Showing results by narrator "Pete Cross" in All Categories

Richard Weatherford is a successful small-town preacher in the Arkansas Ozarks. He’s a proud husband and father of five and has worked hard to grow his loyal flock with strong sermons and smart community outreach. But while Weatherford is a man of influence and power - including a big force in local politics - he’s also a man with secrets. In the lead up to the 2016 presidential election, Weatherford’s world is threatened when he’s blackmailed by a former lover. Collecting the money the blackmailer demands will be a nearly impossible feat, especially over Easter weekend.

In this new collection, Richard Thomas has crafted 14 stories that push the boundaries of dark fiction in an intoxicating, piercing blend of fantasy, science fiction, and horror. Equally provocative and profound, each story is masterfully woven with transgressive themes that burrow beneath the skin.

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.

The New York City Theatre District provides the backdrop in this locked-room mystery, the first of many featuring Inspector Richard Queen and his son, Ellery Queen!

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Alex Kiester, a heartfelt debut that explores the complexity of a modern-day marriage when a new mother vanishes one morning. "This powerful novel takes an honest, unflinching look at the challenges of modern parenthood from both sides of a marriage...

Athletes throughout history have dreamed of competing in the Olympics—and some were kids themselves when those dreams and plans began! In Kid Olympians: Summer, discover the childhood stories of legends. Featuring kid-friendly wording, this book will inspire you to dream bigger, faster, and higher than ever before! The diverse and inspiring group also includes Dick Fosbury, Ibtihaj Muhammad, Gertrude Ederle, Nadia Comaneci, Ellie Simmonds, Tommie Smith, Wilma Rudolph, and Megan Rapinoe.

Aspiring investigative reporter Des Cleary had dreams of a better world—one more accepting of people like him—when he broke the story of Orion Broderick’s relationship. A story that kicked Orion out of the soccer halls of fame and sent him careening into obscurity. Racked with shame, Des abandoned his own career for good.

Flint Larsen has 41 days, 9 hours, and 42 minutes to live. He's known exactly when he's going to die since he was eight years old and half-lifed, a small twinge that tells a person when they've lived half their life. From that moment, Flint's done everything he can to make his death more bearable. Cutting off all his friends, refusing to eat his favorite foods, reading only the most depressing literature by long-dead writers. He plans to spend his final days back in his hometown with his parents, quietly waiting to die.

Today's media and political landscapes are littered with untrustworthy sources and the dangerous concept of fake news. This accessible guide helps you fight this deeply troubling trend and ensure that truth is not a permanent casualty. Written by Capitol Hill veteran and author Bruce Bartlett, The Truth Matters presents actionable tips and tricks for consuming news critically, judging sources, using fact-checking sites, avoiding confirmation bias, identifying trustworthy experts, and more.

Leo Anthony Martino loves love. Unfortunately, love doesn’t love Leo back. 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...

At 2 a.m., the Pulse nightclub was winding down on its weekly Latino night. The building was dark, crowded, and loud. Patrons were making plans to leave when they were ambushed by a gunman, who began firing in every direction. Customers tried to escape, but the killer followed. For the next three hours, the gunman terrorized victims while playing a cat-and-mouse game with the police.

Cat is a wannabe merchant who specializes in procuring in-game valuables to sell for real money. He's a cunning trickster who wriggles his way out of trouble thanks to his quick wit and his trading talents, and his credo is “Anyone can be bought provided the price is right." He starts from scratch, using every opportunity to advance his plans. The first book in the Rogue Merchant series, The Starlight Sword is the story of this common trader’s rise to becoming the world’s newest legend, the most famous merchant in the entire Sphere of the Worlds

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.

Set in 1959, the year the music died, The Smoke in Our Eyes is a cinematic, clock-ticking saga set in a small Montana town. When a fatal car accident shatters ten-year-old Lucas's world, he finds himself confronting crime and vengeance, humor and heroism, all against the backdrop of growing up.

Bob Ryan has scored every baseball game he's attended, at every level, since the start of the 1977 season. It's a deeply personal tradition still going strong at more than 1,400 games and counting. The tattered scorebooks he's filled are worn from age, travel, and countless summer days, but their grids and scrawled symbols tell the stories of milestones, rivalries, rare historic achievements, and more. In Scoring Position captures the incomparable spirit of baseball, with its infinite possibilities and madcap anomalies. 

Today is the day Jo Monarch has been wishing on the moon about her entire life. It's the day of the Lineup, when she could be selected to leave her life in the Ashes behind. The day she could move across the mountains to a glittering, rich future. Once Jo is plucked from the Lineup, the real test begins. She still needs to impress the New Georgia Reps at tonight's Gala, and her path forward leads straight to Cove Wells. The damaged stepson of one of the Reps, Cove has been groomed as an emotional weapon, taught that love is a tool -- and he's set on breaking Jo's heart next.

Shortlisted for the James Tait Black Prize for Fiction 'An instant classic' - THE GUARDIAN 'A bloody masterpiece.' - MELISSA BRODER, author of THE PISCES 'Witty, emotional and gripping, Open Throat is a short but savage thrill ride' - THE INDEPENDENT 'Open Throat is Bret Easton Ellis meets...

Insomnia looks different for everyone. Whether it’s caused by stress, a traumatic life event, or even a snoring partner, poor sleep can affect the quality of your waking life. But Dr. Pedram Navab wants listeners to know that it’s not a lost cause—falling asleep can be just as easy as waking up. With his cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT-I) program, paired with relatable case studies of different sleep disorders, listeners are guided to new and improved sleep in as little as four weeks.

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.

Sadie Morelli and Cason Tano were friends in middle school, back before Cason’s mom died and Sadie transferred to a new school. When they meet again as high school juniors at the local ice rink where Sadie waitresses and Cason’s hockey team plays, what was once friendship blooms into...