Showing results by narrator "Todd McLaren" in All Categories

Fourteen years ago, Alan Porter returned from a contract with a hefty payday for his company, Silent Night, and a surprise: five orphaned Zuul pups. Although Humans and Zuul have faced off on many battlefields, little was known of the ancient mercenary race, and Alan and his wife, Dana, raised them the best they could. The five pups, Rex, Ripley, Drake, Sonya, and Shadow grew to maturity in Australia, happy with their lives. Until a Zuul with the Winged Hussars happens across the strange family and carries news of them home.

Burned-out software engineer Jake Martin and his golden retriever, Fred, live in a mountain cabin far enough from Denver to escape the rat race but not far enough to escape its crime. While remodeling an old house, he uncovers a stack of love letters that will turn his world inside out. When word of the letters gets out, people start dying, including the owner of the house Jake was remodeling. With his main source of income gone, he lets his friend and neighbor, Bonnie Jones, talk him into searching for the killer after they are offered a large retainer.

Jake Martin is not your ordinary sleuth. He's an ordinary guy with an extraordinary dog. This time the story takes place in the foothills of Denver. Jake is accused of manslaughter, and he has to prove the accident was really murder. Along the way he encounters a poaching ring and falls in love with a beautiful game warden. The characters are memorable, and the plot is multilayered. This whodunit will keep listeners guessing until the very end.

Kenneth Turan discovered film as a child left undisturbed to watch Million Dollar Movie on WOR-TV Channel 9 in New York, a daily showcase for older Hollywood features. It was then that he developed a love of cinema that never left him and honed his eye for the most acute details and the grandest of scenes. Not to Be Missed blends cultural criticism, historical anecdotes, and inside-Hollywood controversy. Turan's selection of favorites ranges across all genres.

The Omega War is in full swing. Earth has fallen to General Peepo’s army, and the surviving human mercenaries have taken refuge at the hidden Winged Hussars’ base in New Warsaw. On Earth, the defensive forces fight to keep the hearts and minds of their fellow humans, but Peepo’s plans are slowly converting the people to her way of thinking, and the Mercenary Guild troops continue to root out the forces arrayed against them.

The Aliomenti village is in ruins, destroyed by one of their own, its population nearly eliminated in the calamity. From the ruins, the Aliomenti rise to international prominence, influencing buyers and sellers, warriors and bureaucrats, as they patiently and invisibly expand their empire. Will Stark serves as the driving force behind that expansion. Whether he's creating their innovations or offering subtle hints, few of their revolutionary progressions are made without his influence.

The Trial tells the story of a man arrested for an unknown crime by a remote, inaccessible authority and his struggle for control over the increasing absurdity of his life. One of Franz Kafka's best-known works, The Trial has been variously interpreted as an examination of political power, a satirical depiction of bureaucracy, and a pessimistic religious parable. Left unfinished at the time of Kafka's 1924 death, The Trial is nevertheless a trenchant depiction of the seemingly incomprehensible nature of existence....

The name Edgar Allan Poe conjures up thoughts of hearts beating long after their owners are dead, of disease and plague amid wealth, and of love that extends beyond the grave. The richness of Poe's writing, however, includes much more than horror, loss, and death. Poe's stories teem with irony and black humor, in addition to plot twists and surprise endings.

Over the past generation, the Democratic and Republican parties have each become nationally coordinated political teams. American political institutions, on the other hand, remain highly decentralized. Laboratories against Democracy shows how national political conflicts are increasingly flowing through the subnational institutions of state politics—with profound consequences for public policy and American democracy.

Nathaniel didn't want to believe the rumors about Castle Drachenstein and the strange experiments taking place where his new home was to be. But when a shockwave of dark energy erupts from the research facility, and the dead villagers start turning into monsters, he can do nothing but agree that he's now in a literal hell! If he wants to stay alive, he will have to make good use of the Tiler he's been provided. Contrary to the other units he's been a part of, soldiers around here have a peculiar device on their wrist which can grant them powers.

The Eurasia fleet has entered the Darg star system. The unsuspecting players look forward to the adventure of their lifetimes. Zander alone is now facing a harsh and unpredictable "alternative storyline". The girl he loved is gone. His nervous system is impregnated with artificial neurons that contain fragments of ancient AIs and their identities. Zander's body is implanted with alien artifacts that allow him to survive in the deadly cyberspace of Phantom Server.

The Immortalists is the fascinating story of the friendship and extraordinary scientific collaboration of two prodigious men: Charles Lindbergh, once the most famous person in the world, and Dr. Alexis Carrel, the Nobel Prize winner regarded by many as the most brilliant surgeon who ever lived.

Things are looking up for Mimi and Nick - that is, until a handsome cowboy walks into Mimi's office and hires her to clear him of fraud charges. When politics and horse trading collide, it spells murder, and, once again, Mimi and Nick are butting heads as Mimi is now trying to clear her client as a murder suspect. Follow the Gotcha gang on this rodeo trail to see who gets voted out, who gets bucked off, and who ends up dead.

Lance's ex, Amber, and his SOAT mentor, Chadavia, along with the Predecessor artifact are missing. With conflicting information as to who the culprit may be and prisoners refusing to talk, deaths must be faked, new identities forged, and an unseen criminal underworld explored. With the help of the only person in the galaxy he can trust, Lance obtains the newest in stealth ship technology known as the Whisper. With it, he, and his team, will investigate leads from the desert planet Uthuli, to the blacked-out world of TrES-2b.

Zander and his gamer friends used to face danger without fear, finding strength in the promise of a safe respawn. Nothing could harm or destroy them. This was only a game...or was it? A game, played in an ancient hyperspace network. A game involving dozens of real-life alien civilizations. Earth is deserted. The fate of humanity is unknown.

Elaine Quartermaine’s life was never much to talk about. Growing up in pre-Victorian London had made her a survivor if nothing else. Until she died! Or...thought she had died, and then she woke up somewhere else in someone else’s body.

The dark elf, Imris, saw me. Chased me. Won me. After I gave in . . . he left me. Not just heartbroken. But also . . . pregnant. A year later, I've moved on and am thriving. Life is hard. But good. And then Imris comes back. He says he never wanted to be sent away. That he fought to come back to me. He says he still loves me. Dare I trust him? Or is it an act? Will he leave again? Do I risk falling in love with him again? And more importantly . . . do I risk letting my kids love him too?

My past as a humble farmer is gone. Now, as I, my wives, and my children work tirelessly to unify the world's dungeons against those that would exploit them, the stakes have never been higher. As a mystical madness threatens to infect me and the very gods themselves threaten to bar our way to freedom, a final confrontation looms between my dungeons and the rampaging adventurers who would judge us. In the end, I will do what needs to be done, to protect my land, to protect my family. And if I have to fertilize my crops with the blood of the gods to do it, so be it.

Elite networks are informal social networks between politicians in power and top executives of politically connected firms where personal ties and long-term interactions build trust and loyalty between involved actors. Both groups draw benefits from these interactions; politicians stay in power, and corporate executives extract rents for their firms. Firms reward connected executives with higher salaries thus widening the dispersion of earnings in society. In Elite Networks, Vuk Vukovic offers a different perspective on the long-run origins of inequality.

Following the fatal shooting in broad daylight of unarmed African American Michael Brown by a white cop in August 2014, Ferguson, Missouri, became the scene of protests that pitted law enforcement against locals and Black Lives matter activists. The media firestorm has not waned, and, in fact, has grown stronger in light of all the recent violence by and against police officers nationwide. According to Ferguson's former police chief Tom Jackson, the uninformed media actually fans the flames of unrest and exploits the situation.