Showing results by narrator "Laurie Catherine Winkel" in All Categories

Alexander and the Greystone Guild are expanding their territory. Building up the keep, conquering new lands, and recruiting citizens of all races. And when they've prepared enough, they plan on taking the fight to the minions of the Dark One in their own strongholds. New friends are discovered, and alliances are made. Tragedy befalls one of the group, and the Dark One's identity is finally discovered.

King Alexander and his guildmates have expanded Elysia into a formidable kingdom. Their ongoing battle against the Dark One and the drow wizards is escalating. Alexander works to bring together the Elves, Dwarves, and Human Kingdoms to establish the alliance proposed by the Dragon King. But the dark magic of the drow has infiltrated even the highest offices, blocking his efforts. War comes once again to the gates of the keep, and Alexander must find a way to defend his citizens before he can go on the offensive and take the fight to the stronghold of his enemies.

Ruth is a no-nonsense 40-something journalist from the Midwest desperate for a child with her new husband, Hal. Their hope rests with Cally, a 19-year-old who wants to go to college - but doesn’t have the cash. The arrangement seems perfect for everyone. But within a day of the baby’s birth, Cally has a change of heart - and engineers a harrowing escape from the hospital with the newborn. When Ruth and Hal discover that Cally and their daughter are gone, a whole series of doubts and secrets is revealed, and the difference between right and wrong is no longer clear.

Ten years ago, Jack Everett left his family's ranch without a backward glance. Now, what was supposed to be a quick trip home for his father's funeral has suddenly become more complicated. The ranch Jack can handle - he might be a lawyer, but he still remembers how to work with his hands. But turning around the failing vineyard he's also inherited? That requires working with the one woman he never expected to see again.

Ryan doesn’t remember much about his life before becoming dungeon core. Only that he had a bit of a disagreement with the church - something to do with a beheading? Now reborn, Ryan begins to arm his darkness dungeon with devious traps, bestial zombies, and ill-named skeletal creations, without doing anything too evil. Well, mostly. Some adventurers just deserve a stalactite to the head. But Ryan quickly learns being a darkness dungeon isn’t all loot and bone puns.

Run. Hide. Live the good life online. Early retirement looked so easy on paper. Steal eight million euros from a gangster. Hide inside an online game and enjoy the finer things in life as a bard until the danger had passed. Except Daniel messed up. Now, the gangsters are in the game looking for him and he's stuck with an imbalanced character build in a dead-end starter village. Can Daniel find his own place and a life worth living inside the World of Chains?

Gideon Caldwell is a less than successful indie author barely making ends meet in his crummy basement apartment in New Haven, Connecticut, when a beautiful woman mysteriously appears at his doorstep.

Ryan has died, been reborn as a dungeon core, defeated a necromancer, and made a number of friends along the way. Life, well un-life, is good. However, everything changed when the demons attacked. With his dungeon town in danger and cultists scheming in the shadows, Ryan must decide whether to draw upon the darker side of his own nature - unlocking powers far greater than anything he has accessed before. Something his new dungeon fairy seems suspiciously excited about.

After experimenting with an exploit, Vincent begins to develop new spells that will take him higher in the game than he ever thought possible. Unfortunately, he crosses paths with the last moderator, a young man named Lucas that uses his mod abilities to torture and subjugate other players. Lucas is willing to abuse his power to conquer the World-Tree, but Vincent’s exploit might just be the key to stopping him.

I never believed in superheroes. I certainly didn't believe I'd become one, or that strategically forming a harem of hot chicas and getting down with them to unlock my superpowers would be the key to my survival. Did I say my survival? I meant the universe's. No, really.... That's exactly what happened when I was taken to a galaxy of supers, thrown into a prison ship full of villains, and told it was up to me to stop them all.

Sadomasochism. Obsession. Death. A whirlpool of darkness churns at the heart of a macabre ballet between two lonely young women in an internet chat room in the early 2000s - a darkness that threatens to forever transform them once they finally succumb to their most horrific desires. What have you done today to deserve your eyes?

Noah Becker is nothing but trouble. That's what Mama told me when I was a kid, kicking his pew in church and giggling at the games we'd play. It's what the town said when his father died and the Becker brothers went wild. And it's on repeat in my mind the day I walk into the whiskey distillery where he works to buy a wedding gift for my fiancé.

Akio Prince is one of the best in the world at a dying art. He’s put a lifetime of martial arts training to work in the arena, dueling with pulsing resin blades and glowing carbon fiber for the masses. But winning championships is small consolation while his city is taken over by the Hachinin, ruthless criminals spreading corruption, violence, and debauchery across the east.

Mace and Shari continue their search for survivors among the undead even as they struggle to stay alive themselves. While working to raise their sync levels with the game, the new couple pursue the quests they’ve picked up, explore a dungeon or two, and work to stabilize the game world they hope to live in. With the undead world above closing in, will they have the time to figure out how to save themselves and other survivors?

It’s been years since anyone has seen Noble Vincent, the player that brought down World-Tree Online’s tyrannical moderator. Even with a lifetime of perceived experiences in the game, he still has centuries to go before the update finally ends and the people trapped in the game are freed. After taking a long vacation and traveling to many worlds, he realizes its time to get his team back together so they can try to reach the top of the World-Tree.

Shari is a med student, months away from being a doctor. Mace is a coder on his first day of an exciting new job. When the world comes to a sudden and horrifying end, none would have expected them to be among the few survivors. Hyper-aggressive undead zombie creatures hunt anything living on the surface, where even the grass and trees can kill you. Hiding underground is safe, but not much of a life. Their only escape is a virtual world of magic and monsters where Shari can use her healing skills, and Mace can focus on something other than his fears.

Go to the big city. Hang out with the bigwigs. Have fun. That was the plan, right? Right! Except, our hero was supposed to be the guest of honor and the mob was not supposed to be invited. Daniel was running out of places to lay low, however. Something needed to be done, or he’d be caught in the ever-tightening net of his pursuers.

Old Man Vincent is heading for the top of the World-Tree and beyond in the final installment of the World-Tree Trilogy. To get there, he's going to have to overcome titan-sized bosses, strange new worlds, an army of angels, and a seemingly invincible final boss. And yes, he's looking forward to the challenge.

In the latter half of the 21st century, Alexander and his guild mates play Io Online for fun and to earn a living. Given the chance to test a new experimental immersion system, the veteran players must give up their high-level characters and begin again at level one. As they work through the noob zone quests, they discover that the new immersion system allows them to play in ways that hadn't been possible before. They quickly run afoul of a party of player killers and become the targets of an entire PK guild bent on spawn-camping them until they leave the game. War has been declared.

The [Skyclad Sorceress] has made new friends and discovered she has some enemies. Now, along with the Worldwalker Dana and the survivors of the Expedition, she is working to get out of the Wildlands. Meanwhile, the Deskren have beseiged Fort Expedition and The General rides with his troops to their relief. He is followed by The Hammer, leading the Children of the First Beast. Certainly an impressive and dangerous force, but will they get to Expedition in time to save the city? If they arrive in time, can they hold the walls until the Tribes arrive?