Showing results by narrator "Kevin T. Collins" in All Categories

It's Saturday night in Santa Barbara and it seems like everyone is headed to the same destination. The reason is simple: To celebrate the end of school. But for eleven different people the motives are bit more complicated - to be noticed, to hook up, to make friends, to numb the pain, to get over an ex, to say goodbye. As each character takes a turn and tells his/her story, the eleven individuals intersect, reconnect, and combine in ways that none of them ever saw coming.

Carter Montgomery broke the family mold when he went to culinary school. Now a successful restauranteur, he's at a crossroads: Should he continue on his successful path or look for a new challenge? What he needs is time alone to think things through. But his matchmaking family has other ideas.

Donovan was shot by a cop. Four of the nine shots were lethal or would have been, if their target had been anybody else. The Foundation picked him up, brought him back, and trained him further. “Lethal” turns out to be a relative term when magic is involved. When Marci was 15, she levitated a paperweight and threw it at a guy she didn't like. The Foundation scooped her up for training too. “Hippie chick” Susan got well into her Foundation training before they told her about the magic, but she's as powerful as Donovan and Marci now.

When a large, winged humanoid with glowing red eyes was spotted in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, the Mothman legend was born. Since that fateful November night, the flying cryptid has become one of the most famous monsters of all time. Richard Estep and renowned Mothman researcher Tobias Wayland document firsthand witness accounts and conduct detailed investigations with the hope of seeing the iconic cryptid themselves. This book chronicles their discoveries, which include large concentrations of sightings in the Chicago and Lake Michigan area.

This world resembles our own, the difference being that aristocratic clans with magical abilities hold all power here. Those without magic are called "nulls" and seen as nothing more than failures. Ivan, our hero, had been marked for death—until an old warrior saved him, and the spirit of his mighty ancestor gave him magical talents. And now Ivan has inherited a princely title. However, being a young head of a noble house, he is a prime target for the empire's ambitious aristocrats. One wrong step could lead to conflict.

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?

For the members of Kings of Jupiter, the absence of their muse, Sophia Lozier, is as unsettling as a melody without a tune. With their lyrics and lives on pause, Mazen Wilde, Oliver Collins, and Cannon Rhodes vow to find their personal tattoo artist turned lover.

Hanuvar pledged to find the remnants of his people, scattered into slavery across the whole of the peninsula. This time he had no army. His would be a stealthy war of liberation, buying the freedom of some and arranging for the escape of others, aided only by a young playwright, the daughter of a hated political rival, the tattered remnants of his old spy network, and the unlikeliest ally of all, the general who once defeated him.

"Something Passed By", a story by Robert McCammon, was originally published in his short fiction collection Blue World and was selected for inclusion in The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Third Annual Collection.

Executive assistant Emma Taylor is desperate for a little time away - away from her job, from her life, and from thoughts of her boss' son, who doesn't seem to know she even exists. Tired of waiting for the time to be right, she takes advantage of her boss' generous offer for a little weekend getaway to thank her for helping out with a difficult business deal.

Some dream of prosperity, of living a calm and peaceful life. But not me. Having reached the pinnacles of success, I can't stop thinking about the past, about a time when any misstep could spell disaster, when I had to pay, work, and risk everything for even the slightest gain and each day was like walking a knife's edge. That's all in the past now. This peaceful, predictable, and privileged life isn't so bad. But it's boring!

Married . . . With Children writer-producer Richard Gurman takes us behind the scenes of this boundary-breaking show to reveal how its inner workings were at times as disruptive and contentious—yet at other times, as hysterical and raunchy—as the Bundy family themselves.

In the snow-globe world surrounding the Pillar, where survival stands on a knife's edge, it would seem differences should be set aside in the name of the greater good. But people are people, and even in the toughest conditions they divide themselves into groups and castes. Intrigue rules, secrets spread, and the cunning play games . . . but not all succumb. Several headstrong Lucovian explorers have found a friend and trusted partner in Hunter. They share a common goal of escaping their icy trap.

It's been two years since Nate abandoned his boring life on Earth to travel to another realm. Two years of slaying monsters to level up his elemental powers. Two years of longing to become a hero. So when one of the realm's immortal rulers betrays their kin, he vows to do whatever it takes to bring the renegade to justice.

The Appalachians are an ancient and mysterious mountain range, whose peaks at one time rivaled the Himalayans. The mysteries of these mountains have been cataloged by Native American tribes and settlers alike. One of these mysteries is that Bigfoot inhabits these parts. Building off his book, Tracking the Stone Man: West Virginia's Bigfoot, Dr. Russell Jones, a certified master naturalist, lifelong outdoorsman, and longtime Bigfoot researcher, has put together one of the most complete examinations of these creatures in Appalachia with The Appalachian Bigfoot.

This second edition of Marijuana Legalization: What Everyone Needs to Know® discusses what is happening with marijuana policy, describing both the risks and the benefits of using marijuana, without taking sides in the legalization debate. The book details the potential gains and losses from legalization, explores the "middle ground" options between prohibition and commercialized production, and considers the likely impacts of legal marijuana on occasional users, daily users, patients, parents, and employers-and even on drug traffickers.

In working-class Bay Ridge, Michael drives for a car service and gives lifts to his father, a former sanitation worker and current small-time bookie. He has a friend with a heroin habit, and a longtime girlfriend who expects they’ll get married one of these days. Michael spends most of his time on the familiar streets where he grew up, but now he’s crossing the bridge into Manhattan for some college classes—where he meets a seductive female classmate who seems to come from a whole different world.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought forth global anxiety about linkages between the environment and society at a fundamental structural level. Earthly Order: How Natural Laws Define Human Life provides an accessible exposition of the latest foundational knowledge on how natural and social systems science can inform planetary crises. Humanity has either tried to conquer or capitulate to natural order, whereas we should be seeking to understand latent structures and patterns that permeate all systems and develop an "earthly order," that is socially functional and sustainable.

A man arrives home from an international flight to find that the airline has delivered his lost luggage. Wonderful, except he never lost his luggage in the first place. The story is told through his increasingly maddening call to customer service as he tries to figure out how, and why, the airline created a perfect replica of his suitcase and possessions.

A lonely terraforming AI is delighted when a spacecraft unexpectedly makes an emergency landing on his planet. Hoping that the mysterious woman aboard might want to stay, he strives to be the best host in the universe.