Showing results by narrator "Patrick Cronin" in All Categories

They reach the shore, barks and joyful laughter swallowed by the crashing waves. Suddenly, an odd-looking object in the sky draws closer. As dark clouds loom, a flicker of unease crosses Scotty’s face. Before he can react, an eerie glow surrounds both boy and dog. In an instant, they vanish without a trace. Now aboard an alien ship, Scotty faces a reality far from home. The walls breathe, the corridors pulse and his fear deepens.

There are more than 320 million Chinese between the ages of 16 and 30. Children of the one-child policy, born after Mao, with no memory of the Tiananmen Square massacre, they are the first net native generation to come of age in a market-driven, more international China. Their experiences and aspirations were formed in a radically different country from the one that shaped their elders, and their lives will decide the future of their nation and its place in the world.

Xander Liu survived the alien invasion - just barely. For more than a year, he has outsmarted, hidden from, and otherwise avoided the ruthless intruders, the Nahx, dodging the deadly darts that have claimed so many. When the murder of his friend leaves him in the protective company of August, a rebellious Nahx soldier, Xander is finally able to make his way back to human controlled territory and relative safety. But safety among the humans is not what it seems.

Cam Alvarez is a Drop-Trooper. A warrior-knight wrapped in the futuristic armor of a high-tech battlesuit, and he’s one of the best. When he’s promoted to sergeant and asked to become a leader, he faces a whole new challenge. The Marines are striking deep into enemy territory, and the casualties are mounting. Cam is torn, knowing his job is to follow orders and carry out the battle plan, even if he doesn’t agree with it. But his squad has become his family, and now he’s being asked to lead his family into battle, knowing it will mean their deaths.

The Hive Mind has deceived the Americans and the Thacians into believing they had the strategy that would destroy it once and for all…and instead, they opened the gates through to Thacia and, from there, into the United States. And the demons streamed through by the tens of thousands, too many for artillery and air support to drive them back. The Army and Air Force keep pouring on the hurt, but it’s only a matter of time until they’re forced to do the unthinkable…nuke an American city.

The philosopher Jacques Barzun thought that "whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball". And whoever wants to know baseball had better learn about umpires. As Larry Gerlach points out in The Men in Blue, these arbiters transform competitive chaos into organized sport. They make it possible to "play ball", but nobody loves them.Considering the abuse meted out by fans and players, why would any sane person want to be an umpire? Many reasons emerge in conversations with a dozen former major-league arbiters.

On a world brought to the brink of destruction, life now clings to the shattered remains of the planet's crust. These fragments are the Shells: fragile wastelands of desert and rock, protected from the cold of space by a water shield. In the struggle for survival, its people have depended on ancient technology, controlled by the omnipresent Network, to sustain the entire population. But the Network is breaking down, water is sparse, and a complete societal collapse is imminent.

Millionaire industrialist Tony Stark has rejected the lucrative munitions trade that put his company on the map. But he can’t just turn away when the antiterror organization known as S.H.I.E.L.D. asks him for help in its battle against the sinister forces of HYDRA. As the next step in its quest for global domination, the international terrorist cabal is plotting to use cutting-edge technology in a devastating attack on New York City. The source of their advanced weaponry: Stark Industries.

Using understandable metaphors and easy to follow language, Stephens gives listeners of any scientific level an introduction to neuroscience and shows them how things like creativity, skill, and even perception of self can grow and change by utilizing the body's most important muscle. Fans of Bill Nye and Neil deGrasse Tyson will love Stephens' down-to-earth attitude, and those interested in science will appreciate his thoughtful explanations of scientific terms.

Days from a cure for his lupine curse, Jason takes an urgent mission. A medieval invader has returned to a remote corner of Eastern Europe. Backed by seven undead knights and a zombie horde, Lord Drago threatens the region’s oldest province with ghastly force. Drochia is like nowhere the Legion team has been before - a land of brooding ruins, savage wolf packs, mass graves, and secrets that lurk as quietly as the ever-present mist. Even their cheery client seems to be hiding something.

Gideon Gull leads a double life: one as a talented young bard at the Rhapsodic College, the other as a student of the Shadow School, where Taldor's infamous lion blades are trained to be master spies and assassins. When a magical fog starts turning ordinary people into murderous mobs along the border between Taldor and Gideon's home nation of Andoran, it's up to him and a crew of daring performers to solve the mystery before both nations fall to madness and slaughter.

Everson Croft here, professor of mythology and nervous as sin. Tonight's the night I tell Caroline the truth: about my feelings, my magic, everything. So why am I surprised when Detective Vega calls me to a new case? An elusive creature is chewing up residents in a housing project run by rival gangs. One more mangled body and the place will explode into warfare. Problem is, someone's protecting the killer.

It's the final showdown between Cam and a rogue Tahni general.... And it might be the end of everything. Cam and Vicky are chasing down Zan-Thint to his last fortress, a lifeless world deep in Tahni space. If they can't take him down before he activates an ancient alien weapon, a swarm of biomechanical killing machines will wipe out all life in the Commonwealth.

After destroying the possessed Voodoo Engine that threatened to enslave his tribe and start the next Great War, Sorch took some much needed time away from the peril of adventure. In the two years that followed, Sorch finished his arcane education and learned to be a real father to his recently discovered son, Benno. But the world wasn't done with Sorch and his family just yet. Drought, flooding, and deadly creatures driven up from the depths of the Earth itself threatened to destroy cities and towns all over the world.

An explosive return to the library leaves the six Alexandrians vulnerable to the lethal terms of their recruitment. Old alliances quickly fracture as the initiates take opposing strategies as to how to deal with the deadly bargain they have so far failed to uphold. Those who remain with the archives wrestle with the ethics of their astronomical abilities, while elsewhere, an unlikely pair from the Society cohort partner to influence politics on a global stage.

When New York City unveils a program to roast supernaturals, I wonder if I should be sweating. The bloodthirsty Arnaud thinks so, and he's insisting that our survival depends on a wizard-vampire alliance. Never mind his history of wanting me dead. Or undead. Meanwhile, the mayor wants me on his team - an offer that's only slightly less unnerving given our recent clash. So who's really behind the purge? City Hall? The werewolves? Or is it the brainchild of the fae, whose newest advisor to the mayor slipped from my bed and life four months ago?

Peter Robinson pens thrilling tales rich with keen observations, pitch perfect dialogue, and shocking plot twists that have fascinated listeners all over the world and made him one of the greatest suspense novelists alive. His acclaimed novels featuring Detective Inspector Alan Banks rank among the most celebrated police procedural series in modern fiction. In Not Safe After Dark and Other Stories, Robinson showcases once again his extraordinary talents with a collection of 20 stories, including three featuring Inspector Banks.

Chas. Johnson & Sons has been a family operation for three generations - grandfather, father, and son. But when it comes time for Gabe Johnson to take the reins of the business, the world of books has changed, and the combination of the internet and inner city rents forces the store to close. But instead of folding his hand, Gabe decides to risk everything he has and reopen the shop - and, in a sense restart his life - in a small town on the shores of Lake Michigan.

Soul Machine takes us back to the origins of modernity, a time when a crisis in religious authority and the scientific revolution led to searching questions about the nature of human inner life. This is the story of how a new concept - the mind - emerged as a potential solution, one that was part soul and part machine but fully neither.

Rebellion, book 7: The crew of the Earth ship Behemoth has been busy. Their latest assignment against the Orion’s Light terrorists has given them valuable insight into the workings of this new threat and boosted their already substantial credibility with Alliance High Command. Extinction, book 8: A message was received from an unknown part of the galaxy, filtered through dozens of relays before arriving at the home world. An old friend seems to be stranded and needs assistance yet they were unable to convey proper coordinates.