Showing results by author "Gilbert M. Stack" in All Categories

Jewel's arranged marriage, designed to bring peace and prosperity to the Hegemony of Armen and the Cartelite Worlds, is instead stoking the furnaces of inter-galactic warfare. From the moment of her marriage, the enemies of her Armenite husband—a stern and rigid man she barely knows—seek to use her to prove that the Cartel Worlds are unworthy of an alliance which monopolizes the fuel that makes faster-than-light travel possible. Complicating Jewel’s efforts to protect herself and her people are disturbing changes in her very cell structure—changes she doesn’t want or understand ...

While Prefect Marcus Venandus struggles with the Curse of Madre Tierra, the Gente of Morganita betray their alliance with the Black Hat Legion and launch a surprise attack on Fort Prime. With all the senior officers in the fort dead, the most junior of officers, Acting Magus Seneca Liberus, finds himself in charge. With thousands of Gente massing to continue the assault, backed by the powerful mago House of Victor, it falls to Seneca to measure up to the proud traditions of Aquila and lead his green legionnaires to victory.

Marcus has defeated the smaller half of the army of Thegn Chilperic by the skin of his teeth, but now he must rally his legion and its allies to stop the Thegn’s main force from rolling back all of his victories. Yet, even as he fights for control of the strategic bridges on the Rio Rocoso, Marcus’ allies remain as fractious as ever. The rebellious Gente of Morganita continue to fight among themselves for leadership of their cause, while the Gota also violently question the leadership of Marcus’ friend, Evorik.

Days of rain force sane armies to hunker down to wait for dry weather. Yet, no one in the Jeweled Hills would accuse Prefect Marcus Venandus of being sane. Not only has he united the bickering Qing, Gente and Gota in his Black Hat Legion, he rarely embraces conventional military tactics. With three days of drenching weather turning roads to mud, flooding creeks, and bogging down his enemies’ carts and wagons, Marcus seizes the initiative and leads one thousand of his Black Hats on their most daring campaign yet.

From the pages of Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine: As an attractive lady gambler in the wild west, Miss Pandora Parson is used to getting a fair share of attention from gentleman admirers. But what is she to do when the man is no gentleman and refuses to take “no” for an answer?

From the pages of Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine: When bare knuckle boxer Corey Callaghan’s trainer is locked in prison on a charge of murder, the sheriff doesn’t much care if he’s innocent or guilty. That’s because he doesn’t expect the case to go before a judge and jury. You see, the dead man’s son is leading a posse to town looking for vengeance and Corey’s fists aren’t likely to be enough to save the old man. It looks like Patrick’s only chance to avoid a lynching is lady luck, a named gambler, Pandora Parson, and the strength of her defense.

Jewel’s new husband wants her to be a properly low-key and obedient Armenite wife. Her brother-in-law wants to humiliate her and steal her fortune to further his own ambitions. Her old crewmates want her to rescue them from their sentence of servitude. And worst of all, the microscopic menites swarming inside of Jewel want to transform her into something her husband’s enemies believe is an abomination against The Unity while his allies hope they are fashioning her into its salvation. With no one to truly depend upon but herself, the Cartelite princess must withstand these competing ...

From the pages of Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine: When lady gambler, Miss Pandora Parson, and bare-knuckle boxer, Corey Callaghan board the train out of Cheyenne, all they’re expecting is a hot dry ride through the August countryside. A simple game of cards looks like the perfect way to pass the time. Little could they know that one of their fellow passengers has a little mayhem on his mind—enough so to make this one memorable Pandora’s Journey.

Undersheriff Joanna Donovan has defended Hadrian’s Well from waves of uninvited guests before—including a zombie apocalypse—but now she just may have met her match. Brownies are small, quiet, cute, and want nothing more than to help people tidy up their homes—as long as you respect them. Her other visitors are loud, untidy, high-handed, and don’t respect anyone—hardly the perfect houseguests. Together, they may prove too much for the undersheriff and her overworked department to handle.

From the pages of Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine: When the stagecoach lady gambler, Miss Pandora Parson, and bareknuckle boxer, Corey Callaghan, are riding in breaks down in the middle of nowhere, they think that all they have to worry about is food, water, and finding a way to civilization. They have no idea that something more sinister awaits them and their fellow passengers in the old mining ghost town they take shelter in and no way to know that not all of them will be walking out again.

From the pages of Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine: All is not right at Fort Bridger. Miss Pandora Parson and Corey Callaghan arrive to give testimony in Lieutenant Ridgewood’s dereliction of duty trial. With the court inclined against him, it looks like the good lieutenant is going to be found guilty. The only thing standing between an honest soldier and an unjust conviction is a certain lady gambler and her bare-knuckle boxer friend.

Horrors out of legend have come to Philadelphia and set their sights on Mina Raintree as the mortal woman most likely to lead them to what they want. There’s just one problem, even if she wanted to, Mina couldn’t help them. Her memory has been damaged by a powerful immortal—quite possibly the same mysterious woman the legends have come seeking. With her own protector temporarily out of town, Mina’s only hope to maintain her freedom is found in her new friend, Kameko Kasaka. But Kameko has dangerous enemies of her own. How long can she and Mina evade those Searching Among Us?

The Great War is eight years past, but for dashing war hero Mitch Pembroke the Roaring Twenties is proving to hide many more dangers than he ever found in the skies of France. Wherever he travels, trouble seems to lie in wait for him. And this time his boxer-turned-bodyguard friend, Kit Moran, might not be able to get him out again. The Shore and Other Stories is the third volume of a series that blurs the line between historical fiction and dark fantasy. It's two short stories and a short novel: Overboard Wealthy playboy and confirmed bachelor, Mitch Pembroke, has finally run out of room ...

Ellen Specter thought she knew what she was getting into when she won her spot on the new Reality TV show, Panic Button and a chance to win a quarter million dollars. Take a few contestants, isolate them from the rest of the world, set them a few competitions and watch the sparks fly as people forge and break alliances in a desperate attempt not to be voted out. Too bad that’s not the way things work on Panic Button—a show designed to terrorize people into freely giving up their chance at the prize money and run by a mentally disturbed host who doesn’t seem to care how badly he has to...

When the girl of Mitch Pembroke’s dreams responds to his invitation to meet his parents by fleeing home to a remote Caribbean island, the former Great War pilot does what he thinks any red-blooded American male would do—he drops everything and goes after her. But Mitch isn’t the first man to follow Lorali home and like his predecessors, he may not survive the visit. Lazarus Key is the first novella in a series that blurs the line between historical fiction and dark fantasy.

War is coming to Philadelphia as the unaging converge upon the city, threatening to take their battles out of the shadows and into the glaring light of the modern day. These horrors out of legend represent different houses and hold different agenda, but all agree that it is time for the rogue dynum, Trevalian de Treville and Mutswana the Hunter, to pay for the crime of refusing to bow to the great powers that rule this shadow society. And the blood brothers have never been more vulnerable. Trev has given his heart and his protection to a young mortal woman who refuses to understand the very...