Showing results by narrator "Kevin Collins" in All Categories

Assistant Trader Jethri Gobelyn was an honest, hardworking young man who knew a lot about living onboard his family's space-going trade ship; something about trade, finance, and risk-taking; and a little bit about Liadens. It was, oddly enough, the little bit he knew about Liadens that seemed like it might be enough to make his family's fortune, and his own, too. In short order, however, Jethri Gobelyn was about to find out a lot more about Liadens... like how far they might go to protect their name and reputation.

Americans today are frustrated and anxious. Our economy is sluggish and leaves workers insecure. Income inequality, cultural divisions, and political polarization increasingly pull us apart. Our governing institutions often seem paralyzed. And our politics has failed to rise to these challenges. No wonder, then, that Americans - and the politicians who represent them - are overwhelmingly nostalgic for a better time.

In the wake of World War II, as turmoil and chaos were giving way to optimism, Americans were looking for inspiration and role models showing that it was possible to start from the bottom and work your way up to the top—and they found it in Stymie, the failed racehorse plucked from the discard heap by trainer Hirsch Jacobs. Taking listeners on a crowd-pleasing ride with Stymie and Jacobs, Out of the Clouds unwinds a real-life Horatio Alger tale of a dauntless team and its working-class fans who lived vicariously through the stouthearted little colt they embraced as their own.

According to studies, we all work for the same thing--and it's not just money. It's meaning. Through our work, we seek a sense of purpose, contribution, connection, value, and hope. Digging down to the meaning of work taps our resilience in hard times and our passion in good times. That's the simple but profound premise behind this groundbreaking book by renowned management expert Dave Ulrich and psychologist Wendy Ulrich.

Sometimes the good guys win and the bad guys end up dead. But that isn't how it always goes down. In the ZOO, you are either fast and lucky or you are dead. Heavy Metal has a few videos that are out gaining attention in parts of the world, and that doesn't bode well for them. Some people are noticing that Sal and his team have someone extra-special working with them, and they want a piece of her...or all of her. This time, it's back to basics for Heavy Metal with just Sal, Madigan, and Courtney. Are they enough to save their friend?

When the end came, the world was divided. Those considered perfect, the Pure, sheltered inside the controlled Dome. Outside, the Wretches struggled in a destroyed world, crippled by the fusings that branded them after the apocalypse that changed everything. Partridge, a Pure, has left the safety of the Dome in search of the truth. Pressia, a Wretch, is desperate to decode the secret that will cure her people of their fusings forever. Together, they must seek out the answers that will save humankind, and prevent the world's annihilation.

New York Times best-selling and Hugo Award-winning author John Scalzi gift-wraps 15 short takes on the holiday season - interviews with holiday notables, "informational" articles about TV specials and Christmas carols, short stories and poems, and even a couple of nods to Thanksgiving and New Year’s - and puts them all into a stocking stuffer-sized package that makes the perfect gift for friends, family, or yourself.

In a universe full of interstellar intrigue and burgeoning commerce novice Terran trader Jethri Gobelyn, adopted by a Liaden clan after an ill-directed bow of honor insulted the scion of a major Liaden house, is alive and whole to tell the tale. Convinced that the adoption has saved his life and made his future he settles into a comfortable and even elite routine, a Trader's Ring his goal.

Today, in an instant, leaders can find themselves face-to-face with crisis. An active shooter. A media controversy. A data breach. In You're It, the faculty of the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative at Harvard University takes you to the front lines of some of the toughest decisions facing our nation's leaders - from how to mobilize during a hurricane or in the aftermath of a bombing to halting a raging pandemic. They also take listeners through the tough decision-making inside the world's largest companies, hottest startups, and leading nonprofits.

During the pandemic, our homes and apartments have transported us to new places, different experiences, and changed our understanding of ourselves and others. This collection of 12 tales explores those journeys through the lens of fantasy and science fiction, accentuating the strange and unexpected to reveal the relatable, human dimensions of our continuing migration from what’s normal to a new normal...or even paranormal.

People work; folk play. That is how it has been in this country for as long as Sam can remember. He is happy, and he understands that this is the way it should be. People are bigger than folk. They are stronger. They do not need food or water. They do not need the warmth of a fire. All they need are jobs to do and a blacksmith to fix them when they break. The people work so the folk can drink their moonshine, fish a little, and throw horseshoes. But once Sam starts to wonder why the world is like this, his life will never be the same.

What do you do when home is a conspiracy that's been discovered and destroyed? When home is a planet in a star system that's gone missing? When home means working for the destroyers of galaxies? When home is a spaceship that's calling out to the enemy? Cantra 'yos Phelium isn't a quitter, but she has more than a little problem: the Enemy has accelerated its attacks and how do you fight an Enemy whose major form of attack is the de-crystallization of everything around itself?

To save the shelter, Sergey travels to an unknown planet that has suffered the same fate as Earth. But things don't exactly go according to plan . . . and the situation on Earth has gone from bad to worse!

In an industry dominated by men, Sophia Rose, an elite tattooist, earned her reputation by owning Rose & Lace Ink Emporium, an all-female staffed studio. Her golden rule was simple. Never date a client. That no-strings-attached-attitude kept her evenings busy, and her heart stagnant. That is until the zaniest night of tattooing in her career befell....

The new, detached setting is teeming with "land mines"—highly unusual ones. Plenty of other, deadlier things would be happy to reach out and touch someone anywhere, be it the roof of a skyscraper or a subway tunnel deep underground. Tons of somnambulant extras could swing either way: cut your throat or help you, purely on a whim. Weapons are as deadly as they are improbable. Deliberately imposed multiple handicaps make any attempts at camouflage meaningless.

Pilot X is Ambassador of the Alendans, a race with the ability to move through space and time as guardians of the timeline. Locked in ongoing conflict with the Sensaurians, an organic hive mind that can send messages in thought throughout its own history, and the Progons, a machine race who can communicate backwards in time, Pilot X finally manages to create peace among the three races.

I can't say my parents never warned me about vampires. I just never believed them. Not - that is - until six months ago when vampires broke into my home and killed my family. Thanks to all the skills my parents taught me, I managed to escape but I couldn't save them. Two vampires down and the rest of the world to go. My bid for revenge is going to have to wait, though, because until I turn 18, I'm being placed in the loving care of Elizabeth and Jonathan McKnight - godparents I didn't even know existed.

I've known one thing all my life: I belong to the Fortingall Wood. I was born there and I'll die there. It's in my blood. When slavers of the Hand take my brother, sister, and our entire village I discover nothing I know is true - not my place as a ranger or even who I am. With the help of the Sirens, ancient warriors imbued by a goddess, I may have a shot at saving my family. But the Sirens have trouble of their own. If I want their help I'll have to free each woman from her magic-induced exile. First, I have to find them.

Battles with demons, intrigue, duels, honey traps, and no shortage of adventure in general . . . the heir of a noble lineage certainly leads an eventful life. We wonder what will change once he becomes a prince? Will his troubles multiply exponentially? Will enemies try to smear the good name of the Morozovs? Or will circumstances inexorably make Ivan march off to war?

Hiram Taine is a handyman who can fix anything. When he isn't fiddling with his tools, he is roaming through the woods with his dog, Towser, as he has done for as long as he can remember. He likes things that he can understand. But when a new ceiling appears in his basement - a ceiling that appears to have the ability to repair television sets so they're better than before - he knows he has come up against a mystery that no man can solve.