Showing results by narrator "Thomas James" in All Categories

“We are born adventurers,” Bolitho writes, “and the love of adventures never leaves us till we are very old; old, timid men, in whose interest it is that adventure should quite die out. This is why all the poets are on one side, and all the laws on the other; for laws are made by, and usually for, old men." Though his essays are nearly 100 years old, they encompass the timeless values of perseverance, bravery, and strength of spirit that have proven to resonate with the pioneers and thought leaders of today.

It’s Drop Night, the one night every decade when the gods hand out cards to a lucky few. If you get a deck, you’re a deckbearer capable of wondrous feats within the Great Game system. You can control powerful monsters and summon mantles that let you fight alongside your beasts. Ethan Wolfe, top enforcer for the Grimm family mob, has already been overlooked on two previous Drop Nights. People of his ilk seldom receive cards, as the gods tend to favor people who follow their divine mandates, but that doesn’t mean Wolfe can’t hope.

"Your child can achieve great things". A few years ago, pregnant women in four corners of the world heard those words and hoped they could be true. Among them were Esther Okwir in rural Uganda, where the infant mortality rate is among the highest in the world; Jessica Saldana, a high school student in a violence-scarred Chicago neighborhood; Shyamkali, the mother of four girls in a low-caste village in India; and Maria Estella, in Guatemala's western highlands, where most people are riddled with parasites and moms can rarely afford the fresh vegetables they farm.

The Accidental Minecraft Family now has a mission! They know they must eventually explore the wider world and figure out just what the mysterious book they found was all about. Preparing for a long journey takes a lot of work, though. Kate finally gets to start a farm! Will they be able to make enough armor, food, and more importantly, protect it all from being eaten by Bruce the cat?

They came from the sea: a former ship captain named Owen Bird who inherited a Texas ranch from his brother.... A former pirate named “Black Terrance” Malone, who has arrived in the once peaceful Rattlesnake Valley with a crew of sea dogs to do his dirty work. And dirty work it would be, as Black Terrance begins a campaign of thieving and threatening, even targeting Bird’s beautiful young niece. Into this storm rides the Loner — Conrad Morgan, son of the legendary gunfighter Frank Morgan.

The End is Coming. An extinction-level asteroid is cannonballing toward Earth. In humanity’s final hours, a lucky few earn a one-way ticket to the brand-new, ultra-immersive, fantasy-based VRMMORPG, Viridian Gate Online. Making that leap of faith might mean survival, but it comes with a steep price tag: “Travelers” will forever be stranded as digital avatars inside a fantastical world filled with vicious monsters, all-powerful AIs, and cutthroat players. Let the games begin....

As reward for stopping a serial killer and restoring the Kingdom of Vlachia to its rightful ruler, Dragozin Hector and his queen dragon, Karalti, have earned a noble title, a castle, and land of their own. There’s only one problem – it’s occupied. By a freaking elder vampire. Not only has the vampire unleashed the blight of undeath across the land, but Hector's nemesis is on the warpath. His mission? To steal Karalti, kill a god, and use their combined power to become the Insane God-Emperor of Archemi.

While working on a dig in the California wilderness, archaeologist-adventurer Annja Creed uncovers evidence of a tragedy that's linked to Chinese miners during the days of the Gold Rush. A sudden attack on the site by shadow figures drives Annja to find the connection to a mysterious buried city in China. Lured by legends of gold, betrayal, and the vengeance of a Han Dynasty overlord, Annja travels on the Orient Express, battling avaricious treasure hunters and a modern-day descendant of an ancient league of assassins.

As a particle physicist, William Jenkins is as unsuited to survival on an alien world as any normal 30-something post-doc could be. Thankfully, he’s not alone. With an AI, magic, scientific curiosity, and, most improbably, a deity on his side, Will must come to terms with his new reality before otherworldly terrors forever extinguish the light of hope on this new world.

It was a virgin land of vast horizons...a land of dreams and dust and blood, where men sought glory and hope died hard. But for Jamie Ian MacCallister, who'd grown to manhood among Indians and fought at the Alamo, war and wilderness were home...and survival was a way of life. From the battlegrounds of Texas to the Colorado Rockies and the goldfields of California, Jamie MacCallister was one of a handful of daring pioneers blazing trails in the American West.

Trump, Jr. writes about the importance of fighting back and standing up for what you believe in. From his childhood summers in Communist Czechoslovakia that began his political thought process, to working on construction sites with his father, to the major achievements of President Trump's administration, Donald Trump, Jr., spares no details and delivers a book that focuses on success and perseverance, and proves offense is the best defense.

He’d done the old man proud. By leaping into the path of danger, Matt Jensen foiled a train robbery in Colorado and the governor himself presented him with a public reward. But what started on the rails has stayed on the rails - and taken on a life of its own. Now, a frustrated outlaw and his murderous posse have struck again - this time kidnapping the governor’s niece. With the power of the law behind him, Matt Jensen, the last mountain man, is riding toward a town called Braggadocio. That’s where Matt will learn how to put a bad man down - and to make sure he stays that way....

Since leaving the orphanage, Esil has spent the past year toiling in the data mines of Pangea while watching the wealthy elite traverse its myriad of game worlds. His luck changes forever when he discovers a legendary Developer's Chest. The Premium Worldpass inside grants him unlimited access to all of Pangea. Now, Esil isn't just stuck watching as others explore Pangea. He can finally level up. With his newfound fortune, he enters a tournament to compete against some of the most skilled adventurers Pangea has to offer.

Run. Hide. Live the good life online. Early retirement looked so easy on paper. Steal eight million euros from a gangster. Hide inside an online game and enjoy the finer things in life as a bard until the danger had passed. Except Daniel messed up. Now, the gangsters are in the game looking for him and he's stuck with an imbalanced character build in a dead-end starter village. Can Daniel find his own place and a life worth living inside the World of Chains?

A showdown of titanic proportions is developing in Archemi. Kingdoms are falling like dominoes to the self-styled Emperor of Nothing and his swelling armies. Hector Park and his Queen dragon Karalti stand in their way. Linked by an unbreakable bond, they are the Paragons, heroes who are destined to overcome the dark forces mustering on the horizon, or die trying.

Deathlands is a desolate and mute testimony to the aftermath of the nuclear blasts that laid waste to the Earth. Wayfarers in their blighted world, Ryan Cawdor and his band of warrior survivalists search for a better future in the devastated ruins of a once-proud land. The radiation-poisoned hellhole is their home and they are determined to defend it from the predatory foreigners emerging from a gateway.

Tira's dinosaurs now have foes that can match their might. The Amedian's betrayal has rocked the world, and the revelation of their ultimate weapon nearly spelled Tira's doom. As the last surviving dungeon in the kingdom, Tira now finds herself overrun by adventurers and soldiers looking to increase their strength for the coming war. She barely has time to deal with that, however.

In Modern Manners, cultural guru P. J. O'Rourke provides the essential accessory for the truly contemporary man or woman - a rulebook for living in a world without rules. Traditionally, good manners were a means of becoming as bland and invisible as everyone else, and thus of avoiding calling attention to one's own awkwardness and stupidity.

A long way from Montana Territory, Falcon MacCallister is back east, visiting his family, with Buffalo Bill Cody by his side. When the government asks both men to take a break from being famous to get back to fighting, Falcon and Buffalo Bill head west - into a hornet's nest of trouble. A renegade Indian has followed his vision of bloodshed on a once peaceable territory. A land baron uses the slaughter as an excuse to clear out a valley. And the U.S. Army, trying to keep the peace, is backstabbed by a traitor.

No gun. No horse. No water or food. And worse yet: No idea how he ended up in the middle of a desert with a bullet in his leg and a bump on his head. That’s the sorry situation Matt Jensen wakes up to — dazed and confused — until he slowly pieces together what happened. The last thing he remembers: He agreed to help out a friend of Duff MacCallister’s. A pretty lady and her husband at a horse ranch. He also recalls their cross-country trip through hell to deliver the horses safely to market. That’s when the outlaws showed up. That’s when the shooting began.