Showing results by narrator "William Dufris" in All Categories

The American literary tradition has, in a far shorter span of time than others throughout history, achieved a glowing and glittering reputation. From its transatlantic roots it has absorbed the sons and daughters of other cultures, other lands and made them part of her own. Within this melting pot of styles, genres and wordplay one fact stands out: In the American short story, literary tradition has a strong, vibrant and almost inclusive history, if you know where to look.

In 1893, the Amlingmeyer boys venture forth from the west in response to a summons from Otto's ("Big Red") publisher - they are to come to Chicago immediately, to the World's Columbian Exposition, and compete with some of the most famous detectives in the world. Set to coincide with the closing days of the first World's Fair and the publication of the story revealing the death of Sherlock Holmes, Gustav ("Old Red") will be competing for the title of World's Greatest Sleuth!

Mystery sensation Pelecanos pens the lead story and edits this groundbreaking collection of stories detailing the seedy underside of the nation's capital. This is not an anthology of ill-conceived and inauthentic political thrillers. Instead, in D.C. Noir, pimps, whores, gangsters, and con-men run rampant in zones of this city that most never hear about.

What do the Merlin Game, the Penny Skim, the Doolally Snadoodle, and the Afterparty Snuke have in common? They're all the work of world-class con artist and master bafflegabber Radar Hoverlander. Radar’s been "on the snuke" since childhood, but he's still looking for his California Roll, the one big scam that'll set him up in sushi for life. Trouble arrives in the stunning, sassy package of Allie Quinn---either the last true innocent or a con artist so slick she makes Radar look like a Quaker.

It's 24 on Mars: a non-stop futuristic thrill-ride, all in one day, through the critical events which were the breaking point for the underclass of Martian citizens and precipitated a revolution to break the Martian colonists free from the formidable Sol System government. The formerly red planet would never be the same would the human race.

It is the 21st century. Convicts are sentenced to asteroids that move in ever-widening solar orbits, timed to return when their terms run out. But a few ambitious administrators discover that small "errors" in velocity can rid them of selected groups altogether: the hardcore violent, the mentally defective, and especially the political dissidents.

Swashbuckling American explorer and ladies' man Ethan Gage has seen his fair share of danger, having braved the sands of Egypt, the perils of the Atlantic Ocean, and the harsh wilderness of early America. Once more, he finds himself in a desperate race, this time with the Barbary Pirates, a powerful band of Muslim outlaws from North Africa.

Sixth US president John Quincy Adams, a man who knew a lot about effective leadership, maintained that the most successful people were those whose actions inspired others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more. These people were the ones who left the sidelines, entered the fray, and threw themselves into life. They were the ones who forged a nation and achieved the impossible. They were the ones who truly connected to life, to others, and to themselves. Today, the world needs human connection more than ever. It needs people who strive for deeper relationships, not just surface recognition, who come at life with the enthusiasm, energy, and excitement that bind people together. These people have a powerful impact on all around them.

Hotdog and his friends are going on a mad adventure to help a baby bird find his missing mom! They'll climb to crazy heights to find her! But can they handle dirty diapers and karate-chopping roosters along the way?

Ilustrado opens with Crispin Salvador, lion of Philippine letters, dead in the Hudson River. His young acolyte, Miguel, sets out to investigate the author's suspicious death and the strange disappearance of an unfinished manuscript---a work that had been planned not just to return the once-great author to fame but to expose the corruption behind the rich families who have ruled the Philippines for generations.

Art dealer Stan Lauryssens made millions in modern art, but he sold only one name: Salvador Dalí. The surrealist painter's work was a hot commodity for the newly rich, investors, and businessmen looking to launder their black-market cash. Lauryssens didn't mind looking the other way; he just hoped the buyers would look the other way as well.

The best-selling author of The End of Oil turns his attention to food and finds that the system we've entrusted with meeting one of our most basic needs is dramatically failing us. With his trademark comprehensive global approach, Paul Roberts investigates the startling truth about the modern food system.

The riveting edge of your seat sequel to One Day On Mars once again takes us on a blindingly fast pace through events from a futuristic Washington D.C. to the Tau Ceti star system. Just days before the presidential election a CIA operative uncovers a plot to overthrow America that reaches deep into the government. To top it off, the forces planning to revolt have somehow developed a technology that allows them to transport across the gulf between the star systems almost instantaneously.

From the introduction by Les Standiford: "The truth is that Miami, though naturally lovely, is a frontier town, perched on the border between the known and the rarely before experienced. The poet Richard Hugo once said that the natural place for the writer was on the edge, and 'edge' might well be the definitive word when it comes to this city... We are not only on the edge of the continent, we are to this country what New York was in Ellis Island's heyday, what the West Coast was in the middle of the 20th century.

It is nine months after the end of the previous book. Many noble allies have come to the Ninefold Forest for a Feast in honor of General Rudolfo's first-born child. Jin Li Tam, his wife and mother of his heir, lies in childbed. As the feast begins, the doors of the hall fly open and invisible assassins begin attacking. All of Rudolfo's noble guests are slain, including Hanric, the Marsh Queen's Shadow. And on the Keeper's Gate, which guards the Named Lands from the Churning Waste, a strange figure appears, with a message for Petronus, the Hidden Pope.

Fleeing the respectable society that wants to "sivilize" him, Huck Finn shoves off with Jim on a rhapsodic raft journey down the Mississippi River. The two bind themselves to one another, becoming intimate friends and agreeing "there warn't no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft don't. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft".

A century and a half after the Martian Separatist Wars, Alexander Moore returns to the stars with the Sienna Madira, a US Navy supercarrier spacecraft outfitted with advanced FTL and endlessly strange, extremely effective quantum-based weapons and remote sensing technology. And, of course, he's brought marines, and lots of them. These are troops superbly trained for space battle and equipped with advanced powered armor and artificial intelligence backup.

If there's one thing Warlock Marcus Shifter hates, it's the Delwinn Council, the governing body of the magical community. Between the grudges many on the council harbor because he walked away from magic and his suspicions that someone is working to undermine a 20-year peace with the nonmagical Normals, they really don't get along. Marcus has spent months hunting the traitor, infiltrating the Council and helping with "menial tasks" like repairing unstable rifts in the fabric of reality.

The War of Spanish Succession is over, many sailors are out of work, and the thriving American colonies are quickly becoming the place of opportunity. For Sam Bellamy it is the opportunity to become the captain of his own ship.

From a distinguished chronicler of American social history and political culture, An Unfinished Season captures the postwar moment of the 1950s when the modern world lay just over the horizon. In a time of rabid anticommunism, worker unrest, and government corruption, even the small-town family could not escape the nationwide suspicion and dread of "the enemy within".