Showing results by narrator "Luke Daniels" in All Categories

For decades, the top-secret Red Cell Seven unit has operated beyond the reach of the law - defending the United States by any means necessary, with absolute impunity. But the tables have turned, and the untouchable anti-terror squad is under attack. Determined to end Red Cell Seven’s ruthless, lawless existence, the US president has tapped military assassin extraordinaire Skylar McCoy to lead a covert search and destroy mission. But McCoy isn’t the only one gunning for Red Cell Seven.

How did Lev Calder move from an unwillingly escaped Tithe to a clapper? In this revealing short story, Neal Shusterman opens a window on Lev’s adventures between the time he left CyFi and showed up at the Graveyard. Pulling elements from Neal Shusterman’s critically acclaimed Unwind and giving hints about what is to come in the riveting sequel, UnWholly, this short story is not to be missed.

The frozen wasteland of Snow World - known as Southern California before an alien invasion decimated civilization - is home to warring steampunk clans. Crankshafts, Imperials, Tinskins, Brineboilers, and many more all battle one another for precious supplies, against ravenous mutant beasts for basic survival, and with the mysterious Founders for their very freedom. Through this ruined world soars the Pneumatic Zeppelin, captained by the daring Romulus Buckle.

In a postapocalyptic world of endless snow, Captain Romulus Buckle and the stalwart crew of the Pneumatic Zeppelin must embark on a perilous mission to rescue their kidnapped leader, Balthazar Crankshaft, from the impenetrable City of the Founders. Steaming over a territory once known as Southern California — before it was devastated in the alien war — Buckle navigates his massive airship through skies infested with enemy war zeppelins and ravenous alien beasties in this swashbuckling and high-octane steampunk adventure.

Second in the Tales of the Duskwalker series. The lone gunman Three is gone. Wren is the new governor of the devastated settlement of Morningside, but there is turmoil in the city. When his life is put in danger, Wren is forced to flee Morningside until he and his retinue can determine who can be trusted.They arrive at a border outpost to find it has been infested with Weir in greater numbers than anyone has ever seen.

When coed Ally Monroe literally falls into the arms of a tattooed bad-boy one summer night, she can’t seem to let go. Morgan Jordan is everything Ally doesn’t want — he’s a playboy from a blue-collar background, and Ally’s looking for upper-class stability. Though their relationship starts off as a one-night stand, once Ally learns Morgan is her best friend’s brother, there’s no escaping him…or the growing fire between them.

The crime scene is horrific: the corpse of a young actress, drained of blood and cut in two. LAPD Detective Sophie Manning’s new case is high-profile and difficult - there’s no evidence to work with. And it’s a disturbing echo of the infamous Black Dahlia killing. Sophie is burning the candle at both ends, desperate to catch the murderer before he strikes again, when she starts to experience inexplicable visits...from ghosts.

Linebacker-turned-lawyer Jake Lassiter heads to Havana and untangles a deadly plot involving the CIA, Fidel Castro, and the Russian government.

Harvey Mapes is a 26-year-old security guard who spends his nights in a guard shack outside a gated community in Southern California, reading detective novels, watching reruns, and waiting for his life to finally start…which happens when Cyril Parkus, one of the wealthy residents, asks Harvey to follow his beautiful wife. The lowly security guard jumps at the opportunity to fulfill his private eye fantasies and use everything he’s learned from Spenser, Magnum, and Mannix. But things don’t exactly go according to the books…or the reruns.

Following a devastating nuclear war, the Moral Reclamation government took over the world and forced its citizens to live by strictly puritanical rules - no premarital sex, drunkenness, or displaying of neon signs - all of which are reinforced through a constant barrage of public messages. The chief purveyor of these messages is Alan Purcell, next in line to become head of the propaganda bureau. But there is just one problem: a statue of the government’s founder has been vandalized.

First, the flash. A glare of light, just before dawn, followed by utter darkness. A vast blanketing nothingness that covers the whole Earth. Then, the disappearances begin. Friends and strangers alike, swallowed by the darkness…. A lucky few are returned, but they are altered, changed. For the people of Jesman’s Bend, it feels like the end of the world. But this is only the very start.

Robert Baxter once reveled in the intoxicating delights of Atopia - the man-made island where humans lose themselves in a world of boundless virtual realities. Now, Bob has returned to immerse himself in this mind-altering, consciousness-sharing refuge from the eroding Earth. But something is very wrong. Bob feels a tidal wave of doom cresting above the pleasure dome that is Atopia. As alternate universes perish, the salvation of all he loves - and all that exists - rests with Bob alone.

Milton Lumky territory is both an area of the western United States and a psychic terrain: the world and worldview of the traveling salesman. The story takes place in Boise, Idaho, with some extraordinary long-distance driving sequences in which our hero (young Bruce Stevens) drives from Boise to San Francisco, to Reno, to Pocatello, to Seattle, and back to Boise in search of a good deal on some wholesale typewriters.

There’s nothing All Star pitcher Peter Friedman loves more than baseball. It’s his life. He breathes baseball, dreams about it, and works his tail off to be great. Most kids are nervous about starting high school, but Pete’s amazing arm is going to make his life pretty easy. When you’re the star, girls, popularity, and all-around stud status are sure to follow. But Pete’s freshman year doesn’t turn out as planned. A pitching accident over the summer ruins his arm. If he can’t play baseball, what is he supposed to do? If he isn’t the star pitcher, then who is he?

A GUTSY ROBBERY. Several million bucks, stolen from the mob... A PERFECT FRAME. All caught on video, with no chance of redemption... A RED HOT RECIPE FOR RAMPAGING REVENGE. Now one man must face the entire Chicago Outfit, a group of hardened Mafia enforcers, a psychotic bookie, the most dangerous hitman on earth, and Detective Jacqueline Daniels... His name is Tequila. And he likes those odds.

When electrical engineers Ryan McNear and Foster Reed coauthored two patents for company cash incentives, they thought it was all just a joke. One describes the soul as a software algorithm, and the other described the Big Bang as a power generator. But when the company crashes, McNear finds himself divorced, desperately hard up, and estranged from his son. As he rebuilds his life, McNear discovers Reed has used their nonsensical patents to draw in top-tier energy investors.

Terry lands at San Francisco International Airport ready to start his new life with Sarah, the American journalist he married after a transatlantic love affair. But Sarah’s a no show. Convinced something terrible has happened, Terry reports Sarah’s disappearance to the sheriff, who shrugs it off as a case of a new bride with cold feet. But then dead women start turning up, all with two things in common: each victim had exposed a scandal just before her death...and all of their names appear on a list written by Sarah.

In the dying days of the war in Europe, Nazi scientists manage to put an atomic bomb into orbit. Only a miracle prevented them from bringing it back down on New York. Thirteen years later, with the bomb still in orbit, the Black Sun, a secret neo-Nazi organization with considerable financial and technological resources at their command, builds the Seawolf 4, a super-sub capable of traveling under the Arctic icecap.

When Lieutenant Cam Alvarez is called to investigate a desert massacre in the US Green Zone, she prepares for the worst. Once her team of soldiers arrives on the scene, she realizes the violence wasn’t committed by human hands. Alien invaders already dominate Earth’s expanding polar regions, but Cam had never seen Ringheads survive exposure to heat...until they storm her troops and abduct her.

A heartbroken and humiliated Ricky Graves took the life of a classmate and himself. Five months later, the sleepy community is still in shock and mourning. Ricky's sister, Alyssa, returns to confront her shattered, withdrawn mother and her guilt over the brother she left adrift. Mark McVitry, the lone survivor of the deadly outburst sparked by his own cruelty, is tormented by visions of Ricky's vengeful spirit. Ricky's surrogate older brother, Corky Meeks, grapples with doubts about the fragile boy he tried to protect but may have doomed instead.