Showing results by narrator "Michael Goldstrom" in All Categories

Kevin was a young man enjoying his college life when a car jumped the curb and crippled his body. Unable to support himself and dependent on others to meet his needs, Kevin was slipping into depression when his best friend convinced him to play a new game called Genesis Online. The concept was simple: a revolutionary artificial intelligence controlled the game world and adapted it to the actions of the players. Even the developers didn't know what course the game could take as it evolved.

In a career spanning more than 30 years, David Letterman redefined the modern talk show with an ironic comic style that transcended traditional television. While he remains one of the most famous stars in America, he is a remote, even reclusive figure whose career is widely misunderstood. In Letterman, Jason Zinoman, the first comedy critic in the history of the New York Times, mixes groundbreaking reporting with unprecedented access and probing critical analysis to explain the unique entertainer's titanic legacy.

With eloquence and wit, Wayne Hoffman explores the unlikely camaraderie between a young Jewish man and an Orthodox rabbi, in this rich, insightful novel about love, honesty, faith, and belonging. In Yiddish, there is a word for it: bashert - the person you are fated to meet. Twenty-something Benji Steiner views the concept with skepticism. But the elderly rabbi who stumbles into Benji's office one day has no such doubts. Jacob Zuckerman's late wife, Sophie, was his bashert. And now that she's gone, Rabbi Zuckerman grapples with overwhelming grief and loneliness.

The magic flames are raging. Blades are melting. Souls are reduced to ashes in the fury of battle. The grand finale of the war for the First Temple is upon us. The last trump cards have been played, the reserves are all exhausted, and even the gods have engaged in the plebeian fight. The universe is on the point of collapse. Broken are the chains that held the worlds together. The icy waters of the Baltic cool the scorching sands of the Frontier.

When Harper and Celdon escaped to compound 119, they thought they had a chance to start a new life away from Constance. What they found instead was a desolate wasteland ravaged by death. Now they have no choice but to return to their home compound, where things have never been worse. The drifters are plotting a large-scale attack out on the Fringe, and Jayden is speeding up deployments to secure the perimeter. She's ordered Eli to kill the drifters' leaders - including his estranged older brother.

Thorn is a member of the Pilot’s Guild - those who possess the magical ability to navigate Crosspointe’s deadly seas. When a malevolent master within the Guild bans him from the sea, it seems his life is over. Then he is kidnapped and forced to serve aboard the rogue ship Eidolon - pitch black from bow to stern - and Thorn finds himself battling a mad captain, a mutinous crew, and the terrifying magic of the sea. But there is a saboteur on board, trying to make sure the Eidolon never arrives safely in port. Thorn begins to realize his kidnapping may have been no mere chance....

Benson Fisher escaped from Maxfield Academy's deadly rules and brutal gangs. The worst was over. Or so he thought. But now he's trapped on the other side of the wall, in a different kind of prison. A town filled with familiar faces. People from Maxfield who Benson had seen die. Friends he was afraid he had killed. They are all pawns in the school's twisted experiment, held captive and controlled by an unseen force.

Danny is finally headed back home to Diadem to see his family and settle some old wrongs. The men of Diadem have been sacrificing their own potentials for the sake of the country for long enough, and Danny has the perfect solution.

Eli and Harper have fled the compound - running from people who once fought by their side. Owen has been captured, Sawyer is infected, and Celdon is facing a crisis of conscience. When Eli gets wind of an attack that puts Owen's life in jeopardy, everything changes. Eli is determined to rescue his brother, but Harper will have to make a choice: follow Eli along on a suicide mission or push forward without him to find a cure.

From the ruins of what used to be North America, a new nation was forged by survivors of the Fall. They called this new nation the Covenant, and two centuries later it is stronger than ever. The Moon people, descendants of lunar colonists who returned to Earth to rebuild it, rule with an iron fist to ensure their dominance over the original inhabitants, the English. For the Covenant is a nation where a chosen few prosper at the cost of everyone else.

Benson Fisher thought that a scholarship to Maxfield Academy would be the ticket out of his dead-end life. He was wrong. Now he’s trapped in a school that’s surrounded by a razor-wire fence. A school where video cameras monitor his every move. Where there are no adults. Where the kids have split into groups in order to survive. Where breaking the rules equals death. But when Benson stumbles upon the school’s real secret, he realizes that playing by the rules could spell a fate worse than death, and that escape - his only real hope for survival - may be impossible.

The Wisdom of Sartre offers key excerpts from the eloquent French writer, playwright, and philosopher’s masterpiece, Being and Nothingness. From this collection, listeners will discover the strongest themes in his early philosophical work: an ontological account of what it means to be human, and the role of perception, knowledge, and consciousness in the practical demands of life.

Gabriel Finley is longing to find his mother, who vanished without a trace when he was just a baby. Along with Gabriel's raven, Paladin - with whom he has a magical bond that enables them to become one creature and fly! - and his three friends, he ventures back to the ruined underground city of Aviopolis to free her from the rune in which she has been imprisoned. But Aviopolis is home to Corax, the Lord of Air and Darkness, who is also Gabriel's uncle. And before Tabitha Finley is released, Gabriel must answer a riddle.

When Harper discovered the truth about Bid Day, she inadvertently painted a target on her back. Now Constance, the infamous espionage unit, wants her and her friends kept quiet at all costs. She and Eli are being sent out into the Fringe, where they'll face damaging radiation and violent gangs of survivors and be forced to fulfill Recon's sinister duty. After her first deployment goes bad, Harper is racked with guilt and paralyzed by fear. Out there it's kill or be killed, but the real danger is inside the compound.

When two missing Recon operatives returned to the compound, speculations ran wild about where they had been. Harper is certain they're infected with a deadly virus, but she's locked away in the cages, facing 10 to 20 years behind bars. Blaze thinks Harper has a shot at being released, but nobody can save Eli from Constance. Jayden is torturing him for information on his brother's whereabouts, and as Constance's newest lackey, Celdon is caught in the middle.

Senior year is finally over. After all they've been through, Dan, Abby, and Jordan are excited to take one last road trip together, and they're just not going to think about what will happen when the summer ends. But on their way to visit Jordan's uncle in New Orleans, the three friends notice they're being followed...and photographed. Then Dan starts receiving messages from someone he didn't expect to hear from again - someone who died last Halloween.

Scott Hudson has somehow managed to survive Freshman year. But with a new baby brother in the house and a whole host of adventures awaiting him at school, Sophomore year promises to be anything but boring. An honest and funny follow-up to the popular Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie, award-winning author David Lubar pens a tale that perfectly captures the ridiculous, tumultuous, and sometimes heartbreaking truths about high school.

A tangle of ingenious riddles, a malevolent necklace called a torc, and flocks of menacing birds: These are just some of the obstacles that stand between Gabriel and his father, Adam Finley, who has vanished from their Brooklyn brownstone. When Gabriel rescues an orphaned baby raven named Paladin, he discovers a family secret: Finleys can bond with ravens in extraordinary ways. Along with Paladin and three valiant friends, Gabriel sets out to bring his father home.

During the Nazi occupation of Ukraine, a match was set up between Dynamo Kiev’s players, playing as FC Start, and a German side. Kiev won. And when the Germans fielded a better side, Kiev beat them, too. And again, and again. Until the half-starved FC Start players faced an international-calibre German side, under the threat of execution if they didn’t let the occupiers win.... An astonishing true story.

Everyone knows the flooded quarry is a dangerous place. But when Jacob spots the tail of a huge reptile disappearing into the undergrowth, nobody believes him! He needs to get a photo as proof before anyone will take him seriously. And that means hunting the beast himself....