Title: Arcadia Author: Al Stone Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
AN UNTOLD PROPHECY, A BROKEN COVENANT AND A FALLEN ANGEL AS AN ALLY.
WILL CHARLIE SURVIVE?
Arcadia, 10th Anniversary Edition is a complete collection, featuring three full length novels in a single volume for the first time. A young-adult fantasy series full of magic, mythology and adventure. Perfect for fans of Harry Potter, Percy Jackson and Lord of the Rings.
Talisman Of El They have always been here … watching in silence. Now both worlds are about to collide.
Charlie Blake has always known he was different. He hears what others don’t. He sees what others can’t. In his quest for the truth, he discovers he is the physical embodiment of a powerful ruler and finds himself locked in an ancient battle between good and evil that threatens the life of every being on Earth.
Blackout Hold your breath. It’s contagious.
Saving mankind becomes near impossible when Charlie’s visions start to invade his reality. He can no longer identify what’s real. When he starts exhibiting symptoms of a deadly disease, he faces a race against time to find a cure, but shocking revelations makes him question where his true allegiance lies.
Ground Zero Mankind’s only hope is not human. Approach with caution.
26,000 years ago, a supernatural apocalypse almost wiped out civilisation. Now that time has come again and no one is destined to survive. Charlie Blake is determined to stop the apocalypse, but fate might not have the same agenda. Is Charlie destined to save the world or destroy it?
The image vanished, and Charlie found himself staring at Derkein, who was standing in front of him, gripping his shoulders. ‘Charlie, can you hear me?’ Derkein asked.
Charlie blinked hard. He looked through the single-arched doorway behind Derkein, but all he saw was the forest.
‘Hey,’ Derkein said, ‘talk to me.’
‘There used to be a palace here,’ Charlie said.
‘Doesn’t look like a palace now,’ Richmond observed.
Derkein let go of Charlie, his expression anxious. ‘All right, I think it’s time we head back to the campsite.’
They started to head off when Charlie suddenly stopped.
‘What is it?’ Alex asked.
Charlie’s eyes swept the forest. ‘I heard something.’ He expected Candra to pop out of her hiding place. Instead, he saw the red-haired boy he had seen earlier that day, watching him from behind a tree. ‘Hey. Where’s my bag?’
The boy’s eyes widened in shock, and he took off.
‘Hey.’ Charlie chased after him.
‘Charlie,’ Derkein called. ‘Charlie, get back here.’
Charlie didn’t stop. With the burning torch still in his hand, he raced through the forest after the boy. ‘Stop!’ he yelled. ‘I just want my bag.’ The boy was a good thirty feet ahead of him. What do they feed this kid?
‘Charlie,’ he heard Derkein call. It wasn’t until a loud cry reached him that he stopped.
It was Alex.
He turned around but saw no sign of the others. Panicked, he looked back at the boy, who had also stopped, and then he turned and ran back the way he had come.
It didn’t take him long to spot Derkein. When he got closer, he saw Richmond, who was now on his feet, Alex’s burning torch slowly fading on the ground beside him. But where was Alex?
Seeing Derkein and Richmond glancing up into a tree, he followed their gazes and spotted Alex trapped in a rope net.
‘It could be worse,’ Richmond said. Charlie and Derkein glanced at him. ‘What? It could be.’
Derkein’s gaze shifted to Charlie, and the lines on his forehead smoothed out, his expression stern. ‘Didn’t we just have a conversation about you running off?’
‘I know,’ Charlie said, ‘but I was trying to get my bag back.’
Derkein looked confused. ‘It’s not just going to fall out of the sky.’
‘What? No, that kid –’
‘Ah, hello,’ Alex said hotly. ‘Girl in a rope here. I don’t know about you guys but I’m thinking whoever set this trap might come back.’
Charlie looked up at her, her body bent in an awkward position with her legs reaching high above her head, and a faint smile crept onto his face. ‘Hang in there, Alex,’ he called up to her.
‘You just wait till I get down, Charlie Theodore Blake,’ she threatened.
Charlie looked at him, his smile fading. ‘Shut up.’
Derkein cleared his throat to refocus their attention. ‘How are we going to get her down, boys?’ he asked.
Charlie glanced back up at the tree. The distance between Alex and the ground was at least twelve feet, twice Derkein’s height. To get her down, Derkein would have to hoist Charlie onto his shoulders and then some.
As Derkein pondered a strategy, Charlie’s focus shifted to the thudding sound he heard coming towards them. Before he even had time to panic, the sound died almost as soon as it had begun.
He turned around and froze, the sound of his heartbeat in his ears as he stared at the line of people armed with shiny blades and arrows pointed at his head.
Al Stone is the author of the Arcadia Saga (YA Fantasy). After graduating with a BA in Film & Television, Al worked in the television industry for a brief period before a disabling injury led to a pursuit in storytelling. Talisman Of El is Al’s debut novel. The sequels Blackout and Ground Zero are currently available for sale.
My head lifts quickly as I meet her gaze. There is a look of pity masking her smile. She can pity me. It’s understandable. If I were in her shoes I’d pity the person I am right now. I chance a look at the clock and see that I still have a few more minutes. Maybe she feels how broken I am and needs time to regroup or find someone else to fix me.
“Okay,” I say hesitantly. I’m not sure I want to go through this again with another doctor, and definitely not a military one.
The doc folds the page of her notepad over and slides it into her desk. She smiles softly. “I’m going to tell you the same thing I told Ryley this morning. My schedule has been cleared this week so I can help get things resolved, or heading toward a resolution. My plan is to see you and Ryley together in the next couple of days to discuss what methods need to be implemented for both of you. My concern is EJ. You need to be able to bond with him and she understands that.”
She stands, coming over to me. “My suggestion, and I didn’t tell this to Ryley, is for you to spend some time with her. She’s hurting, Evan. While you thought everything was fine, aside from the fact that you were gone for so long, she buried you and tried to move on with her life. She’s making neither heads nor tails of what’s happening right now, but give her time without letting her slip through the cracks.”
My body sighs as I stand, as if it knows I don’t have to sit in that chair anymore. My feet shuffle toward the door, leaving the doc leaning up against her desk. “Thank you,” I say before opening the door and leaving the room.
The sun is bright and penetrating when I step out of the office. I have to shield my eyes quickly before I walk out into traffic. Once my eyes adjust, I look across the street to the park hoping to see Ryley sitting over there. If she were, it’d be so much easier to talk to her right now, although the thought of bringing her to base makes more sense to me since she wouldn’t be able to run away from me. Somehow, however, I don’t think Ryley wants to be anywhere near the base – not that I can blame her. At this point, I don’t want to be there either, except it’s the only choice I have since I’m not really welcome in my own home.
With only one other destination in mind, I text the guys and ask them to meet me. We need to figure out what’s going on. Each of our situations is different, yet we’re all experiencing the same thing. I also need to bite the bullet and call my mother. I’m not sure why I haven’t yet. I guess I’ve been waiting to see if our unearthly return would make the news, but so far nothing has been reported. Every time I learn another factoid about this deployment, I’m more convinced that it was not legit.
Pulling in front of Magoo’s, it would be easy to go drown my sorrows in beer, but I need to keep a level head about the situation. If I ask the wrong person a question, who knows what could happen? As is, someone high up has taken away my life. It doesn’t matter that I’m standing here today or not. I’m not the same person and someone needs to pay.
It’s a happy relief to walk in and be surrounded by friends. The bar stools are full of patrons, men I’ve served with in the past. Tables are thrown together to make bigger spaces and the same chairs are still here. An American flag hangs on the wall with various pictures surrounding it. All these pictures have been given or sent to Rick, the owner, for display. I refuse to look at the wall that holds all our past SEALs. I know the four of us are up there or maybe Rick has taken them down. Either way, I’m not looking, at least not today.
I’ve spent many hours trying to figure out what happened and answering all the questions I could. It’s very unsettling to know that people thought you were dead.
Heidi McLaughlin is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today Bestselling author of The Beaumont Series, The Boys of Summer, and The Archers.
Originally, from the Pacific Northwest, she now lives in picturesque Vermont, with her husband, two daughters, and their three dogs.
In 2012, Heidi turned her passion for reading into a full-fledged literary career, writing over twenty novels, including the acclaimed Forever My Girl.
Heidi’s first novel, Forever My Girl, has been adapted into a motion picture with LD Entertainment and Roadside Attractions, starring Alex Roe and Jessica Rothe, and opened in theaters on January 19, 2018, and is now available on DVD & Digital.
The Soulstealer’s greatest power is that no one believes it exists…
…except Steven Carpenter. One of the last remaining members of the Ordo Solis—a thousand-year-old order sworn to kill the ancient demon—even his faith has begun to wane. But when he witnesses the return of the Soulstealer with his own eyes, belief quickly turns to grim reality.
With the souls of the world at stake, Steven knows what he has to do—expose the Soulstealer. There’s just one problem, it knows it’s been discovered … and so do the nefarious cults sworn to the demon’s cause. In a race against time and evil, Steven will have to find help. But will it be enough? Or will they be too late?
Author Shane Boulware ramps up the action in his hair-raising second entry in the Soulstealer series. Burning the boundaries between urban fantasy and suspense thriller, this grim-dark stomach-churner will leave you as breathless as the characters trapped within its pages.
Steven paced his cell. He had heard of Unas’ brutality, but this brought things to a whole new level. Were these really made from our Ordo Europe brothers and sisters? His body shuddered.
The Soulstealer came and took Raeleigh, Mia, and someone from Ordo Europe that the Unas captured. They were to help with some damnable Ordo Solis peace treaty. Steven felt confident the bad blood between the two sides would prove too tricky for common ground to be found. Someone would make the wrong move.
The thought produced as much fear as it did satisfaction. Raeleigh was at that meeting. He prayed she stayed out of the crossfire should things go south. The Unas cleared out as well. One thug guarded his cell, a few Unas walked the tunnels.
If ever he should devise a plan to escape, he couldn’t pick a better time. His current confinement, however, wouldn’t give him an inch to work with. No one would claim Steven to be a small man, but he made minimal impact trying to shake loose, kick open, or shoulder bash the structure. No way out.
Occasionally, some wannabe masked barbarian trotted past. One passed by when a sharp shout came from Steven’s right. His guard and the patrolling Unas turned around. They made to bring their weapons up but were riddled with bullet holes; red spattered in every direction. One fell against the wall, the other face-first into the sandy floor.
Steven blinked at their newly minted corpses. He snapped into action, rattling the bone bars and pressing his face against them to peer down the tunnel, but couldn’t see more than ten feet. He heard hushed whispers before three figures appeared. They each wore long-sleeved bodysuits and balaclavas. The first pointed its weapon at Steven; the other two switched back and forth between Steven and further down the hallway. Their twitchy movements made Steven wonder if they had ever held a weapon before.
More masks, always more masks.
“Uh, hi,” one said, looking Steven’s prison up and down.
Steven blinked, then waved. “Who’re you guys?”
“Doesn’t matter who we are, chap, who are you?”
These guys didn’t know I was here. “I’m Steven. Proud Ordo Solis, American branch.”
The men glanced at one another, then back at Steven. “We heard you were bagged,” one said.
“We don’t have time for this,” another hissed.
“And you propose to leave this chap here? He’s obviously not Unas,” the second man replied.
“There’re two Solis Americans left,” Steven said. “I’m one, and the other, Raeleigh, is currently being held by the Soulstealer as some sort of liaison for the meeting with Solis Europe.”
“J, we have to finish clearing this section before they come back,” the first man said.
Steven motioned down the hallway. “No problem, please feel free to take ‘em all out. But make sure you come back. I’d rather not continue to be a prisoner.” He pointed at the long scratch marks on his face. “Not sure how much longer they’ll restrain themselves.”
“Good idea. Alright. Let’s go,” the second man said. They hurried away.
Those buffoons have got to be Solis Europe. Steven pumped his fist. “Yessssss!”
He paced the length of his cell. At last, he heard heavy footsteps coming toward him. The gaggle of colored balaclavas found Steven smirking as they came to a stop in front of him.
“Here he is,” one of them gestured toward Steven.
A slender figure stepped forward and peered through the bone bars. “You’re Ordo Solis?” a woman’s voice demanded.
Steven winked. “Wouldn’t dream of being otherwise.”
“Who vas the first of our Order?” she questioned in a thick German accent.
“Jedidiah, the wisest of us all,” Steven recited. He imagined the many afternoons he and Jeff spent as Ordo Solis initiates in frigid New England. Their mentor made them memorize whole paragraphs of information to pass their oral examinations.
“And who is ze Lionheart?” she asked.
Steven clenched his fists, shaking them. “We’re all the Lionheart!”
The woman looked at the bolted lock. “Destroy zese doors, break him out.” Two of the men broke the bones from the rebar and pried a few of them apart. Steven wasted no time stepping through to freedom.
Shane Boulware is an unconventional idealist from Orlando, Florida. Naturally, he commissioned as a Contracting Officer in the United States Air Force in 2012, where he promptly got tased, was hit with pepper spray, participated in a mock riot, jumped out of an airplane, and lived in a combat zone. These experiences tempered his creative instinct and led him to publish two music albums, found an innovation company, break a Guinness World Record, and learn over sixteen dance styles.
Having grown up a huge fan of Dune, Star Wars, Stargate SG-1, Warhammer 40K, Harry Potter, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and The Lord of the Rings, Shane always wanted to create and share a world of his own. His imagination set him on a path to write the supernatural thriller, Soulstealer, and its sequel, The Ordo Solis.
When he’s not negotiating contracts or salsa dancing the night away, you can find Shane taking his creative passion out on an unsuspecting keyboard. If you want to know when his next book will be available, visit his website at ShaneBoulware.com, where you can sign up to receive release updates and join a community of savants, swashbucklers, and nerds.
