Showing results by narrator "Kevin T Collins" in All Categories

"As much as I love boxing, I hate it." So begins screenwriter, novelist, and journalist Budd Schulberg's collection of essays on the sweet science of bruising, a sport that fueled his literary ambitions and unsettled his conscience from a young age. He gives riveting accounts of classic bouts, such as Rocky Marciano - Archie Moore, Muhammad Ali - George Foreman, and Marvin Hagler - Thomas Hearns. Yet these essays also offer insight into the sport's sociological significance from a man who covered its highlights and corruption-marred lowlights for decades.

To many, the brain is the seat of personal identity and autonomy. But the way we talk about the brain is often rooted more in mystical conceptions of the soul than in scientific fact. This blinds us to the physical realities of mental function. We ignore bodily influences on our psychology, from chemicals in the blood to bacteria in the gut, and overlook the ways that the environment affects our behavior, via factors varying from subconscious sights and sounds to the weather.

Bud is back, and he's finally in the Keerah war! It is thought that back in the far past, the Dragon Host pillaged the galaxy. But something must have happened for them to lose everything they were. Now they have a champion. Someone who knew he had to bring back two genocide populations of dragon kin. A mage who leveled up in power by doing so. The Imperium learned a hard lesson, and is moving forward. And Bud isn't as angry now. The Keerah war goes on, and the dragons need training. But it seems there's one important thing needed to establish a true Dragon Host.

During the pandemic, our homes and apartments have transported us to new places, different experiences, and changed our understanding of ourselves and others. This collection of 12 tales explores those journeys through the lens of fantasy and science fiction, accentuating the strange and unexpected to reveal the relatable, human dimensions of our continuing migration from what’s normal to a new normal...or even paranormal.

The apocalypse just got worse. When remorse drives Cyrus to abandon his hidden compound he doesn't realize what new dangers lurk in the undead world. He knows he must wade through the vilest remains of humanity and hordes of zombies to settle scores and find the one person who might understand him. But this time, it won't be so easy. Zombies and unpleasant survivors aren't the only thing Cyrus has to worry about. Not anymore.

A science-fiction novel about love and experimental music, technology and rain forests, humanity and the United States. Rock sensation Ryder fakes his own suicide and journeys to the rain forest. But San Francisco is not what he expected.

The new Dragon Host goes operational with a mission for the Terrans. But as their numbers and skills rise, so do the questions. Why did the last Host end? Why are dragon kind so scattered? Are there any more to be found? And most importantly, where did the dragons come from originally? But what gets Bud started on all of these is an even deeper mystery. Why do the Keerah fear the dragons and no-one else? The Host must quest for its own past. But for Bud, it's become the Dragon Imperative.

With a mysterious key in hand and their only friends by their sides, the twins Malwynn and Umaryn race against the Amaranth Empire's invasion. Chased from the capital city of Varrland, branded as criminals for the murder of their traitorous aunt, they begin the trek to the forlorn wilderness of Duulan. They seek a village where their parents had nearly perished decades ago, where an abandoned mine, protected by an army of the dead, conceals the darkest secrets of Elmoryn.

Sam Capra's infant son has been kidnapped. The shadowy, powerful organization responsible for the abduction has thwarted Sam at every turn. But now Sam, an ex-CIA agent, has a potential lead: a picture of the woman who took his child from the clinic where he was born. Finding this mysterious woman could be his last chance to save his son....

On the surface, King Giles’ life seems quiet. A non-operational cover (NOC) agent for the government, he spends his days caring for his patients and his nights and weekends keeping tabs on operational terror cells. But when an ex-girlfriend shows up dead in his front yard with lace panties shoved in her mouth and his address in her hand, the FBI wants answers, and his secret life and next mission are compromised.

Just after noon on a spring day in 2006, aspiring singer-songwriter Hilary Williams and her sister Holly - the granddaughters of country legend Hank Williams and daughters of country music star Hank Williams, Jr. - were driving through Mississippi down a rural stretch of Route 61 on their way to their grandfather’s funeral. Suddenly, the front wheel of the truck became caught in one of the many deep ruts and gravel lining the road, causing the vehicle and its passengers to flip over several times, crushing steel and breaking fragile bones as it crashed.

Two years after the devastation of mass human extinctions in kill zones, mankind is still grasping for survival. An oppressive union of government and big business controls an exhausted America, which is divided between walled-in Protectorates and the unpoliced Outlands.

Is falling in love the beginning...or the end? In Ethan Wate’s hometown there lies the darkest of secrets. Ethan Wate is in love with a caster girl. When he looks at Lena, it’s like there’s no one else in the world. But Ethan is mortal, and on her 17th birthday Lena made a choice that changed everything. The girl Ethan loves has broken the world with the supernatural powers she is struggling to control.... Now, if they are to fix the chaos Lena has caused, one of them must make a terrible sacrifice. Sometimes there isn’t just one answer. Sometimes there’s no going back. And this time there won’t be a happy ending.

Harvey Anderson is a twenty-six-year-old street performer from New Jersey. He enjoys his peaceful life, but everything turns upside down when he is abducted and beaten by a group of nondescript thugs. Working for a sinister man known as "the spider," these goons have spent nine years searching for Harvey's girlfriend, Sally Starling. Now they think they know where she lives. And whom she loves.

Critical Mass is a treasure trove of sparkling, spiky prose and a fascinating portrait of our lives and cultural times over the past decades. In an age where a great deal of back scratching and softball pitching pass for criticism, James Wolcott’s fearless essays and reviews offer a bracing taste of the real critical thing.

All work and no play...would make Jason Montgomery a very happy man. Ever since his brother had married a woman who worked for their company, Jason has been walking around fending off the unwanted advances of all of the single women in his employ. Now, with a make-or-break business expansion in the works, Jason needs an assistant he can trust not to mix business with romance.

I knew from the moment I first saw him he was the one. The only boy I could ever want. The only boy I could ever love. They say he's bad for me. But I know he's not. Until the day he rejects me. And breaks my heart. Completely. Everything changes in the blink of an eye. My entire life as I've known it is...gone. Secrets are revealed. Promises once made are irrevocably broken. There's no way my family can get back to what we once were. So when Nicholas Fairfield walks back into my life like he never left it, I'm furious.

FBI agent and playboy Tristan Bleu is in deep. Undercover for the last 18 months, his assignment has been handed down personally from the Director of National Intelligence. Meeting with his contacts in the darkness of a global and elite, members-only sex club, Tristan spends his time not chasing women, but the origins of a dangerous Shadow Broker - a double agent selling US weapon security codes to Russian intelligence. When Champagne magnate Renè Lebleu reaches out to him, Tristan puts his duties on hold for two days, flying to his birthplace in France to meet a man he’s never seen - a father he’s never known....

Luka's carefree existence as the spoiled son of a minor noble ended the day his family was arrested and imprisoned in the Eyeless Tower. His father, a political rival to the praetor of Camdon, would never live to see freedom again. Luka should have joined his father on the scaffold but fate - or the schemes of men - intervened. Escape came. Now Luka has a chance to thwart his persecutors and avenge his family. Beginning life again in a distant province, he takes a new name - Rideon

Rafe Montfort was a decorated Green Beret, the best of the best, until a disastrous mission and an unforgivable betrayal destroyed his life. Now this deadly soldier has returned to the sultry Georgia swamps to reunite with his brothers and take back all he lost. But Juliet must never know the truth behind what he's done...or the dangerous secret that threatens to take him from her forever.