Showing results by narrator "Scott Merriman" in All Categories

When a massive asteroid hurtles toward Earth, humanity braces for annihilation—but the end doesn’t come. In fact, it isn’t an asteroid but a three-mile-tall alien that drops down, seemingly dead, outside Little Springs, Nebraska. Dubbed “the giant,” its arrival transforms the red-state farm town into a top-secret government research site and major metropolitan area, flooded with soldiers, scientists, bureaucrats, spies, criminals, conspiracy theorists—and a murderer.

We depend on - we believe in - algorithms to help us get a ride, choose which book to buy, execute a mathematical proof. It's as if we think of code as a magic spell, an incantation to reveal what we need to know and even what we want. Humans have always believed that certain invocations - the marriage vow, the shaman's curse - do not merely describe the world but make it.

Kragan, wielder of malignant magic, is nearing his ultimate goal. Lorness Carol Rafel is pursuing her millennia-old destiny as well. It has been prophesized that the noble sorceress will destroy Kragan before he lays waste to the kingdom of Endar and reigns as an unholy god. In Kragan’s favor is the mighty Dread Lord, bound to Kragan’s will, and an army of the resurrected dead that far outnumbers the Forsworn followers at Carol’s side. The final battle on the besieged fortress is upon them. And Arn’s visions of its outcome are terrifying.

The Late Bloomer is harrowing, grim, and poignant in the way of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. Told in Kevin March’s singular and unforgettable voice, delivering a gripping narrative with an unsparing climax as moving as it is terrifying, The Late Bloomer defies expectations of the genre and will haunt those who listen to it.

The Bronx, 1958. The Policewoman's Bureau doesn’t officially exist, and yet it handles those cases only a woman's touch could solve. Marie Cirile, a young officer with the 44th Precinct, has joined the few women stepping away from the select matronly duties available to female officers to take up serious cases. With courage and a stiff upper lip when undercover, Marie is dispatched in often grim and scary circumstances, using her air of innocence and others' prejudice against her to take down degenerates and sex offenders.

Seventeen-year-old Matthew Munson is ranked 13th in the state in Bash Bash Revolution, an outdated video game from 2002 that, in 2017, is still getting tournament play. He’s a high school dropout who still lives at home with his mom, doing little but gaming and moping. That is, until Matthew’s dad turns up again. Jeffrey Munson is a computer geek who’d left home eight years earlier to work on a top-secret military project. Jeff has been a sporadic presence in Matthew’s life, and much to his son’s displeasure insists on bonding over video games.

Keir Sarafian insists he did nothing wrong. But no one will believe that he's the good guy he knows he is - no one except his father, Ray. And Ray is just the person Keir has to leave in order to have the fresh start he deserves. Now at Carnegie College, Keir's life isn't what he thought it would be. Two soccer players are poised to take his spot as kicker. Ray keeps calling, and Joyce, his guiding light on campus, seems to be avoiding him. When tragedy strikes, will Keir finally be able to confront his past actions and realize his potential?

Jack Parker didn’t set out to be a stay-at-home dad, but his professional dreams went up in smoke after he accidentally burned down his office building. Six years later, Jack’s got parenting his two kids down cold. Then comes an unwelcome blast from Jack’s past: high school nemesis Chad Henson. He beat out Jack for class president, stole his girlfriend, and never had so much as a pimple in his four years of adolescent bliss. Now Chad has moved to the same midwestern town Jack calls home.

November 13, 2015. It was a Paris night that began like so many others - until a series of terrorist attacks brought darkness to the City of Light. Stirred by the tragic events at the Bataclan music club, One Night in November locks into the hearts and minds of all those whose paths crossed that fateful fall evening...

An American climber in the Himalayas stumbles on a shipment of backpack nuclear weapons headed into Tibet for use against China. Pursued by spy agencies and other killers across Asia, North Africa, Europe and the United States, he is captured then rescued by a beautiful young woman with whom he forms a deadly liaison. They escape, are captured and escape again, death always at their heels. A terrifying international manhunt and stunning love story, Tibetan Cross is a European best seller.

Jimmy Veeder has finally settled down, completing his dramatic transformation from hell-raiser to family man. With his new wife, Angie, and eight-year-old son, Juan, he lives the quiet life. No trouble, no problems. Or so he thought. But this is Jimmy Veeder's Fiasco, after all.

On a hot summer night in a midwestern town, a high school teenage prank goes horrifically awry. Alcohol, guns, and a dare. Within minutes, as events collide, innocents becomes victims - with tragic outcomes altering lives forever, a grisly and unfortunate scenario all too familiar from current real-life headlines. But victims can also become survivors, and as we come to know each character through his/her own distinctive voice and their interactions with one another, we see how, despite pain and guilt, they can reach out to one another, find a new equilibrium, and survive.

In The Synthetic Age, Christopher Preston argues that what is most startling about this coming epoch is not only how much impact humans have had but, more important, how much deliberate shaping they will start to do. Emerging technologies promise to give us the power to take over some of Nature's most basic operations. It is not just that we are exiting the Holocene and entering the Anthropocene; it is that we are leaving behind the time in which planetary change is just the unintended consequence of unbridled industrialism.

Why I Run: 35 Progressive Candidates Who Are Changing Politics is a collection of original essays from women, people of color, LGBTQ people, and progressive allies who have recently run for office. Contributors like Stacey Abrams, Deb Haaland, Jason Kander, Andrea Jenkins, and Michelle Lujan Grisham share what inspired them to run, what it takes to win, and what lessons can be learned in the face of a loss.

Meet nine courageous young adults who have lived in the United States with a secret for much of their lives: they are not U.S. citizens. They came from Colombia, Mexico, Ghana, Independent Samoa, and Korea. They came seeking education, fleeing violence, and escaping poverty. All have heartbreaking and hopeful stories about leaving their homelands and starting a new life in America. And all are weary of living in the shadows.

Cora should remember every detail about the night her stepsister, Hannah, fell down a flight of stairs to her death, especially since her Cerepin - a sophisticated brain-computer interface - may have recorded each horrifying moment. But when she awakens after that night, her memories gone, Cora is left with only questions - and dread of what the answers might mean.

Welcome to Cyrene, a city where energy is currency and music is the lifeblood of its young citizens. Everyone lives on the grid, and the residents of the world's largest playground are encouraged to pursue every physical and emotional pleasure imaginable. Vee is the lead singer of the Sugar Skulls, an all-girl band that is Corporate's newest pet project. Micah haunts the city like a ghost after an overdose of a deadly illegal street drug knocks him off the grid.

"We're sorry but your recommendation wasn't approved." We've all heard those words; it's a sentence that swallows your hopes and crushes your confidence. Getting ideas or projects approved and securing the resources needed to implement them is one of the greatest challenges business leaders face. With multiple stakeholders, constrained budgets, and competing agendas, it's difficult to cut through the clutter and garner the required support.

The role of project manager requires maintaining a balance between the demands of the customer, the project, the team, and the organization. This provides a real challenge in the fields of time management and prioritization. Successful Project Management covers the more technical aspects of a project from start to completion, and contains tested and tried techniques on managing stake holders, effective risk management, project planning, launch, and execution. This fifth edition contains new features including summary points at the end of each chapter and a glossary of key terms.

Marta doesn’t mean to kill her husband. In fact, she hardly believes that he’s dead. After a dramatic accident leaves him drowned at the bottom of Lake Michigan, she embarks on a grief-fueled descent into the occult, and soon pulls in everyone around her, from her mother-in-law to the private detectives parked outside her home, as she tries to undo her one deadly mistake.