Showing results by narrator "Michael Axtell" in All Categories

One humiliating photo, a stupid prank, and a hashtag that goes viral. That's how my senior year goes from predictable to absurd in a heartbeat. This year is supposed to be easy. I've finally scored first chair in band, my college applications are done, and all my friends and I have to do is survive one more year of high school before our real lives can begin. Instead, I find myself in trouble with the principal, humiliated in front of the entire school, and fighting with my neighbor - AKA star quarterback, Prince Charming, and nicest guy on the planet.

After being tossed into an unknown dimension, the earth's inhabitants must strive to fend off a supernatural menace, each possessing an overwhelming power. With the world's mightiest struggling to adapt, Evan Cross and his allies must now embark on a quest against time. Through countless perils, they must strive to acquire the strength to venture across an alien land to save all from a world of calamities.

Knit me into a cocoon. Help me eat a burrito. Pretend to be a chair at my dinner party. Wrestle a Komodo dragon. Race me in a lobster suit. Author Kelly Mahon posts absurd gig ads online and shares the conversations she had with the brave souls who wanted the job.

A brilliantly written and ritiving post-dystopian debut from Eyal Kless, about a society hoping to salvage the technology of a lost generation, a mysterious missing boy who can open doors no one else can, and a scribe who must piece together the past to determine humanity’s future. More than a...

The intriguing futuristic dystopian story begun with The Lost Puzzler continues in this expansive speculative science fiction adventure. There is nothing out of the ordinary in waking up . . . unless you’re dead. Sent on a dangerous mission with little hope of succeeding, the man known as...

Did anyone ever tell you about the Dimension Rifts? Yes, portals to other dimensions, which one day, sprung up all over the entire world. Rumors say it happened on a day like any other, and it came without any warning. With the Dimension Rifts appearing all over the world, a new era had come. Though filled with endless possibilities, its lurking dangers would prove to be our end. That was the start of the apocalypse; the Dimension Apocalypse. It's also the start of one man's story: Evan Cross, a warrior from the destroyed future of Earth.

Eddie Raven isn't quite sure what's happening to him - and he's in a race to find out before it kills him. His adventures begin with a shooting in a very strange shop in Manhattan - but soon he finds himself the owner of a very familiar bar in Casablanca. By the time he adjusts to that reality, he's suddenly become one of several undersized people helping a young woman search for a wizard. But as he rushes to solve the mystery of his many appearances, a larger threat looms. Because someone or something is stalking him through time and space with deadly intent.

When the Colonial Marines set out after their deadliest prey, the Xenomorphs, it’s what Corporal Hicks calls a bug hunt—kill or be killed. Here are fifteen all-new stories of such “close encounters,” written by many of today’s most extraordinary authors. Set during the events of all four Alien films, sending the Marines to alien worlds, to derelict space settlements, and into the nests of the universe’s most dangerous monsters, these adventures are guaranteed to send the blood racing—one way or another.

Twenty-four tales of madmen, monsters, and misery. A tantalizing blend of horror, suspense, and crime stories; each unique but all dark, disturbing, and violent. In the audiobook lurk: A tarot card reader who makes house calls; a disabled man in a miserable marriage who is regaining the use of his arms; an ex-con who can’t resist carrying out one last home invasion, and much more!

What Luck, This Life begins in the aftermath of the space shuttle's break-up, as the people of Piney Woods watch their pastures swarm with searchers and reporters bluster at their doors. A shop owner defends herself against a sexual predator who is pushed to new boldness after he is disinvited to his family reunion. A closeted father facing a divorce that will leave his gifted boy adrift retrieves an astronaut's remains. An engineer who dreams of orbiting Earth joins a search for debris and instead uncovers an old neighbor's buried longing.

This collection of five short stories touches on themes and topics throughout the genre including zombies, superheroes, artificial intelligence, and the changing role of birthdays in the future. "Billy and the Zombies" is a story about a boy who spent most of his life preparing for a zombie apocalypse and now has to deal with one in real life. "Mom's Special Day" talks about an indeterminate future where birthdays have a much different meaning than they do today. "The Trial of WLQC-73" discusses what happens when we create computers that are as human as we are with all of our faults and failings. "The Heist" is a story about a future where Superheroes aren't as clean cut as our comic books show them to be. "Chance Encounters" describes what happens when a simple misunderstanding spirals out of control.

Darfur, Sudan. 2009. Two doctors employed by NGOs stumble across a strange metallic cylinder, which has been embedded for perhaps millions of years in desert rock. Mystified by the object, they gather four of the world’s leading experts in science and technology a computer scientist, a physicist, a biochemist, and a genetic researcher and head to London to study it thoroughly. The six have barely begun running tests on the cylinder, when they suddenly disappear telling family members not to go looking for them.

Among the ruins of a civilization beyond their understanding, humanity clings to survival. Guilds vie for control of ancient cities, bandits ride glowing highways and cyborg adventurers hunt for lost technology. In the City of Towers, once the heart of the fallen Tarakan empire, a historian searches for clues to explain the disappearance of Rafik, a young boy with extraordinary abilities - a Puzzler.

A missing girl. A ruthless killer. A rookie P.I....Jake Abraham is a child of the 80s, brought up by Jim Rockford, Thomas Magnum and three beautiful girls who worked for a man named Charlie. He's loving his new job as a Private Investigator and already has his first client - a disgraced former police captain whose daughter has disappeared. When the girl shows up dead, Jake is drawn into a dangerous world of organised crime, police corruption, infidelity and serial murder.

In a world transformed by technological disaster, the last survivor of the Guild of Historians, and his wisecracking mercenary companion, once again find themselves searching for a missing child with unfathomable abilities. Battling through a brutal future and returning to the dangerous City of Towers, they will need brains, heavy weapons, and a whole lot of luck to survive. But they are also haunted - and hunted - by shadows of the past. The story of a scientist who survived the end of the world holds deadly secrets. And a ruthless assassin from another era is on their trail.

For fans of Charles Duhigg and Nate Silver, a brilliant and buoyant investigation into the existence (or not) of streaks, from a rising star at the Wall Street Journal. For decades, psychologists and economists have studied the science of streaks to determine whether the ‘hot hand’ exists...

In this crime mystery, when Police Officer Danny Garcia and his partner get a call for a disturbance of the peace, they have no idea of the surprise in store for them. Danny has been angling for a police detective job, and something about this arrest stinks - and not just the alcohol on the alleged criminals’ breath. While off duty, Danny is hit with another stumper. A fellow parishioner approaches him at church, hoping for some help with a sensitive problem. As Danny takes action to unravel the mystery, he becomes convinced that a priest at his church is not what he claims to be.

Her name is Lisa, and ever since Eddie Raven hooked up with her, strange things keep happening. How strange? Lisa can take on any role at a moment’s notice. She’s Maid Marian. She’s Elizabeth Bennett from Pride and Prejudice. In an instant, she can become the sexy, gum-chewing secretary to his hard-boiled detective. She can even become Doc Holliday’s frontier lady, Big Nose Kate.

Ten years ago, Jerry came to New York City to break into show business. Today, his career is stalled, his ex-fiancé is a TV star, and he survives by bartending in Manhattan’s high-end cocktail lounges. Stunned by loss and regret, he is sleepwalking through a hung-over life when he discovers Violet’s book about when they were young, hopeful servers at a Times Square restaurant. As he searches the words of his self-destructive soul-mate, can he reconcile his past and find the hope he lost along the way?

Exploring the backstory of contemporary political polarization, What's Going On? recognizes that simple stories of blame and uncontested stories of polarization prove themselves to be bad stories that produce bad politics.