Showing results by narrator "Paul Woodson" in Science Fiction & Fantasy

Today the names of H. P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, August Derleth, and Clark Ashton Smith, all regular contributors to the pulp magazine Weird Tales during the first half of the twentieth century, are recognizable even to casual readers and listeners of the bizarre and fantastic. And yet despite being more popular than them all during the golden era of genre pulp fiction, there is another author whose name and work have fallen into obscurity: Seabury Quinn. Quinn's short stories were featured in well more than half of Weird Tales's original publication run.

Summoned by his father to return home immediately, Dougall MacRae knows he cannot leave without his beloved Helene. He asks her to marry him and accompany him back to Castle Treun unaware that his father has plans for him to wed another in an attempt to strengthen clan alliances. He can keep Helene as a mistress, but not as his wife. Helene refuses to remain at Castle Treun as his mistress. As she pleads aloud for someone to help her, she is engulfed in a thick fog and when it clears she finds herself in the year 2016 in San Francisco, California.

Word is out, the soul eater has gone rogue, and not even the might of Osiris can stop him. Or so everyone believes. That would suit Ace just fine, but after he narrowly escapes an assassination attempt, he knows it's just a matter of time before those around him end up in the crosshairs of the gods. After 500 years on earth, it's time for Ace to go home. Little does he know, the underworld is hungry for revenge, and what awaits him in the Halls of Judgment could be far worse than any fate on Earth.

To Charles Fort, with Love is award-winning fantasist Caitlín R. Kiernan’s third collection of short fiction, a haunting parade of the terrible things which may lie beyond the boundaries of science, the minds which may exist beyond psychology, and the forbidden places which will never be located in any orthodox globe. A deceptively even dozen, this collection includes Kiernan’s celebrated stories “Onion” and “Andromeda Among the Stones”, as well as a number of more obscure pieces.

Allison Sutton isn’t the sort to take risks. She’s a nurse, so she’s seen exactly where risk-taking can lead. But she leaves her comfort zone to visit Scotland with her sisters and then takes a further leap of faith when one of them insists they jump from a waterfall that’s supposedly enchanted. To her amazement, the jump brings her back in time, to the fourteenth century, and she comes face to face with a strapping Highlander who looks as if he’s stepped out of her fantasies.

To defeat his greatest enemy, he may have to become his greatest fear.... Now that he's come home, Wardin is determined to reclaim all that was lost. But when his enemies unite against him, he finds himself outnumbered and outmatched, and his kingdom in more danger than ever. Amid these threats comes a chilling warning against walking the same treacherous path as his father before him. Desperate not to repeat the failures of his forebears, Wardin turns to mysterious new allies and perilous new magic. And even that may not be enough.

The orc plague has spread across the land, routing the dwarf clans from their ancestral home. The dwarves must turn to the dragon riders for help, hoping to reclaim Mount Velik and save the clans. Untold lives are at stake. Are the dragon riders strong enough to lift off the spirit of death from Mount Velik, and defeat the evil that lies within those ancient caverns, or will they all be destroyed?

It was a bright, warm spring day when Alador sat upon the hilltop looking down at the valley below him. He knew he did not fit into the world around him. His presence was tolerated and accepted but not welcomed. Little did he know how much his life would change that day. How could one large stone make such a difference in one's world? Renamaum, was a large blue dragon with one desire. He wanted the pact between man and dragon re-established. He wanted the hunting of the eggs and fledglings to stop.

War looms on the horizon. The fates of mankind and dragonkind alike hang in the balance. And as tensions rise and allegiances shift, someone dear to Griffin is taken by the enemy. Desperate, Griffin embarks on a rescue mission into hostile territory, where old grudges bring new dangers and legendary monsters come to life. But even if he succeeds, it won't be enough. If he's to stop the redwings once and for all, Griffin must reach across the sea, beyond the grave, and into perhaps the most frightening place of all: his own heart.

A name destined to be forgotten. A cursed axe. An atrocity too great to be forgiven. The legend begins...For more than a thousand years, the dwarves have hidden away from the world in their ravine city of Arx Gravis. Governed by an inflexible council whose sole aim is to avoid the errors of the past, the defining virtue of their society is that nothing should ever change. But when the Scriptorium is broken into, and Ravine Guard Carnifex Thane sees a homunculus fleeing the scene of the crime, events are set in motion that will ensure nothing will ever be the same again.

Griffin came home a hero, and now he's paying the price: The red queen is more determined than ever to destroy Pendralyn, and the only weapon they had against her is gone. New weapons will require new alliances, so when the green dragons extend a mysterious invitation to the magisters, all are eager to accept. Or nearly all. Unfortunately for Griffin, the imperious, intractable greenwing elder has taken a particular interest in him.

When Andrew bought a carved figure from The Peddler, he thought he was doing the old man a favor. When three violent criminals came to give his shop a shakedown, he realized it was the other way around. In this fantasy, horror novelette, a luscious, green park stands as a beacon of thriving life in the midst of a fledgling city where criminals run rampant. The police are either helpless, ignorant, or criminals themselves.

What exactly is the difference between a love letter and a suicide note? Is there really any difference at all? These might be the questions posed by Dear Sweet Filthy World, Caitlin R. Kiernan’s 14th collection of short fiction, comprising 28 uncollected and impossible-to-find stories. Here are 28 tales of apocalypse and rebirth, of miraculous transformation and utter annihilation. Here is the place where professing your undying devotion might be precisely the same thing as signing your own death warrant or worse.

Across the sea, an unspeakable evil rises out of myth, bent on conquest and destruction. Each kingdom that falls before it brings it one step closer to Eyrdon. And there is only one way to fight it: with magic. How can Wardin hope to defend his own land from such a threat, while magic is still outlawed across his borders? Desperate to save his people at any cost, he'll weather brutal betrayals, heartbreaking losses, and even dubious divine intervention.

The Shadow Grid has plundered and destroyed the city of Miklagard. Aonach Tower has been razed to the ground. The High Council is scattered, and many council members are dead. The dragon riders search desperately for their kidnapped leader while a sinister plot unravels in Everwood Forest. In the face of so much chaos and death, how will the dragon riders defeat an old enemy whose intent is to destroy them all?

After the shocking destruction of Aonach Tower, the dragon riders gather together to save the city of Miklagard from a similar fate. As the High Council bickers and argues about the future, a deadly group of rogue spellcasters gather outside Miklagard's borders to rain destruction down upon the city. The dragon riders find themselves opposed on all sides in a dangerous clash between forces of justice and power.

Leo Craft is the best at what he does; he assassinates superheroes, but only the ones who deserve it. Life is good, simple, until an ultra-secretive government agency hires Leo to execute two impossible tasks: eliminate the world's foremost superhero, Patriotman, and hunt down a fellow assassin whose target is the president of the United States.

Kevin Grierson has a shadow with a mind of its own. It likes thrills, it likes power, it likes the rush of drugs and danger. From the suburbs of Boston to the streets of New York, from the false glamour of advertising to the dark glamour of hustling and drug-dealing. Grierson's shadow keeps him walking the edge of destruction and madness. Then a simple robbery goes horribly wrong. With the help of a flawed saint named Leo Dunn, Grierson struggles to banish his shadow, and succeeds. Temporarily....

Fighting uncles and aunts, demons and angels, Ellie and Douglas forge a love that will last a lifetime in the shadow of his forefather's castle. From Dunvegan Castle to the Devil's Staircase, this Scottish romance will capture your heart. Love is bittersweet, complicated, and heartbreaking. Only a McLeod can love a vampire like Ellie.

Witches are disappearing all over New York, and Ace Dante couldn't care less - until one holds his friend at gunpoint, demanding Ace take the job. The witch produces a girl's severed arm, bearing an unusual hieroglyph, and Ace starts to care a whole lot more. He recognizes that mark. It's connected to Ace in ways he doesn't yet understand. Why is it on a dead witch's arm? Missing witches and severed arms aren't Ace's only problems. With a new name around his neck - Godkiller - Ace has a promise to uphold.