Showing results by narrator "Stephen Bel Davies" in All Categories

His name was Jim Racine, and years ago he had been a top heavyweight contender in the United States. But now he's over the hill and desperate, so he takes a fight in a corrupt South American country - and accidentally kills a young man in the ring. The public outrage forces an investigation, and the government refuses to return his passport. Racine is in limbo, but he figures if he can get to the U.S. Ambassador, his problems will be over.

A Path of Ashes is the first book in an exciting new series about life in post-apocalyptic America, a nation devoid of leadership, electricity, and human rights. The world as we know it may have burned, but humanity found a way to survive and this is their story.

Hard-living musician Flynn "Flint" Clinton has left heartache and his wild ways behind in Nashville, returning to his sleepy hometown of Northfork, North Carolina. There he hopes to start a new life as owner of the Stardust Caf, relaxing and raising his two preteen sons in peace and quiet. Then Flint meets the colorful, indomitable Joella Sanderson, a blond bombshell who serves a mean cup of caffeine at the Stardust - and whose amazing voice belongs at the top of the charts.

The game is a weeklong retreat. It’s located in a remote region of northern California. It’s designed to build teamwork, establish trust, and increase awareness. The players are three ambitious executives - one woman and two men, each prepared to put his physical, mental, and moral limits to the test. They never dreamed how far they could go. The rules are simple. First you run. Then you hide. Don’t appear weak, don’t admit to the fear, and don’t react to the pain. The prize is staying alive. Let the game begin.

Magical Crimes is a fun CSI with magic and "a little something else" story. The little something else being two foot long and lurking in the hero’s trousers. But don’t worry, the penis in this story is used purely for the purpose God intended - humour and crimefighting - not lustful titillation. Seb Kemp is a psychic profiler with a problem. After a night out drinking some men wake up with an unexpected tattoo. Seb woke up with a floor-length boinkwurst and no memory of how, when, or where it happened.

A scandalous thriller of the dark world of Silicon Valley billionaires, and the women who prey on them for their money. The man: Wolfgang Schmitt: former model, newly single, habitual wiseass. It's a profile only his ailing mother could love - but it makes him perfect for one thing.... The bait: Billionaire Nelson Scott wants Schmitt to seduce his wife - setting off a prenuptial clause that will keep her hands off his money. The job pays a million bucks just for trying.

Back in hometown Chicago, Neville attends the funeral of the man he's murdered and meets his widow, Claudia, and her 3-year-old son. Neville gradually insinuates himself into the widow's confidence and conceives a plan to seize the victim's life - his wife, his son, his work, his wealth, and even his persona and appearance.

Wolfgang Schmitt, ex-underwear model, self-proclaimed wisecrack, and cynical copywriter turned undercover agent, is biding his time, unsure how to spend the millions he scored after his recent undercover mission for the FBI. Complicating matters is the fact that he might be called in for a new mission; if it's off the books and calls for a touch of seduction, Wolf is the man for the job.

Early on a May morning in 1979, six-year-old Etan Patz set off for school on his own for the first time. He vanished, and for three decades his case both frustrated and exhausted police, the FBI, and a public heartbroken by the tragedy. Then, suddenly, the police in 2012 announced that a former bodega clerk from the Manhattan neighborhood where Etan lived had confessed to killing the boy. Detectives were convinced they had the boy’s murderer, and prosecutors soon indicted the man, Pedro Hernandez.

Scholars have often claimed that democracies, whatever their virtues, are functionally short-sighted. The evidence is clear: We have been unable to manage many long-term issues, including climate change, nuclear waste disposal, natural disaster preparedness, infrastructure maintenance, and budget deficits. To solve long-term problems, do we need political systems that are less democratic, or even authoritarian?

In Understanding the Metaverse: A Business and Ethical Guide, expert product and customer experience strategist Nick Rosa delivers a timely exploration of what is bound to be one of the most important technologies of our time. The author explains the technology that underpins the metaverse as it exists today and that will form the basis for its rapid evolution in the future.

Our world is a strange place. This haunting book peers into the dark spaces that lie somewhere between belief and imagination, and into the weird stories we tell to make sense of where and who we are.

Nestled in upstate New York, Stratburgh University has a problem. Three sorority sisters have disappeared, and the police say they simply ran away. The students are outraged. Even openly gay junior Jamie Bradford is concerned, only he has other worries. He doesn’t have a boyfriend and is willing to disregard the troublesome news on campus to find one. With hopes of finding a lover, Jamie attends the party of the year and becomes involved with two men at the same time. One is the man of his dreams; the other is a man of his nightmares and a police officer. And Jamie’s hell begins. The cop has another goal and will stop at nothing to achieve it. He’s even willing to track Jamie through the Catskill Mountains and New York City to get what he wants. Jamie’s life.

Billionaires in World Politics shows how the privatization of politics assumes a new dimension when billionaires wield power in world politics, which requires a rethinking of individual agency in international relations. Structural changes have generated new opportunities for individuals to become extremely rich and to engage in politics across borders. The political agency of billionaires is being conceptualized in terms of capacities, goals, and power, which is contingent upon the specific political field a billionaire is trying to enter.

Universal Love welcomes listeners to a near-future world where our everyday technologies have fundamentally altered the possibilities and limits of how we love one another. In these gripping stories, a young boy tries to understand what keeps his father tethered to the drowned city they call home. A daughter gets to know her dead mother's hologram better than she ever knew her living mother. And, at a time when unpleasant memories can be erased, a man undergoes electronic surgery to have his depression, and his past, forever removed.

Stories of Color marks Lawrence Biscontini's first book of fiction. Written during a 12-country, 12-month sabbatical in 2015, these various short stories offer something for (almost) everyone. The common thread of the human condition among all sentient beings weaves throughout the tales.

Captured and imprisoned by Colton, the wizard Premoran rails against his fate. Without Premoran, the essences of the ancient Lalas trees will be lost forever. While the Twins prepare to embark on their separate quests for the Gem of Eternity, another rises to aid the Lalas. Her name is Tamara, a Sister of Parth. Trained in the mystical mysteries, though unaware of the true extent of her power, she alone can traverse the Hollows.

Although Colton and his forces have been winning battles, scattered forces still resist. Only now is the most powerful threat emerging - the Darkening, a physical emptiness, a void, which encroaches upon the very heart of the land, jeopardizing life itself, chilling souls to the bone, bringing death and annihilation, stealing memories and thoughts.

In this second volume of the GemQuest series, the battle lines have been drawn. The Dark Lord reaches beyond his realms in search of the heir, and the disparate nations of the world begin to recognize the magnitude of his evil. They rise up united and renew their bonds. From the dazzling ice kingdom of Eleutheria to the magnificent tree-top city of Seramour, revived allies succor and protect the Twins during the preparation for their all-important quest for the Gem of Eternity.

In this gripping and wide-ranging essay, Nadelson deals with his grief after the premature death of a close friend, coupled with the joy accompanying the birth of his first child. Everything he now does - from caring for his daughter to wandering the streets of his run-down neighborhood in Oregon - starts to feel like a betrayal. Nadelson looks over his life, thinking about his run-in with a Soho cab driver, a college Halloween party spent with his dead friend, and his favorite Chekhov story, "Grief".