Showing results by narrator "Michael Kramer" in All Categories

Pope Francis, the first Jesuit pope and the first from the Americas, offers a challenge to his Church. Can he bring about significant change? Should he? Garry Wills argues that changes have been the evidence of life in the Catholic Church. It has often changed, sometimes with bad consequences, more often with good - good enough to make it perdure. In this brilliant and incisive study, he gives seven examples of deep and serious changes that have taken place within the last century.

Felix Castor is a freelance exorcist, and London is his stamping ground. At a time when the supernatural world is in upheaval and spilling over into the mundane reality of the living, his skills have never been more in demand. A good exorcist can charge what he likes - and enjoy a hell of a lifestyle - but there's a risk: sooner or later he's going to take on a spirit that's too strong for him. After a year spent in 'retirement', Castor is reluctantly drawn back to the life he rejected and accepts a seemingly simple exorcism case - just to pay the bills, you understand.

A deadly strain of flu has mysteriously mutated, causing the deaths of millions throughout Ireland and beyond. But the infected don't stay dead for long, rising up to become flesh-eating monsters. In a quarantined lab just outside Belfast, lab worker Ellis and security guard Abe fight their way through corridors of the living dead, determined to expose a gruesome truth. And aging conspiracy theorist Tom wracks his brain to figure out what went wrong....

French ex-pat Tristan Mourault is the wealthy, urbane heir to a world-renowned collection of art - and an insatiable voyeur enamored with Karen Miller, a 15-year-old from a working-class family in San Francisco. Deciding he must 'rescue' Karen from her unhappy circumstances, Tristan kidnaps her and stages her death to mask his true crime.

Oscar-winning actor Richard Dreyfuss has spent nearly five decades on the stage and silver screen. However, through his longtime interest in political and social activism, Dreyfuss has emerged as a leading voice in the area of civic engagement and active citizenship, earning posts at St. Antony's College, the University of Oxford, and the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles ACLU Foundation.

Diplomacy, danger, and desire collide when Brad Oaks pursues an ingenious international trade proposal that would rescue a family steel business and secure a scarce natural resource for the US. Is it a powerful idea or just a pipedream? New to the Washington, DC, lobbying scene, Brad’s pursuit of a solution to this political issue takes him from DC to California to Tokyo as he seeks to thwart an international plot to sabotage America’s infrastructure.

When the 1944 presidential election campaign geared up late that spring, Franklin D. Roosevelt had already been in office longer than any other president. Sensing likely weakness, the Republicans mounted an energetic and expensive campaign, hitting hard at FDR’s liberal domestic policies and the ongoing cost of World War II. Despite gravely deteriorating health, FDR and his feisty running mate, the unexpected Harry Truman, campaigned vigorously against young governor Thomas E. Dewey of New York.

Dewey “Mac” McKenzie is wanted for a killing he didn’t commit. He saved his hide once by signing on as a cattle drive chuckwagon cook and bolting the territories. Turned out Mac was as good at fixing vittles as he was at dodging bullets. But Mac’s enemies are hungry for more — and they’ve hired a gang of ruthless killers to turn up the heat....

There's a nasty flu going round. An epidemic, they call it. The posters say to cover your mouth when you sneeze, and throw away the tissue. But such simple measures won't stop this flu. Because when you catch the flu, armed police come and lock you in your house to die alone. When you catch this flu, it kills you in days. And when you catch this flu, two hours after it's killed you, your eyelids snap open again....

It all began with Ragnarok, with the Children of the Light and the Tarnished ones battling to the death in the ice and the dark. At the end of the long battle, one Valkyrie survived, wounded, and one valraven - the steeds of the valkyrie. Because they lived, Valdyrgard was not wholly destroyed. Because the valraven was transformed in the last miracle offered to a Child of the Light, Valdyrgard was changed to a world where magic and technology worked hand in hand.

Is the Chinese curse just a myth? Soon after an ancient talisman is smuggled out of Hong Kong, a container ship filled with Chinese refugees runs aground on Alcatraz, the crew murdered. The Chinese Triads suspect one of their own, a female assassin named Sally known to have connections with a San Francisco detective named Cape Weathers. But when Sally goes missing, Cape becomes the focus of Triads’ attention, and soon the FBI has him on their radar.

Ballard and his considerably younger lover, Sandrine, have been brought together by a shared erotic obsession of the darkest kind. As they travel down a remote part of the Amazon River on a luxurious yacht, they spend their days indulging in their macabre pastime. Through a haze of pain and pleasure, the lovers are witness to a series of increasingly sinister portents, dreams and visions that haunt their claustrophobic and disturbing world. With Peter Straub's signature, breathtaking twists and an astonishing climax, you'll never forget The Ballad of Ballard and Sandrine.

Continuing the award-winning epic of a world where faith and dreams become reality, Mythborn Three follows Masters Silbane and Kisan, the young blade-master Ash, and Princess Yetteje as they journey into the ethereal realm Arcadia, home to the Celestial Lilyth and her Aeris demons. They search for Silbane's apprentice, Arek, and the lost prince of Bara'cor, Niall, as the two explore Arcadia for clues to the mystery of Arek's origin. Is he the son of the demon queen Lilyth, as she claims?

Separated by a great distance in the 1890's, can a widower and a schoolteacher overcome the obstacles that stand in the way of their love and commitment? John Feist unfolds a true-love story, old-fashioned letter style, in his historical romance novel, The Color of Rain.

Our cherished culturally shared beliefs stem from a variety of sources, many of which propagate old wives' tales, myths, self-serving fantasies, innocent fallacies, or sheer nonsense. It is a cliche that history is written by the victors. But Don’t You Believe It! will demonstrate that it is also written by teachers, by newsmen, by heirs, by hucksters, and occasionally by someone who has a lousy memory or an axe to grind.

Armed with a sardonic wit and a snarky tongue, Tilthan and his notorious thieving troupe embark for the Isle of Korath. Their purpose there is simple: steal the Eye of Rab'di, a gemstone rumored to hold magical properties. But all is not as it seems on Korath. Unexplained murders and mysterious deaths plague the city. Amid their heist, Tilthan and his gang stumble across the truth and are faced with a choice: steal the gem or escape with their lives.

The United States is now a lawless, scantly populated wasteland. Across the country, families have packed up their belongings to travel eastward toward the one hope left: passage on a ship to Europe. Franklin Lopez and his brother, Jackson, are only days away from the ocean when Franklin, nearly crippled by an inflamed knee, is forced to stop. Franklin comes upon an isolated stone building. Inside he finds Margaret, a woman with a deadly infection and confined to the Pesthouse to sweat out her fever.

Exiled to the Philippines in 1768, Spanish Captain Raúl Calderón must negotiate docking rights in hostile waters for the Manila Galleon, so he can return to his motherland. To do this, he must subdue the notorious Last Princess. Juliza Alimuddin, the Last Princess, hides behind her cutthroat reputation to protect her beloved islands. When a wounded Raúl falls in her hands, she decides to go against her allies’ wishes and nurses the Spaniard back to health. Both hurt in the past, they just might find love and happiness again. But at what cost?

In this full and frank memoir - a personal story of duty, family, justice, politics and resilience - New York Governor Andrew Cuomo reflects on his rise, fall, and rise in politics, and recounts his defining personal and political moments and tough but necessary lessons he has learned along the way.

An incurable sickness has infected a fishing village along the coast of Ishalar. The sick do not die - they vanish, leaving behind footprints and ashen shadows. Delanis, the fourth throne of Ishalar, has already lost his wife to The Vanishing, and now his daughter is deep in the throes of the illness. More in his village are succumbing almost every day.