Showing results by narrator "Pete Cross" in All Categories

The Metamorphosis is a story that follows the life of Gregor Samsa, a traveling salesman. The story begins when one morning Gregor wakes to find himself transformed into a large insectlike creature. His family and colleagues have growing concern at his absence from work but, upon checking on him, are horrified by his grotesque appearance. The story then follows Gregor's thought process, since the family can no longer understand his language.

Eve is a frustrated young artist and the owner of what she believes is a haunted house. Sandra is an overworked producer at Searching for . . . the Invisible World, a paranormal investigations show perpetually on the brink of cancelation. When the show descends upon Eve's home, they’re intent on creating just another staged spectacle. But, unexpectedly, the crew encounters some very real activity—shelves collapse, electronics go haywire, a cameraman disappears in the dead of night.

Through a collection of intimate reflections (on art, punctuation, eyeglasses, color, dreams, celebrity, corpses, porn, and translation) and assignments that encourage pleasure, attentiveness, and acts of playful making, poet, artist, critic, novelist, and performer Wayne Koestenbaum enacts 26 ecstatic collisions between his mind and the world. Figure It Out is both a guidebook for, and the embodiment of, the practices of pleasure, attentiveness, art, and play.

Lions, Komodo dragons, dogs, monkeys, and pheasants - all have shared spotlights and tabloid headlines with celebrities such as Sharon Stone, Thomas Edison, and David Hasselhoff. In this critically acclaimed collection, Lydia Millet hilariously tweaks these unholy communions to run a stake through the heart of our fascination with famous people and pop culture.

On the night of August 11, 1956, in the East Hampton hamlet of Springs, Jackson Pollock crashed his car into a tree, killing himself. Pollock, the world-renowned abstract painter and notorious alcoholic, also killed his 24-year old passenger, Edith Metzger, in the crash...or did he? Metzger’s autopsy reveals that she was already dead before the crash. Murdered? Perhaps.

Leo Martino’s hunt for love has been a total flop. Over the years, every single crush has ghosted him, leaving him miserable and alone. By senior year, Leo concludes he must be unlovable. It’s time to stop trying. But when he finds himself obsessing over the irresistible Lincoln Chan, Leo decides to give love one last shot—and this time, he has a plan. He’s going to change everything about himself to become the “perfect boyfriend.” And the plan actually works. . .but will he take it too far?

This Highlights Listen & Learn! Audio Study, intended for those in grade three, introduces listeners to a variety of animals that are native to the savannah in Africa. As listeners learn about these animals, they are also introduced to the multiple seasons that occur, while also spotlighting the Maasai people who have lived in East Africa for centuries. This audio study focuses on identifying a sequence of events, how to compare and contrast, and key vocabulary words throughout the nonfiction narrative.

Captain Delano is approached on the open sea by a battered-looking ship led by Captain Benito Cereno. Cereno, always accompanied by his personal slave, Babo, explains that his crew was transporting a group of slaves from Africa when their ship was caught and damaged in severe weather. He is polite but always timid and requests supplies for his ship's remaining journey. Captain Delano agrees to help but begins to notice the strange social interactions and atmosphere of Cereno's crew and the slaves.

Set in the fifteenth century, The Three Musketeers follows a young D'Artagnan leaving home for Paris with hopes of joining the King's Musketeers. He meets the titular three musketeers—Athos, Porthos, Aramis—and finds himself quickly wrapped up in matters of both court and state.

Imagine over three million square miles of sand dunes that are as tall as a ten-story building. That place is real—it's the Sahara Desert! Vast, yes! And home to fascinating creatures such as ostriches and fennec foxes as well as amazing plant life. The shallow roots of the mesquite tree can grow almost 200 feet across to absorb water.

Whoosh! Squirrel takes off at full speed through the autumn leaves. But slam on the brakes because this year The Golden Nut Hunt race is a team event. Squirrel reluctantly enlists her friends and is not impressed. Will Squirrel's competitive spirit take over, or will she learn how to be a team player?

Burdened by poverty and spiritually dulled by a loveless marriage to Zeena, his older and ailing wife, Ethan Frome is emotionally stirred by the arrival of their youthful cousin, Mattie Silver, who becomes employed as household help. Mattie's presence not only brightens a gloomy house but also stirs long-dormant feelings in Ethan. However, their growing love for each other is discovered by the embittered Zeena, and it presages an ending to the tale that is both shocking and savagely ironic.

On February 24, 1868, the impeachment of the United States’ 17th president was initiated. Democrat Andrew Johnson was accused of high crimes and misdemeanors that were detailed in 11 articles of impeachment and faced trial before the United States Senate. Andrew Johnson took office after John Wilkes Booth assassinated Abraham Lincoln on April 15, 1965. After months of Johnson and the Senate butting heads, oftentimes with Johnson defying the Senate and doing whatever he wanted, the final straw came when Johnson fired his Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton.

This somewhat unpleasant tale, published as a novelette in the Smart Set in July 1920, relates a series of events that took place in the spring of the previous year. Each of the three events made a great impression upon F. Scott Fitzgerald. In life they were unrelated, except by the general hysteria of that spring which inaugurated the Age of Jazz, but in this story, he has tried to weave them into a pattern - a pattern which would give the effect of those months in New York as they appeared to at least one member of what was then the younger generation.

The Harpers have lost one of their own, a legendary adventurer named Artus Cimber, keeper of the artifact known as the Ring of Winter. They've hired you to travel to the jungle-clad land of Chult to find him. Hopefully, you can manage to find Cimber before the frost giants do - or the zombies that infest the land get you first. You're in the jungle now, cleric. Welcome to the Forgotten Realms Endless Quest.

Firmly rooted in the modern American West, this story collection follows women and families who feel the instinctual, inexplicable pull of a home they must work to protect from the effects of economic inequity and climate catastrophe. A 74-year-old nun turns to eco-sabotage to stop a fracking project. A woman delivers her own baby in a Nevada ghost town. A young farmer hides her chicken flock from the government during a bird-flu epidemic. An ornithologist returns home to care for her rancher father and gets caught up trying to protect a breeding group of endangered sage grouse.

Raffy has a passion for bedazzling. Not just bedazzling, but sewing, stitching, draping, pattern making - for creation. He's always chosen his art over everything - and everyone - else and is determined to make his mark at this year's biggest cosplay competition. If he can wow there, it could lead to sponsorship, then art school, and finally earning real respect for his work. There's only one small problem...Raffy's ex-boyfriend, Luca, is his main competition.

Although humankind today can peer far deeper into the universe than ever before, we still find ourselves surrounded by the unknown and perhaps the unknowable. All great science fiction has used the human imagination to explore that realm beyond the known, just as theistic religions have done since long before the genre existed. As Hugo Award-winning author Robert Charles Wilson argues, the genre’s freewheeling speculation and systematic world-building make it a unique lens for understanding, examining, and assessing the truth claims of religions in general and Christianity in particular.

Every great author started out as a kid. Before the best sellers, fan clubs, and beloved stories we know today, the world's most celebrated writers had regular-kid problems just like you. Sam Clemens (aka Mark Twain) loved to skip school and make mischief, with his best friend Tom, of course! A young J. R. R. Tolkien was bitten by a huge tarantula - or as he called it, "a spider as big as a dragon." Toddler Zora Neale Hurston took her first steps when a wild hog entered her house and started chasing her!

In Sicily: Land of Love and Strife, the process of capturing the island nation on film is revealed. Mark Spano invites the listener to follow him on his journey to celebrate the real Sicily, and to change the public perception of his family's homeland.