Showing results by narrator "Chelsea Stephens" in All Categories

When Jennifer Smiley’s grandmother, Ginny, leaves her an old farmhouse on Edgewater Road in seemingly quiet Ross County, Ohio, Jennifer can’t pass up the opportunity for a new beginning. Almost immediately, she meets a group of men who generously help her move in. When she realizes that they work for Lincoln Bennett, her next-door neighbor, she’s intrigued. Lincoln is gorgeous and has dark lapis-blue eyes she could get lost in...but he doesn’t seem all that friendly. She’s torn between getting to know him and sticking with the solitude she knows so well.

It was the time of the Moon of the Three Rings when the Free Trader ship Lydis landed on the planet Yiktor and junior crew member Krip Vorlund visited a beast show. He was strangely attracted to the owner of the show animals, a delicate and mysterious woman named Maelen. Soon Krip was caught in a vicious struggle by powerful opponents over the fate of Yiktor - and he learned the nature of Maelen's sorcery when he found his mind trapped in the body of a wolf-like creature.

Cupid's aim sucks worse than his curse. Noel was one craptacular boyfriend away from taking a vow of celibacy when she found her dull-but-reliable fiancé. Maybe he didn't get her, ahem, juices flowing, but so what? At least he wouldn't break her heart. But then Cupid had to go and shoot her in the ass with his ill-timed arrow and ruin everything by saddling her with the worst soulmate ever. Grayson Adler. He was everything she swore she'd never fall for again - arrogant and sexy in an obvious, Greek god kind of way.

Gem's life has gone from bad to worse faster than her secret demon baby can say "baby daddy". What started as a crappy job and a possible killer to bring to justice has become a full-blown conspiracy from hell. Literally. Demons are being summoned into New Orleans and Gem is sure there's a Nephilim behind it. Now, all she has to do is prove it. Oh yeah, and not get herself killed in the process. Too bad for Gem, everyone has secrets, including her. And when the powers-that-be find out what she's capable of, they'll stop at nothing to silence her once and for all.

This collection of 22 short stories by the author of Daughter of Hounds and Alabaster firmly established Caitlín R. Kiernan as one of the preeminent voices in dark fantasy today. Through a cycle of interconnected narratives, Kiernan unflinchingly explores a surreal world where the fantastic and the mundane are never separated by more than the insubstantial thickness of a shadow.

Prince Anryn of Ammar has spent his life striving to please his father, the legendary Lightning King. He studies, fences, burns witches at the stake. But when assassins strike, he is left wounded and alone in the mountains, wondering if his father ordered his death. There he meets Maertyn Blackfire, a cursed witch who has lived too long. In Anryn he sees what no one else dares: a curse like his own, trapping a woman’s soul in a man’s body. Bound by survival, Maertyn vows to protect the prince on a quest to uncover the would-be killer.

What explains the insistent pull of Roe v. Wade? Abortion law expert Mary Ziegler argues that the US Supreme Court decision, which decriminalized abortion in 1973 and was overturned in 2022, had a hold on us that was not simply the result of polarized abortion politics. Rather, Roe took on meanings far beyond its original purpose of protecting the privacy of the doctor-patient relationship. It forced us to confront questions about sexual violence, judicial activism and restraint, racial justice, religious liberty, the role of science in politics, and much more.

Russ Griffin has always wanted to be a fantastic medium. Growing up in the town of St. Hilaire, where most residents make their living by speaking to the dead, means there’s a lot of competition, and he’s always held his own. But Russ knows the town he loves is corrupt, and he’s determined to save it before the sinister ruling body, The Guild, ruins all he’s ever wanted.

Crystal was born of a bloodline both mortal and magical, raised to one day become a wizard and to defeat a long-hidden evil that threatened the realm of Ardhan. Through many dangerous adventures and lethal deceptions, she was finally victorious. And peace was at hand. Yet it was not so for Crystal. As the last living wizard, she soon found herself living a life without meaning. For while the people of Ardhan prospered in the world she had delivered, Crystal—with her still-growing powers—could find little solace. She was alone.

Time has run out for Maya and her children. The alien invasion has created hell on earth, and the creatures are determined to destroy humankind. But a chance discovery leads to a glimmer of hope. Maya must mobilize before it’s too late, risking a daring move that could end her life and life on the planet as we know it. Encounter is the new post-apocalyptic thriller from best-selling authors, J. Thorn and Zach Bohannon, the third book in the War for Earth trilogy.

Even the circus that is Gem's personal life can't distract her from the danger that still lurks among the Nephilim council. Demons no longer slip through secret portals to terrorize Earth. Why ship them in from afar when they can be created right here? One by one, Gem's friends are being targeted until what began as a random science experiment becomes terrifyingly personal. This time, they have her dead to rights.

The epic fantasy adventure begun in Sunshield races to its thrilling conclusion in this imaginative finale in which the fate of four extraordinary young people—and their nations—will be decided. When their hopes for ending Moquoia’s brutal system of bondage are crushed, unlikely allies...

Magic is coming more into the public realm. The dark families intend to control it, and relentlessly pursue dominance over Earth’s magic users. But their path is littered with personal vendettas, and an unyielding thirst for revenge consumes Winston Blackwell. Danger looms as formidable adversaries target Matt and Natalia, hell-bent on their destruction. Will the duo realize the danger before it’s too late?

She’s booked every weekend, and her name is quickly becoming well known in the area. So it comes as a shock when her booking agent slowly stops calling her. That is, until she runs into the musician who’s been stealing her gigs. She can’t deny he has a voice to die for and the body of a god, but neither helps the fact that his personality is pure poison. Their exchanges never fail to boil her blood, but it’s a game she starts to look forward to, and she’s determined not to back down first.

A professional toxicologist and health writer offers an enlightening and accessible room-by-room guide to identifying and removing potentially toxic items, along with suggestions for safe, affordable alternatives. From the bedroom mattress and pillows to daily cleaning products for the kitchen...

These seventeen tales take listeners into the uniquely twisted mind of “one of Canada’s most promising new horror writers” (Publishers Weekly). From a live necrophilia show starring reanimated corpses to a confrontation between a security guard and inhuman squatters, from who can be found at an all-night laundromat to what lies in wait at the bottom of the sea, from undead addictions to all-consuming obsessions, Kissing Carrion is “a journey through some of the most beautifully rendered visions of darkness and death to be published this past year."

Elisabeth R. Anker reckons with the complex legacy of freedom offered by liberal American democracy, outlining how the emphasis of individual liberty has always been entangled with white supremacy, settler colonialism, climate destruction, economic exploitation, and patriarchy. These "ugly freedoms" legitimate the right to exploit and subjugate others. At the same time, Anker locates an unexpected second type of ugly freedom in practices and situations, often dismissed as demeaning, offensive, gross, and ineffectual, but that provide sources of emancipatory potential.

The last time Margot Callaway saw her sister, Lottie, the girl was 12 and clinging to their blood-covered mother over the asphalt in a gas station parking lot. Reeling and in shock, Margot fled her home state of Florida, choosing a path that would take her far away from the pain. She left everything behind, including Lottie. Now, seven years later, mysterious happenings on the island lead Margot to the realization that she must return home and face the ghosts of their shared past. Will Margot and Lottie have what it takes to protect each other?

Zoe Hallett and her sister, Ava, are the precocious offspring of two pioneering scientists, but the sisters have been estranged for years. When Zoe reads a news story about Ava's mysterious disappearance, she assumes it's just another of her sister's twisted fictions, designed to blame Zoe and destroy the peaceful life she's created with her husband and beautiful stepdaughter in Houston. But Zoe's email is hacked to send threatening messages to Ava - and a more sinister picture begins to emerge.

Mason Loss was a single father separated from his seven-year-old daughter, Lydia Nicole, when the United States was suddenly devastated by several massive coordinated EMP attacks. Having sustained life-threatening injuries in his search for her, he awakens from a two-year coma to find that the world is not the way he left it. To make the situation worse, Yellowstone has erupted and expelled an ancient microscopic organism that threatens the course of human survival. Now, Mason must traverse the ashy suburban landscape in search of his now nine-year-old daughter.