Showing results by narrator "Alyssa Bresnahan" in All Categories

In the dark reaches of the eastern continent, Tris Vishal travels from village to village, using his power to put unsettled spirits to rest. He works alone, having learned that letting people close only leads to more death. Still, he finds himself accepting the help of the Mondyalitko woman who saves his life - a woman whose gifts are as much a burden as his own. Mari Kaleja thirsted for vengeance since the night her family was taken from her. She has searched far and wide for the one she thinks responsible, known only as "The Dead's Man".

Living in a quiet suburb of Washington, D.C., Marsha is nine years old in the summer of 1973. While the nation’s attention is focused on the breaking Watergate scandal, her quiet neighborhood is going through its own upheaval. Looking back as an adult, she remembers it as a time when her father’s abandonment of his family becomes entwined with the arrival of a new neighbor and the death of a boy who lives down the street. Deeply disillusioned by the changes in her life, Marsha takes it upon herself to find the boy’s murderer, which sets off a chain of tragic events.

A string of shocking murders has occurred in a small community outside of San Francisco, each victim an innocent child. For Detective Kate Martinelli, just promoted to Homicide, and her partner Alonzo Hawkin it's going to be a difficult case.

For three generations, a carriage house has stood on the Adair property. Built by William's grandfather, it was William's childhood refuge and a sign of the family's prominence. Now held captive by a neighbor due to a zoning error, the house has decayed beyond recognition and may even be condemned. Rallying to save their father, Diana, Elizabeth, and Isabelle take on the battle for the carriage house that once stood as a symbol of their place in the world.

Mario Alfieri, the world's most famous tenor, is preparing to make his debut at the Met. As he rents a house facing Gramercy Park, he discovers a pale young woman hiding in its music room. Her love and secrets soon mesmerize the great man. Set in turn-of-the-century New York, this is a tale of passion, intrigue, and murder.

The first cremation the homeless people held in Golden Gate Park was for a dog; their second pyre held a much larger body. To find the one responsible for these deaths, Martinelli sets out on a quest for Brother Erasmus. An enigmatic creature who has befriended the homeless, he speaks only in quotations. When public fear of the peculiar band of park-dwellers threatens to grow out of control, Martinelli must unravel the guilt that lies at the bottom of Erasmus' refusal to give direct answers to her questions.

In her fiction, Claire Messud "has specialized in creating unusual female characters with ferocious, imaginative inner lives" (Ruth Franklin, New York Times Magazine). Kant’s Little Prussian Head & Other Reasons Why I Write opens a window on Messud’s own life: a peripatetic upbringing; a warm, complicated family; and, throughout it all, her devotion to art and literature.

Maggie Messina knows that knitting is not only enjoyable, it also calms both the mind and soul. She's happy to visit two sisters, Holly and Rose Piper, and teach them some simple stitches, while the rest of the Black Sheep knitters tag along. Dana Haeger has known the young women since they were children and is the closest thing to family the Pipers now have. Dana is especially concerned about Rose, who has been easily overwhelmed ever since a car accident many years ago.

Alias Space and Other Stories is the first fiction collection from Nebula Award-winning writer Kelly Robson, who vaulted onto the science fiction, fantasy, and horror stage in 2015, earning spots in multiple year's best anthologies. This volume collects Robson's best stories to date, along with exciting new work, and notes to accompany each piece. Robson's stories are noted for their compassion, humanity, humor, rigor, and joy. 

Rosa is an illegal immigrant from Mexico City who sells herself on the streets of Houston while dreaming of a career in modeling. Traci is a blonde beauty obsessed with becoming head cheerleader and securing her future for a good marriage. On the surface, no two 14-year-olds could appear more different. Three-time Newbery Honor-winner Gary Paulsen brings his immense talents to this rich story of a chance encounter between two young women, each seeing her life mirrored in the eyes of another.

Kate and her partner, Al Hawkin, are called to a scene of carefully executed murder: the victim is a muscular man, handcuffed and strangled, a stun gun's faint burn on his chest and candy in his pocket. The likeliest person to want him dead, his often-abused wife, is meek and frail - and has an airtight alibi. Kate and Al are stumped until a second body turns up - also zapped, cuffed, and strangled...and carrying a candy bar.

In the hillside beauty of San Francisco, Kate Martinelli, a young female officer, is promoted to the Homicide division, inheriting a middle-aged partner who is expected to resent her. Instead, the two forge a rare and rich partnership. When rookie detective Kate Martinelli hunts for a sadist who is strangling six-year-old girls, something about the trail makes her think that she may be falling into a trap.

Author John Dickinson's debut novel is a welcome addition to the flourishing genre of medieval fantasy. Phaedra, a young noble, has reached the age of marriage, and is waiting for the man who appears in her dreams. When he finally arrives, she leaves her home and family to join him. But Phaedra is unprepared for the consequences her new union brings.

A stunning fictional debut by an award-winning poet, Catherine Temma Davidson deftly blends memories, family stories, recipes, and Greek myths in this intricate and sensuous first-person narrative. During a year-long visit to her ancestral homeland, a young Greek-American woman discovers herself through stories from the past. As she comes of age, she finds her own meaning in the tales of Persephone, Athena, and other mythic figures.

The moment Ivan stumbled upon a clearing in the dense Carpathian forest, his life was forever changed: atop a pedestal encircled by fallen leaves, the beautiful princess Katerina lay still as death. But beneath the foliage a malevolent presence stirred, sending the 10-year-old scrambling for the safety of Cousin Marek's farm. Now years later, Ivan is an American graduate students engaged to be married.

Even though Brandon Carlyle's acting career seems to be stalling, it hasn't stopped an anonymous fan from becoming a malicious stalker. Hoping to get away from it all, he returns to his Texas hometown for some peace and quiet. But when he meets a sexy journalist, he isn't sure if she's the woman of his dreams, or the woman of his nightmares.

Carol Wiley Cassella burst onto the literary scene with her debut novel Oxygen, which became a national best-seller and won reams of critical praise. In this engaging follow-up, a Seattle physician has to reevaluate life and career when her husband’s business crashes. Through this tale of love and medical wonder, Cassella uses her 25 years of experience in the medical industry to inform a work of emotional distinction and penetrating insight.

Billboard magazine had this to say about The World's Shortest Stories Vol. 1, "What is most impressive in this collection of great stories is the sheer variety. Let's hope a second volume of these tiny gems will not be long in coming!"

Carly Chambers leads an unusual life. She moves frequently and has to run mysterious packages to her father’s clients. Now living in Oceanside, New Jersey, Carly finds excitement by sneaking out at night to the town’s bustling boardwalk. More and more Carly finds herself hoping to spend time with Nick, one of the few kids who doesn’t outright ignore her. But then her life is thrown into further disarray when she realizes she’s being followed, and Carly suspects that the menacing stranger shadowing her has something to do with her father’s business....

A respected university professor, Anne Waverly has a past known to few: Years ago, her own unwitting act cost Anne her husband and daughter. Fewer still know that this history and her academic specialty - alternative religious movements - have made her a brilliant FBI operative. Four times she has infiltrated suspect communities, escaping her own memories of loss and carnage to find a measure of atonement. Now, as she begins to savour life once more, she has no intention of taking another assignment. Until she learns of more than 100 children living in the Change movement's Arizona compound....