Showing results by narrator "Andrew D Meredith" in All Categories

From distant planets to enchanted worlds of magic, embark on a journey through amazing short fiction in this epic anthology featuring twenty-two science fiction and fantasy authors. Travel from distant planets on the edge of space to enchanted worlds filled with magic. Laugh with plucky thieves...

Sam Shovel only comes to life for twelve days a year at Christmastime, and this year, he's in time to solve a murder mystery at the North Pole. O. Tannenbaum—the world's largest supplier of Christmas trees—has been murdered, and although Nick and Nora Claus are too busy to solve the mystery, Sam has enough time on his branchy hands to take a stab at it.

A traitor is executed, his name ripped away from history. Now the kingdom stands on the brink of a succession war that could bring the country to its knees. Forces stalk the darkness, moving pawns into place in a deadly game. Gehrin and his brothers were not meant to witness the execution, but now they find themselves trapped in the center of a political quagmire. When Gehrin faces the loss of everything he knows, will he also lose himself?

When a city councilor comes into Quaint Creatures and asks veterinary doctor Norrik Softstep to investigate the magical crate confiscated by his customs agency, the entire staff of Quaint Creatures will need all their skills and knowledge to unravel the troubles threatening the relatively peaceful city of Brightfall.

Far too many blame their own bad luck on Hanen and Rallia Clouw. When opportunity knocks, they leap to put their past behind them. In the turmoil of a holy order fraught with lies, frustration, and heresy, the paladin Jined Brazstein is called to deeper faith.

Dark tools forged, scale weights measured, cities made pawns of those in power, and the secrets of heresies long past come fully into the light to cast their dark shadows on everything. All would be heroes must give their lives or be made illustration—for those who've still to come and try, to fall or rise, above their station.

Jovan made his deal, ensuring Leaf would have a normal life. But Leaf is anything but normal, and the magic pouring from him draws the attention of a sinister vedmak coven, bent on increasing their power. Jovan's rage, long hidden in his carefully curated calm, reawakens with each threat to Leaf's life—but now his Rage has a voice.

After an assassination attempt that could lead to an all-out war, Tyras and Oren, two young Seekers of the Argan Empire, are each given secret missions in an attempt to thwart the coming chaos. Both tasks require the Seekers to venture through the war-torn continent of Tiarna, where the young men face mortal danger, horrible monsters, and hostile groups–all challenges Seekers are trained to combat.

The errors of yesterday continue to haunt Hanen and Rallia Clouw and deeper secrets from their past reveals an even darker future. A rift in the order of the paladins threatens to tear wide open, and Jined Brazstein is all that stands in the gap. A dark prophecy wilts the sisterhood, and Katiam Borreau is cast away to a land beyond the edge of any dream.

Hanen and Rallia Clouw—enterprising mercenaries, caring siblings, and children of a luckless man—only wish to find their place in the world and make an easy coin. Yet too many blame their own bad luck on the Clouws, and everything they have worked for begins to crumble around them. When the man who introduced them to their path rolls into town with an easy opportunity to make them all wealthy and influential, they leap at the chance to hit the road, and put their past behind them once more. Fate has other plans. And the responsibilities they leave to others must be answered for.

Katiam Borreau—Paladame of the Rose, physician, Follower of the Aspect of Dignity—has only ever wanted a choice in her life. But with the responsibilities placed upon her, along with the discovery and awakening of a mysterious, seemingly ageless seed pod, she must decide whether she is to put her desires aside, for within that seed lies hope, and a healing balm the world of Kallattai truly needs. But a dark figure, one who has been cursed by the gods for his own choices, harasses the company of escorts to the monks of Judgment. He brings in his wake wrath, winged fury, and rage.

Jined Brazstein—Paladin of the Hammer, protector of mankind, murderer—joins the Prima Pater as he leaves the confines of the father monastery to visit his holdings across the usually peaceful Northern Scapes. Yet continual miscommunication, rising tension between nations, and a dark sect seeking to bring the order down from within, put everyone in jeopardy. But Jined’s god calls him to a path that will test and strengthen his faith, even while the Order seems to crumble around him.

Forced out on the road with the boy left in his care, Jovan determines to journey into the cave of the bear — to seek out those that would do him and his boy harm. It is the boy and his bottomless well of soul-searing magic that they seek. They would do anything to exploit it. And Jovan would do anything to stop them.

Nethendel Unteel is comfortable in his life at the father monastery of Pariantür. But when the long-raging Protectorate Wars suddenly end, and life threatens to return to normal, Nethendel learns of a woman the dark gods wish to bind to their schemes. He must decide what to do with the secrets he uncovers.

New York City, 1859: On Samhain night, a mage pledged to the Wild Hunt is violently murdered. Tensions between the Hunt and Triona, Fey Queen of Central Park, heat up and threaten to boil over into a full-scale conflict. Sofia De Benedetti, mage and musician in Triona’s court, has her hands full making enough money to support herself and help women who are down on their luck in the rough corners of the city. Now a fey war looms and a mage killer is on the prowl.

When snowman Sam Shovel came to life this Christmas, he was hoping he'd manage to avoid getting sucked into another murder mystery as he hopped aboard the North Pole Express with his good friend, Kertas the Yule Lad. But things start looking bleak when Sam meets a conductor no one else has seen, and then ends up melted, causing his memories to go even more slushy than usual.

The Clouws must choose to destroy or unlock the Dread Plate armor before the looming specters of their past make the choice for them. Jined grapples with the weight of his fate as enemies promise to destroy everything he holds dear. Daughter of dark lineage, Ophedia carves her own path through the annals of history, her fate entwined with her family's legacy.