Showing results by narrator "Jeff Woodman" in All Categories

In “The Pleasure of Her Company,” a lonely, single woman befriends the married couple next door, hoping to learn the secret of their happiness. In "Long Distance," a man finds himself relieved of the obligation to continue an affair that is no longer compelling to him, only to be waylaid by the guilt he feels at his easy escape. And in the incandescently wise and moving title novella, a dentist, aware that his wife has fallen in love with someone else, must comfort her when she is spurned....

Robert Prentice has spent all his life attempting to escape his mother's stifling presence. His mother, Alice, for her part, struggles with her own demons as she attempts to realize her dreams of prosperity and success as a sculptor. As Robert goes off to fight in Europe, hoping to become his own man, Richard Yates portrays a soldier in the depths of war striving to live up to his heroic ideals.

Here Gabaldon weaves together the strands of Lord John's secret and public lives - a shattering family mystery, a love affair with potentially disastrous consequences, and a war that stretches from the Old World to the New. It's been 17 years since Lord John's father, the duke of Pardloe, was found dead, a pistol in his hand and accusations of his role as a Jacobite agent staining forever a family's honor. Now unlaid ghosts from the past are stirring.

William Little Bear Tucker and his friend, Sarah, love to explore the caverns of the Sacramento Mountains. Some day the two youngsters hope to find the cave that holds a golden Apache statue that vanished long ago. But one afternoon, when they discover some spectacular rooms in one of the caverns, they also realize that they aren't alone. Suddenly, armed bandits, the spirit of a headless Indian brave, and bottomless pits are lurking in the darkness that surrounds the two intrepid explorers.

The South Orange River (S.O.R.) Middle School is famous for its winning sports teams. That is, until the seventh grade soccer squad comes along. Led by Ed Sitrow, who has never played soccer before, this amazing team of non-jocks sets new lows in team spirit and new highs in scoring - for the other team. When they lose their first game 32-0, they’re ready to call it quits. But the teachers insist that the team keep playing through the entire soccer season.

A young man arrives in the Ukraine, clutching in his hand a tattered photograph. He is searching for the woman who fifty years ago saved his grandfather from the Nazis. Unfortunately he is aided in his quest by Alex, a translator with an uncanny ability to mangle English into bizarre new forms; a 'blind' old man haunted by memories of the war; and an undersexed guide dog named Sammy Davis Jr., Jr. What they are looking for seems elusive - a truth hidden behind veils of time, language and the horrors of war.

The Cocaine Chronicles contains tough tales by a cross-section of today's most thought-provoking writers. Featuring brand-new stories by: Susan Straight, Lee Child, Laura Lippman, Ken Bruen, Jerry Stahl, Nina Revoyr, Bill Moody, Emory Holmes II, James Brown, Gary Phillips, Jervey Tervalon, Kerry E. West, Donnell Alexander, Deborah Vankin, Robert Ward, Manuel Ramos, and Detrice Jones.

In the fall of 1916, Americans debate whether to enter the European war. "Preparedness parades" march and headlines report German spies. But in an isolated community in the Adirondacks, the danger is barely felt. At Tamarack Lake the focus is on the sick. Wealthy tubercular patients live in private cure cottages; charity patients, mainly immigrants, fill the large public sanatorium. For all, time stands still.

From its launch in 1920 until its demise in 1951, the magazine Black Mask published pulp crime fiction. The first hard-boiled detective stories appeared on its pages. Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, Erle Stanley Gardner and John D. MacDonald got their start in Black Mask. The urban crime stories that appeared in Black Mask helped to shape American culture. Modern computer games, films, and television are rooted in the fiction popularized by the magazine.

Darek is envious when his older brother Clep returns from a quest wearing dragon claws for a necklace. His brother has killed a Great Blue, the largest and most feared of all dragons. The next day the village will hold a great celebration, and Clep will be the guest of honor. Unable to sleep that night, Darek sneaks outside. He hears something whimpering and realizes that the slain dragon has left behind a newborn dragonling that nobody noticed.

Doctor Toby Glyer has effected miracle cures with the use of nanotechnology. But Glyer’s controversial nanites are more than just the latest technological advance, they are a new form of life - and they have more uses than just medical. Glyer’s nanites also have the potential to make everyone on Earth rich from the wealth of asteroids.

Jack Trout, one of the most respected marketing gurus in the world, shows why some of today's biggest brands are having trouble and how to avoid repeating their mistakes. With the help of in-depth case studies chronicling the events leading up to the falls from grace of Sears, Miller Brewing, Xerox, Crest, Burger King, and other past market leaders, he identifies the ten most common mistakes...

Born in a bookstore in a blighted 1960's Boston neighborhood, Firmin the rat miraculously learns how to read by digesting his nest of books. Alienated from his family and unable to communicate with the humans he loves, Firmin quickly realizes that a literate rat is a lonely rat. Following a harrowing misunderstanding with his hero, the bookseller, Firmin begins to risk the dangers of Scollay Square, finding solace in the Lovelies of the burlesque cinema. Finally adopted by a down-on-his-luck science fiction writer, the tide begins to turn.

In May of 2004 the dead return to life and begin to hunt the living. Within a few weeks nations have fallen and the few survivors are scattered and desperate. Rise follows a group of survivors on their journey through the apocalyptic Canadian Rockies, the desolate and empty lands of northern British Columbia and Alberta.

Cliff Abernathy is 11 years old, but he's not an ordinary elementary school kid. As the oldest in a family of six children, he has a lot of responsibilities - and patience. When Cliff looks back over the last year, he has plenty of stories to tell about his parents, his four brothers, and his sister, especially since the Abernathys like to do everything together.

Outside, the wind is howling. Inside the empty house, Taddy is shivering beneath a ragged blanket. He has been alone ever since his aunt and uncle died suddenly from a terrible fever. As his uncle was taking his final breath, he warned of danger in nearby Alexandria. Now Taddy is hiding, afraid of the unknown. When two rough-sounding men sneak in to steal the furniture, they force Taddy into their horse-drawn cart. The next thing he knows, he’s in a tavern in Alexandria, working long hours for crumbs.

Benjamin was nine years old in the spring of 1855 when his father met with the accident that changed Benjamin’s life. Called home from boarding school, his first sight of his father lying nearly lifeless in the bed petrified him. Gone was the energetic man who had held the family together when Benjamin’s mother succumbed to diphtheria. With the courage and strength that had brought the family to the Oregon Territory, Benjamin and his siblings work to build the barn their father had been excitedly planning when he was struck down.

The Greeks are considered the first people in the ancient Western world to record their own history, and remnants of their cultural, philosophical, political, and architectural advances remain to this day. Homer, Sophocles, Aeschylus, Socrates, Aristotle and Plato set the ground rules for modern literature, theater and philosophy. The Parthenon still stands as an example of structural ingenuity. And many countries still practice democracy. From everyday life to political upheaval their influence is still present today.

It’s the week before Christmas, and Eric is already bored with his vacation. His parents have to work, his friends are out of town, and the city is snowed under. Then he opens his apartment door for an exterminator, and is dragged into the adventure of his life. Anje Gabrail carries a crossbow and lives for his work. When he discovers a rat in the basement of Eric’s apartment building, he asks the boy to help him kill it. At first Eric agrees, after all, he doesn’t have anything better to do. But as the week progresses, Eric finds himself in a fight to save not only the rat but himself as well.

Grasshoppers, waterstriders, and fireflies light up the pages of this rib-tickling book of poetry for two voices. Written as spirited duets, the poems ring with the love songs of book lice, the serenades of moths, and a choir of cicadas. Each one is a treat, filled with busy insect life. In addition to the voices of these frisky critters, there are also fascinating tidbits about their lives and habits.