Showing results by narrator "Lewis James" in All Categories

Esmay Suiza and Brun Meager should be friends - they're both bright, brave, likable and adventurous. But true friendship doesn't run any smoother than true love. Brun thinks Esmay's a stuck-up prig, and Esmay thinks Brun's a spoiled rich brat who's making a play for Barin Serrano, Esmay's first love. So when Brun falls into the hands of a repressive religious militia movement, Esmay finds herself in disgrace, suspected of conniving at the capture. Even Barin, now being pursued by the beautiful and ambitious Casea Ferradi, has turned against her.

For years, like millions of other Americans, John Thomas Rourke had planned for what seemed inevitable — the destruction of civilization. There were various possible causes: global economic collapse, some uncontrollable pestilence, a world famine — or nuclear war.

The worst has happened: Fleet is tearing itself apart. Some of the mutineers see injustice in the unequal spread of the rejuvenation drugs that offer virtual immortality to the rich; others are simply thirsty for power, or for blood. The Loyalists, meanwhile, fight desperately to preserve the rule of law in Familias Regnant space. But when Esmay Suiza-Serrano is unceremoniously booted out of Fleet, the apparent victim of family politics, she has no idea of the whirlwind of conflict into which she is about to be drawn.

Kylara Vatta is the only daughter in a family full of sons, and her father's only child to buck tradition by choosing a military career instead of joining the family business. For Ky, it's no contest: Even running the prestigious Vatta Transport Ltd. shipping concern can't hold a candle to shipping out as an officer aboard an interstellar cruiser. It's adventure, not commerce, that stirs her soul. And despite her family's misgivings, there can be no doubt that a Vatta in the service will prove a valuable asset. But with a single error in judgment, it all comes crumbling down.

I was a good girl once, but now I’ve got bloody hands and a broken heart. When Julian Maduro and his wretched sister breathed their last, I thought that would be the end of it. But I should’ve remembered the brutal truth that’s been beaten into me over and over again…people like me don’t get happily ever afters. Alec Beckham forced me to do the unthinkable, shredding my heart with the squeeze of a trigger. And he’s not done with me yet.

Ripped away from the Voronin brothers and forced into the hands of my enemies, I’ll have to face the monsters I’ve been running from. But even in the depths of darkness, one truth remains the same: my men will always come for me. They will always protect me. Or die trying.

My father was once a powerful player in the Chicago underground, but six years ago, he left that life behind. We changed our names. Our identities. Our lives. The ghosts of the past never forgot him, though. They never forgot me. Dad promised me we were safe, but I should’ve known that was just another one of his lies. The past always finds you, and mine finds me on my wedding day when four brutal, dangerous men drag me from the altar in a hail of gunfire. Four men who used to be four boys. Four boys I cared about. Four boys I left behind.

When long-serving council leader Roland Whittaker loses his seat to a Monster Raving Loony Party candidate with the same surname and initials, he is both flabbergasted and furious. Young Robin Whittaker (who conducted his entire campaign dressed in a chicken outfit and a Viking helmet) isn’t happy either – he only stood for election as a student prank. Everyone expects him to resign, but he’s persuaded to stick it out, and it’s not long before he’s being proclaimed Mayor (and appointing a very unconventional Mayoress...)

The apocalypse is approaching as his Doom Points tick up and John is finding it harder and harder to keep it together. His deepening knowledge of magic seems to be helping but as a hidden society creeps out of the shadows, intent on throwing the world into chaos, it may not be enough.

They just wanted to get home for Christmas...but fate had other plans. It's December 1890. A Texas rancher named Big Jim Conyers has a deal with Scottish-born, Wyoming cattleman named Duff MacCallister. Along with Smoke and Matt Jensen, the party bears down on Dodge, Kansas, to make a cattle drive back to Forth Worth. But before they can get out of Dodge, guns go off and a rich man's son is killed.

Reece Quaid doesn't want to be known as "The Man Who Killed Smoke Jensen." But when the legendary mountain man shows up in the middle of a stagecoach robbery, Quaid has no choice but to shoot him. He didn't even know his victim was the famous Smoke Jensen—until he goes through his pockets and finds his papers. That's when Quaid comes up with a plan. Since he resembles Smoke, he'll simply assume his identity. Rob some banks. Hold up more stagecoaches. And shoot anyone who tries to stop him. Soon the whole world will be asking. Has Smoke Jensen gone bad?

Notes from the author: The following is a short story I wrote in the Elantris world back in January of 2006. There were always a few holes in Elantris where I decided not to include viewpoints or sections of explanation in the name of streamlining, particularly at the end. In the back of my mind, I knew what happened. This story talks about one of those holes; it is meant to be heard after you’ve finished the novel and takes place during the events of the climax.

It is finished... Sweat dripping off her brow as the threads started long ago start to fuse together. It’s time to make plans, hide the truth, and get the HELL off her throne. But how to accomplish creating a federation when those coming together want to gut her empire? Anyone who understands the Queen Bitch knows she won't accept that condition without a fight. However, to accomplish meeting her love again in a system far away, she will accomplish the impossible. Her eyes start to glow red. No one will stop her from getting back to Michael.

After being attacked by a demon in the one place he thought he was safe, Eric Carter has been killed, his soul sent to take its place as a stand-in for the Aztec god of death Mictlantecuhtli. But somebody on Earth isn't done with him, yet. Somebody with the power to bring him back from the dead. He doesn't know who, and worse he doesn't know why. Between an angry death goddess, family secrets steeped in blood, a Djinn who's biding his time, and a killer mage who can create copy after copy of himself, Eric's new life looks to be just as violent as his last one.

The Princes of Carnage were my enemies once. But from the ashes of the lies and betrayal between us, something else grew. Something that has roots so deep they go all the way down to my soul. And now the dark figure who’s been toying with my life from the shadows is threatening to destroy that. But I won’t let him. I’ll get Atlas back in one piece. Even if I have to give up everything to do it.

Necromancer Eric Carter's problems keep getting bigger. Bad enough he's the unwilling husband to the patron saint of death, Santa Muerte, but now her ex, the Aztec King of the dead, Mictlantecuhtli, has come back - and it turns out that Carter and he are swapping places. As Mictlantecuhtli breaks loose of his prison of jade, Carter is slowly turning to stone. To make matters worse, both gods are trying to get Carter to assassinate the other. But only one of them can be telling him the truth and he can't trust either one. Carter's solution? Kill them both.

Queen of Anarchy is the heart-pounding second installment in the Dirty Broken Savages series. Note: The blurb below contains spoilers for the first book, so I'd highly recommend not reading it until you've finished listening to book one, Kings of Chaos. You've been warned! "I was a good girl once. But bad b*tches get shit done. My list is finished. Every name has been crossed off. I should be sipping cocktails on a beach somewhere, breathing easy for the first time in years. But I’m not".

They say the devil goes by many names, and I know four of them: Ciro, Hale, Zaid, and Lucas. My father was once a powerful player in the Chicago underground, but six years ago, he left that life behind. The past always finds you, and mine finds me on my wedding day when four brutal, dangerous men drag me from the altar in a hail of gunfire. Four men who used to be four boys. Four boys I cared about. Four boys I left behind. They’re not the same boys I knew though, and whatever we may have once been to each other, it doesn’t matter anymore.

The final year at Lander has finally arrived for the Melbrook students and their peers, and with it comes a whole new set of challenges. Still reeling from the events of their junior year, the remaining students will have to push past their pain—and so much more—if they hope to be one of the ten to claim the title of Hero upon graduation. Constant tests and trials await the senior students. Beyond simulated missions and classes, they’ll also have to buckle down to learn about agents, prospective teams, internships, and other seemingly endless elements of being a Hero.

Having saved Sweet Apple, Texas from disaster, Matt and Sam decide to stay and help the new marshal break in his spurs — not to mention squeeze in a well-deserved vacation with the help of the lovely, spirited daughters of two feuding cattlemen. Quicker than you can say dosy do, Matt and Sam find themselves on the verge of a full-scale range war. But even worse trouble heads into town when an old foe shows up with hired killers masquerading as dry goods salesmen.