Showing results by narrator "Richard Williams" in All Categories

The nuclear conflagration that had nearly consumed the world generations ago stripped away most of its bounty, throwing survivors back to more savage ways of existence. Amid the ruins, Ryan Cawdor leads the daring few who wage a grim battle in a quest for a better future. As elsewhere in the Deathlands, what remains of the Sunshine State is ruled by tooth and claw and unbridled instinct. It's an alien, inhospitable terrain of sulphur pits and lethal geysers, inhabited by mutated life-forms.

The warrior survivalists are reluctant guests in a reactivated 20th-century medical institute in Maine. Here, scientists still pursue their abstract theories, oblivious to the realities of a world gone mad. But when they take an unhealthy interest in Krysty Wroth, the pressure is on to find a way out of this guarded enclave.

Ruled by a perverse and malevolent Nature, roamed by lawless remnants of humanity, the Deathlands is what's left of the continental US after a nuclear apocalypse unleashed hell on Earth. Here, only a few can survive and still retain hope for the future and of these, none are more determined than the exiled son of a coastal baron and his closely knit band of warrior survivalists. The years of struggle in the new reality made Ryan Cawdor a bold and undisputed leader, but now he may have to contend with his former mentor, the enigmatic Trader.

Survival is an endless battle in the dark age of post-holocaust America, but even amid the ashes of the past, new pockets of civilization emerge, fledgeling communities bound by savage rules. Ryan Cawdor and his band of warrior-survivalists are transported from one Valley of the Shadow of Death to another, shaken by the mind-bending effects of the mat-trans, emerging at last into a promised land whose inhabitants are healthy and young.

Generations after global annihilation, Kansas is a mutated landscape of dense, deciduous forest. Gone are the amber waves of grain, another hideous result of nuclear devastation that changed the face of the Earth forever. Now it's survival of the freakish. Following rumors that might lead them to the long-lost Trader, Ryan Cawdor and his band of warrior survivalists find themselves the unwilling house guests of the wealthiest barons in all of Deathlands.

Once an idyllic chain of inlets running from Key Largo to Key West, the Florida Keys have become an isolated universe of grotesquely mutated wildlife and bizarre submarine malformations. Blind 70-foot sea snakes lurk among the reefs around underwater volcanoes, while typhoons and pirates turn the crystal waters above into a death zone.

A bad jump from a near-space Gateway leaves Ryan Cawdor and his band of warrior survivalists in the devastated heart of the American Midwest. Moving through the ruins in the safety of an abandoned war wag, they discover a small community that was once the sprawling metropolis of Chicago. The town seems devoid of life, until the first night, when Krysty Wroth vanishes without a trace. Then the group is attacked, leaving Doc Tanner gravely wounded. Ryan realizes that someone, or something, wants them gone — or dead.

An ambush by a roving group of mutant Stickies puts Ryan and Krysty Wroth in the clutches of a tyrant who plans a human sacrifice as a symbol of his power. The execution is set to take place at the new moon — one night away. Ryan devises an escape plan but is betrayed by another prisoner. As they break for freedom, the Stickie leader unleashes a team of hunter-trackers among the maze of narrow canyons of the Southwest. For Ryan and Krysty, there's nowhere left to run....

For most people an afternoon trip to the dentist is the very definition of hell. When Deb's routine dentist appointment turns out to be a meeting with Lucifer himself, she bargains her way back to living with a promise to secure a certain number of souls. Naturally she begins her scavenger hunt in the corporate sector - the Disney Corporation, to be exact! Sharp and refreshing, Keith Reddin's Synergy is an uproarious and wry look at life on the corporate ladder.

New York dilettante Marjorie Taub, a middle-aged doctor's wife, is hooked on culture - mornings at the Whitney, afternoons at MOMA, evenings at BAM. Plunged into a mid-life crisis of Medea-like proportions, she's shaken out of her lethargy by the reappearance of a fascinating childhood friend.

The Judge's House is a classic ghost story by the Irish author Bram Stoker. The story was first published in the December 5, 1891, special Christmas issue of the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News weekly magazine. It was later republished in Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Stories (1914). The short story has since appeared in many anthologies. In the story, a student arrives in a small town looking for a quiet place to stay while preparing for his examination. Making light of the local superstitions, he moves into an old mansion where a notorious hanging judge once lived.

Power, desire, and violence collide in The Prussian Officer, a haunting exploration of the human psyche by D.H. Lawrence. This novella peels back the façade of authority to reveal the seething passions and suppressed emotions lurking beneath. With prose that strikes like a thunderclap, Lawrence immerses the reader in a world where rigid discipline clashes with primal instincts, and the cost of obedience is measured in human suffering. In this gripping narrative, Lawrence examines the tension between the oppressor and the oppressed, unraveling the fragile balance between control and rebellion.

"The ones who are able to see the high meaning of beauty are cultural people. However, the chosen one is the one who sees only one thing in beauty: the Beauty itself" said one of the most famous English poets, writers, playwrights, a bright and inimitable Oscar Wilde (1854-1900). Oscar Wilde is the author of not only the world famous novel Portrait of Dorian Gray, but also of beautiful fairy tales combining the rich imagination of the writer and the ironic style of narration. Every detail has a symbolic meaning and beauty, along with the good, acts as an inseparable whole.

Once upon a time, a poor woodman and his wife were so desperate for a child that they claimed they would be happy even with one no bigger than their thumb. This is what happened, and the boy they named Tom Thumb was smart and bright but would not grow any bigger no matter what or how much they fed him. Tom Thumb is a very little boy, who although he is just about the size of his father's thumb is very adventurous and his curiosity gets him into some difficult situations. With courage, wit and the help of some animal friends, Tom shows that though he may be a very small boy, he is a great hero.

People have always been interested in mysterious treasures, secretly hidden innumerable riches and in it's searching, which always accompanied by a lot of adventures. The novel Treasure Island is a real treasure itself: the sea, the pirates, an uninhabited island, danger, romance, exciting adventures and, of course, wonderful heroes. So, the paths lead to the island of treasures, where Captain Flint reliably hid treasures.

Thomas Paine was born in Great Britain; he came to America at the age of 37 for the first time. He is rightly considered to be the Anglo-American writer, philosopher, publicist, as well as "American godfather" for supporting separatist spirits and inspiring Americans to fight for their independence (at that very moment, the break between America and England was imminent). He described his thoughts in a wonderful tract Common Sense, that according to G. Washington, revolutionized the minds. Later, Thomas Paine's arguments were reflected in The Independence Declaration, written by Jefferson.

The story is about a family who moves to a castle haunted by the ghost of a dead nobleman, who killed his wife and was starved to death by his wife's brothers. The home of the Canterville Ghost was the ancient Canterville Chase, which has all the accoutrements of a traditional haunted house. Descriptions of the wainscoting, the library panelled in black oak, and the armour in the hallway characterise the setting. Wilde mixes the macabre with comedy, juxtaposing devices from traditional English ghost stories such as creaking floorboards, clanking chains, and ancient prophecies.

Ivan Turgenev was an outstanding writer of the 19th century, a corresponding member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in the category of Russian language and literature. He was the author of philosophical and psychological poems, short stories, short novels, and novellas. Throughout his work, he delves into the themes of Russian intelligentsia and peasant life, showcasing mastery in creating psychological portraits.