Showing results by narrator "Jeff Woodman" in All Categories

Springing from the author's first-hand experience as an ambulance driver and Red Cross worker during World War I, this autobiographical first novel is noteworthy for its vivid and colorful evocation of France at that time and for its passionate indictment of war. The author's disillusionment with war for a time turned him toward socialism and against capitalism.

Edward Zanni has been kicked out of drama school because he's just too "jazz hands" for Juilliard. He moves to New York City and lands a job working as a stealth guest at corporate parties. When he gets caught up in an insider trading scandal, his crew of theater friends comes to his rescue.

Rick, J.D., and Spud are the Rock Jockeys. They have been practicing their climbing skills for months. Now they’re ready to tackle the sheer mountain face known as Devil’s Wall. Their equipment is in top shape; supplies are packed. With teamwork and perseverance, they hope to reach the top by nightfall. As they climb, the Rock Jockeys recall the rumors about a B-17 bomber that crashed somewhere on the mountain. But as they suddenly stumble upon the empty wreckage, they wonder: What happened to the men inside? What were they willing to do to survive?

Caribbean born novelist Tobias Buckell established himself as a gifted new voice in science fiction with his stunning first novel Crystal Rain. Now, in his first collection, Buckell demonstrates his strengths in the short form, offering readers a collection of stories that are compelling, smart, wonderfully imagined, and entertaining. Tides from the New Worlds contains 19 stories that range from multicultural science fiction to magical realism, some in print for the first time.

Here are four unforgettable stories by Yann Martel, the New York Times best-selling author of Life of Pi. In the exquisite title novella, a very young man dying of AIDS joins his friend in fashioning a story of the Roccamatio family of Helsinki, set against the yearly march of the 20th century.

Nancy Bell’s best-selling Biggie series combines Texas small-town humor with tantalizing mysteries. As J.R., Biggie Weatherford’s 12-year-old grandson, recounts Biggie’s uncanny ability to solve the peskiest cases, his observations are spiced with his wry adolescent view of grownups. A trip to a nearby town introduces J.R. to a ghost and presents Biggie with a perplexing local murder.

The year Paul Zindel, his sister, Betty, and their mother lived in the town of Travis, Staten Island, New York, was the most important time of his teenage life. It was the year he and Jennifer Wolupopski were best friends. It was the year of the apple tree, the water-head baby, and Cemetery Hill. And it was the year he met Nonno Frankie Vivona, who became his Pigman. The Pigman & Me has an added bonus--one crucial piece of information: the secret of life, according to the Pigman.

High school sleuths P.C. Hawke and Mackenzie Riggs quickly regret their decision to take a difficult calculus class from a tough instructor at Columbia University. But even though she's mean, Professor Dunaway certainly seems an unlikely candidate for murder. Though there are plenty of suspects, a lot of things about this case just don't add up.

P.C. and Mackenzie's friend, Tom the janitor, has been accused of murdering the head biologist at New York City's Museum of Natural History. But they know Tom couldnï¿¿ï¿¿ï¿¿t be the real killer, so they begin investigating. Exploring the crime scene and digging deep, they uncover a strange, precious artifact and a huge arachnid at the heart of the mystery.

Folsom, New Mexico, is young Jim Stanton’s new home. His father has been given a wonderful job at Folsom National Laboratories. The company has provided the Stantons with everything they need, including a fabulous house and even a brand-new car. The only trouble is that it all seems a little too perfect. Curious, Jim goes hiking in the nearby mountains, where he meets a strange girl and her father. Their warning about what the Stantons will have to sacrifice for their new, comfortable life sends Jim racing back to his family - and a perilous search through the lab.

Sex. Money. International terrorism. And, of course, the ultimate question- Can a compact backswing save the world? A clubhouseful of acclaimed authors pass the baton (or at least the six-iron) to creat an ensemble tour de force of suspense, romance, and hilarity on the links. Golf is not a team sport. But who says fiction can't be? Get ready....

Thirteen-year-old Jesse Rodriguez has learned everything he needs to know about skydiving by working at the small airport near his home. As soon as he turns sixteen, he'll make his first jump. His new friend, Robin, is training to skydive, even though she really prefers photography to parachutes. One day, while visiting Jesse at the airstrip, she unintentionally takes some pictures of several drug dealers disembarking from a small plane. Suddenly, the two teenagers find themselves on a flight that may force them to make their first jump much sooner than they expect.

A successful journalist, Victoria Griffith, makes her first foray into children's fiction with the story of Alberto Santos-Dumont, the larger-than- life Brazilian who many argue flew before the Wright brothers. It was 1906 in Paris when Alberto, challenged by a fellow inventor, turned his dirigible into a flying machine and cemented his place in the history of flight.

William Little Bear Tucker and his friend, Sarah, love to explore the caverns of the Sacramento Mountains. Some day the two youngsters hope to find the cave that holds a golden Apache statue that vanished long ago. But one afternoon, when they discover some spectacular rooms in one of the caverns, they also realize that they aren't alone. Suddenly, armed bandits, the spirit of a headless Indian brave, and bottomless pits are lurking in the darkness that surrounds the two intrepid explorers.

People say New York City is a jungle. Still, P.C. Hawke is a little surprised when his best friend, Mackenzie, invites him to tag along with her police coroner mother to examine a scientist who has been mauled by jaguars at the Bronx Wildlife Conservation Park. But when the two teenage sleuths learn that the scientist actually died because he was given a lethal dose of gorilla blood after the attack, they quickly realize that the most vicious predator imaginable is loose in the park - a human killer!

Pulitzer Prize winner Paul Zindel delights even the most reluctant listeners with his thrilling P.C. Hawke Mysteries. Everyone is upset when P.C.'s junior class trip ends with classmate Timmy Warner plunging to his death over a 300-foot waterfall. So when Timmy's mom exhibits some strange behavior at the funeral, P.C. and his friend Mackenzie just have to investigate. What they don't expect is that the trail of clues will lead them to Los Angeles-and to a surfer who's a dead ringer for their dead classmate!

A trip to the French Riviera should be a nice vacation for high school super-sleuth P.C. Hawke and his best friend Mackenzie. But when a woman is murdered at their hotel, P.C. and Mac can't just sit around and wait for the cops solve the crime.

Bill Buford spends a wild night in the park; Jonathan Safran Foer envisions it as a tiny, transplanted piece of a mythical Sixth Borough; and Marie Winn answers definitively Holden Caulfield's question of where the ducks go when the park's ponds freeze over. There are bird sightings and fish sightings; Jackie Kennedy and James Brown sightings; and pieces by Colson Whitehead, Paul Auster, and Francine Prose. This vibrant collection presents Central Park in all its many-faceted glory, a 51-block swath of special magic.

For the last few years, 13-year-old Tag Jones has been running the family bait shop on the sandy Bermuda beach. He has been helping earn money ever since his father died in a scuba diving accident while searching for a legendary Spanish shipwreck. Whenever he has free time, he dives with his best friend in the azure water above the hazardous coral reefs.

Reminiscent of Joan Didion's White Album or Kurt Vonnegut's Palm Sunday, Visions and Revisions is a collage-style portrait of a tumultuous era that puts the listener on the streets of NYC during the early '90s AIDS crisis, also touching on such diverse subjects as the serial murders of gay men, Peck's first loves upon coming out, and the transformation of LGBT people from marginal, idealistic fighters to their present place in a world of widespread, if fraught, mainstream acceptance.