Showing results by narrator "mike ortego" in All Categories

In the dim glow of a majestic beach house shrouded in the fog, Detective Matt Jones stands amidst the chaos of a crime scene that whispers of a story untold, a secret so potent it claimed the lives of a writer, his wife and young daughter. The air is thick with the metallic scent of blood and the silent echoes of a family's last moments. The Los Angeles Times will mourn one of its own, and the City of Angels will buzz with rumors and fear. But for Matt Jones, this isn't just another murder case; it's a personal vendetta against the shadows that snatch away the innocent.

A skilled mechanic and certified spitfire, Twinkle Winkleman is as hard as nails; she has to be with a name like hers. Twinkle learned everything there is to know about cars from her time in her daddy’s garage in Anchorage, and when her father dies, she gains ownership of the shop and Maude, her dad’s prized 1973 International Harvester Travelall. Life has not been kind to Twinkle: she grew up without her mother, her daddy’s gone, her ex-husband betrayed her, and her son Tad was killed after a trip to Seattle to handle some “unfinished business.”

A striking collection of stories, poems, letters, travel essays, journal entries, excerpts from three novels, and more—including the complete text of The Sheltering Sky—from one of the most revered authors of the twentieth century.

Does the idea of progress still apply to our times? If so, what does progress really mean? Today, many believe that progress is a word to be avoided, a relic from a past, the dangerous product of an era of intellectual naivety that would be best forgotten. Yet, the idea of progress is rooted in a human impulse that is both profound and essential, a way of interpreting history without which our ability to plan the future, our very identity would be at stake.

Marked by a sure grasp of unusual subject matter and unfurling in gorgeous prose, the stories in You Should Pity Us Instead explore some of our toughest dilemmas: the cost of Middle East strife at its most intimate level, the likelihood of God considered in day-to-day terms, the moral stakes of family obligations, and the inescapable fact of mortality. Also, fundamentally, love in its many guises - family, romantic, friendship - each ensnared by rigorous demands and responsibilities.

An old soldier's last request spirals into a worldwide search to recover the remains of seven missing GIs from World War II. A four-person team of both military and civilian volunteers conduct the investigation. All they have to work with is a list of names. Their only motivation is to honor the fallen and give closure to their families. Or is there some other unknown purpose at play?

This Raging Bull Publishing box set contains four classic Western books by Max Brand: Black Jack, Harrigan, Riders of the Silence, and The Untamed.

In the aptly titled Offbeat, Richard Matheson, a modern master of strange fiction, offers 13 excursions into the unsettling and bizarre. In these stories you will encounter a major league pitcher with a horrific secret for his astonishing success; an ordinary man who wakes to find himself in a silent, empty world; a death row prisoner with an extraordinary explanation for his innocence; and a novelist whose fictional creations transcend the printed page.

A Punctual Paymaster travels 70 years through the secrets of the white Thanos family and the black Taylor family, twisted like strands of yarn woven together on a loom. Wealthy, powerful Nikkos Thanos owns a wool mill and almost everything else on the north side of Delphi, Missouri, and is the overseer of a fractured society. The brave, judicious Thaddeus "Cousin" Taylor owns a grocery store and a tavern on the south side and carries a past hauntingly shrouded in tragedy.

Thirty years after they walked hand in hand to the electric chair, sentenced to die for giving the gift of the atom bomb to the Soviet Union, Solomon and Dolores Rubell are the targets of a new investigation - conducted not by the FBI, or some paranoid Senate subcommittee, but by Gerald Lerner, boyhood Communist and author of such classic chronicles of the American Jewish experience as Hot Pastrami Sandwich and Kosher and Topless.

A fast-paced combination of environmental catastrophe, geopolitical stakes, freelance spies and Bond-like action. The Arctic ice caps are breaking up. Europe and the East Coast of the United States brace for a tidal wave. Meanwhile, former French intelligence officer John Spencer Larivire, his karate-trained, steamy Eurasian partner, Victoire, and their computer-genius sidekick, Luc, pick up an ordinary freelance assignment that quickly leads them into the glacial silence of the great north, where a merciless war is being waged.

Reanimated after six hundred years, Grant Justice has become the leader of Earth's new army. Unwilling to sit back and wait for the next attack, Grant decides to take the fight to the enemy. He and a mothership full of his best fighters are headed toward Waa, the aliens' new home world. Unknown to Grant, a fleet of alien motherships is headed toward Earth-intent on punishing the planet for destroying Minith. Who will win the battle for supremacy-the alien slavers with a thirst for war, or the humans struggling to survive and save their way of life?

It's been six years since Grant Justice was brought back to life to help the Peaceful citizens of Earth defeat the Minith. Life should be good. The Minith are gone. Grant now has a loving wife and a remarkable son. He is a hero to the society that once shunned him. But Grant hasn't been taking life easy. He's been recruiting fighters away from Peace. He's been cobbling together an army from the dregs of society and training them to fight. Which is a good thing, because another alien Mothership is headed their way.

It's the mid-21st century when Sergeant First Class Grant Justice is killed during an ambush on an enemy tank column. Six hundred years later, his body is retrieved from the frozen, arctic lake where he perished. Re-animated by a team of scientists, Grant awakens to a civilization that has abolished war. A civilization that has outlawed violence and cherishes Peace above all else. A civilization that has been enslaved by an alien race called the Minith.

The killer liked to watch them drown. First they gasped for breath. Then they thrashed around. Why did they even bother to struggle? They all ended up the same; floating dead in the water. Dr. Dean Grant, head of Criminal Forensic Medicine, was Chicago's expert on serial killings. Corpses were his business. But Grant's skills, cunning, and experience may not be enough to stop a psychopath from turning the city into his own private drowning pool.

Each December 7 we commemorate the anniversary of the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. All of the US Navy's aircraft carriers survived that assault. The central theme of this audio mini-book describes the pivotal role played by those surviving American aircraft carriers in the first year of the war. The article also briefly describes all of the Japanese and American aircraft carriers in service at the time and their relative strengths and weaknesses.

Mike Delo, a former military investigator, then, an unorthodox homicide detective with the Omaha Police Department, until he is forced to resign and go private, Delo struggles with alcohol abuse and criticism about his relationship with his family, as he attempts to solve a string of brutal murders. During the investigation, he becomes embroiled in covert FBI operations and conflict between competing crime organizations. He moves quickly and adroitly, and finds clues overlooked by police.

Cat and his friends are back! The rich, cantankerous, narcissistic, but generous, septuagenarian Cajun, Clarence "Cat" Touchette, helps when his friend, Crosby "Souris" Babineaux finds his son in a coma at the family's marine transportation company. Cat begins probing, discovers unusual business practices by Souris' son, and scrutinizes a sleazy crew aboard a vessel chartered by a mysterious company.

Dragon Rebirth picks up where Dragon Soul left off. The plot line intensifies, new characters are introduced and the arena for the battle with the creatures attacking the Palmir People broadens as the story progresses. Mixed in all this, there are poignant moments of loss, love, spiritual growth and maturity as the characters face their fears and find within themselves the means to survive and prepare to prevail against the incursions.

Blowing off steam at a Saturday night party with the girl you really want to date can lead to hearing your friends' thoughts, pissing off the Faery King, and imminent mortal danger - if you're sixteen-year-old Kevin Landon, instant freak. His new normal: A best friend with a secret. A doomed rock-n-roll singer. A kidnapped father. Only Kevin can save them. But first he has to survive the Faery King's hunt.