Search Worlds Without End

This Nebula Award nominated novelette originally appeared in the anthology The Expanding Universe: Volume 4 (2018), edited by Craig Martelle.

I buried the village of Ampur under a mountain of ice and snow. Then I killed their god. I've stolen old magics and been cursed for it. I started a war with those that walked before mankind and lost the princess I loved, and wanted to save. I've called lightning and bound fire. I am legend. And I am a monster.

My name is Ari.

And this is the story of how I let loose the first evil.

Thus begins the tale of a storyteller and a singer on the run and hoping to find obscurity in a tavern bar. But the sins of their past aren't forgotten, and neither are their enemies. Their old lives are catching up swiftly and it could cost them the entire world. No one can escape their pasts and all stories must have an ending.

Jonathan Hawthorne has lived over a century beholden to one rule: do not meddle in mortal affairs. He's broken it twice. So when he crosses paths with Cassidy Winters, he's forced to interfere again. Strike three. And the third time's not the charm. Hawthorne is swept along as Cassidy slips through the cracks in reality. And being hunted by bands of monsters doesn't help. To find the answers they need, they'll have to play in a dangerous world. One where the odds and rules are stacked against them. They will have to navigate magical courts, queens and lords all while trying to keep Cassidy out of their scheming hands. If they fail, she will end up a pawn in a plot that will consume them all. Hawthorne will have to face the consequences of his past, and risk his future to ensure Cassidy can have one of her own. For a man with all the time in the world--it seems to be running out--fast!

Another day, another hijacked body. And just 13 hours to solve a murder...

Detective Vincent Graves has made a habit of dying. Waking up in someone else's body isn't pleasant, especially when it's inside a coffin with tons of dirt pressing down on it. Once he's out, he learns his soul has 13 hours to find the borrowed body's killer.

With the help of a brilliant FBI agent, Vincent's quest for clues leads to a looming supernatural presence. And escaping the dark threat may be impossible with his ever-ticking clock...

Can Vincent close the case in time, or will a powerful being make him rest in peace for good?

Grave Beginnings is the first book in The Grave Report urban fantasy detective series. If you like paranormal twists, hard-boiled investigators, and noir-style magic, then you'll love R.R. Virdi's paranormal investigator series.

What do shadows darting across the walls, cryptic writing, black fog, and a little girl who can see ghosts have in common? Paranormal investigator and soul without a body, Vincent Graves, has forty-four hours to find out.

To make matters worse, his years of body-hopping and monster-hunting are catching up with him. He's losing his mind. An old contact has shut him out. To top it all off, something's skulking through an asylum, killing patients.

Three guesses who might be next, and the first two don't count. The writing on the wall is not so clear. But one thing is: if he doesn't figure this out he's a dead man--well, deader--and a strange young girl might follow. Vincent's got his back against a wall, and that wall's crumbling.

Some days it's not worth it to wake up in someone else's body.

Don't make deals with the paranormal. They're better at it than you, and they never play fair.

Paranormal investigator and soul without a body, Vincent Graves, did just that--a deal made in desperation. Now it's coming back to bite him in the middle of a case.

He has 57 hours to investigate a string of deaths involving people who've made some devilish bargains. Too bad devils don't deal in good faith. It'd be easy enough, if he didn't have to deal with things such as:

• Being hunted through the streets of Queens by a dark elf with a motorcycle fetish.
• Ending up the target of a supernatural hit.
• An old acquaintance dragging him to a paranormal ball where he could end up on the menu.
• And having one of his closest guarded secrets brought to light...

Not great for a tight clock, because if he doesn't get to the bottom of this case in time, Vincent and company might just lose their souls. Dirty deals are never done dirt cheap. And the supernatural always collect--big!