Showing results by narrator "Eric Martin" in All Categories

Two weeks before the U.S. entered World War I, a Chicago advertising executive visited the Department of Justice with a proposal - organize the country’s businessmen into a secret force of volunteer agents to ferret out and investigate enemy activities within the United States. The country, overcome by a wave of patriotic fervor, had also become gripped with fear and uncertainty of the influx of immigrants from the very countries with which the country was now at war.

So you want a brilliant cut for your rough diamond? In that case, you should get on with the cutting! That’s how I found myself looking for a suitable lapidarist. Since I was anything but your run-of-the-mill little rock, the master crafter also had to be special. The one fitting the bill happened to be truly excellent, but, alas, he did have his quirks, too. A recluse living on top of a tall, barren mountain, he did not take kindly to most uninvited intruders, sending them back rolling down the hill in the most unceremonious of manners. And he had plenty of secrets, too.

Having escaped the dungeon, Daniel and his new party members have just begun to relax before a new challenge awaits them. Tula, their ranger, takes on an expedition quest into the wild, dragging Daniel and his city-dwelling friends into a new environment. Together, they'll have to face unknown, new dangers and monstrous aerial creatures, and learn about the greater dangers on Brad.

For Hudson, the virtual world of PrimeVerse isn't all bad. It's beautiful; much nicer than overpopulated Earth. It almost feels like a vacation except for the volatile wildlife, lack of any amenities, and - oh yeah - the inability to log out. Exploring the world, learning his class, and leveling skills is all fun and games until a powerful rogue player with a vendetta shows up to wipe out Hudson and his primitive tribe. Thrust into a conflict he didn't create, Hudson is forced into a cycle of respawning where he learns that even death can be used as a tool. So much for that vacation.

Having returned from their time with the Army, Daniel and Asin must now complete the dungeon in Karlak. To do so though, they will need to get better gear, more skills, and higher levels. Taking a quest, the pair must leave Karlak to travel across the Kingdom of Brad and learn a few life lessons along the way.

Somalia was Tom Pecora's first deployment as a CIA Protective Operations Cadre (POC) officer, responsible for providing protective operations support in hostile areas of the world. He later headed up a series of the Agency's undisclosed protective operations teams. From 1989 until his retirement in 2013, he was assigned to multiple war zones across Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, doing the kind of work few are even aware exists.

The ongoing struggle between Israel and Palestine is one of the most bitter conflicts in history, with profound global consequences. In this book, Middle East expert Michael Scott-Baumann succinctly describes its origins and charts its evolution from civil war to the present day. Each chapter offers a lucid explanation of the politics and ends with personal testimony from Palestinians and Israelis whose lives have been impacted by the dispute.

Most of us have heard of such popular butterflies as the Monarch or Painted Lady. But what about the Fender's Blue? Or the St. Francis' Satyr? Because of their extreme rarity, these butterflies are not well-known, yet they are remarkable species with important lessons to teach us. The Last Butterflies spotlights the rarest of these creatures - some numbering no more than what can be held in one hand.

Not too long ago, Lukas Aguilar believed only what he could see and feel for himself. Then an earthquake destroyed his home and cast him into a dangerous dungeon world. He fought to survive, gaining experience and levels but losing the goddess Inanna who inhabited his mind. And he wants her back.

An unexpected roadmap—or better yet, a book—makes looking for treasure so much easier. Reading into it what the authors have never even thought about makes for a welcome bonus. These are all but lucky waystations on my journey to the doorsteps of this world's greatest mystery. There's a catch: everyone and his brother has already been there, and even the worst losers know the way. So, is this the end of the road? The demise of the Great Plan? Or have they all knocked on the door the wrong way?

Nothing has changed more in the last few decades than our concept and perception of reality. The effects have manifested in our news, entertainment, and Google searches; we're finding that a lot of things we thought were objective aren't automatically so. Reality is not a concept we want to flush down the toilet with yesterday's food, though. However, we must begin to understand how it works in a world where profit is the driving force.

After finding out that there might be other members of his family out in the world, Calron sets out to seek his long-lost blood clan and finally discover the truth about his mysterious ancestor and their overbearing bloodline. However, gears are turning in the background and former allies turn into enemies as members of the Order of Guardians rebel against the King and start to massacre the innocent civilians. The Tower Lords are helpless as a Divine Artifact makes its appearance.

Equal parts music criticism, cultural and comedy history, autobiography, and comic meditation on nostalgia, television, consumerism, childhood, technology, and food, The Weird Accordion to Al does justice to a musical legend and comic genius, the extent of whose remarkable achievements are only now being fully understood and appreciated.

They had all—the artificial intelligences of Sol and the sailors of the Third Expeditionary Fleet alike—believed the Starless Horrors were mindless monsters: little more than beasts driven by eldritch desires, lashing out from their unknown depths to kill and destroy. But that naïve perception was thoroughly crushed after an encounter with a terrifying entity who called itself the Executor.

They were once the most powerful mages in the land, but they were betrayed. Their crafted weapons and armor were stolen and they were exiled. Now, with war on the horizon, the king needs them again. But they won't be wielding magic for the king. Not this time. The Lost Mages are coming home, and this time, they're out for vengeance.

After three decades as a successful ear surgeon, William Wright, MD is bored beyond belief. He dabbles with retirement, but finds idleness infuriating. He has to do something. Then he sees an ad for a doctor’s position from the Colorado Department of Corrections at a supermax prison. Now that, he thinks, would be different. His wife has some thoughts on the matter too. She thinks her husband just lost his mind and is on a collision course with a prison shiv.

In recent years, scientists have hypothesized life-forms that can only be called "weird": organisms that live off acid rather than water, microbes that thrive at temperatures and pressure levels so extreme that their cellular structures should break down, perhaps even organisms that reproduce without DNA. Some of these strange life-forms, unrelated to all life we know, might be nearby: on rock surfaces in the American southwest, hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor, or even in our own bodies. Some, stranger still, might live in Martian permafrost, swim in the dark oceans of Jupiter's moons, or survive in the exotic ices on comets.

Daniel Chai has fallen into a routine of adventuring and dungeon-delving with his friends. They aren't making quick progress, but it's steady improvements and honest work. Unfortunately, Daniel's ability as a healer, and one who is truly gifted, has come home to roost with a vengeance. As his secret is exposed, Daniel's greatest fears come to play and adventuring guilds of all stripes attempt to recruit him and his friends, whether he wants it or not. Forced to navigate guild politics and noble interest, Daniel's simple life has once more grown complicated.

An empowering, forward-thinking solution for creating intentional and healthy social media habits from an expert on media, technology, and health.

Nick Antosca's The Girlfriend Game is a tumble through the looking glass into a vortex of violence and desire. The 12 stories in the newest collection by the Shirley Jackson Award-winning author are brutal, urgent and unforgettable. In "Predator Bait", a decoy in a sex-sting news show questions her job and the man who shares her bed. An undependable son watches his mother become a creature he hardly recognizes in "Amphibian". A young man plots the death of his girlfriend's killer in "Winter Was Hard".