Showing results by narrator "Steven Smith" in All Categories

Cade Williams' worst nightmare has come true. The Necromancer's black magick has not only released the Adversary from the infernal realms where Cade imprisoned it, but allowed the fallen angel to possess the body of Cade's beloved wife, Gabrielle, in the process. When the Templars interrupt the ritual and kill the Necromancer, the Adversary sprouts wings and escapes into the darkness.  

Three weeks before Christmas, the little town of Chug Water in Wyoming Territory is stunned by a brutal crime. The mayor's family has been slaughtered in cold blood on their ranch outside of Raw Hide Butte. As the townsfolk gather to pay their last respects, Duff MacCallister saddles up to go after the killers. He returns with two outlaws - a cold-blooded, nasty pair of snakes, Jesse and T. Bob Cave. 

Men like us, we see things. We do things, things that make us unfeeling. That’s the price of power and money, of living la belle vie and running the French mafia. Then she came along like a pretty wildflower pushing through the cracks on a dirty pavement - fragile yet resilient, a breath of beauty among the filth. She was supposed to be just another job, a nameless person I was to pluck from her life and hand to my brother, nothing but a pawn in the gamble of our diamond business.

Once upon a time, a thief stole me in the middle of the night. He took what he wanted, gave me an illusion, and ripped it all away to claim his ultimate trophy. My heart may be physically weak, but fighting to live made me stronger. I won’t perish as easily as that. I’m turning the tables on him. After all, I learned from the best. I’m robbing him of what he stole from me.

Ian Hart is the most notorious criminal in the country. Like the thief he is, he came in the dark and stole a night of my life. He left me with souvenirs. Disaster and fear are my new realities. I’ll forever look over my shoulder, terrified he’d return, because when he took me, he stole more than just a few hours of my time. His crime has consequences neither of us could’ve imagined. If I’m to escape the nightmare of my life, I have to outsmart him.

Having narrowly escaped with their lives from the redoubt near Cornerstone, the Deathlands survivors known as the Companions arrive via mat-trans at a destination they presume to be North Dakota, if the mysterious codes given them while in Cornerstone are accurate. That assumption is soon put in doubt as they discover a devastated city covered in continual ashfall, a sky perpetually obscured by black clouds illuminated only by sporadic lightning. The former metropolis is not deserted, however, but densely populated with ravening hordes of barely human creatures.

My life depends on playing the role convincingly. I’ve been trained for that role since the age of 15. For 10 long years, I’ve been taught to be someone else, to respond to a different name, and to live in another woman’s shadow. Evie Warren is the most coveted mafia princess in the country, and I’m her double. I’m the decoy, her stunt girl, so to speak.

In a chaotic blast of gunfire, the James Gang fled a posse's attack—and the infamous Jesse threw his cousin Jeston Nash a hoard of stolen cash. But dodging the law with thirty thousand dollars in a dusty carpetbag is a risky proposition. Hoping to lie low in the mountains of the Northwest, Jeston and his partner, Quiet Jack, find themselves on a journey into the dark heart of human nature—and deadly animal instinct....

Across the border is another wanderer and another tribe. Preacher’s old enemy, Willie Deaver, plies a band of Indians with the deadliest combination possible: whisky, guns, and bullets — then directs them to try out their killing tools on the Assiniboine. The raid reaps a harvest of devastating death, bloodshed, and helpless captives. Deaver is all the more delighted when he learns Preacher is among the fallen.

With a handful of murderous rogues, Captain Jed Foster has run off with four wagons containing new Springfield rifles, bayonets, and ammunition meant to resupply the troops at Fort Bowie in Arizona Territory. Foster plans to sell the weapons to the highest bidder — whether it’s Apaches, Mexican revolutionaries, or Confederate veterans who still dream of destroying the Union. But that’s the least of Foster’s problems.

Bartering their expertise to a nautical band of brilliant technomads, Ryan's group finds trouble waiting in the steaming, fetid swamplands of the Louisiana Gulf. Merciless storms and pirates strand them in Haven. But the barony's inviting name masks a ville hijacked by fear, territorial conflict, and monstrous horror. With the gravely injured Krysty Wroth's fate uncertain, a desperate Ryan aids the strange but hospitable Baron Blackwell in his effort to save Haven from a genetic blood curse. He'll succeed, provided his luck - and his options - don't run out first.

Scottish cattleman Duff MacCallister staked a claim for his life in America—and reserves a righteous anger for those who break the law in this smoking six-gun shootout from National Bestselling Authors William W. and J.A. Johnstone.

My love is wasted like gemstones in the dust, walked over by an oblivious shoe. It takes many suffering years and layers of mountains to squeeze carbon into a precious stone. Now that I’m polished and hard like a diamond, he doesn’t get to kick me back into the dirt. Men like him don’t love women like me. They don’t love. Period. But he made me. He’ll live with me. Because diamonds are forever.

Love is for people who don’t mind getting hurt. I vowed to never fall into that trap. I entered into war with my beautiful, corrupted, and dangerous husband. He warned me he always won. He told me I’d lose, but I didn’t want to believe him because there was too much at stake.

I never dreamed of getting married. I dreamed about freedom. When my stepfather promised Leon Hart a partnership in his clandestine software company, he offered me as part of the package deal. It’s a win-win situation for both men. My stepfather gets rid of his damaged stepdaughter, and Leon becomes second-in-command of the biggest underground IT operation in the country. I’ll do what I must to escape my fate. Even if it means turning my powerful and dangerous betrothed into my worst enemy.

Ian Hart stole a night of my life, but he took so much more. His obsession pinned a label on me. His lust put me in an impossible situation. Now I have to choose sides. I have to decide between right and wrong. Only, no matter what choice I make, each comes with dreadful consequences. There’s only one way this can end - how every tragedy ends.

Girls like me, we know how to survive. We each have our own little ways, but we acquire those skills at the same tender age. If you ask me how many times a person can die, I’ll tell you many times. As many times as a man stabs you in the stomach with betrayal and wrings out your heart with lies. Girls like me, we live. We don’t get a choice. We step over the cliff and fall. Eat, sleep, die, and repeat.

One of the country’s most-acclaimed and popular novelists offers a selection of a dozen short stories set in James Lee Burke’s most beloved milieu, the Deep South. “America’s best novelist” (The Denver Post), two-time Edgar Award winner James Lee Burke is renowned for his lush...

The Peach Blond Bomber introduces Zackary Nixon Johnson, private investigator, his sidekick Harv, artificial intelligence and the world and setting where the Nuclear Bombshell Series takes place.

There’s something rotten in Wyoming, and it’s not just the smell of cow pies — the first whiff is coming off the Laramie County Cattlemen. Right off the bat, Duff notices something odd: no small-time ranchers allowed. It’s big-leaguers only. And none are bigger than Brad Houser, owner of the sprawling Twin Peaks ranch. He’s up in arms over the small-timers claiming the unbranded mavericks who escape their herds. Which is perfectly legal. No brand, free cow.