Showing results by narrator "Steve Barnes" in All Categories

Inspired by the rising chaos in Sheng Fan, Xu Liang, mystic and officer of the Imperial Court, leaves his homeland for the barbarian outer lands in search of four magical blades to unite with two sacred weapons already in the possession of the Empire. His plan is to bring all of the blades together and return them to Sheng Fan's Empress as a symbol of unity that will bolster the people’s faith in the Imperial family and assist against the surge of dark forces. Complicating his plan is not the finding of the blades, but finding them with bearers.

When a brutal threat takes over Vagabond Circus, everyone seeks refuge away from the big top. Finley knows he has to protect the circus he’s grown to love - and its people. But to do that he’ll have to further scar his soul. Jack is relentless to take back what was stolen from him, but in the process he becomes someone he never expected. And this acrobat, who once stole the hearts of millions, accidentally steals a heart he didn’t expect.

Who will save the circus? When the worst case scenario befalls the Vagabond Circus, Zuma knows she must ensure it doesn’t fall to doom. Titus’s job is to guarantee the show goes on, while the acrobats seek to avenge and rescue. Jack has no idea that he’s about to levitate himself into a deadly situation, and only Zuma and Finley can save him from a threat unlike what most have ever encountered.

When an ancient artifact kills the head of the Luminoso cult and descends into the Rift on a trail of fire, it falls upon Lord Carbón, his chancellor, and a sympathetic cultist to decipher the object before it returns to destroy the city of Quintana. Unfortunately, the treacherous Naila Roja, fresh off a murderous ascent to the top of the Luminoso, wishes only to force Quintana to bend a knee and acknowledge her as its ruler. She is blind to the dangers and possibilities of the artifact, and on the hunt for secrets hidden in the vaults of the Luminoso temple.

When miners discover a strange new artifact in the mines, maiming those who touch it and spawning deadly, shadowlike witherers, the discovery draws the attention of Salvatore, head of the secretive Luminoso cult. Hoarding ancient artifacts and terrorizing the city, the cabalists of the Luminoso temple collect scientific knowledge without understanding it, while watching the skies for heavenly signs, determined to bring about another golden age and crush any who meddle with their sacred prerogatives.

When a threat so brutal it has the force to rip the magic right out of the world takes over Vagabond Circus, everyone seeks refuge away from the big top. Finley knows he has to protect the circus he's grown to love and its people. But to do that he'll have to further scar his soul. Jack is relentless to take back what was stolen from him, but in the process he becomes someone he never expected. And this acrobat, who once stole the hearts of millions, accidentally steals a heart he didn't expect.

When the worst case scenario befalls the Vagabond Circus, Zuma knows she must ensure it doesn't fall to doom. Titus's job is to guarantee the show goes on, while the acrobats seek to avenge and rescue. Jack has no idea that he's about to levitate himself into a deadly situation, and only Zuma and Finley can save him from a threat unlike what most have ever encountered.

Captain Li Wing Hua has been a prisoner of an alien race for nearly four years, freed at last after the war. So when he's finally made captain of another space ship, he's eager to return to space. But when he discovers an observation outpost wrecked and the crew tortured to death, Hua has reason to suspect the same alien race that tortured and held him captive those four long years. But can he unravel the mystery before it causes an interstellar incident?

After Lord Carbón, one of the rulers of Quintana, discovers an artifact created during an ancient period of magic and super science, he enlists his energetic young chancellor, Iliana Diamante, and his former rival, the elderly Lord Torre, to hide the object before the Luminoso cult can seize it in a bid for power. To stop them, the spider-like Salvatore, head of the Luminoso, enlists his underling, the treacherous Naila Roja, to coerce the secret from her father-in-law, Lord Torre. Salvatore thinks he can control the artifact and bring about a new era of glory with himself in command.

We wanted to know - What's your number one fear in life? So we asked you. We surveyed 50 readers and asked them the above question. From the 50 responses, we found 15 major fear themes that were repeated multiple times, and we wrote this audiobook about the 15. This book discusses these 15 fears and reflects on them. What can we do to minimize their effect on our lives? We all know fear holds us back.

Sam Vanikey is under tremendous pressure. His new gallery opens in less than a month, and he has yet to produce any art in over a year. His inspiration is gone after leaving Angie, and depression threatens to rob him of the life he loves. Sheila, his supportive sister, sequesters Sam on an exclusive island getaway off the coast of Seattle.

George had begun to question his membership in the gang of murderers and rapists, but now that blood coats his hands, he can feel his humanity slipping away. All he wants to do is leave, but the leader of the gang is his psychotic brother-in-law and the only one who knows where George's pregnant sister is being kept. With just a few weeks left until she gives birth, George knows that leaving the gang now would mean condemning her and the child to the life he wants to escape.

Chris Astor is a man in his early forties who is going through the toughest stretch of his life. Becky is Chris's fourteen-year-old daughter, a girl who overcame enormous challenges to become a vibrant, vital young woman - and now faces her greatest obstacle yet. Miea is the young queen of a fantasy land that Becky and Chris created when Becky was little, a fantasy land that has developed a life of its own and now finds itself in terrible, maybe fatal trouble.

Belem, Ariam, Gael’jic, and Cecil have all been trapped inside a temple in the ruins of a strange city that should not exist. To find their way out, they will first have to travel deep into the heart of the place and uncover an impossible mystery. Lycas Ryth continues to seize power as he maneuvers people like pieces in a game that only he understands. But not everyone plays by his rules. A few minor leaders take notice and rush to conspire against him.

After everything you do for money, power, prestige, and fulfillment, it all comes back to happiness, and maximizing your happiness.

Twenty years ago, he was devastated when the love of his life stood him up for the home-coming dance. He moved on, but no one has quite stolen his heart the way she did. When the area is stricken with a disastrous storm, Andy discovers a message on his social media account from his old flame, requesting his help. Can he rekindle the embers of twenty years ago, or will they remain just friends?

In the land of Scandza, a captivating Ruritanian story unfolds against the backdrop of the early 1900s. Prince Frederik, a tenacious and determined soul, finds himself at the center of a web of secrets that surround the royal family of Scandza. Resolved to uncover the truth about his past, Frederik embarks on a quest that takes him through treacherous paths and into the depths of the royal palace. Alongside the unorthodox Soldier Trier and the enigmatic Princess Evelyn, Frederik encounters a multitude of eccentric and unforgettable characters, each concealing their own secrets and motives.

Narina has barely recovered from the madness that consumed her soul when she is forced to confront the crowlord Damanja, who has risen to mastery on the plains, and now seeks total domination. Even as Narina unites the sword temples against the crowlord, a demon king brings fire from the underworld, while dragon demigods of the mountains bury the land in snow. If Narina doesn't quickly stop the crowlord and lead her fellow sword warriors against these threats, her world will be destroyed by fire and ice.

With Narina caught in a nightmare struggle against the same curse consuming warriors from the other sword temples, it falls on her sister Katalinka to lead the bladedancers, while simultaneously making peace with former rivals from the warbrand and firewalker temples. The three temple warriors track Narina to the plains, where they find her locked in a struggle with the most powerful of the remaining crowlords. If she loses, the crowlord will take her life and steal her power, but by winning, Narina will become invincible, and lost to her friends forever.

As other sword masters are called to the fight, Narina finds herself hunted by a warrior from a rival temple. He is a warbrand, powerful and experienced, and trapped by a curse that will see him kill any and all rivals. With her sister - a fellow blade dancer and sword master - seeking allies from the doomed firewalker temple, it falls on Narina to face the warbrand alone.