Showing results by narrator "Michael Levine" in All Categories

Based on a true story: A magnificent portrayal of chaos, darkness, and adventure in Asia's Golden Triangle as the war wages in Vietnam. Adrift at the end of the Vietnam War, Paul Roberts and his girlfriend, Fay, are arrested at the Burmese-Thai border for smuggling a couple of ounces of hashish. Stranded in a small Thai prison, they become part of a grisly contest played out by opium warlords, corrupt border patrol police, and two AWOL GIs. The war echoes through their intrigues and jailbreak attempts, especially when a regiment of North Vietnamese joins the skirmish.

In Seattle, an aging mutual-funds salesman falls prey to the lure of a young boy's flesh; in New York, a 10-year-old plunges an ice pick into the heart of a street hustler to prove his love for a girl he met on the Internet; in Chicago, a young girl waits in the rain outside a seedy downtown bar for a man she's never met to stagger home; in Vancouver, a teenager waits patiently on a deserted rooftop for a signal that one of North America's most notorious murderers is about to walk free.

Edith lands on an alien planet after a hellish three-month voyage in a dark, frigid, and auto-piloted prison capsule. She is met with the overwhelming brightness of a planet revolving around two suns and receives a slap by way of introduction from the impatient guard escorting her. However, the guard is the least of her problems.

The well-meaning and meddlesome Mr. and Mrs. Aden want nothing more than to protect their only daughter, Hannah. After her childhood kidnapping in Somalia and a final showdown in Italy against the monster responsible, 19-year-old Hannah just wants back the life stolen from her.

How does a maximum-security inmate commit a murder on the outside? The answer is more terrifying than you think. Mark my words.... Derek Warren is smooth, charming, and a master manipulator. But is he a killer?

The future is a dangerous place. Keeping the world stable and peaceful when competing corporate interests and nation-states battle for power, wealth, and prestige has only gotten harder over the years. But that's the United Nations' job. So the UN has changed along with the rest of the world. When the UN's "soft" diplomacy fails, it has harder options. Quiet, scalpel-like options: The Dead - biologically enhanced secret operatives created by the UN to solve the problems no one else can.

The alien menace that nearly wiped out all life in allied space has returned, and only disgraced Captain Marek Albion knows it. He and the crew of the Excalibur, an older generation alien craft found abandoned in an asteroid field, stumble across a plot by the bugs to seek vengeance for their earlier defeat. With no help from the military, Albion must track down the invaders and stop them before their destructive plan hatches and plunges all of humanity into a war it cannot win.

J. is a young Cuban man who, thanks to his knowledge of Russian and Spanish, has become the tutor of the young son of a wealthy Russian couple living in Marbella, in the part of southern Spain that the Russian mafia has turned into its winter quarters. As J. attempts to give the boy a general grade-school education by exclusively reading him Proust, he also becomes the personal secretary of the boy's father, Vasily, an ex-scientist whom J. suspects is on the run from gangsters.

Considered by many to be the first Beat novel, this underground classic follows a clique of young bohemians from dive bar to dance hall in 1940s New York. Recently fired from his job and not yet ready to find a new one, aspiring author Blake Williams begins his evenings at the Sporting Club Bar in Greenwich Village, where he knows he will find Henry Porter.

Belle Graham hears it first from the gossip columnist for the Evening Crier, where Belle is resident crossword editor. Fire has destroyed one of the stables at King Wenstarin Farms - the multimillion-dollar corporation owned by the notorious Collins clan - and the barn manager lies in a coma. Did someone torch the place? That's what Belle's PI husband Rosco Polycrates has been hired to find out.

Lessons at the Halfway Point is a deeply thought-provoking look at one man’s courageous journey to understand life from the perspective of having just turned 40. It is both a wry reflection on the past as well as an optimistic look to a challenging future. Nothing escapes Michael Levine’s critical eye, insightful mind, and often humorous spin on our world and ourselves.

Did Marco Polo bring pasta back from China, or is that a myth? How did the Neapolitan "macharoni" turn into the ubiquitous spaghetti? Is it even an Italian dish? Hundreds of shapes and thousands of recipes give expression to the culture and products of the country's regions. But spaghetti with tomato sauce remains Italy's identity dish par excellence. Massimo Montanari goes in search of the dish's true origins, tracing its history along the multiple, intricate routes taken by its raw ingredients to merge and become a distinctive element of culinary tradition.

For Paul Tomenko, relocating trillions upon trillions of life forms on Earth to the Paraverse wasn’t all that difficult. So easy, in fact, that he does it in his sleep. After slipping into a coma, Paul uses his latent divine knowledge to create the Paraverse while imagining 50 more years of continued life on Earth. Then he dumps—no pun intended—an incalculable number of souls residing in his lower intestinal tract into the new domain with the simplicity of a bowel movement. But preserving the promise of eternal existence comes with a cost.

Caleb Horowitz is 27, and his wildest dreams are about to come true. His manuscript has caught the attention of the literary agent, who offers him fame, fortune and a taste of the literary life. He can't wait for his book to be shopped around to every editor in New York, except one: Avi Dietsch, a college rival and the novel's 'inspiration'. When Avi gets his hands on the manuscript, he sees nothing but theft—and opportunity. And so Caleb is forced to make a Faustian bargain.

No one trusts a doppelganger, and for good reason. Behind every stolen identity lies murder. For Theodor Crane, his latest crime comes with a new family, a new job, a new set of troubles, yet there’s no escaping his past lives. On the precipice of war between humans and supernaturals, Theo is thrust in the middle, charged with maintaining the balance while keeping his true identity a secret. Conspiracies and old hatreds lurk just below the surface, creeping to a head as the veil between the two worlds slowly crumbles. Failure means reigniting an age old conflict.

Two torturous months came and went. Detective Bennett refuses to give up on finding his daughter. Even as the authorities of New England and beyond, trailing the blood in the girl's wake, devised a ruthless manhunt to bring her back. Well aware of the young woman's fragile state, Bennett is determined to locate her first. He's terrified to learn that he and the officers aren't the only ones looking...

With Christmas approaching, Belle Graham and her husband, Rosco Polycrates, are getting into the holiday spirit. While Belle does her part creating a Noel crossword contest, Rosco dons red suit and snowy beard to collect toys for the town's annual children's drive. But his good will starts to dim when he and two Newcastle Police Department colleagues are mistaken for escaped convicts masquerading as small-town Santas.

The Holiday Decoration Competition is in full swing at Newcastle's historic Paul Revere Inn. As the rivalry heats up, crossword editor Belle Graham unearths an abandoned treasure: a book of dessert recipes written in the form of crosswords handed down from mother to daughter.

At age 40, people are basically at the halfway point in their lives. Levine adds a touch of humor to this reflection on the halfway marker.

The country's leading publicist, Michael Levine, has compiled practical and inspiring career advice - in the form of anecdotes and words of wisdom - from several of the world's most successful people, including Bill Gates, Bill Clinton, Nelson Mandela, Joe Paterno, and others. Those who take it from them can follow their dreams, excel at their work, overcome setbacks, reach the top.