Showing results by author "J. J. Pike" in All Categories

Professional heroes kill and loot deadly monsters every day, but Gorm Ingerson's latest quest will be anything but business as usual. The adventuring industry drives the economy of Arth, a world much like our own but with more magic and fewer vowels. Monsters' hoards are claimed, bought by corporate interests, and sold off to plunder funds long before the Heroes' Guild actually kills the beasts. That's a terrible arrangement for the Shadowkin; orcs, goblins, kobolds, and their ilk must apply for to become Noncombatant Paper Carriers to avoid being killed and looted by heroes.

Still bruised and heartbroken from their last calamitous quest, Gorm Ingerson and his band of washed-up heroes try to make amends for the orcs they accidentally betrayed. But justice is put on hold when an old foe marches to the city gates. Gorm is horrified to discover a liche pitching the frightened city-dwellers on the merits of the undead lifestyle...at the head of a corpse army. To save the city from high-pressure sales tactics and an inevitable siege, the dwarf warrior and his misfit band hatch a harebrained scheme that lands them at the top of the king’s kill list.

It was supposed to be a ground-breaking demonstration: Melt, a newly created compound, promised to revolutionize waste processing. When things don't go as planned and the city begins to implode, Bill and Alice Everlee are caught on opposite sides of the divide. Stuck at ground zero as the city begins to sink around her, Alice races to discover what is causing the disaster and how to stop it - if she even can.  

Mr. Goldson is filthy rich. He’s also callous and cruel and hasn’t got a festive bone in his ancient body. Naturally, he’s due for a holiday haunting. When his business partner, Bolbi Baggs, announces that they’re to be visited by three spirits, Mr. Goldson braces himself for a whirlwind tour of his past, present, and future. Mr. Goldson, however, isn’t human. He’s a Dwarf, and Mr. Baggs is a Halfling, and the adventure that’s about to take them across the enchanted world of Arth is anything but typical.

Kylie Rhoads is a junker. She makes her living traveling the stars, salvaging abandoned ships left over from pirate attacks on the edge of the Gedri system. Some of the hulls are legal for the taking, most aren't. When a salvage job goes bad, Kylie finds herself on the wrong end of a gun. The hand holding that gun? The SA Space Force, just the people Kylie wants to avoid. To avoid prison, Kylie makes a deal to go deep into the Gedri System and rescue a simple girl. But out on the fringe, nothing is as it seems.

As the MELT bacteria spirals out of control, Bill Everlee works feverishly to prepare for what his wife predicts will be a catastrophic emergency. Alice, meanwhile, sees the results of MELT first-hand, realizing that even her worst predictions were grossly understated as MELT continues to wreak havoc in an ever-widening area....

The Gedri System is at war with Silstrand. As the Alliance reels, Scipio readies its forces, smelling blood in the water. Meanwhile, Kylie awakens aboard a warship captained by her brother. Her family, the peaceful, low-tech Rhoads, have changed. Establishing a line of pure humans is all they care about. Her father, the preacher, is set to rain armageddon down on any system that opposes him. His first stop? Silstrand. Kylie is on a collision course with destiny; to either save her family or avert a war that would cost Silstrand billions of lives.

Kylie Rhoads risked life and limb to rescue a girl, thrusting the Dauntless and its crew in the middle of an interstellar tug of war. Now, running from Silstrand Alliance, the Gedri Freedom Federation, and The Black Crow, Kylie fights against the very thing she set out to save.

Elizabeth is a survivor. Sure, everyone who made it through the first few weeks of the Zombie RiZing is a survivor, but she’s a special case. She’s holed up in her high school with her wheelchair-bound bestie and four of the most inept zombie fighters fate could inflict on her. Seriously, if the apocalypse was a martial art, these guys wouldn't even get to wear a white belt. Even worse, their food supply is dwindling, and danger is closing in.

The galaxy is on the brink of war, and only four dysfunctional, hormone-driven teenagers from Earth stand in its way. God help us all. It didn’t take Cooper long to come to the conclusion that space sucks. It seems everyone there despises humans, everything’s too far away, and the travel makes you heave. Worse still, Cooper’s stuck there with his best mate, The Ginge, who can’t tell where games end and reality begins, and two other former classmates who want to beat the crap out of him.

A mind drawn to and trained in mathematics and science meets a mind drawn to and trained in religion. Both are fascinated by the other’s worldview and see the chance for a reciprocal expansion. A long conversation takes place with relentless questions exchanged - not to win an argument, but rather to find the truth. In this exploratory dialogue, scores of great images and ideas are brought to bear from both the scientific and religious worldviews, adding depth and color to a conversation that is as organic as it is profound.

If Beath and the gang thought life in the school had been hard in the weeks since the riZing, well, let's just say they ain't seen nothing yet. If only they had the resources to stay safe and secure in (Dec) East High, but they don't and now the big, wide zombie-ridden, scary-monster-lurking world awaits. Sounds crazy, but they need food - lots of food - and to find that they need to get to the shopping mall, and to do that they need transport, which will most likely be found at the car park near the train station. It all makes sense, right?

After surviving another heart-racing day in Zombie RiZing, Beath and the gang are now stuck a long way from home. Worse still, it's the middle of the night, and things have escalated. Now it's not just Zombies (grunts) they'll have to look out for; it's giants, other smarter zombies, and some seriously nasty looking flying things! The gang is going to need to seriously level -up their zombie fighting skills and magic powers if they've got any hope of surviving long enough to find food.