Showing results by narrator "Stephen Davies" in All Categories

The Devil gives Norman Reeves an ill-fated mission he has no choice but to accept: Find the center of Eden and reverse the Fall of Man. Thrust into a place called Creation, Norman's task is plagued by unimaginable people and events. He must unravel impossible clues to free the Three Trees and keep himself out of Hell at the same time. On this surreal and humorous journey, Norman discovers many things better left unknown: the shocking secret lives of people close to him and the other unthinkable reason he was brought here.

In Understanding the Metaverse: A Business and Ethical Guide, expert product and customer experience strategist Nick Rosa delivers a timely exploration of what is bound to be one of the most important technologies of our time. The author explains the technology that underpins the metaverse as it exists today and that will form the basis for its rapid evolution in the future.

The issues and arguments surrounding school choice are sometimes hijacked to make political points about government control, democratic ideals, the public good, and privatization. In this volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, David Garcia avoids partisan arguments to offer an accessible, objective, and comprehensive guide to school choice.

Haldane, son of the Get warlord Black Morca must flee for his life through a familiar landscape turned strangely alien, aided by a wizard of uncertain abilities and the hazardous favor of the Goddess Libera. His perilous journey will take him to a final battle amidst the standing stones of power of Stone Heath where he will discover his true destiny. An exciting, thought provoking tale by critically acclaimed and award winning masters of the genre.

His name was Jim Racine, and years ago he had been a top heavyweight contender in the United States. But now he's over the hill and desperate, so he takes a fight in a corrupt South American country - and accidentally kills a young man in the ring. The public outrage forces an investigation, and the government refuses to return his passport. Racine is in limbo, but he figures if he can get to the U.S. Ambassador, his problems will be over.

A scandalous thriller of the dark world of Silicon Valley billionaires, and the women who prey on them for their money. The man: Wolfgang Schmitt: former model, newly single, habitual wiseass. It's a profile only his ailing mother could love - but it makes him perfect for one thing.... The bait: Billionaire Nelson Scott wants Schmitt to seduce his wife - setting off a prenuptial clause that will keep her hands off his money. The job pays a million bucks just for trying.

The mighty Lalas are dying. The great sentient trees are departing the world that they have protected since the beginning of time, leaving the people bereft and confused. The fabric weaves of its own will, winding around the Twins, binding them inextricably into the cloth as they are violently thrust into a threatening world. Separated at birth, Davmiran and Tomas, heirs to the throne of Gwendolen, struggle to find the truth that will save their world.

Back in hometown Chicago, Neville attends the funeral of the man he's murdered and meets his widow, Claudia, and her 3-year-old son. Neville gradually insinuates himself into the widow's confidence and conceives a plan to seize the victim's life - his wife, his son, his work, his wealth, and even his persona and appearance.

In this shocking thriller set in Baja California, a movie cast and crew on location becomes the setting for murder and depravity. As the cameras roll on a desolate stretch of Mexican coast, and the gruesomely mutilated body of a crew member is found, a terrifying scenario unfolds - and art becomes a matter of life and death.

Target of Opportunity opens in the midst of World War II as San Francisco Police Inspector Gilman and his brother-in-law, former Washington attorney Donald Kerwin, stop into a 7-Eleven - and are met with a torrent of bullets. A gunman at the register kills Kerwin and wounds Gilman, and an illegal police search follows, leading to a dismissal of charges against the suspect.

High school wrestler Jake Persson is living on vitamins and diet Mountain Dew as he fights to make weight at the height of championship season. In the small mining town in northern Minnesota's Iron Range where Jake lives, this is the most exciting thing that has happened in years. During his last meet, Jake confronts his future and the unnerving sense that his own body and desires are starting to betray him. Chelsey Johnson writes a gripping story about hunger, control, and wrestling down desire.

Written by multiple Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Award nominee Jay Lake, "Dogs in the Moonlight" was first published in the 2005. Over his long career, Jay Lake has published 10 novels and more than 300 stories. He was honored with the 2004 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.

Billionaires in World Politics shows how the privatization of politics assumes a new dimension when billionaires wield power in world politics, which requires a rethinking of individual agency in international relations. Structural changes have generated new opportunities for individuals to become extremely rich and to engage in politics across borders. The political agency of billionaires is being conceptualized in terms of capacities, goals, and power, which is contingent upon the specific political field a billionaire is trying to enter.

'Never mess with power-hungry people!' Or so Sophie's dad is always telling her. But when her friend Gidaado the Fourth starts working for a famous general, Sophie finds herself mixed up in some very dirty business. She discovers that General Crêpe-Sombo is not at all the kind, peaceful man he pretends to be.

Universal Love welcomes listeners to a near-future world where our everyday technologies have fundamentally altered the possibilities and limits of how we love one another. In these gripping stories, a young boy tries to understand what keeps his father tethered to the drowned city they call home. A daughter gets to know her dead mother's hologram better than she ever knew her living mother. And, at a time when unpleasant memories can be erased, a man undergoes electronic surgery to have his depression, and his past, forever removed.

Stories of Color marks Lawrence Biscontini's first book of fiction. Written during a 12-country, 12-month sabbatical in 2015, these various short stories offer something for (almost) everyone. The common thread of the human condition among all sentient beings weaves throughout the tales.

Captured and imprisoned by Colton, the wizard Premoran rails against his fate. Without Premoran, the essences of the ancient Lalas trees will be lost forever. While the Twins prepare to embark on their separate quests for the Gem of Eternity, another rises to aid the Lalas. Her name is Tamara, a Sister of Parth. Trained in the mystical mysteries, though unaware of the true extent of her power, she alone can traverse the Hollows.

Although Colton and his forces have been winning battles, scattered forces still resist. Only now is the most powerful threat emerging - the Darkening, a physical emptiness, a void, which encroaches upon the very heart of the land, jeopardizing life itself, chilling souls to the bone, bringing death and annihilation, stealing memories and thoughts.

In this second volume of the GemQuest series, the battle lines have been drawn. The Dark Lord reaches beyond his realms in search of the heir, and the disparate nations of the world begin to recognize the magnitude of his evil. They rise up united and renew their bonds. From the dazzling ice kingdom of Eleutheria to the magnificent tree-top city of Seramour, revived allies succor and protect the Twins during the preparation for their all-important quest for the Gem of Eternity.

Written by multiple Hugo, Nebula and World Fantasy Award nominee Jay Lake, "The Leopard's Paw" was first published in the April 2007 issue of Subterranean Magazine.

Over his long career, Jay Lake has published 10 novels and more than 300 stories. He was honored with the 2004 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.