Showing results by narrator "David Pickering" in All Categories

The history of Ukraine is a fascinating story of how cultures, political systems, religions, and power have met, intersected, morphed, and expanded. The region was relatively sparsely populated for much of ancient history, a wilderness of rivers, forests, and steppes, but that does not detract from the rich historical development of the region.

Peregrine, bastard son of King Paladrine, thought he had trouble when he was transformed by a sorcerer into a falcon. In fact, his real troubles began when the prepubescent princess Ruby changed him back into...well, almost a prince. A bastard. Whereupon he found himself dragged off by a dyspeptic dragon, smooched by a sphinx, wooed by the weefolk, and finally appointed Sub-Imperial-sub-Legate, which is still not quite a prince, but somewhat more elegant than a bastard.

Set during the reign of the Aztecs in Mexico, two alien forces, dormant for centuries, enter a confrontation on a remote mountain that will decide Earth's fate. The great old ones benevolently ruled before the cruel Aztecs were shaped by the Huitzil, who came from the evil stars and taught the Aztecs how to conquer and demanded endless human sacrifice.

The Maze is a pathway between worlds and times. Its Masters know the secret but decline to interfere. Its Guardians at different levels prevent invasion of one world by the inhabitants of another. But the alien hive-creatures called Chulpex mean to find their way past the Guardians to colonize a new world, and one ordinary, untrained Earthman is catapulted into wild adventure in his determination to stop them.

Jon-Joras had come to Earth simply to oversee arrangements for a dragon hunt to amuse the king. These hunts were as much pageantry as sport - the dragons, brought to Earth centuries before as pets of an alien race, were powerful but slow-witted....

The Enquiries of Doctor Eszterhazy is a collection of historical mystery fantasy short stories by Avram Davidson, featuring his scholarly detective character Doctor Eszterhazy and set in an imaginary European country. It never got better than this - short stories set in the "triune monarchy of Scythia-Pannonia-Transbalkania" in the decades before the World Wars.

Morigan lives a quiet life as the handmaiden to a fatherly old sorcerer named Thackery. But when she crosses paths with Caenith, a not wholly mortal man, her world changes forever. Their meeting sparks long buried magical powers deep within Morigan. As she attempts to understand her newfound abilities, unbidden visions begin to plague her - visions that show a horrific madness descending on one of the Immortal Kings who rules the land.

The history of Ukraine is a fascinating story of how cultures, political systems, religions, and power have met, intersected, morphed, and expanded. The region was relatively sparsely populated for much of ancient history, a wilderness of rivers, forests, and steppes, but that does not detract from the rich historical development of the region. This geographical formation has influenced some of the country’s key historical developments, as well as the location of its major settlements.

The Late Bronze Age Near East (c. 1500-1200 BCE) was a time and place where great kingdoms and empires vied for land and influence, playing high stakes diplomatic games, trading, and occasionally going to war with each other in the process. The Egyptians, Hittites, Babylonians, Assyrians, and several smaller Canaanite kingdoms were all part of this system, which was one of the first true “global” systems in world history and also one of the most materially prosperous eras in antiquity.

Ever felt that awful rush of dread as you turn out the lights after a late-night horror film? Ever wondered if something is following you up the stairs when you go to bed? No? Well, you will after this....

Therolim despaired to see what Xorvan was becoming. For the past decade, the Xor's mood was turning dark, and now he was threatening to destroy the Empire. Xorvan was supposed to be the Zordaedre—the one foretold in prophecy who would one day change the world. But change it into what? Am I fighting for the wrong side? Therolim wondered, but in his heart he knew a terrible truth: There was only one way for Teargarden to survive. He must assassinate Xorvan....

The redemption of the Erimocan Manaar had been incomplete. They had sought vindication, from any connections they had to the Reaping, through the eradication of the evil that they had failed to contain. But the true redemption of the Erimocans would never exist without a return to balance. The Immersion at the Windbeck County Fair was only the beginning of a struggle for that balance.

In The Boy King’s Tale, two entwined love stories, young and old, lead to betrayal, murder and the near overthrow of a kingdom in this epic story of son and bride, mother and lover, in the extraordinary true story adventure of the earliest days of one of England’s most revered kings, Edward III.

An heiress who is terrified of glass, a failed actor facing a gunman on a rooftop, a dentist up a tree, first love, honeymoon romance at the tomb of the Aga Khan, the surprising secrets of a very old lady....

Six chilling and original stories inspired by the realities of life and death on the Western Front and beyond, building to a truly poignant and revelatory climax.

Six original tales of terror to chill the blood and delight the soul. A man finds himself terrified of going upstairs. Disturbing events take place after a stranger checks into a lonely hotel. Two schoolboys learn about an unexpected horror of the battlefields of World War I. An old lady daren't go into her own garden because of what she fears is waiting for her. A birdwatcher sees something that opens the door on a chilling tragedy that is not yet over. A couple set off on a round-the-world cruise unaware that it will also prove to be their last.

When the wild Sanjeror Rastag killed her family, Maldara swore revenge. She tracks him to the Xordom of Teargarden, a mysterious city where Murks and humans live together surrounded by untrustworthy merchants and evil Sanjerors.

Celina had never meant to fall in love–certainly with a Gaelorian. As soon as she had given her heart to Gorvan, he had shattered it upon the wall of her tavern for all to see. Love was for fools, she realized, and she had become the grand jester in a court of misery. Cynical and guarded, she held her secrets close. But when the crazed monk Rogart arrived–cursed with dreams of what was to come--she realized she had been discovered. The demons of Nolagarg were close, and once they found her, she would be a slave to them once more.

As soon as Gorvan became ruler of the desolate backwater town of Teargarden, a host of new refugees flooded in—every one of them desperate, hungry, and their own unique brand of trouble.

Welcome to Teargarden, a town bereft of law and order. It's controlled by two individuals–the devious innkeeper Therolim, and the mysterious yet beautiful Celina. Their rivalry was about to tear the town part, but all that would change with the arrival of the Archon. Archons were supposedly celestial saviors, sworn to protect the citizens of Agarath from demons, but Celina knew better. In order to protect herself and the rest of the town, she would need to devise a way to kill an angel.