Showing results by publisher "Spoken Realms" in Fantasy

Excitement and sorcery mixed with blades of steel. The mysterious stranger who appears out of nowhere to avenge injustice and defend the defenseless. Robert Howard, in this early story of his, gives us Solomon Kane; the man who walks like a leopard, wears all black and is relentless in pursuing evil doers. But he is pitted against voodoo and the superbly skillful opponent - Le Loupe - The Wolfe. Has Solomon Kane met his doom?

It’s 1915, twenty years after the Martian invasion chronicled in the War of the Worlds failed. The aliens left behind advanced technology and weapons, and now humanity is on the brink of a catastrophic war. Caught in the middle of the chaos are two unlikely heroes: Emil Zimmerman, a young German soldier, and James Brogan, an introverted radio engineer. Emil dreamed of escaping his small village and making his way to the big city but finds himself in the trenches fighting for an army that indiscriminately wields deadly Martian weapons.

A collection of 15 beloved Chinese myths, legends, and folktales that are rich in tradition and culture. Each story transports the listener back to ancient times and is filled with excitement, adventure, magic, and laughter.

Conan the Barbarian spends a night in a cheap tavern in Zamboula, and is swept up in a dark world of roaming cannibals, a naked woman and her deranged lover, the strangler Baal-pteor and the evil high priest he serves.

In the land of Dorimare, on the shores of the Dapple and the Dawl, the law-abiding residents of Lud-in-the-Mist are plagued by an illegal influx of fairy fruit enticing people to acts of poetry, dancing, and other dangerous flights of fancy. When respectable Mayor Nathaniel Chanticleer finds his family entangled in the scandal, he must call upon both his sharp legal mind and his unacknowledged creative spirit to craft a reconciliation with the Faerie. Dare to embrace your wild side in this classic fantasy. Suitable for ages eight and up.

This is the first of Tennyson's poems to be based on Sir Thomas Malory's Morte d'Arthur. The first draft was composed in 1834, and the finished work was published in Poems (1842). Later Tennyson incorporated the poem into the Idylls of the King (1870) under the title of "The Passing of Arthur". The narrative of this poem was drawn from the third, fourth, and fifth chapters of the 21st book of Thomas Malory's romance.

Mary Shelley is of course known because of her short novel Frankenstein. Still, she was always writing, and these tales and mysteries written on her extended travels show how interested she was in the strangeness of people. I also think she wanted to make her mark in a tribute to her famous mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, and her famous husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley, who called her “a child of love and light.”

The Wonderful Visit tells the story of an angel who finds himself unexpectedly marooned on Earth. Wells used John Ruskin's remark that an angel appearing on earth in Victorian England would be shot on sight as the inspiration for this tale of a celestial being who is completely out of place in human society. Ironically, the angel's first confidant and protector is a clergyman, who never recovers from the eventual and inevitable disappearance of the angel. Wells dwells in detail on the contrast between the idealism of the celestial visitor and the discourtesy of his hosts.

Richard Marsh's The Beetle outsold Bram Stoker's Dracula in 1897, the year both novels were published. Like Dracula, The Beetle is about a strange, unearthly being from a foreign land who infiltrates Britain by hypnotizing and preying upon his victims. This exciting adventure is narrated by four different characters who have close encounters with this rapacious creature and attempt to hunt down and destroy him.

Unlike most of Peacock's novels, The Misfortunes of Elphin has a distinct plot, built around the adventures of prominent figures of Arthurian legend, like Taliesin, the bard, the princes Elphin, and Seithenyn and King Arthur himself. The drama comes to a satisfactory resolution when Arthur's wife, Gwenyvar, who has been kidnapped by the ambitious King Melvas, is restored to her husband, after some skilful negotiation by Seithenyn and a cunning abbot.

Sent forth on a quest to bring magic to the Vale of Erl, the young lord Alveric obtains a sword of thunderbolt iron, and crosses the twilight border into Elfland, returning with the beautiful Princess Lirazel as his bride. But, for two people from different worlds, however much in love, happiness is not guaranteed, and in the fields, we know, where all things are subject to the remorseless march of time, nothing truly lives happily ever after.

Lamia is a tragic narrative poem in two parts. It was written in 1819 and first published in 1820 with "Isabella" and "The Eve of St. Agnes". The Greek god Hermes has left Olympus in search of a beautiful nymph. He comes across Lamia, a woman trapped in the form of a snake, who promises to reveal the nymph to him if he, in exchange, restores her human form so she may seek the love of Lycius, a youth of Corinth.

In the latter part of the 19th century, a wayward comet strikes the Earth in Algeria and carries away a small group of French and British soldiers from their posts. They are forced to endure a two-year journey around the solar system and back. Famed early science fiction writer Jules Verne chronicles the challenges that confront the reluctant castaways as they attempt to survive on this small body of rock while they await possible return and transfer back to their dearly missed home planet.

Sure, dragonslaying is heroic business. But some poor bastards have to handle the dirty work of cleaning up the god-awful mess the heroes leave behind. Gwill, the grizzled second-in-command of the fabled Iron Line, saw things go a little sideways at the end of their last adventure. After a successful dragonslaying, they might have forgotten to burn the dragon's body. Now Gwill needs a few warm bodies to take care of it. All they have to do is burn the body of the dragon and all's well that ends well. This is where the Novices come in....

Fresh from her medical exams, Katya Brie heads to a new life on Outpost Frelik. Thrust into her duties, Brie tends to badly wounded yet handsome Lt. Commander Sheve Hadi. From that moment, life takes an interesting turn as she finds herself amid treason, conspiracy, and a plot that threatens her, the Ainoren, and everyone she loves on Letháo.

The Trial by Franz Kafka, narrated by award-winning narrator Mike Vendetti, begins like a nightmare - only K is awake, and he is being arrested and indicted on charges he never learns. He is caught up in a legal system that will destroy his life. This is a text that often is used in English classes because it is so deep. Kafka attacks the norms of society, religion, and the legal system.

Queen of the Black Coast is a thrilling tale by Robert E. Howard, first published in Weird Tales in May 1934. It follows Conan the Cimmerian, a barbarian adventurer, as he joins a pirate crew led by the fierce and captivating Bêlit, the Queen of the Black Coast. Together, they embark on daring raids, confront supernatural horrors, and explore mysterious jungles and ancient ruins. The story is a blend of high adventure, romance, and dark fantasy, showcasing Howard's vivid world-building and dynamic characters.

The bustling city-state of Marchen borders the seats of the Three Queens, represented by the spindle, the slipper and the apple. But it’s been a hundred years since the rule of the Three Queens. The time of the godmothers has passed. If you want access to magic you either have to be one of the few who are born with it and live in hiding. Or extremely wealthy. Samara Dawa is a former assassin, stolen from her family and sold to the assassin’s guild when she was a child. When the opportunity to destroy the man who sold her comes up, she doesn’t hesitate.

This book was an instant best-seller and became (and remains to this day) an international sensation, much like Harry Potter today. The story of the infant son of an English Lord and Lady marooned on the coast of Africa made its author famous and wealthy. Adopted by the she-ape, Kala, Tarzan becomes a "mighty hunter, mighty fighter" - the first superhero in American literature.

After the exodus of all life, our galaxy is left empty and desolate. But in the absence of life, undead energy surges. Millennia after the last humans fled the galaxy only the dead are left to roam the earth. On this barren wasteland, Solus awakens. With no memories or even a personality, he is cast into a dangerous world. He will need to learn fast if he is to keep his new existence, for he is not alone.