Showing results by narrator "Thomas Block" in All Categories

This is the story of the first airline pilot ever arrested and sent to prison for flying under the influence. He was fired by his airline, stripped of his FAA licenses, tried, convicted, and sent to federal prison. Lyle Prouse came from a WWII housing project in Kansas and a family where both parents died as a result of alcoholism. He rose through the ranks of the United States Marine Corps from private to captain, from an infantryman to a fighter pilot. He made his way to the pinnacle of commercial aviation, airline captain, and then lost it all.

When the China Clipper shattered aviation records on its maiden six-day flight from California to the Orient in 1935, the flying boat became an instant celebrity. This lively history by Robert Gandt traces the development of the great flying boats as both a triumph of technology and a stirring human drama. He examines the political, military, and economic forces that drove its development and explains the aeronautical advances that made the aircraft possible.

Originally published by Wm. Morrow, in 1995, Skygods is the saga of America's most glamorous airline - from its meteoric ascent to its plunge to extinction. Pan Am blazed the way across the world's oceans with its magnificent Clipper ships, launched the first international jet service, was the first to fly the behemoth 747, was the lead customer for America's SST and the Concorde, and was even taking reservations for the first commercial flights to the moon.

Author, airline captain, and popular blogger Eric Auxier brings Alaska bush flying to life in his second novel, The Last Bush Pilots. Exhilarating flying, tall tales, and larger-than-life characters abound in a wild land that truly is America's Last Frontier. Two young pilots, Daniel "D.C." Alva and Allen David Foley, take on the world's most dangerous flying: the Alaska bush. But Mother Nature - and a sexy Native Alaskan - stand in their way.

Doug Fletcher’s Thanksgiving vacation is interrupted by a phone call from his Texas U.S. Park Service superintendent. A Wyoming coroner determines that a climber’s fall from Devils Tower isn’t the accident it first appeared to be. Doug is thrown into an investigation where he peels back the layers of rumors and lies provided by colorful Black Hills residents to find a murderer in a region where the deer hunting season is winding down and everyone has a gun in their pickup truck.

When a retired United States Senator's passion for deep-sea treasure hunting off the coast of Palm Beach leads to murder, Jake Sullivan, chief prosecutor for the Justice Department in Miami, thinks he has an open and shut case: the DNA of the man pulled out of the warm waters near the ill-fated yacht matches blood found on the deck. But life is never so simple for Jake. In a rush of political maneuvering, Jake's suspect is whisked away by the State Department under a claim of diplomatic immunity. The mystery man is no simple treasure thief; he is a covert operator for the Mossad.

A Park Service backpacking trip turns deadly when hikers are caught in a steep canyon during a flash flood. Three hikers are swept away, but a rescue team recovers four bodies. Park Service Investigator Doug Fletcher teams up with rangers Jill Rickowski and Liz Carpenter, and Navajo Nation Policeman Jamie Ballard. They hike river bottoms and arroyos searching for the origin of the fourth body, leaning on each other to overcome their fears, cultural differences, and emotional baggage. In the process they forge bonds that will last past the end of the investigation.

Doug Fletcher, a retired Minnesota detective, relocates to Arizona and a quiet life as a part-time National Park Service ranger. His plans change abruptly when a suspicious fall at a national monument plunges him into the world of stolen antiquities, ruthless drug smugglers, and shady antiques dealers. Working with Jamie Ballard of the Navajo Nation Police, Doug finds their investigation complicated by the demands of his visiting family, a new boss, an overly friendly neighbor, the FBI, and his new environment.

The South Beach Sadist is dead.... Jake had seen to that. But in two weeks, Miami has two new victims, each butchered and their bodies marked with the sign of the Sadist...a sign never revealed to the public. As cryptic clues, and the promise of a third victim, begin to arrive in his office, Jake Sullivan, chief prosecutor for the Justice Department in Miami, and Mike Lang, his investigator and best friend, are once again hunting a madman. As the trail leads to a rogue DEA agent, Jake and Mike close in on the killer, not realizing that saving victim three means saving one of their own.

Arrested for the murder of a prominent businessman, Jake Sullivan finds himself the object of a conspiracy to take away everything he has as one piece of evidence after another builds the case against him. Jake's best friend, Mike Lang, comes to his aid and his investigation reveals that Jake is to be transferred to an island prison from which there will be no return. Mike arranges an escape with the help of some island characters found only in the southern latitudes.

Thomas Block has created Captain - his most ambitious, intricate, and action-packed aviation tale yet. It is a chilling and all too real story about a routine Trans-Atlantic airline flight that suddenly turns absolutely insane. In the doomed airliner's cockpit, inside the passenger cabin, and on the ground, a complex array of characters have been propelled at jet speed into a sudden and frantic race for survival.

On the evening of December 4, 1978, Rocky Mountain Airways Flight 217 departed Steamboat Springs, Colorado bound for Denver with 22 souls on board. Less than an hour later, the flight was forced down on Buffalo Pass at an altitude of 10,500 feet when it encountered severe icing conditions and downdrafts created by the winds of a mountain wave. The tragic accident triggered one of the most intense search and rescue efforts in Rocky Mountain history.

A Jamaican drug dealer surrenders to authorities after coming ashore in the Florida Keys and tries to bargain for his safety with a fantastic tale of lost pirate treasure and its connection to the Shower Posse drug cartel, the CIA, and more. When a brazen daylight attempt on the dealer’s life leaves American citizens dead on the streets of Miami, President Jordan Fletcher asks Jake Sullivan, chief federal prosecutor in the Justice Department’s Miami office, and his investigator and best friend, Mike Lang, to join a special DEA task force and go to Jamaica to investigate.

Mitten in diesem Chaos steht der schmächtige Hicks – clever, kreativ, aber ständig unterschätzt. Als Sohn des mächtigen Häuptlings Haudrauf soll er eigentlich zum Drachentöter werden. Doch Hicks denkt anders. Statt zu töten, schließt er eine unerwartete Freundschaft mit einem der gefürchtetesten Drachen: einen Nachtschatten, den er Ohnezahn tauft. Was als Tabubruch beginnt, wird zu einer Revolution. Denn während das Dorf weiter Jagd auf Drachen macht, entdecken Hicks und Ohnezahn eine andere Wahrheit.

Hurricane Harvey lashed North Padre Island National Seashore exposing tons of silver coins lost since three Spanish Galleons sank in 1554. News about the coins, located in a Park Service archaeological protection area, goes viral on internet treasure hunting sites.

The international best-selling novel Skyfall is the story of a complex airline hijacking gone bad. Hidden aboard Flight 42 are terrorists who will force the aircraft to land in Communist China where a top-secret computer program will fall into Chinese hands. But the hijacking attempt is bungled and, with scores of passengers dead or wounded, the airliner's survivors desperately attempt to keep the airliner aloft.

Orbit is the story of the Star Streak Hypersonic airliner, which is the successor to the supersonic Concorde. During a routine flight, an unexplainable engine malfunction hurls Consolidated Flight 14 far too high and into a low-earth orbit. With only limited oxygen onboard, Captain Donald Collins is about to try a desperate and unproven maneuver to save the ship and its 100 passengers. On the ground, one of the designers of the aircraft has discovered evidence that the airliner might have been sabotaged.

In this sequel to Creative Writing Career: Becoming a Writer of Movies, Video Games, and Books, Stephan and Justin continue to bring you industry advice as well as interviews with screenwriters, video game writers, and authors of books and comics. These writers' credits include such amazing titles as: Big Fish; Batman; Game of Thrones; The Crow; Divergent; Brave; Yesterday's Gone; Sandman Slim; Jurassic World; and many more!

Jake Sullivan had everything - his dream job as the chief prosecuting attorney in the Miami Office of the Justice Department, a loving family, and good friends. Many would describe him as a bulldog of a man with a strong moral streak. No one would have predicted what was about to come. When Jake Sullivan takes on a high-profile case, he naturally anticipates both a moral and a professional victory.

After China launches its attack on Taiwan, America will respond. But how far will the US go to keep Taiwan out of Beijing’s control? Russia wants to make money selling equipment, weapons, and fuel to the Chinese war machine. But, if China wins in Taiwan, will it stop there? Or will it begin to eye the over 4,000 kilometer long border it shares with Russia? If nuclear war does break out between the US and China, will Russia be able to stay on the sidelines? This time, even Russia’s most capable agents might not be able to save their country from disaster.