Showing results by narrator "John Banks" in All Categories

The return of the mercenary company, the Crimson Guard, could not have come at a worse time for a Malazan Empire exhausted by warfare and weakened by betrayals and rivalries. Indeed, there are those who wonder whether the Empress Laseen might not be losing her grip on power as she faces increasing unrest as conquered kingdoms and principalities sense freedom once more.

Heed now three tales of the Champions of the Eternal War.... 'The Calculus of Battle' by David Guymer. As the defenders of Varasine battle a tyranid invasion, Warleader Kardan Stronos and the Iron Hands come to their aid, measuring the Chapter's cold logic and strategy against the cost in human lives. 'The Embrace of Pain' by Ian St Martin. When blademaster Lucius the Eternal is challenged by a champion of the Death Guard, he accepts without hesitation...but could a daemonhost of Nurgle, or the voices inside his own head, be the undoing of his Slaaneshi curse?

Centuries ago, the world fell. From the ashes rose a terrible new species—the Tangata. Now they wage war against the kingdoms of man. And humanity is losing.

When the underhive bounty hunter Arturos delivers a renegade Goliath to the Guilder Meriko, he expects his payment of 60 credits for the capture. But Meriko has taken out more bounties than he can afford, and payment isn't forthcoming.... Luckily for him, among the junk in his shop is a treasure that's worth Arturos' time and effort. A Spiraptor, a mechanical bodyguard programmed to protect a wealthy individual, it sends Arturos on a quest that could make his fortune - or claim his life.

After defeating the Warlord of the Turan Khar, Rylan Lauchlin has assumed his place...and his troubles. Deprived of the ancient magic that allowed the Khar Unity to exist in harmony, their society is slowly dying, and it is now up to Rylan to save it. But only one man has the knowledge to release the magic of the Core - the same man who locked it away in the first place - and that man is imprisoned within Rylan himself.

The quest to find the Nine Gates that lead to the underworlds of Shyish and an audience with Nagash continues.... Tarsus of the Hallowed Knights leads his Stormcast Eternals into the unearthly city of Helstone. Their enigmatic guide, Mannfred von Carstein, assures them that what they need to find his necromantic master lies within its halls, but there is more than darkness lurking in the ruins. Chaos has already taken root, and a reckoning against the servants of the Plague God awaits.

Crime-fighting duo Tilly and Poe solve a mystery from inside a pantomime horse in a short story that first appeared in the Halloween anthology Afraid of the Shadows.

Poe and Tilly are on an HR course in Wales when a murder is committed in their hotel. But, maybe not everything is as it seems.

A heist story with a difference: Guardians of the Galaxy meets The Hobbit in this rollicking fantasy adventure. The dragons who once ruled over the land are dead. The motley crew that stole the dragons' gold and stumbled through a revolution are rich and praised as saviours. Everyone gets to live happily ever after, right? Well, it might have worked out that way if the dragons in Kondorra had been the only ones. If they hadn't been just the tip of the spear about to fall upon the whole world....

History is written by the victors, and Rome had some very eloquent historians. Those the Romans regarded as barbarians left few records of their own, but they had a tremendous impact on the Roman imagination. Resisting from outside Rome's borders or rebelling from within, they emerge vividly in Rome's historical tradition, and left a significant footprint in archaeology.

Esslemont's all-new prequel trilogy takes readers deeper into the politics and intrigue of the New York Times bestselling Malazan Empire. Dancer's Lament focuses on the genesis of the empire, and features Dancer, the skilled assassin, who, alongside the mage Kellanved, would found the Malazan empire.

After the disappointments in Li Heng, Dancer and Kellanved wash up on a small insignificant island named Malaz. Immediately, of course, Kellanved plans to take it over. To do so they join forces with a small band of Napans who have fled their home. However, Kellanved is soon distracted by a strange and dangerous ancient structure. Back in Li Heng, Dassem, now the proclaimed Sword of Hood, finds himself being blamed for a plague which leads him to a crisis of faith - and searching for answers.

Meet Matt Richter. Pi. Zombie. Another case proves dangerous for zombie PI Matt Richter, in the underworld realm of Nekropolis. From his arrival at Nekropolis, Matt has found himself embroiled in disputes with the city's vampire lords, shapeshifters, golems, and other monstrosities. Nothing has prepared him for the Dark War. Tim Waggoner is a novelist and college professor.

The Pharos stands as a beacon of light in the darkness, a whisper of hope in the silent void, a bastion of defiance in the face of treachery. Without it there could be no Imperium Secundus - why, then, do the masters of Ultramar know so little about its operation, or the dangers it could present? Young Oberdeii and Tebecai, Scouts of the 199th Company, descend into the depths beneath Mount Pharos in search of the truth...though it may haunt them for all time.

At last, the great search for the Nine Gates is over as Tarsus and the Hallowed Knights reach the lair of the Great Necromancer himself, Nagash. Here, in the dark hollows of one of the underworlds of Shyish, the Stormcast Eternals will meet their fate. As they stand in the shadow of death, they must trust that their vampiric guide, Mannfred von Carstein, has not played them false.

After the destruction of the Infidus Imperator, Kor Phaeron of the Word Bearers brought his followers to supposed safety in the Eye of Terror. However, their newly adopted home, the daemon world Sicarus, is far from the sanctuary they imagined - the twisted hordes of the Kairic Adept Larazzar seek to crush these newcomers and all who would ally with them. Only in the ancient legends of Sicarus can their salvation be found, but is Kor Phaeron the one to lead them to it?

Salvor Lermentov, Astra Militarum officer turned would-be freedom fighter, languishes in a dark cell deep within an Inquisition fortress. Captured for the crime of treachery, he is sure of his innocence - for did he not aid a servant of the Inquisition in preventing a grievous threat to Terra itself? As he and Inquisitor Crowl match wits in an interrogation, Lermentov outlines his reasons for deserting - but Inquisitor Crowl knows darker truths about the Imperium of Man, and with them in mind, can he possibly allow this traitor to live?

Lured into the cursed city of Shadespire by the promise of the secret of cheating death, the aelf wanderer Prince Maesa seeks the Katophrane Thanaton. Surrounded by the spirits of the dead who cannot die, trapped in the last moments before the city's destruction, Maesa nears his goal...but just why does a nigh-immortal aelf seek this power over death?

The Victorian era is remembered for many things, but one of the fondest is the wide and varied array of short, ghostly, suspenseful tales...often enjoyed around the fireside at Christmastime. In this new anthology, John Banks performs 12 of the very best, all written by incredibly talented but oft-times overlooked or forgotten authors. Once you tire of Dickens and James, these are the true masters of short-form suspense.

Drawn to a haunted graveyard in the Realm of Beasts by rumours of a fearsome creature, the aelven Prince Maesa seeks to cleanse the area of its taint. Along with his allies Stonbrak the duardin and Shattercap, the malevolent spite who serves him, Maesa sets out to defeat the beast - a terrifying and monstrous spirit known as a Mourngul. But there is more to this horror than meets the eye, and unless they can solve the mystery surrounding it, the Mourngul may spell the heroes' fate.