Showing results by narrator "Mark Boyett" in All Categories

The most valued workers today are what the economist Richard Florida calls the Creative Class, skilled individuals ranging from money managers to makeup artists, software programmers to steadycam operators who are in constant demand around the world.

A recent French biography begins, "Who doesn't know Nadar?" In France, that's a rhetorical question. Of all of the legendary figures who thrived in mid-19th-century Paris - a cohort that includes Victor Hugo, Baudelaire, Gustave Courbet, and Alexandre Dumas - Nadar was perhaps the most innovative, the most restless, the most modern. The first great portrait photographer, a pioneering balloonist, the first person to take an aerial photograph, and the prime mover behind the first airmail service, Nadar was one of the original celebrity artist-entrepreneurs.

“Tander Phigg was an asshole, but he was also a Barnburner. Barnburners saved my life. I help them when I can. No exceptions.” The job seems simple. Conway Sax, a no-nonsense auto mechanic with a knack for solving difficult problems, has never liked obnoxious blowhard Tander Phigg. But a promise is a promise. Tander’s a Barnburner, a member of the unique Alcoholics Anonymous group that rescued Conway, and when a Barnburner has a problem, Conway takes care of it.

Life in King’s League has hit a new low. Dirk has lost Graydon’s Sight to another player. For the first time since finding it, he is forced to navigate the game while tracking down the rest of the set. It’s the worst time to discover that Graydon isn’t the only god with armor to bestow, either. It becomes a race against the clock to collect the remaining missing pieces and devise a plan to get the helm back, all while keeping an eye out for old enemies.

In Dragon Magic, the fourth book of the Haven Series, the Kindred call upon Brand for help. Things are not right in their kingdom beneath Snowdon. Modi has led a treasure-hunting expedition deep into the Everdark, a place where spine-terrors, blind croaking things, and great wurms reside. But it's been weeks; Modi is overdue, and the Gudrin fears the worst. Brand journeys into the magnesium bowels - and beyond - and discovers things buried there that he wishes he had never disturbed.

Chase Weston was a mercenary. Angel Cortez was an archaeologist. Neither one of them expected to be recruited to save the Earth by an ancient alien AI. But a doomsday machine, the Sunkiller, is heading for Earth at close to the speed of light. And unless they gather the lost alien artifacts needed to destroy it, humanity will be extinct. Unfortunately, those artifacts represent unlimited power - the kind that nations and corporations will kill to possess - and the next one they have to find just happens to be right in the middle of enemy territory.

Sixteen-year-old Jack gets drunk and finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time: he is kidnapped, but escapes, narrowly. The only person he tells is his best friend, Conner. When they arrive in London as planned for their summer break, a stranger hands Jack a pair of glasses. Through the lenses, he sees another world called Marbury. There is war in Marbury, which is a desolate and murderous place where Jack is responsible for the survival of two younger boys.

Bombs go off in the human colony of Atlantis. In the same system, the gas giant miners of Hybras Station have been evicted, but refuse to move. Commander Hanson of the Solar Alliance Navy is sent to defuse the situation. But as he investigates, the mission becomes more complicated than anyone anticipated. The mysteries multiply. Who is really behind the bombings? What is the ancient alien substance inside the atmosphere of Hybras? And who is the silent, faceless, merciless stranger moving between Atlantis and Hybras Station?

Unbreakable Bonds tells 10 touching stories of mothers who spent years aiding the recoveries of their children, U.S. soldiers and marines who suffered severe injuries during the War on Terror. The survival of these wounded warriors is a testament not only to the extraordinary efforts of military medical personnel and their own inner fortitude but also to their mothers.

This anthology, with stories set in different prisons across the US, presents an absolutely new perspective on prison literature. Featuring brand-new stories by: Christopher M. Stephen, Sin Soracco, Scott Gutches, Eric Boyd, Ali F. Sareini, Stephen Geez, B.M. Dolarman, Zeke Caligiuri, Marco Verdoni, Kenneth R. Brydon, Linda Michelle Marquardt, Andre White, Timothy Pauley, Bryan K. Palmer, and William Van Poyck.

No more rich men. That was what I vowed when I left New York and moved to Seattle. Then I met Simon Young, CEO of Young International: one of the largest luxury hotel chains in the world. He desired me, and I let him. I was fully aware of his love for women and his hatred for relationships, but I decided to play his game.

When Bashar pays an unannounced visit to the J. Appleseed Foundation, he encounters the ghosts of his long past. And the trail of clues he follows will put his wife and daughter directly in the crosshairs - and threaten the very existence of Seattle.

These connected stories were originally published in METAtropolis: Green Space. In addition, Jay Lake's "Rock of Ages" was selected for inclusion in The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirty-First Annual Collection, edited by Gardner Dozois.

Guardian spirits. Divine presences. Demonic powers. Ghosts. The concept of "genius loci" is indeed an ancient one, found in nearly every human mythology. Genius Loci is a huge anthology of 31 all-new fantasy and science fiction stories drawing on the rich tradition of place-as-person. Within this audiobook, the authors present stories of sentient deserts, beneficent forests, lonely shrubs, and protective planetary spirits, as edited by Jaym Gates.

The attrition during recruit training can reach ninety percent for those who pass the initial tryout. Still on the move and in search of answers that could doom the Alliance of Planets, Benjamin Wrath and his APOP crew must scrape up candidates from the villainous, disreputable spaceports along the way.

Interstellar war is about to erupt. For Blake Harley, that's the least of his problems. Jorn Freyul, the astonishingly gifted child he is tasked with protecting, has been targeted by an unknown, malicious entity described by the boy as a god…one intent on destroying all life. Blake, his alien ally, Sekkha, and new team member Mariya, all fellow fugitives from the law, are about to find out that Jorn's fears could become an all-too terrifying reality. Now, Blake and his companions are embarking on their most important mission yet.

Take a look at a dark, deadly future where the game is hunting and the results are killing - human to human - with status, money, power, and sex as the prizes. The operation runs underground and Frank Blackwell is a new recruit who is destined to change the game and turn it into legitimate popular entertainment for the masses.

In 2092, the world's ecology is in ruins, drought and famine are widespread and survival is a never-ending challenge. Harold Erdman leaves his dying community with one goal, to make his way to Esmeralda, an island paradise run by the Huntworld Corporation which has turned public murder, among willing competitors, into a thriving and lucrative business. Can he survive the journey and then the many rounds of deadly competition on his way to the Big Payoff.

Big Ray's temper and obesity define him. When Big Ray dies, his son feels mostly relief, dismissing his other emotions. Yet years later, the adult son must reckon with the outsized presence of his father's memory. This stunning novel, narrated in more 500 brief entries, moves between past and present, between his father's death and his life, between an abusive childhood and an adult understanding.

William Shakespeare had nothing to do with the actor and moneylender William Shaksper from Stratford-upon-Avon. The man behind the nom de plume "William Shakespeare" was, in fact, a very well-educated aristocrat who often frequented the court of Elizabeth and whose real name was Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford. The dramas of Shakespeare were not written for the Globe Theatre but for the Queen's court.

In Shadow Magic, the third book of the Haven Series, Herla of the Wild Hunt makes his move to gather all the Jewels of Power. Hunting down and killing those who wield them, the undead king is as relentless as death itself. He is not the only interested party, however, as several armies march to meet Brand and his allies in a desperate battle for control of the River Haven.