Dramatized Science

Three Ordinary Magic novellas now in audio!

Demons are putting rips in the veil in order to cross over and steal my friends and allies away. But, going after them isn’t even close to simple. The deepest level of the veil is not a place you can just open a doorway to, after all, and, of course, that’s where they’ve been taken. As fate would have it, it looks like I might get some help from a trained demon slayer and his fire-breathing ride. The only problem? Said demon slayer claims to have family ties to me. And I’ve never trusted my family. Nor am I about to start now.

In the crumbling remains of a tunnel that was part of the Underground Railroad, a mysterious artifact reveals one of the darkest secrets of Africa's ancient past. Intrigued by the strange, encrypted stone, archaeologist Annja Creed opens a door to a world — and a legend — bound by a fierce and terrible force. She is not alone in her pursuit of the impossible.

Generations after a near nuclear annihilation, America is a radiation-ravaged wasteland swarming with a thousand horrifically mutated life forms. Ryan Cawdor and his band of post-holocaust survivors barely escape a self-destructing redoubt in the new southwest and embark on a journey overland to find the nearest gateway. But without an adequate supply of food and water, their quest is doomed.

Ryan Cawdor and his band of post-holocaust survivors come face-to-face with a specter from the past: out of the swirling dust that was once New Mexico bursts a regiment of pony soldiers, led by a man with flowing yellow hair. Brandishing Colts and Winchesters, the horsemen grimly prepare to destroy the ragtag strangers, intruders who dare to penetrate their ruthlessly defended stronghold.

Myra Reed’s life is going great. Being a cop is great. Guarding the library of arcane secrets is great. Even dealing with the monsters and gods vacationing in the little beach town of Ordinary, Oregon is great. Then the demon, Bathin, strolls into town and steals Myra’s sister’s soul. So much for great. Luckily, Myra has a plan to evict the demon and save her sister’s soul. Step one: shut down the portals to hell popping up in town. Step two: get rid of the pink know-it-all unicorn. Step three: don’t die while teaching Death how to be a cop.

As the roaming band of survivors seek desperately to escape the eerie wastes and mutated life-forms of their nuclear hell, they emerge from a gateway back into the ruins of Manhatten — the concrete battlefield where Ryan had avenged the death of his father and older brother. The city is a flooded hellzone ruled by street gangs and hordes of reptilian mutants who inhabit the sewers. Under this urban ruin lives the self-styled King of the Underground, presiding over his subterranean fortress filled with prenuke memorabilia.

When Kelvin was a child, his mother read to him from the Book of Prophecy and he asked what the poem meant. Now he was about to learn. The Kingdom of Rud languishes under the heel of a usurper; an evil sorcerer has taken the throne in the name of his wicked daughter. Even deep in the forest, away from all power, the people tremble and await the day of prophecy's fulfillment. It cannot come too soon: Charlain and her children are soon to lose their home to the tax collector. But Kelvin and Jon have other plans.

They call him Jig Dragonslayer - and who is he to deny a legend. After all, common sense - something in very short supply among goblins - has a lot to do with Jig's continued existence. Though he's been captured by adventures and dragged unwillingly along on their foolish quest, he's survived both the Necromancer and the Dragon. If people want to insist he's a hero, he isn't going to fight about it. But the trouble with being labeled a hero is that everyone expects you to keep doing heroic things.

When her police contact asks her to look into a "suicide", she suddenly finds herself in a labyrinth of deception, drugs, murder - and all-too-human corruption. The cops are her allies, except for the ones who want her dead. The hellbreed are her targets, except for the ones who might know what's going on. Her city is in danger, time is running out, and each lead only draws her deeper. How far will a hunter go when her city - and her friends - are on the line? Just far enough.

Apropos is a rogue, a rascal, a scoundrel, a cheat...and those are his good points. Lame of leg but fast of wit, the only reason Apropos doesn't consider chivalry dead is because he's not yet through with it. An orphan with a chip on his shoulder, Apropos, travels to the court of the good King Runcible, with three goals in mind: to find his father, seek retribution for the death of his mother, and to line his own pockets. However, Apropos carries the most troublesome burden a would-be harbinger of chaos can bear: He may well be a hero foretold, a young man of destiny.

Emerging out of the ashes of the nuclear apocalypse, no one has been more successful and determined than Ryan Cawdor and his band of warrior survivalists. But if the wasteland's endless miles come between them, the odds for getting back together again — for their very survival — are not in their favor. A cryptic message regarding the long-missing Trader sends Ryan and the Armorer on an odyssey to the Pacific Northwest, away from their base, away from their band of warrior survivalists, away from Krysty Wroth.

"Work Sets You Free" by David Barnett is an original short story featuring the protagonist of the forthcoming novel Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl. Gideon is a young fisherman in Yorkshire, England, in an alternate 1890, who embarks on a journey to find Captain Lucian Trigger, the famed Hero of the Empire, to deal with a mystery plaguing his home village.

The nuclear conflagration that had nearly consumed the world generations ago stripped away most of its bounty, throwing survivors back to more savage ways of existence. Amid the ruins, Ryan Cawdor leads the daring few who wage a grim battle in a quest for a better future. As elsewhere in the Deathlands, what remains of the Sunshine State is ruled by tooth and claw and unbridled instinct. It's an alien, inhospitable terrain of sulphur pits and lethal geysers, inhabited by mutated life-forms.

But the future in a world shrouded in the radioactive red dust clouds of a generation-old global nuclear war depends on finding hidden caches of food, weapons and technology - the legacy of a preholocaust society - stashed in lonely outposts known as redoubts. When Ryan Cawdor discovers a redoubt in the bitter freakish wasteland that now passes for Alaska, he also uncovers a new threat to a slowly reemerging America.

In this second thrilling installment of the Gunnie Rose series, Lizbeth Rose is hired onto a new crew for a seemingly easy protection job, transporting a crate into Dixie, just about the last part of the former United States of America she wants to visit. But what seemed like a straightforward job turns into a massacre as the crate is stolen. Up against a wall in Dixie, where social norms have stepped back into the last century, Lizbeth has to go undercover with an old friend to retrieve the crate, as what’s inside can spark a rebellion, if she can get it back in time.

Shrouded in manipulation and mystery, a deadly order grips the treacherous post-nuclear world, one that conspires to weaken and subjugate humanity as it has for eons. Yet the oligarchy of hybrid barons is slowly losing its power over insurrectionist forces, led by rebels willing to lead mankind out of its yoke of slavery. Though the timeless secrets of Earth and its oppressors remain locked, the sheer fortitude of the human soul remains strong....

The classic vampire story by Bram Stoker revolves around a struggle between good and evil, tradition and modernity, and lust versus chastity. The author didn’t invent vampires, but his novel has so captured the public’s imagination that he is rightly considered their popularizer. Listen and you will meet not only the Count himself, but heroes Jonathan Harker and Abraham Van Helsing, plus an array of madmen, psychiatrists, and fair maidens who cross paths with the fanged menace.

Sister murdered, best friend dead, married to the patron saint of death, Necromancer Eric Carter's return to Los Angeles hasn't gone well, and it's about to get even worse. His link to the death goddess is changing his powers, changing him. While searching for a way to break Santa Muerte's hold over him, Carter finds himself the target of a psychopath who can steal anyone's form, powers, and memories. He can be anyone. He can be anywhere.

Bounty hunting is a helluva job, but it pays the bills. And it lets necromance Dante Valentine forget her issues. Like struggling with her half-demon side and the memory of her lover’s death. Now psychics all over the city are being savagely murdered and a piece of the past Dante thought she’d buried is stalking the night with a vengeance. Too bad she’s got no way to tell which fiend - or friend - to trust. Or that her most horrifying nightmares are gathering to take one kick-ass bounty hunter down for the count. But that’s only the beginning. The Devil just called.