Showing results by narrator "Godfrey" in All Categories

Every facet of American life is being overtaken by big platform monopolists like Facebook, Google, and Bayer (which has merged with the former agricultural giant Monsanto), resulting in a greater concentration of wealth and power than we've seen since the Gilded Age. They are evolving into political entities that often have more influence than the actual government, bending state and federal legislatures to their will and even creating arbitration courts that circumvent the US justice system.

Joe Pappalardo's Inferno tells the true story of the men who flew the deadliest missions of World War II, and an unlikely hero who received the Medal of Honor in the midst of the bloodiest military campaign in aviation history.

As the newest member of the Paragon Society, Orson is eyeballs-deep in a crash course on battle magic. He spends his days training with Lucy, who attempts to slice, dice, and set him on fire. Seriously. So, when the society directs them to check out a possible rogue magic user in Northern California, Orson is more than happy for the break.

Blackwater is the saga of a small town, Perdido, Alabama, and Elinor Dammert, the stranger who arrives there under mysterious circumstances on Easter Sunday, 1919. On the surface, Elinor is gracious, charming, anxious to belong in Perdido, and eager to marry Oscar Caskey, the eldest son of Perdido’s first family. But her beautiful exterior hides a shocking secret. Beneath the waters of the Perdido River, she turns into something terrifying, a creature whispered about in stories that have chilled the residents of Perdido for generations.

Even as climate change dominates the headlines, many of us still think about it in the future tense—we imagine that as global warming worsens over the coming decades, millions of people will scatter around the world, fleeing famine and rising seas. What we often don’t realize is that the consequences of climate change are already visible, right here in the United States. In communities across the country, climate disasters are pushing thousands of people away from their homes.

Kyle Murchison Booth, archivist at the Parrington Museum, has heard of Thirdhop Scarp. Everyone has. The house has been notorious ever since the night that homeowner J. A. Cathcart murdered his entire family, and was found cupping the heart of his eldest daughter in his hands as tenderly as he would a wounded bird.

In his first memoir, Ander Monson guides listeners through a scene-by-scene exploration of the 1987 film Predator, which he has watched 146 times. Some fighters might not have time to bleed, but Monson has the patience to consider their adventure, one frame at a time. He turns his obsession into a lens through which he poignantly examines his own life, formed by mainstream white male American culture.

In this essential book written by a rural native and Silicon Valley veteran, Microsoft’s Chief technology officer tackles one of the most critical issues facing society today: the future of artificial intelligence, and how it can be realistically used to promote growth, even in a shifting employment landscape.

I am not a freak, although many people call me that. The night my father was murdered and I was left for dead, I awoke with the ability to "sense" things. Touching things can give me visions, sometimes horrifying, murderous ones. The bones of a murdered woman are unearthed and our safe small town is shaken to its core. Her killer was good at hiding the truth and after decades in the ground, any clues are gone—her murder a complete mystery. The only clues are the ones I can see.

The Road runs from the unimaginable past to the far future, and those who travel it have access to the turnoffs leading to all times and places - even to the alternate time-streams of histories that never happened. Why the Dragons of Bel'kwinith made the Road - or who they are - no one knows. But the Road has always been there, and for those who know how to find it, it always will be!

What happens when you accidentally bring one of the world's most powerful blood-mages back from the dead? Orson Reid and his friends are about to find out. But first they'll need to deal with the Paragon Society's ever-growing web of lies, an ancient shape-shifter blood sport, and a very unexpected display of magic ability - but not necessarily in that order. Whoever said being the good guys was easy, was dead wrong.

In June of 1975, Ryan Baxter's mom moves him and his brother, Matt, to the small seaside town of Bayport, MA, to escape their abusive father. For an 11-year-old, spending lazy days hanging out at the beach and the arcades sounds like a dream. When he meets Leah and she agrees to be his girlfriend, Ryan is happier than he's been in his young life. Then the "Sea Monkeys" knock-off he bought from the back of a comic book starts to grow, and grow, and grow...As Ryan and Matt struggle with their new lives, they begin to receive mysterious phone calls, with the real monster drawing nearer.

Starting at a new school is scary, especially with a giant hearing aid strapped to your chest! At her old school, everyone in Cece’s class was deaf. Here, she’s different. She’s sure the kids are staring at the Phonic Ear, the powerful aid that will help her hear her teacher. Too bad it also seems certain to repel potential friends.

Zul'var's altar is no more. In one fell swoop, it was destroyed, Leg Ondo lost his shot at becoming a full-fledged wizard, and Liara Slick disappeared without a trace. The emperor is doing everything he can to impede the upstart clan's growth. A mysterious wizard following Bashorg is filling Brown Bear lands with terrifying demons. And then there's the academy and final exams.

Olivia Campbell has the life most women want. A respected husband, beautiful home, and the freedom that only financial security can provide. But not all is as it appears.... Olivia has secrets, and after discovering a hidden journal in her husband's study, she realizes she's not the only one. As her picture-perfect world starts to fall apart around her, Olivia wonders just how deep the secrets run as she finds herself immersed in the investigation of a young missing girl.

This anthology, with an introduction by Robert Silverberg, offers a sweeping survey of robots as depicted throughout literature. Since the Iliad—in which we are shown golden statues built by Hephaestus “with minds and wisdoms”—humans have been fascinated by the idea of artificial life. From the Argonautica to the medieval Jewish legend of the Golem and Ambrose Bierce’s tale of a chess-playing robot, the idea of what robots are—and who creates them—can be drastically different.

Perdido, 1928. Torn apart by the continuing tensions between Mary-Love and her daughter-in-law Elinor, the Caskey family must also confront other crises. As the economy plummets and relationships sour, something sinister is prowling the darkest recesses of the Caskey household. Patient, implacable, waiting to catch its next victim in its deadly web…

What does it feel like to have the whole world know they owe you their salvation? Is it pride? A realization of your own greatness against the backdrop of anonymity? There are lots of possibilities, only none of them describe what actually happened. Instead of becoming the savior, Leg Ondo was made a mockery. The being governing the planet forbade his totems and chosen people to talk about the battle. And that left the world confused. What did the Brown Bear Clan do to deserve the goodies that came pouring down on it? Should they be knocked off the pedestal they recently climbed atop?

His initiation complete, Leg knew he had to prove himself worthy of the gift his totem had given him. The boy was facing a long and difficult journey to dangerous lands. Meanwhile, those with eyes set on ruling the Northern Empire were also making their move. But what was most important to Leg? His personal advancement or the integrity of the empire? Of course, it was possible the two priorities were inseparable, especially since a true wizard had been introduced to the world.

Hovern Bog. People live in terror of it - especially the residents of Fenchurch St. Jude, the little village located at its edge. They think of it as a living being. When 2,000-year-old bodies are recovered from the bog, perfectly preserved, it is the discovery of a lifetime for archaeologist David Macauley. But close examination of the corpses reveals a curious fact: all were cruelly, mysteriously murdered, gnawed to death by some unimaginable creature.