Showing results by narrator "Mark Boyett" in All Categories

Life has never been better for Mark Sava, the former CIA station chief of Azerbaijan. He's recently married, has a newborn daughter, and the launch of his spies-for-hire business in Central Asia has been a great success. Then he gets a call from the US Embassy in Tbilisi, Georgia - one his employees, seventy-two-year-old Larry Bowlan, has died of a heart attack.

Best friends Jack and Conner can’t stay away from Marbury. It’s partly because of their obsession with this alternate world and the unresolved war that still wages there. But it’s also because forces in Marbury - including the darkest of the dark, who were not revealed in The Marbury Lens - are beckoning the boys back in order to save their friends… and themselves.

They should have left the doors closed. Now, their creation will rain destruction. The horde is coming. And the only hope Jordan or Rhun have is to unite the survivors and face the onslaught together. When the silent city's gates are opened, monsters are unleashed on the planet. Aid will come from the most unlikely of allies as the experiment's endgame draws closer. Face the end of the Pandora Experiment and the beginning of what life looks like once the dust settles. New alliances will be made, traitors will be exposed, and hope will find a way.

Cities and the Creative Class gathers in one place for the first time the research leading up to Richard Florida's theory on how the growth of the creative economy shapes the development of cities and regions. In a new introduction, Florida updates this theory and responds to the critics of his 2002 best seller, The Rise of the Creative Class.

In 2092, the world's ecology is in ruins, drought and famine are widespread and survival is a never-ending challenge. Harold Erdman leaves his dying community with one goal, to make his way to Esmeralda, an island paradise run by the Huntworld Corporation which has turned public murder, among willing competitors, into a thriving and lucrative business. Can he survive the journey and then the many rounds of deadly competition on his way to the Big Payoff.

William Shakespeare had nothing to do with the actor and moneylender William Shaksper from Stratford-upon-Avon. The man behind the nom de plume "William Shakespeare" was, in fact, a very well-educated aristocrat who often frequented the court of Elizabeth and whose real name was Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford. The dramas of Shakespeare were not written for the Globe Theatre but for the Queen's court.

A new colony of humans. But are they truly human? Their whole life has been one big experiment. But the relationships, the love, and the loss have been real. Surviving the wasteland was only the beginning; and meeting the Founders only brought Rhun and Jordan more questions. They’ve been bred for combat. Can they bring what’s left of humanity together and avoid all out war? First they must save their homes and those they left behind from the same fate as the decimated City 6.

Skiptracer Blake Hartley has formed a tenuous alliance with the alien Sekkha on what should be an easy job: escort a young boy named Jorn Freyul to their client. That's it. But they soon find out that Jorn is more than he seems. He's known as the Exegent, a divine-like figure among members of a fanatical order called the Fold. Unfortunately for Blake and Sekkha, Jorn also possesses classified information that will not only put their lives in jeopardy, but also ties in to a devastating secret from Blake's last job - Hypertek.

Interstellar war is about to erupt. For Blake Harley, that's the least of his problems. Jorn Freyul, the astonishingly gifted child he is tasked with protecting, has been targeted by an unknown, malicious entity described by the boy as a god…one intent on destroying all life. Blake, his alien ally, Sekkha, and new team member Mariya, all fellow fugitives from the law, are about to find out that Jorn's fears could become an all-too terrifying reality. Now, Blake and his companions are embarking on their most important mission yet.

In Sky Magic, the second book of the Haven Series, the Pact that has kept the peace for centuries between humanity and the Faerie is broken. Oberon, King of the Faerie, lost his Blue Jewel and can no longer command the marching Rainbow to keep the peace. Once again the darkest and most evil of his kind plague human lands. In defense of the Haven, a champion must be chosen to wield the Axe Ambros.

Take a look at a dark, deadly future where the game is hunting and the results are killing - human to human - with status, money, power, and sex as the prizes. The operation runs underground and Frank Blackwell is a new recruit who is destined to change the game and turn it into legitimate popular entertainment for the masses.

This short story is from the anthology Mitigated Futures. Twelve science fiction stories about the oncoming future, each of them representing a possible glimpse of what could be just around the corner... or much further down the corridor. These stories previously appeared in places like Clarkesworld Magazine, The Year's Best SF, Subterranean Magazine, and in various anthologies. They deal with the future of war, our climate, and technology's effect on our lives.

Jonathon Bender had something to say to the world; unfortunately, the world wasn't listening, and didn't start until Jonathon committed suicide. Dear Everybody is his last will and testament: unsent letters addressed to relatives, friends, teachers, classmates, professors, roommates, employers, former girlfriends, his ex-wife, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus, the state of Michigan, and a weather satellite, just to name a few, alongside the eulogizing reminiscences of his closest acquaintances.

The Space Marines are in the Oort Cloud, racing in their insertion pods to the frozen planetoid of Tyche. Alone in the dark, outnumbered and outgunned by the cyborgs waiting for them on the methane-ice surface, the hour of desperation has arrived. This novella is set in the Doom Star series.

Marketers must look to the Web for new ways of finding customers and communicating with them, rather than at them. From Facebook and YouTube to blogs and Twitter-ing, social media on the Internet is the most promising new way to reach customers. Marketing to the Social Web, 2nd Edition helps marketers and their companies understand how to engage customers, build customer communities, and maximize profits in a time of marketing confusion.

Aerophilia is a short story from the collection Tides from the New Worlds. 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 listeners a collection of stories that are compelling, smart, wonderfully imagined, and entertaining.

When Bashar pays an unannounced visit to the J. Appleseed Foundation, he encounters the ghosts of his long past. And the trail of clues he follows will put his wife and daughter directly in the crosshairs - and threaten the very existence of Seattle.

These connected stories were originally published in METAtropolis: Green Space. In addition, Jay Lake's "Rock of Ages" was selected for inclusion in The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirty-First Annual Collection, edited by Gardner Dozois.

“Tander Phigg was an asshole, but he was also a Barnburner. Barnburners saved my life. I help them when I can. No exceptions.” The job seems simple. Conway Sax, a no-nonsense auto mechanic with a knack for solving difficult problems, has never liked obnoxious blowhard Tander Phigg. But a promise is a promise. Tander’s a Barnburner, a member of the unique Alcoholics Anonymous group that rescued Conway, and when a Barnburner has a problem, Conway takes care of it.

When Jill McCorkle feels a short story coming on, she goes right ahead and "wastes" wonderful ideas instead of hoarding them for a novel. The result is another extraordinary collection of stories and characters. In "It's a Funeral! RSVP," the storyteller is a woman who takes up self-styled "careers" that suit her circumstances. Now she's stumbled onto one that's so successful that she just can't quit. It's planning funerals, what she calls Going Out Parties, in which the clients are the soon-to-be-deceased themselves.

"Stop the wedding!" No bride wants to hear those words, least of all Susannah "Legs" Carter, one of the Bod Squad's best agents. But when her colleague Jackson bursts in with news that her presumed-dead father may still be alive - and possibly a double agent - the vows are on hold, and the Bod Squad hits the road.