Showing results by narrator "Abby Elvidge" in All Categories

Mark Twain's "Extracts from Adam's Diary" first appeared in 1893. He based Adam and Eve on himself and his beloved wife Olivia ("Livy") to create a humorous counterpoint the traditional Garden of Eden story, this time centered on what life may have been like for the first man. In this story, we hear Adam trying to work out what the "new creature with long hair" is all about. She names things, much to Adam's annoyance. She follows him around. Then suddenly, there's another creature, which eventually Adam decides is his son Cain. It's all about confusion and curiosity, and finally, love for Eve.

Grunt tackles the science behind some of a soldier's most challenging adversaries - panic, exhaustion, heat, noise - and introduces us to the scientists who seek to conquer them. Mary Roach dodges hostile fire with the U.S. Marine Corps Paintball Team as part of a study on hearing loss and survivability in combat. She visits the fashion design studio of U.S. Army Natick Labs and learns why a zipper is a problem for a sniper.

Ten years ago Frank Lester, a Chicago homicide detective, thought he had rid himself forever of the Mud People Killer who'd kidnapped and murdered six people. Frank had shot him as he'd fled through a snowy night; had killed him, he believed, though a body was never found. But the killer wasn't dead. He'd only been waiting to take his revenge on Frank and those he cares about now...10 years later. Frank retired early and is living back in his hometown of Spookie when the killer resurfaces to take up where he left off.

Educated in Amherst, Massachusetts, Louise Amelia Knapp Smith Clappe (1819-1906) accompanied her physician-husband to California in 1849. The Shirley Letters (1922) is the book edition of a series of letters written by Mrs. Clappe to her sister in 1851 and 1852. They were first published under the pseudonym of Dame Shirley in the Pioneer magazine, 1854-55. In these letters, Louise Clappe writes of life in San Francisco and the Feather River mining communities of Rich Bar and Indian Bar.

True ghost stories abound in this boxed set of The Haunted Series. (Volumes I through IV.) Strange bumps and bangs, soft footsteps in the hall, living with and fleeing from diabolical entities. All right here in one convenient location. Buckle up and get ready to be spooked!

In the best-selling vein of memoirists Jeannette Walls and Frank McCourt, the award-winning author delivers her addicting breakout novel - a mesmerizing memoir epic destined to become a classic. Set in transient 1970s Las Vegas, Overlay is the fighting-to-come-of-age story of a resilient child born into a cycle of alcoholism and abandonment. The author develops a powerful sense of self-preservation in contrast to the fallen adults entrusted with her care.

In Concert collects the collaborative short fiction of Melanie Tem and Steve Rasnic Tem, who have worked at the cutting edge of imaginative fiction for over a quarter century. In the twenty-one tales herein, the reader will find fear, joy, and mystery. In Concert showcases the wide range of their collaborative work. The title story tells of a lonely elderly woman who achieves rapport with a lost astronaut through the power of music.

Lost in a sea of single, 40-something women, author Karen Mills decided to embark on what she hoped would be the adventure of a lifetime. Come hell or high water, she would find her Prince Charming and live happily ever after. Armed with a shiny new online dating profile, she set out on her quest to find the perfect match. She knew she'd probably have to kiss a few frogs to find her prince, but she failed to understand that although rare, some frogs are deadly.

A relevant work as we try to find light in these challenging times, famed author of Little Women (1868) Louisa May Alcott wrote this collection of fairy tales for her childhood friend, Ellen Emerson. Flower Fables was, in fact, her very first publication.

She made a deal with a demon to live again…Now she's cursed to live over and over, see-sawing into people's lives at the moment of their deaths, thrust into maelstroms of violence and emotion without any warning. As she strives to survive and do the right thing, she finds herself sometimes forced into evil acts, recognizing that she has become a game piece used in the eternal game of good vs. evil.

Sophie Lyons was a “thief from the cradle”, as one Chief of Police said; at the early age of six years she had already been trained by her stepmother to be a pickpocket and a shoplifter. A beautiful child with engaging manners, she was sent out every day into the stores and among the crowds of shoppers, and was soundly whipped if she came out of a shop with less than three pocketbooks. “I did not know it was wrong to steal; nobody ever taught me that,” Sophie Lyons writes.

After years of hauling around emotional baggage, I set out on a mission to rid myself of resentment and pain. I knew real happiness waited out there somewhere, but for decades finding it was more difficult than most would imagine. This is my story of self-discovery. It is a story of pain, loss, and betrayal. More importantly, it is the story of how I came to terms with my past, learned to live happily in the present, and how I built the bridge that would get me over it.

In the eyes of Nadine, a polygamist and serial bride, nudging her husbands into heaven is a testament to love. Even Nancy Neptune, a notorious shock jock, is gobsmacked by Nadine's so-called “Celestial Send-Offs.” Things go to hell in a hurry when Nadine offs the wrong guy and is charged with assisted suicide. Meanwhile, Blue McKenna has problems of her own. A power outage has leveled Blue's medical marijuana dispensary. Scottie Sphincter, lead singer of a band called The Rectal Surgeons, is fingered as a suspect.

Bad Things is a collection of paranormal stories that will make your skin crawl and heart race. Do you sleep with the light on? Maybe you should....

Bullies, freaks, and phantoms inhabit the abandoned elementary school. Would you go inside to help out a friend? Stevie asks Jase to help her find out why the ghost of a girl keeps appearing in her mirror. They think it has something to do with the new student at their school, a boy who has Tourette syndrome. Both the new kid and the new phantom seem to need some kind of help. When the new kid falls prey to the school bullies, Stevie knows they must act. But will they be too late, or will a tragic moment in their school's history be repeated on Halloween night?

This searing, often bizarre tale of Glynn Brown's teens and twenties reveals her flight from Las Vegas to the formidable world of self-re-invention among the angels and demons. Glynn Brown unflinchingly begets a self from the unlikeliest beginnings, and now delivers a sequel illustrating heaven and hell on her continuing flight for self-discovery.

By 2015 the streets of Los Angeles have transformed from a thriving metropolis into a hostile world ravaged by demons bent on assimilating the human race. Standing between this total apocalypse of humanity and their chance for survival is the last of the United States military. Hidden within a top secret bunker, and lead by Admiral Gary Martin and his three children, this remnant wages war against the demonic regime.

Following the author's wildly beloved award-winning Overlay and City of Angeles memoirs, Big as All Hell and Half of Texas continues the author's story. This final volume candidly explores the pertinent societal question: how does an ill-equipped adult child of alcoholics navigate life after a childhood fraught with abuse, scarcity, and neglect?

Stevie-girl and her best friend, Jase, are phantom magnets. Whenever they are together, the doorway between this world and the next swings slightly open. The summer his parents treat them to a camping trip in New Mexico, the two friends can't wait to visit the legendary Crybaby Bridge. Right away, they hear the crying baby. Is it a phantom, or is someone playing tricks on them? As the two friends scour the campgrounds for answers, they discover that phantoms are not the only secrets the nearby town has kept hidden for over 60 years.

If you stumbled on a witch, are you sure you could spot her? What if she came in the form of a sweet old lady sporting sweats? So begins the witchy, wondrous debut novel certain to warm your soul and give it shivers at the same heart-thumping time.