. But she's running out of time. The strange disease that compels her body to grow also threatens to choke her heart. When a masked gangster terrorizes the small community that shelters her, Xana is left with a terrible choice, and just 24 hours to discover the truth that everything she believes is a lie.

Thief. Liar. Pervert. Sucker. Not Villains. Definitely not heroes. A serial novel about extraordinary abilities and how not to use them. In Episode One... Beaten. Burned. Broken. Capt. John Regent returns a paraplegic after escaping months of captivity and torture - except no one knows who took him or what he disclosed. When a government agent comes for answers, she discovers John’s fantastical secret and sets him at war with his own country.

A scoundrel with a secret seeks the key to escaping the end of the world. An exiled gunslinger, waiting to die, is called back for one more job. A radioactive man is sold into service as an assassin by a mysterious cult.

As their stories intertwine, all three are caught between rival mobs, an invincible killer, and a plot to upset an uneasy peace between once-warring nations. While far above the planet, a phantasmal apocalypse looms.