Showing results by author "a. a. clifford" in All Categories

Some stories are all about the crime. These stories are about the maelstrom of what happens afterward. A hard-bitten crew of professional thieves pull of the score of their lives, coming away with millions in cash, enough to change their lives, make new identities, start fresh. But that's when the real trouble begins. In this linked anthology, we follow each member of the crew of culprits after the heist and watch as this perfect score ends up a perfect nightmare.

In the collection's title story, Frederick Gray is closing in on seventy and has outlived his usefulness as a professor of law. He has no family; his best friend, fellow faculty member Ben Lovell, has recently died. Before Gray moves into a retirement home, he takes a final canoe trip to a favorite fishing spot he and Lovell had visited many times, only to find that someone has built a house on the remote riverside. When an accident leaves Gray stranded and in pain, he returns to the shelter seeking aid and instead finds a new reason for living.

Late on payments for his spaceship and abandoned by his crew, James May jumped at the chance to hire a copilot who came complete with cargo. Next thing May knew, the copilot was a washout, the cargo was worthless, and his ship had been repossessed by a chief in the Yueh-sheng crime syndicate. May needed the ship to survive, so he stole it back. But if he expected to live long, he'd have to repay his debts - so he could hardly turn down a job that promised wealth, heroism, and revenge against the Yueh-sheng.

This is an anonymous true short story about the fear of being nude (gymnophobia) within male spaces where changing clothes and showering take place. The author of this true short story wants the teen male who reads this disclosure to know that you're not alone, and that all adult men have been in your shoes.

There have been no wolves in this region of France for many years, but now an extremely viscious rogue is terrorizing the local peasantry who say it is a werewolf. Monsieur Etienne Delacroix knows better, but he arms his sons with silver bullets just in case.

After being cleared of his wife’s murder, Todd Norman returns to her small Connecticut hometown in order to finish building their dream house by the lake. He is eager to restart his life and cast aside any remaining suspicions, but all of that is dashed when a young woman’s body washes up on the beach next door. The Lakehouse is a domestic psychological thriller about the wayward and marginalized, the lies we tell those closest to us, and the price of forbidden love in an insular community, where it seems everyone has a story to tell.

Today, the pay gap between chief executive officers of major US firms and their workers is higher than ever before - depending on the method of calculation, CEOs get paid between 300 and 700 times more than the average worker. Such outsized pay is a relatively recent phenomenon, but despite all the outrage, few detractors truly understand the numerous factors that have contributed to the dizzying upward spiral in CEO compensation.

The planet where his new plantation was established was very strange, with a complete lack of sex; all of his workers and all the animals and plants had no sex at all; they were all "its". But like every farmer on every planet, Duncan had to hunt down anything that damaged his crops - and whatever animal ate his vua plants was going to die. Of course he had no idea what this one looked like or what it was like, but whatever it was, he would track it and his rifle would bring it down.

Andrew Birch is a Company Man - a spy, a soldier, a saboteur... a corporate terrorist by any other name. He is one of the top operatives for Astradyne, one of the giant corporations that now rule the irradiated world he lives in. Among his peers, his ruthless efficiency and his love for the company are legendary. Then, on a routine mission, a chance encounter puts an all-too-human face on the consequences of corporate rule. As Birch begins to question the world he has helped build, corporate war breaks out - and he finds himself a pawn in a game that goes deeper than he imagined.

Fleeing a carnivorous race of alien monsters, the entire surviving human population from 500 years in the future escapes into the present in this thrilling science fiction adventure from one of the golden age greats. Our human descendants from five centuries in the future are coming to visit - all one billion of them - arriving via tunnels through time. Even though the present is merely a stopover and their ultimate destination is the age of the dinosaurs, their arrival has caused a worldwide uproar.

In a frigid New Hampshire winter, Jay Porter is trying to eke out a living and maintain some semblance of a relationship with his former girlfriend and their two-year-old son. When he receives an urgent call that Chris, his drug-addicted brother, is being questioned by the sheriff about his missing junkie business partner, Jay feels obliged to come to his rescue. After Jay negotiates his brother's release from the county jail, Chris disappears into the night.

Named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America, Clifford D. Simak was a preeminent voice during the decades that established science fiction as a genre to be reckoned with. Held in the same esteem as fellow luminaries Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, and Ray Bradbury, his novels continue to enthrall today's audiences. And his short fiction is still as gripping and surprising now as when it first entertained an entire generation of fans.

Do you feel like a hamster in a wheel in the corporate rat race? Are you looking to gain control of your financial future before retirement? Have you heard about the power of real estate investing, but never had the chance to look into it? This book will demystify the entire process and walk you through the best way to grow your portfolio of cash flowing equity, one step at a time and one property at a time.

Ex-British Army Soldier, John Carney, ran a close protection operation in Iraq for oil executives when he was asked by the family of a young Dutch woman to extract her from the collapsing Islamic State in Syria. Hearing first-hand of the shocking living hell of tricked naive young girls, many from the West, trapped, sexually abused and enslaved by ISIS, he knew only one thing - he had to get them out. Armed with AK-47s and 9mm Glocks, he launched a daring, dangerous and deadly operation to free as many as he could.

Narrated by Joseph Tabler, Science Fiction Stories of the Future from the Past consists of the following works: “The Automatic Maid of All Work” by M. L. Campbell; “Ely’s Automatic Housemaid” by Elizabeth W. Bellamy; “Mr. Meek—Musketeer” by Clifford D. Simak; “Mr. Meek Plays Polo” by Clifford D. Simak; “In the Year Ten Thousand” by William Harben; “Service with a Smile” by Charles L. Fontenay; “Family Tree” by Charles L. Fontenay; and “Glow Worm” by Harlan Ellison. All stories are in the public domain.

Welcome to discussions, explanations and lessons within the magical world of music theory. Music theory for composition and improvisation in all genres. We also have lots of lessons, examples and interesting info at: https://www.jazzimproviser.com https://youtube.com/c/AlternatePickingGuitar #Jazzfusion #RobertFripp #KingCrimson #JohnMclaughlinGuitar #MusicTheoryLessons #Jazzimprov Looking at music from an intellectual perspective to gain real knowledge to employ in the world of music. From Schoenberg to Messiaen, to Miles Davis to the Beatles to John Mclaughlin to Beethoven to Punk.

Earth is doomed. But there is one hope and it rests on the shoulders of 98 brave men. Can they do it? Can they find a way of retaliating?

Three years have passed since estate-clearing handyman Jay Porter almost lost his life following a devastating accident on the thin ice of Echo Lake. His investigative work uncovering a kids-for-cash scandal may have made his hometown of Ashton, New Hampshire, a safer place, but nothing comes without a price. The traumatic, uncredited events cost Jay his wife and his son, and left him with a permanent leg injury. Jay is just putting his life back together when a mysterious stranger stops by with an offer too good to be true.

Written by a member of the International Advisory Board for a Northern Israel Research and Education Center, this fascinating narrative reveals the more than century-long story of a Jewish nation being rebuilt along Israel’s northern borders where it once flourished. Through intimate profiles of many residents in multiple border communities, combined with thorough research, listeners will meet people who settled the region, dealt with its tribulations, and that still struggle to live normal lives in a land that remains challenging.

Jay Porter, the newest employee at NorthEastern Insurance in New Hampshire, is investigating an accident claim when he learns the teenager behind the wheel was arrested for minor drug possession and sentenced to a hardcore behavioral modification center. At the county courthouse, Jay meets Nicki, a young college intern, who tips him off to a possible scandal - first-time juvenile offenders being shipped to private institutions for political kickbacks.