Mostrando resultados por autor "Stephen Donald" en Todas las categorías

Listen to mystery stories by today's top writers and the masters who inspired them. The idea for this collection came to Mystery Writers of America Grandmaster Lawrence Block when he was asked, "What is your favorite mystery story?" Block compiled this unique collection by posing the same question to some of today's favorite writers of the genre, including Stephen King, Tony Hillerman, and John Lutz.

Everyone loves a good joke, but nobody enjoys being subjected to the fun. Pranks are an especially childish form of delight, perhaps because they are the ultimate expression of prurient sadism, which we must disavow as civilized adults. We, the same civilized adults who teach our beloved youth the art of warfare while stockpiling an obscene surplus of thermonuclear weapons. Now that is funny! So, tease a guilty moment to titillate your secret sadist today. Giggling, it whispers. Such twisted threads weave life’s strange tapestry. Of pranks, here find countless examples, and of pranksters,...

Within realms of the unknown, superstition stalks. Primitives see god in a rainbow, but they also suspect a deadly serpent beneath every unturned stone. Ignorance and fear sometimes unite to inspire us or spare us, but more often this demonic duality serves to light the torches of enraged mobs. Fearlessly now, step away from the staid, known world that shelters you. Venture into lands of conundrum and enigma to witness ciphered matters of mind. Such twisted threads weave life’s strange tapestry. Of answers, here find many startling propositions, and of mysteries, twelve.

Disinfectants, detergents, insecticides, fungicides, herbicides, and homicides – everything a human being needs to clear his or her lot and start fresh in life, clean and pure, and it all waits at the press of a finger. Some of us love a good disaster, but we watch from a safe distance and it always happens to someone else… somewhere else… never here. Never us. Scratch a moment, since you itch, and listen to the incessant rasp of a gathering legion. It twitters. Such twisted threads weave life’s strange tapestry. Of pests, here find a restive horde, and of plagues, ten.

They are lucky to have as a neighbor the old man who lives at the end of their cul-de-sac. Free of charge, he keeps the lawn and the landscaping of the house next door. Only he knows why.

Black eyeliner. Black lashes. Black lips. Black hair. Through it all, peers the white cake face of Darling Girl Jones, orphan. From time to time, she awakens in her academy dorm room to find an ethereal spirit haunting her bed. Although today is a special day at her Academy because today is Christmas Eve - and that means all-you-can-eat pancakes with real maple syrup - Darling Girl's holidays are never so easy and a ghost with a serious problem is certain to spoil her fun!

When dinosaurs of all eras suddenly appear all over the world, questions abound. Time for answers diminish faster than the human population. One thing is certain, during a plague of prehistoric thunder lizards, a feisty poodle can come in handy!

At the last stop for provisions before they make their climb into the snowy mountains of Colorado, the locals tease these teenaged tourists about their lack of preparation for such a cold and unforgiving frontier. Though they scoff, these unfortunate youths will soon learn why the old-timers claim that the mountains sometimes keep their dead.

They are the perfect couple, if perfection is a measure of lies and deception. They travel from town to town, conning their way across country while working confidence games, large and small. When their past turns up to haunt them, they both quickly realize they are but hours away from certain death. Life then becomes a contest of ruthless cunning, but this is a game they play well.

He returns to keep their lawn year upon year, from his youth to middle-age, and never a charge or missed appointment. Their lawn is immaculate, their hedges invariably neat and trimmed, their fall leaves absent, and their home well-kept. It's a burdensome debt to repay. He's choking up every last cent.

This course provides a detailed executive-level review of contemporary topics in supervised machine learning theory with specific focus on predictive modeling and linear regression. The ideal student is a technology professional with a basic working knowledge of machine learning theory. Additionally, to better inform the interested student, the final lesson of this course presents samples in Python describing the essential implementation of described regression methods.

A trusted agent in the employ of an untrustworthy corporation. He knows too much and he realizes this knowledge will soon necessitate his own liquidation. Tired of the rat race, he has a plan for a fantastic exit. Sometimes, the rat gets the cheese and the trap springs empty.

It shapes our cosmos by confining the stars and is, perhaps, the interstellar sire of human spawn. Within each mind Dark Matter abides, the primordial ancestor of all things chaotic, violent, and destructive. Gravitational and inert, it unyieldingly obsesses our most deviant desires while alternately flinging our most violent impulses into the fringes of destructive behavior. Take time to embrace the Dark Matter of life, if only because it is utterly inescapable.

While waiting for his wife to finish shopping, he stumbles across a strangely ornate stairway hidden away at the back of the local mall. Bored, he decides to descend a flight or two to examine the strange window displays arranged along its outer wall. With each downward step, the displays progressively reflect history long since passed. Intrigued, he delves deeper and deeper into countless mysteries presented along his careless descent of the spiral stair.

Nightland resides within an extraordinary region of time and space bound only by limits of sheer imagination. Its ephemeral pinnacles soar near the apex of human aspiration while its abysmal valleys plunge deeply into the darkest landscapes of global apocalypse. It is alternately violently wild and oppressively regimented. Nightland is older than all of recorded human history and it is many things to come.

Though doting parents often teach their children the futility of violence, every rational human being also understands the hypocrisy inherent in such lessons, since life surrounds us with countless examples of practical solutions wrought in savagery. While each act of brutality inevitably debases all humankind, a maladjusted minority also recognize in it a tempting potential to make quick return on a prized reward. Perspective, then, becomes a matter of outcomes. Most of us will experience violence demeaning; few of us will know violence redeeming.

Grandma Moses is one of America's last true, living witches. Although she never accepts money for her services, nothing is free, and the cost rises with the value of the result. She lives alone near the swamp with all the slimy, crawling things that flop, splash, and slither there. Her reputation is as dark as her soul, and her powers are prodigious.

Poetry knits the fabric of our dreamtime dominions. Both are without substance, and both present the subjective essence of a spinning compass. Embrace such insight, if you must, but do so at your own risk – nothing here will light your darkness.

Song is either the progenitor or most favored partner of poetry; either may be spoken or sung. For better or worse, the vast bulk of it is scat, the fodder of time, which already stacks miles deep beneath our feet. One day, it will inevitably pile high above our rotting bones.

Spoken aloud, poetry is the ultimate masochistic mouthwash. Used regularly, it will sponge your brain and fire your breath. So, crack these covers, sip, swish, and rinse. In time, your silly sense of well-being will slip away, and your brain germs will never feel the same way again.