Showing results by narrator "Jake Ruddle" in All Categories

Blood stains the land. With the gods' desperation, Azirik's mania grows. Away from her newfound family, Alea struggles to control the horrors in her mind and the power in her veins. What she must learn, however, is very different from the lessons the Laen wish to teach. Stuck waiting in a foreign city, Arman wrestles with new, fathomless fury. Coupled with the inertia of battle, his rage shatters friendships and taints alliances. Lives depend on what they learn, but war does not make time for history lessons.

Decades after his death in 1896, Professor Marchworth’s “Emotion Resonator” would be called “The Cabinet of Sorrows” as it was exhibited through a series of London sideshows. A poster preserved in the London Museum of Curiosities bills the cabinet as “an object cured in anguish, stained in grief, and varnished with madness”, a far cry from the Oxford Psychiatrist’s intended legacy.

Join James and his friends as they once again join forces with miserable pirates this time on a quest to save his mother from the vile Kraken's Curse. Will they be able to save Isabel Cutlass or will their plans be foiled by the dreaded Demetrius Galland and the famous Blackbeard himself?

Magpie’s Ladder comprises five stories that came to me while working on my visual art. My preferred drawing technique is stippling in ink, creating images with countless dots using a mechanical pen or brush. During those long hours, my imagination would wander, introducing strange characters and settings. The elements began to cohere into stories. Writing them down became a new path for expression and for approaching the worlds that I enjoy creating.

What happens when heroes are as broken as the world they must reforge? A mad king’s genocide destroyed Alea's home and left her sanity in tatters. Caught in the crossfire between the gods and their creators, Alea realizes the darkness inside her is the only thing that can end the bloodshed. Across enemy lines, bastard lieutenant Brentemir Barrackborn is horrified by the blood on his hands. He must choose between the gods he worships and newfound family if he has any hope of redemption - or surviving the war.

Firian Kess, now Head of the Tanyuin Academy, sets his sights on winning over the girl he once took hostage: Kiria Arioc, Keeper of the Western Kingdom. But power always takes its toll. Firian’s better impulses wage a losing war against his desire for control. Longing for more power, he uncovers a deadly ability in the Unreal that jeopardizes his alliances and his humanity. Facing manipulation at home and war abroad, Kiria’s bold choice to work with the Tanyu, their former enemies, makes her a political target even as she fights her growing feelings for the handsome Firian.

At least as far as Kiria's concerned. Ever since Firian's Tanyuin troops ravaged the beautiful city of Brithnem, she's been on the run, struggling with her new role as leader of a ragtag band, and tumultuous emotions over her former love. Will her resistance be enough to take back the Kingdom?