Showing results by publisher "Spoken Realms" in Dark Fantasy

Michael finds himself in the realm of the Forever Kingdom, with no memory of how he got there and who he is. Even so, he must participate in the Grand Game and forge a new destiny for himself. Dropped into a dungeon of monsters and strange magics, would you survive in a game where to lose means death? Alone, and with little more than his wits to aid him, Michael must advance as a player, slay his foes, and gain experience. All while navigating the intrigues around him and discovering his purpose.

The familiar world collapsed overnight. As the Transformation progressed, disasters occurred throughout the Earth. Materials changed their properties, new species of flora and fauna appeared. The Game converted our world into a huge dungeon, completely replacing the previous civilization. However, the alien plans for Earth began to go awry from the very beginning. The conversion was less successful than expected. An ordinary young man stole the bonus for the first gaming action, depriving the invaders of their perk.

Horror stalks the sideshow tents of the 40’s and runs a 70’s era dive bar steeped in murder… It preys from the frozen peaks of a small, 80’s Alaskan town and spills across the streets of modern-day New York City. From the Great Plains of Native America to war-torn North Korea and the cradle of civilization itself in ancient Mesopotamia, the Beast is out for blood but the werewolf hunter pursues and will not stop until the last drop of blood has fallen.

It is 1915. A Native American youth embarks on a journey to join a war the likes of which no living person has seen. His purpose is not one of patriotism, though it is the very heart of duty—a duty to pursue and destroy the fell creatures men call werewolf. The saga of Michael Winterfox continues as he contends not only with his family’s ancient adversary, but also with the Germans. His Cheyenne Dog Man skills are put to the test in the fires of attrition, a world at war.

Ed Vesser feels trapped by his life - literally. He’s being held prisoner by a would-be world conqueror. All he wants is to escape back to his fiancé, assuming she doesn’t dump his ass when she finds out he’s a vampire. Serena Taylor’s a witch with a knack for technomancy - using her magic to help deliver unreal profit margins. Too bad she’ll need to put in some overtime thanks to long-lost dryads and undead goons breathing down her neck.

Step into the fantastical world of Fritz Leiber's "Bazaar of the Bizarre," a captivating audiobook narrated by the talented Mike Vendetti. In this tale, we follow The Gray Mouser as he stumbles upon a peculiar shop created by The Devourers, enigmatic beings with the power to make trash appear as treasure through their mesmerizing abilities.

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?

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.

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.

"Dark Vengeance" is a captivating novelette by Fritz Leiber published in "Suspense" in the Fall of 1951 featuring the iconic duo Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Dive into the sinister world of Lankhmar, where malevolent birds besiege the city with a sinister agenda of plundering precious gems and trinkets from the town's noble women. These cunning avian thieves are not just after riches but pose a grave threat, wielding their sharp talons to inflict harm, even resorting to the gruesome act of plucking an eye from their victims.

This gripping tale takes place in the late 19th century and follows the protagonist, Mr. Hapley, a famous entomologist who becomes embroiled in an ongoing feud with Professor Pawkins a rival in his field. Hapley has a devasting retort to Professor Pawkins's most recent attack on him, but before he can deliver the ruinous blow, Pawkins dies leaving Haply ready for battle with no opponent. The physical Pawkins may be gone, but a mysterious moth that no one but Hapley can see or feel the presence of appears.

In the False Lands, it's either git gud or die. Tanisha Richards, known as Koest in dARkness: Online, isn't your typical augmented reality mobile gamer. She's a deer-hunting engineer from Oregon who lives in a self-sustainable house but drives a really inefficient truck. She also happens to be in a wheelchair. When the loot of a lifetime shows up during a potentially bugged event, Tanisha rushes out into the wilderness to capitalize on some intern's mistake

Old truths - shattered. Old structures - broken. The barrier is breached, and after the last armies of the world fell to dragons’ fire and demons’ ire, the only ones standing between predators and prey are the foot soldiers of a power-mad Church. Welcome to the Books of Future Darkness - Patrik Sahlstrøm’s tales of a world gone mad, where desperate people do everything to survive after the magical apocalypse.

Accused of murder, Faulk is on the run after his chance at redemption went horribly wrong. He finds himself allied with the mysterious Yuweh, a woman sent by her gods to capture an assassin who is spreading forbidden magic. Journeying across a land where all magic, cultures, and wars are dictated by its cycles in nature, they uncover a plot that threatens to destroy everything they hold dear. Faulk and Yuweh must reconcile their clashing cultures to prevent the chaos from repeating...as another attempts to use it for his benefit.

Franz Kafka was one of the first and greatest masters of dystopian literature. In his bleak world view, man is presented as helpless and ineffectual, his destiny determined by distant, obscure and essentially unfriendly agencies. In none of his works is this savage and unreasoning enslavement presented more vividly than in Metamorphosis, a novella in which Gregor Samsa, a respectable employee and dutiful son, wakes to find himself transformed into a gigantic insect.

A strange woman becomes a guest of the house of Laura and her father by devious means. Disappearances, nocturnal wanderings, sickness, and death ensue, and no one knows what is behind it all.

Rathen, ex-captain of the late king’s army, pulls together a team to defeat the evil that threatens them all. The Book of Ziz, with its instructions for protective spells against an evil deity, has fallen into the nefarious hands of High Priest Litagus, meaning soon untold evil will reign unchecked if Rathen fails. Consumed by his personal vengeance for the betrayer in the earlier death of his friends, Rathen travels to the ruins of Ghrakus Castle to enlist the aid of the very being who tried to kill Rathen once before.

Isabeau Finne’s perfect world completely unravels when she meets Death’s right-hand man one fateful night, sending her life spiraling into a world of chaos and the impossible. Suddenly, she is no longer Isabeau and becomes part of the most secretive inner workings of Death itself. She must quickly learn how to traverse this new life...or lose it. As she delves deeper into the mystery and challenges of her new existence, her every move is shadowed by the darkly mysterious Gideon.

After a catastrophe in the real world leaves Kraven's broken body trapped in a regeneration capsule, his mind is connected to the latest new-generation virtual reality game, World of Noria. But things in game-world are not all they seem, and to survive, Kraven will need a strength he has little time to cultivate.

Step into a world where dreams blur with reality and the impossible becomes possible. In "Astra," Mary Hale's nights are filled with vivid, unsettling experiences that leave tangible traces in her waking life. As she grapples with the fear of losing her sanity, her husband Fred stands by her side, determined to uncover the truth behind these mysterious nocturnal adventures.