Showing results by author "James Crawford" in All Categories

Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart. They can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere. A new century dawns, one in which America would become pre-eminent as its industrial might and military power rose above all others. In literature too its authors tackled new forms and new ideas, they shied away from little, immersing themselves and their readers in the promise of a new Century.

Four classic tales of the undead, read by Bill Wallis, Anthony Head, John Telfer and Cornelius Garrett.

Fourteen outstanding authors. Fourteen worlds that never were. Throughout the human experience, historians have wondered, “What if?” What if Japan had been on the side of the U.S. in World War II? What if things had been just a little different in the Falklands? What if Russia had started World War Three?

A selection of 17 classic stories of horror and the supernatural by some of the greatest writers in the genre. This compilation includes a mix of well-known classics by authors such as Charles Dickens and M. R. James, alongside several unjustly overlooked gems by less familiar names who were hugely popular and prolific in their day.

This collection of tales transports the listener to a time when staircases creaked in old manor houses, and a candle could be blown out by a gust of wind—or by a passing ghost. Penned by some of the greatest Victorian novelists and masters of the ghost story genre, each comes to life in this vivid rendition.

Buildings are more like us than we realize. They can be born into wealth or poverty, enjoying every privilege or struggling to make ends meet. They have parents - gods, kings and emperors, governments, visionaries and madmen - as well as friends and enemies. They have duties and responsibilities. They can endure crises of faith and purpose. They can succeed or fail. They can live. And, sooner or later, they die.

The four stories in this compilation, not by James, are meant to serve as prime illustrations of the best work of a few of his contemporaries and immediate antecedents.

Every High School has their social outcasts. The band nerds, the math geeks, the chess club, the girl that chews her hair, but at Butler High, even the creepy nose picker in the chess club is more popular than Caleo Anima. No matter what he did, his pale skin, snow white hair, and piercing blue eyes always made him an easy target. He used to think that the only way things could get worse would be if someone found out that he was gay, but that isn't even the tip of the iceberg of problems after a mysterious stranger shows up and changes Caleo's life forever.

With the seizure of an advanced freighter and its strategic cargo, James Van Wert is assigned to a combat vessel that possesses a groundbreaking new technology which the Fleet hopes will stop the insurgency. But James must first battle command infighting and the technological challenges of getting an untried ship ready for action, while the freighter captives travel to the heart of the enemy cabal to fight for their very lives.

You scramble up over the dunes of an isolated beach. You climb to the summit of a lonely hill. You pick your way through the eerie hush of a forest. And then you find them. The traces of the past. Perhaps they are marked by a tiny symbol on your map, perhaps not. There are no plaques to explain their fading presence before you, nothing to account for what they once were—who made them, lived in them, or abandoned them. Now they are merged with the landscape. They are being reclaimed by nature. They are wild history.

Every high school has its rock star. Maybe it's the quarterback, head cheerleader, or the valedictorian - the one student who outshines the rest. The one everyone knows will be successful in the years to come. For Nolan that was a lifetime ago, before he lost his sight, before he even knew what a Leech was. Now, all Nolan wants is to see Caleo survive to fulfill his destiny.

I am not going to complain to you about my life. We’ve got zombies. They are not the brainless, rotting creatures we’d been led to expect. Unfortunately for us, they’re just as smart as they were before they died, very fast, much stronger than you or me, and possess no internal editor at all. Claws. Did I mention claws? I kill them for a living, but it’s as much a vocation as a freelance career choice. It helps me, helps my neighborhood, and the people I consider to be my family of choice. What’s more?

Since the earliest known marker denoting the edge of one land and the beginning of the next—a stone column inscribed with Sumerian cuneiform—borders have been imagined, mapped, moved, and fought over. In The Edge of the Plain, James Crawford skillfully blends history, travel writing, and reportage to trace these borderlines throughout history and across the globe.

These are personal reminiscences of Grant which allow us to peer back in time to see him through the eyes of those who knew him. Some of the anecdotes describe brief encounters with Grant, while others are from historically prominent men who knew Grant well. What they have in common are the intimate details that reveal the personality and character of General Grant.

Every high school has it's social elite; the football players and cheerleaders...you know, the popular crowd. At Butler High, Jack Barely was as close to the top as they came. Captain of the swim team, great hair, and abs that most would die for. However, that was all before the Leeches attacked, taking away everything: his popularity, his house, his grandmother, and even his best friend, Caleo, whom he secretly loved. Now, living in a destroyed world, popularity means nothing as Jack struggles just to keep him and his twin sister, Jillian, alive.

The Victorian era is remembered for many things, but one of the fondest is the wide and varied array of short, ghostly, suspenseful tales...often enjoyed around the fireside at Christmastime. In this new anthology, John Banks performs 12 of the very best, all written by incredibly talented but oft-times overlooked or forgotten authors. Once you tire of Dickens and James, these are the true masters of short-form suspense.

Zombies were bad enough, but now we're being invaded from all sides. Up to our necks in blood, body parts, and unanswerable questions….As soon as the realization hit me, I lost my cool. I curled into the fetal position in a pile of blood, offal, and body parts, and froze there. What in the Hell was I becoming that killing was entertaining and satisfying? I don't know how long I was on my side in the remains of my opponents, but the mess was coagulating and getting cold…to say nothing of the smell of sliced-open bowels.

Combining the very best elements of hard science fiction with a suspenseful, action filled manhunt, this novel is an exotic adventure set in a future colonial Mars. Following a trail of destruction across the remote outposts of the Martian wastelands, police vigilantes are eager to exact revenge on a gang of hardened criminals who are desperate to flee justice or fight to the death if cornered. Explore an alien world of breathtaking beauty where death is only a mistake away and love may be found in the most unexpected places.

Another collection of 16 classic tales of the macabre and supernatural by some of the best-known writers in these genres.

Suspenseful military space fleet adventure and hard science fiction come together in this series of future space colonization in the Alpha Centauri star system. Captain James Van Wert races his ship to join the fight in time and learns why emotional attachments have no place in fleet operations. Meanwhile, Rusla and Oruc execute their flawless battle plan against the cruiser Washington, and Finley reluctantly finds himself at the epicenter of the confrontation. This is the stunning conclusion of the AlCent Sagas series.