Showing results by narrator "Chris Patton" in All Categories

Dark Ride is a collection of short fiction by one of the brightest writers in the genres of horror and dark fantasy. These stories range from the horrific to the surreal, and prove Michael Laimo to be a compelling stylist and relentless storyteller. None have been collected previously, and some are original to this volume.

Tristan Morin is a vampire on a mission: to not fall in love with Karen Pierce. To do so would prove that humans and Brethren were meant to be physically and emotionally bound to each other - something he, as a full-blooded Brethren, refuses to believe. It would be so much easier if Karen wasn't beautiful. And if there wasn't something about her that draws him like a moth to a flame.

Kitty, Kieran, Lolly, and Aaron—the main characters of the previous two Pig Trilogy novels—would be expected to be living happily ever after at this point. But nothing is settled or as expected in Caldwell’s new tragicomedy (of the kind that only the Irish can compose): Disappeared characters rematerialize, romances that seemed dead burst back to ardent life, and even Taddy and Brid, Castel Kissane’s comely spirits, resolve themselves into much-longed-for conclusions.

Vampire Junction, S. P. Somtow's groundbreaking novel of vampiric horror, introduced Timmy Valentine, a world-famous rock star with the body of a 12 year old boy...and the ageless soul of a bloodthirsty predator. Timmy returned in Valentine, in which he finally shed his undead curse forever. Or did he? In Vanitas, Timmy Valentine has relinquished his immortality and transferred his vampiric essence to young Angel Todd.

The sequel to Vampire Junction finds Brian, PJ, and Terry ten years after the disappearance of vampire rock star Timmy Valentine, remembering the terrible night in Junction and fighting the Gods of Chaos who believe Timmy is still alive.

Loss concerns a failed writer working as a handyman in an old Manhattan apartment building with a strange history and numerous oddball tenants, not all of whom may be what they seem. The penthouse is owned by a bestselling novelist and his wife, the nameless narrator's longtime unrequited love, who soon goes missing. Is she dead or somehow trapped within the endless corridors of a lair full of twisted memories and half-forgotten ambitions?

Brent is a tarot reader, a young man whose adopted family doesn't like tarot readers or gays or Swedes or anything else that Brent can bring to the discussion. One of his tarot readings is for a young Sioux man, and that's where Brent's old life stops. Brent finds a whole new life that is full of wonder and adventure, as he learns to read his own heart first. Viking meets Sioux - fireworks.

Knowing he's gay and acting on it were two separate notions to Flynn Brewer until he'd met Keith, his first boyfriend, in high school. Before then, being gay wasn't as real as the pain of living day-to-day. Flynn's fear of coming out to his religious best friend, Zach, in their conservative community destroyed his relationship with Keith, but Flynn rationalized his avoidance and bottled up the truth until it was regrettably too late.

For Denny Graubert, the chaotic summer of 1967 - when the screams of napalm bombs on the nightly news drowned the cheers of the All-Star game - brings the painful realization that childhood has passed. While engaging in his favorite domestic spying game, Denny unwittingly discovers the desperate measures his mother will take to save his autistic older brother, Fad, who is lost in the diagnostic Dark Ages of autism.

This is the story of Billy Kinsey, heir to a lottery fortune, part genius, part philosopher and social critic, full-time insomniac, and closeted rock drummer. Billy has decided that the best way to deal with an absurd world is to stay away from it. Do not volunteer. Do not join in.

“I did what I did, and that’s on me.” From that tantalizing first sentence, Tom Wright sweeps listeners up in a tale of lost innocence. Jim has a touch of the Sight. It’s nothing too spooky and generally useless, at least until the summer his cousin L.A. moves in with him and their grandmother. When Jim and L.A. discover the body of a girl - brutally raped and murdered - in a field, an investigation begins that will put both their lives in danger.

A new student has entered The Alchemists Academy, and he brings with him an explosive power that threatens the Academy and the legend of Merlin. Wirt thought he was the only bad boy at the Academy, but he was wrong. Not only is Roland Black worse than Wirt, but a new teacher had replaced one of their beloved teachers, and she has more planned for Wirt and his friends than just lesson plans. Alana, his crush has grown prettier, and now he is rivals for her attention with not only Spencer, but newcomer Roland.

Wirt is used to being shuffled from foster home to foster home, adopting a devil-may-care attitude toward the world along the way. Now he's in a school he can't escape, learning to develop his latent magical abilities - for what use, he doesn’t know...to save his world or to destroy it.

In Crude Deception, Book 2 of The Sentinels, our heroes return in an epic battle against a big oil monopoly. As America's dependence on fossil fuel takes hold in the post-World War Two climate of economic growth, seven major oil companies join forces to control the industry, amassing obscene profits, squeezing tax-payers, and manipulating supplies around the world. In a plotline eerily reminiscent of today’s political climate, the Sentinels fan out across several continents in an intricately plotted mission to bring Big Oil to its knees.

Rick Grosse has made his way in the world. With a well-connected partner-in-crime, he has elevated his basement business of Full Service Concierges to become the economic venture that takes Philadelphia by storm. In the height of its success, it seemed like Rick was untouchable; except that he is a man obsessed with his first love that "got away". To make matters worse, his business, which borders on the fringes of legality, is falling apart. He is forced to take action to save his world.

Sooner or later every child will ask, "Where do babies come from?" Answering this question has never been this easy or entertaining! Join a curious little boy who asks everyone from his babysitter to the mailman, getting all sorts of funny answers along the way, before his parents gently set him straight.

Alexander takes a rip-roaring historical adventure! Through his imaginative journey, Alexander discovers how great men become heroes: the roughest rider can be surprisingly gentle, a strong leader is also the most peaceful, and sometimes, being brave about what makes you different will not only help you break records, but inspire others. So begins the day for Alexander, an imaginative little boy who explores the innovative men who influenced and shaped our world.

Wirt, Spencer, and Roland are thrown into the dangerous Quantum Games, and only one of them can move onto the Elite class.