Showing results by narrator "Eric Michael Summerer" in All Categories

Have you ever loved anyone so much that you’d give them up at the expense of your own happiness? No? Well, I did. Okay, that’s not the first lie I’ve ever told myself. I fought tooth and nail for the only man I’ll ever love, but in the end, I had to concede defeat. Even now, seven years later, the cruel words Ryker uttered the morning after he took my virginity still wield the power to shatter the remains of my heart. Yet fate has a way of shaping our lives. No matter how hard we fight for a different outcome.

The Founders were the first marked, and they used those powers to build kingdoms, subjugate the land, and enrich themselves. They will not suffer another to join their ranks. Lost in a world with levels, stats, and monsters, Hal fights to survive in an unforgiving land, and to escape execution from its rulers. Ingenuity and courage won’t be enough. With marked powers he doesn’t understand, he’s easy prey for all the goblins, bandits, aberrations, and foul monsters that plague the realm. He’ll need to abandon his humanity by embracing the beast within.

This is it, the day I take over my father’s adventuring shop! Set at the base of Gianskarl mountain, where lies a vast and mysterious dungeon, this is the perfect spot. Many adventurers come to try their hand at the Karl in the hopes of hitting it big. And it’s up to me now to sell them the equipment they’ll need to face the dangers that await them. But where my father was content selling trinkets for a pittance, I want to turn this modest shop into the industry leader.

Erich and Margit have settled into their lives as adventurers in Marsheim, having risen to ruby-red rank—another firm step forward in their adventuring careers! However, as the dust settles around the incident with the Baldur Clan, Nanna makes them an interesting proposal.

Ryan "Quicksave" Romano has begun a new time-loop. His goal? To prevent New Rome's destruction at the hands of the vicious Meta-Gang. To do so, our favorite courier must explore both sides of the law: to become a corporate superhero in one loop, and a scenery-chewing supervillain in the next!

For five centuries, a witch's curse has bound the trolls to their city beneath the ruins of Forsaken Mountain. Time enough for their dark and nefarious magic to fade from human memory and into myth. But a prophesy has been spoken of a union with the power to set the trolls free, and when Ccile de Troyes is kidnapped and taken beneath the mountain, she learns there is far more to the myth of the trolls than she could have imagined.

The world died long ago, leaving only a few here and there to rebuild. Their world had once been grand and magnificent, but too much was lost in the years after the time known as the Dying. Knowledge that had been gained over centuries disappeared from the world, lost when those who carried that knowledge died with it.

The Secrets of Story is a revolutionary and comprehensive writing guide for the 21st century, focused on clever ways to get an audience to fully identify with an all-too-human hero. Authors will learn to how to cut through pop culture noise and win over a jaded modern audience by rediscovering the heart of writing: shaping stories that ring true to our shared understanding of human nature.

Ryan's life sucks. His brother is a jerk, his mom is sick, and his legs are next to useless thanks to a neurological disorder. Plus the world ended two centuries ago from nuclear war. Now the only escape from reality being the massive VR world of Crystal Shards Online. But even in the game, Ryan's life sucks. He works as a miner, earning not nearly enough to afford the operation that will save his mom. When Ryan discovers an item that grants the ability to dodge any attack, however, he has the chance to become one of the game world's most elite and sought after players: a Dodge Tank.

The chief of police lies dead by Gambit's hands, but his vengeance has yet to be sated as Mayor Sullivan still remains alive. Following the fight that decimated the Serenity Park Mall, Gambit continues his hunt for those who wronged him in the past and the mayor is at the top of his hit list. However, Logan Maximilian and the Twine brothers will not make it easy for him, and he must face the consequences of his actions.

The bitter conflict in Faerzen has drawn to a close with the Grantzian Empire's victory. As Hiro and his allies return to the capital, it would seem that, for the moment, the bloodshed is done. Yet only a fool would take this temporary lull for a lasting peace. The empire's foundations are creaking. War is coming; indeed, for those with eyes to see, its harbingers are already here. Second Prince Selene has left the north, an almost unheard-of occurrence.

Emperor Greiheit is dead, cut down by his own son's hand. What remains of the court struggles to contain the fallout of Stovell's insurrection. Yet even in this hour of crisis, there is no time to rest. Six Kingdoms is carving a bloody swathe through the western territories with one of the largest forces Soleil has ever seen, bound straight for the heart of the empire. Hiro leads a desperate foray west to confront this terrifying new foe, aiming to buy Liz and the rest of his allies time to assemble their defense.

To claim his powers as Founder and secure their freedom, Hal and his cohort must fight to build a Sanctum where no other living kingdom dares to tread. The search for a Manaseed to serve as the Sanctum’s heart will take Hal and his caravan to distant, strange lands, and force them to weather vicious beasts and Manastorms alike. To survive the trials ahead, Hal crafts weapons enchanted with rare loot and sates his appetite for monster essences...all while struggling to balance the price of his corrupting, otherworldly powers and securing a foothold in an unforgiving land.

Just as Masters and Johnson were pioneers in the study of human sexuality, so Dr. John Gottman has revolutionized the study of marriage. As a professor of psychology at the University of Washington and the founder and director of the Seattle Marital and Family Institute, he has studied the habits of married couples in unprecedented detail over the course of many years. His findings, and his heavily attended workshops, have already turned around thousands of faltering marriages.

The Terran Commonwealth has proved a nigh-unstoppable juggernaut in its war against the smaller Castle Federation and her allies, but an almost accidental victory by Captain Kyle Roberts of the carrier Avalon has opened a chink in its armor. Desperate to change the course of a war they are rapidly losing, the Federation assembles a new forward fleet with orders to retake the systems that have fallen to the enemy.

Parno Mcleod has enough problems for three people. A brother trying to steal the throne. A former fiance who has ripped him apart emotionally, and an enemy army twice the size of his own camped out on millions of acres of prime farm land he needs to feed his people.

Juniper Smith thought he'd found a safe haven on the Isle of Poran, building a new nation with his companions. But when a carelessly mentioned name threatens to unleash a deadly infohazard, he realizes that even the most innocent words from Earth can kill on Aerb. A quick trip to warn the scholars at the Athenaeum of Speculation and Scrutiny should be simple enough. Instead, Juniper discovers that Uther Penndraig left far more than just his legacy behind, and events quickly spiral out of control as the Chosen One's past extends its tendrils into the future.

Ryan Romano has done it. He has gathered information about all the villains threatening New Rome. He listed all the people he wants to protect. He knows which places he has to blow up and which car he has to steal. All that's left is going back in time one final time, achieve the perfect sequence of events, save everyone, get the girl, and defeat the ultimate enemy.

How do you define yourself when others have already decided who you are? Six years ago, when Camden Daniels came back from war without his younger brother, no one in the small town of Alba, Colorado, would forgive him - especially his father. He left, swearing never to return. But a desperate message from his father brings it all back. The betrayal. The pain. And the need to go home again. But home is where the one person he still loves is waiting. Willow. The one woman he can never have. Because there are secrets buried in Alba that are best left in the dark.

Hal's triumph over the Tower of Blight should have left his settlement of Brightsong stronger than ever. Instead, it left them without a leader, and their strongest members were sent halfway across the world. Trading frigid cold for unrelenting heat, the Dunes of Midnight are no less vicious than the Shiverglades. Beastmen attack the outskirts of civilization while the Adventurer's Guild falls to ruins. Wanting nothing more than to return home before the tribes of the Shiverglades arrive on Brightsong's doorstep, Hal seeks answers in the metropolis of Dalmanii.