Showing results by narrator "Aiello" in All Categories

Three offbeat stories of crime and conundrum, set in the present moment, from the New York Times best-selling, Edgar Award-winning author of Underground Airlines and The Last Policeman.

These fourteen science fiction stories reveal Lem’s fascination with artificial intelligence and demonstrate just how surprisingly human sentient machines can be.

Clarity came on the colony planet Astrild after teaming with an enigmatic colleague named Edgar Millen. Their agency employer works to influence colony planets to eventually join the Federation, the largest human political entity. But there are opponents: individuals, parties, criminal enterprises, and competing interstellar dominions. Astrild lacked the planetary government needed for development in preparation for Federation membership. Although the agency used various strategies, Cole and Millen were tasked with removing obstacles hindering that development.

Despite being all alone - the only one of his kind - Bast Banbeck has generously helped humanity time and again against the death machines, saving us from extinction. Years ago, Jon Hawkins promised Bast that he would hunt for and save the Sacerdotes in return. But the homesick Bast is losing hope, drowning his sorrows in extended drinking bouts. Now, Intelligence learns there are Sacerdote prisoners 162 light-years away. Jon leads the rescue operation, using the void to slip undetected into enemy territory.

The year is 2016. Not our 2016. Theirs. Earth is dying, the result of a worldwide nuclear holocaust caused by America’s dictatorial President-for-Life Lewis Henderson, a man who will use any means necessary to maintain power and survive. Enter: The Splitter. A machine capable of splitting off an exact replica of Henderson’s world. A world where the cataclysmic events causing its destruction have yet to occur. That world is ours.

Take a short journey to adventure with Iron Kingdoms Excursions! Each season features six volumes, each containing three very short tales about the people, creatures, and machines of Immoren. The Season One Collection gathers all 18 previously released tales from the first season of Iron Kingdom Excursions into one book. Experience the Iron Kingdoms through the eyes of nine talented authors, including New York Times best-selling author Larry Correia, Hugo Award winner Howard Tayler, and Iron Kingdoms lead writer Douglas Seacat.

Deadland Sentinel, book three: With the trafficking ring obliterated, Jack turns his attention to wiping out the dregs of the criminal empire. But when he arrives to take out a particular scumbag, he only finds the man's corpse. And he's missing a shoe. Deadland Protector, book four: With the Hand dead and the Ring mostly dismantled, Burner's team turn their attention to loose ends. The thing about loose ends is if you tug at them there is always a chance that you'll pull something else loose.

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.

Star Lawyers Corporation must defend a known criminal in Pirate Court to prevent ancient technologies from falling into the hands of expansionist star nations, which will lead to a new era of galactic war. Only pirate Captain Flavio Tavares, who faces terrible judgment by his peers, can lead Tyler Matthews to a derelict starbase abandoned by the collapsing Galactic Empire long ago.

The alien creatures have made it to Earth. Entire cities are battling invasion from the menacing swarms. This is worse than Zola. It’s worse than the Leak. It’s worse than all of our nightmares put together. The creatures are indestructible, shrugging off our strongest weaponry. Now, our only hope lies inside a powerful ancient artifact we don’t understand. To save Earth’s future, we have to unlock the secrets of a lost alien past. Whatever it takes, we have to harness the power of the Orb. Humanity is coming together for one last stand against this threat from afar.

With the ACA and Hive invasions successfully thwarted, Tranquility's newest colonists are struggling to rebuild. Peace has finally come to humanity's furthest colony, and life is finally starting to return to normal. The peace was not meant to be. After receiving a distress call from a distant scouting mission, Lander and the newly formed military find themselves deploying to a dead alien world, where the heart of the Hive lies in wait.

Outside any city still standing, the Mechanical Circus Tresaulti sets up its tents. Crowds pack the benches to gawk at the brass-and-copper troupe and their impossible feats: Ayar the Strong Man, the acrobatic Grimaldi Brothers, fearless Elena and her aerialists who perform on living trapezes. War is everywhere, but while the Circus is performing, the world is magic. That magic is no accident: Boss builds her circus from the bones out, molding a mechanical company that will survive the unforgiving landscape.

Joel Lander wants nothing more than a fresh start, far from Earth and wars that have left humanity’s birthplace in shambles. Leaving on the second mission to the distant world of Tranquility, Lander and his family plan to build a brand-new life for themselves. Boasted to be everything Earth wasn’t - clean, unsullied, safe - Lander learns upon arrival that Tranquility is anything but. New Independence has gone dark, and it soon becomes clear that he will have to fight a terrifying enemy to save their new home.

Falling in love wasn't the plan. But how could I resist his promises of hope? Of forgiveness? Of a future I had stopped dreaming of? We were shattered. We were scarred. We were something strange and beautiful. We were two lost souls holding on to the only thing that could keep us together. Each other.

A medieval swindler gets caught with his proverbial pants down; a foolproof plan is put into place to pick up some cash via AI, until things take an unexpected and deadly turn; a legendary bodyguard is hired to protect precious cargo, but who will protect the cargo from him? The 14 brand-new stories deal with the complex idea of morality and will make listeners wonder what side is the right side.

Lunar prospecting is the next big thing, and companies are raking in the bucks. Nick has a plan to get a piece of the action—but he’ll first have to overcome the agonizing difficulties of surviving up here. To do that, he must work with Joe Massad, who nearly killed Nick two years ago. Joe seems to have put aside his ambitions to conquer the moon and Earth, but has he really changed?

Speed: the most demonized - and misunderstood - drug in the land. Deprived of the ingrained romantic mysticism of the opiate or the cosmopolitan chic of cocaine or the mundane tolerance of marijuana, there is no sympathy for this devil. Yet speed - crystal meth, amphetamines, Dexedrine, Benzedrine, Adderall; crank, spizz, chickenscratch, oblivious marching powder, the go-fast - is the most American of drugs: twice the productivity at half the cost, and equal opportunity for all.

Working as a barmaid in the rough-and-tumble city of Half Town, Jancy the Quick keeps her true profession a secret but is poised to respond whenever injustice is found. In this instance injustice has found her. But this time Jancy may have bitten off more than she can chew.

"Sun and Steel" illuminates the origin of Jirom, one of the main characters of the Book of the Black Earth epic fantasy series. This story explores the brutal nature of this world as well as the honor and duty that bind its characters together.

Beloved stage and screen actor Danny Aiello’s big-hearted memoir reveals a man of passion, integrity, and guts - and lays bare one of the most unlikely success stories ever told. Danny Aiello admits that he backed into his acting career by mistake. That’s easy to see when you begin at the beginning: Raised by his loving and fiercely resilient mother in the tenements of Manhattan and the South Bronx, and forever haunted by the death of his infant brother, Danny struggled early on to define who he was and who he could be.