Showing results by narrator "Dan Bittner" in All Categories

When a neurotic statistics geek gets invited to his twenty-five-year high school reunion, he spends his life savings remaking his identity to wow his old classmates. Only one tiny problem: his new persona gets him mistaken for a drug kingpin and sends him running for his life with the very people who used to make it miserable.

This anthology, with an introduction by Robert Silverberg, offers a sweeping survey of robots as depicted throughout literature. Since the Iliad—in which we are shown golden statues built by Hephaestus “with minds and wisdoms”—humans have been fascinated by the idea of artificial life. From the Argonautica to the medieval Jewish legend of the Golem and Ambrose Bierce’s tale of a chess-playing robot, the idea of what robots are—and who creates them—can be drastically different.

As a Green Beret on an alien world, the victorious Warlord of Mihdradahl is used to being close to death. The prospect of peace and how to live in it is an entirely different story. When a new enemy brings the end of Benjamin Colt’s peace, his purpose for living, and his entire future, the Warlord must wage a battle as no other. But how to fight an enemy that undermines the faith of his people? What weapon can be wielded to prevent a civil war among the citizens of Queen Talis Darmon’s kingdom?

Chris comes from a sports-loving family. His brother is the star scorer on the high school team, and is being recruited by Division 3 colleges. Chris longs to earn the same adulation, and he’s a good scorer for his junior high team. But why won’t his coach start him? He’s better on defense than his rival, Carlos, and nearly as good a shooter. Soon Chris becomes obsessed with earning a place in his team’s starting lineup. He does everything he can think of—including being an invaluable player every time he comes in. But nothing seems to get Coach’s attention.

As climate change continues to intensify, the outlook for life on Earth often seems bleak. Yet hope for the future can be found in the “rescue effect,” which is nature’s innate ability to help organisms persist during hard times. Like a thermostat starting the air conditioning when a room gets too warm, the rescue effect automatically kicks in when organisms are stressed or declining. In The Rescue Effect, Michael Mehta Webster reveals the science behind nature’s inherent resilience, through compelling stories of species that are adapting to the changing world.

This book spotlights John Lewis, known for his role in the Civil Rights Movement, having helped organize the March on Washington and the Selma Voting Rights March, and for his lifelong dedication to public service as a member of the House of Representatives. John Lewis was never afraid to get in good trouble.

An intimate exploration of race and inequality in America, Little Brother tells the story of journalist Ben Westhoff's long-time relationship with his mentee Jorell Cleveland through the Big Brothers Big Sisters program and investigates Jorell's tragic fatal shooting at the age of nineteen.

When the talent show starts, he accepts that he’ll be just a regular ol’ audience member. But when his friends need help on stage, the Good Egg steps up to help and discovers that being yourself and kindness deserve a standing ovation.

In this classic Miami crime story and thriller, from the writer acclaimed for his Hoke Moseley novels, a man's life is threatened when he discovers his new lover is married.

The stories in this collection reflect a fundamental truth about Santa Fe: history depends on who's telling it. Too often the story of this city has been told only by the conquerors and the tourism PR firms. Hear the stories that never make the glossy tour brochures: the working class and the underground, the decolonized and the ever-haunted; the Santa Fe only we know.... Conquered and reconquered, colonized and commodified, Santa Fe understands - from historical genocide to the murders of family members - the intimacy of violence.

A grim discovery in Lance Kendall’s home proved one thing - the residents of Blyth Lake had a serial killer in their midst. Now Lance had unintentionally put a target on his back. Worst yet, he’s made the only woman he ever loved known to a murderer. A trip down memory lane with the man who’d broken Brynn Mercer’s heart wasn’t the smartest thing she’d ever done in her life, but their reunion was a slow burn of temptation that she couldn’t ignore. Together, they will only have one chance to correct the past.

A chance mishap with a sledgehammer was the sole reason a chilling nightmare was unleashed in Blyth Lake. Noah Kendall’s grisly discovery left him in the middle of a murder investigation and a neighbor who knew more than she was willing to say. Reese Woodward had returned to town with dark secrets, and he was determined to unravel them. While evil lurks in the darkness, seduction burns between them…only time was their enemy. Will her secrets destroy what they’ve built, or can he earn her trust before the killer strikes again?

Mitch Kendall was welcomed home after 16 years by a murder investigation that plagued every member of his family. He wanted the dark cloud lifted that hung over his return, so he did the only thing he could - he called in a favor from an old friend. Allie Delaney spent most of her adult life building her career as a special investigator solving cold cases for the New York Police Department. She loves her city and would never consider leaving the bright lights, but she was willing to take a well-deserved vacation to pay back an old friend.

Gwen Kendall spent 10 years in the Navy and used the last four to create a life for herself she could be proud of away from the confines of her overprotective family. Being the only woman in the Kendall clan tended to be a bit overwhelming at times. Chad Schaeffer had been hired on to help restore an old farmhouse for one of the returning Kendall siblings. He’d heard about the trouble the family had encountered and honestly didn’t want to go anywhere near their properties. He had a change of heart when he saw the most recently returned Kendall sibling stepping out of her car.

Returning home from his last deployment shouldn’t have been complicated, but Jace Kendall was immediately drawn into a murder investigation that hits a little too close to home. The last thing he should be doing was reigniting old passions that should have been kept buried, but he’s never been a guy who plays by the rules. Shae has suffered for 12 years without knowing why her sister disappeared. The long-awaited answers are now within reach, and she’ll have no choice but to trust the one man who knows more than he’s telling.

The stories in Paul Alan Ruben's Terms of Engagement explore father and son as intimate enemies, each yearning to be understood, acknowledged, and validated by the other. Raw and gripping as delivered by a cast of incredible narrators, these nine stories take place in collision territory - where father and son engage in trying to repair their alienation.

Peter Cunningham has been looking for inspiration for his novel - that is, when he isn’t teaching at the local women’s prison, walking his dog, getting high, and wondering whether it’s time to tie the knot with his college girlfriend. When Peter meets Leslie, a sexual adventurer taking a break from her fiancé, he gets a glimpse of what he wishes and imagines himself to be: a writer of talent and nerve. Over the course of a Virginia summer, their charged, increasingly intimate friendship opens the door to difficult questions about love and literary ambition.

Akashic Books continues its award-winning series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir. This anthology includes brand-new stories by: Tommy Moore, Jessica Breheny, Naomi Hirahara, Calvin McMillin, Liza Monroy, Elizabeth McKenzie, Jill Wolfson, Ariel Gore, Jon Bailiff, Maceo Montoya, Micah Perks, Seana Graham, Vinnie Hansen, Peggy Townsend, Margaret Elysia Garcia, Lou Mathews, Lee Quarnstrom, Dillon Kaiser, Beth Lisick, and Wallace Baine.

Two years after rock-song-worthy heartbreak, Virginia Miller is looking forward to a fun, carefree summer. Her friends just landed a spot on a battling bands reality show, and Vee is joining them for her dream internship on tour. Three months with future rockstars seems like an epic summer plan. Until she learns she’ll also be sharing the bus with Cam. Her first love, and her first heartbreak. Now Vee has more than just cameras to dodge, and Cam’s determination to win her forgiveness is causing TMZ-worthy problems for both of them.

Seven teenagers who suffer from debilitating insomnia agree to take part in an experimental new procedure to cure it because they think it can't get any worse. But they couldn't be more wrong. When the lab equipment malfunctions, the patients are plunged into a terrifying dream world where their worst nightmares have come to life - and they have no memory of how they got there.