Showing results by narrator "Michael Kramer" in All Categories

Cal Claxton is determined to reinvent himself as a small-town lawyer in the aftermath of his wife's suicide. Once a hard-charging Los Angeles prosecutor, he now lives in solitude in an old farmhouse overlooking Oregon's wine country. When a scruffy, tattooed kid shows up asking for help in solving a cold case - that of his mother's murder - Cal wants to say no. Times are tough, and he's no private eye, anyway. But the kid, who calls himself Picasso, has ridden a bicycle in the rain all the way from Portland, and something about his determination touches Cal.

Alex Menkaure, former pharaoh and mummy, and his vampire partner, Marcus, born in ancient Rome, are vice cops in a special Miami police unit. They fight to keep the streets safe from criminal vampires, shape-shifters, bootleg blood dealers, and anti-vampire vigilantes. When poisoned artificial blood drives vampires to murder, the city threatens to tear itself apart. Only an unlikely alliance with former opponents can give Alex and Marcus a fighting chance against an ancient vampire conspiracy.

What was once the Peradaini Empire is now a wasted landscape of burned, empty cities and abandoned farmlands. The Blessing, now more numerous than ever, continues to spread across the continent, driving refugees to the dubious safety of the city walls. Unharvested crops mean that few strongholds have enough provisions to last the winter, although most know the grunts will take them before starvation will. But hope survives.

Having lost the prince to the madness of The Blessing, Tejohn and Cazia are the only people who know of his plan to retrieve a secret spell that might - just might - turn the tide of battle against the grunts. But Tejohn's body is broken, and Cazia has been stripped of her magic. Worse, both are being held captive: Tejohn faces charges of treason in the lands where he was born. On the other side of the continent, Cazia is a prisoner of the Tilkilit queen, a creature with a desperate, deadly plan.

In Doomed to Succeed, Ross takes us through every administration from Truman to Obama, throwing into dramatic relief each president's attitudes toward Israel and the region, the often tumultuous debates between key advisers, and the events that drove the policies and at times led to a shift in approach.

Dark tides flow as Arek and his party try desperately to flee Arcadia before the realm collapses, swallowed whole by the life-stealing touch of the nephilim. Their only escape is the Gate of the East Winds, ruled by the Celestial Zafir. Once brothers-in-arms with both Arek and Duncan's aeris forms, now Zafir rules his kingdom with an iron fist. Arcadia dies beneath them, a place even the mighty Celestial seeks to escape, but what price must Arek pay for passage? Always hunting them is Alion Deft, Queensmark of Lilyth and magehunter turned demon.

When the solar flares first erupt, Cameron tries to rationalize the disaster away. The electrical grid will come back up. The government will reassure the panicked populace. The hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes will abate. Most importantly, Cameron’s husband and daughter will get home safely from New York City. Instead, Cameron finds herself alone as the world tears itself apart. Her best hope for refuge is the family’s isolated cabin, but distance isn’t the only obstacle Cameron faces.

Sacrifice. The single act capable of bringing both death and life simultaneously. Thannuel Kerr is handsome, young, and brash, fumbling through childhood toward his inevitable inheritance: the next Lord of the Western Province. He struggles to accept his arranged marriage and to grow into the man he must become. The journey toward that end, however, is fraught with more peril than he could possibly imagine.

This darkly satirical drama by Gore Vidal finds two presidential contenders seeking the endorsement of an aging ex-president, and explores how personal agendas can change the course of a nation's destiny. The political intrigues rampant in Vidal's 1960 setting are strangely similar what is going on today. Includes an interview with actors Fred Thompson and Marsha Mason.

One hundred years ago, the Eternals, 13 men and women closer to gods than mortals, stood against the greatest threat the world had ever faced. They died. All save for one who managed to flee with the enemy leader’s weapon, a cursed blade of incredible power. This is a battle he fights alone, for after they defeated the Eternals, the enemy used their magic to pose as their conquered opponents, taking over rule of the world in their stead. For the last 100 years, the people have believed that the legendary Eternals triumphed, that they are safe. Only the wanderer knows the truth .

In Niyas, the new Seneschal plans to use Anskar to further the Church’s aims and grind the Niyandrians and their culture to dust. But having thrown off the shackles of both the Church and his mother Queen Talia, Anskar is no longer a hapless pawn. Driven to seek the final component to complete the Armor of Divinity, he falls in with the Niyandrian rebels and forges his own path.

Set against the epic backdrop of a world at war with myths and legends brought to life, Mythborn 2 continues the sweeping saga of Arek Winterthorn, wayward apprentice of the eldritch Way as he struggles to survive in the demon realm of Arcadia. Accompanied by Prince Niall Galadine, he searches for his father, unaware he is the prize in a war between Highlord Valarius Galadine’s warforged elves and Lady Lilyth’s demonic Furies. One seeks to possess him, the other to use him as a weapon as something dark and sinister within him grows, something called - blackfire.

In Russia, the military is anxious to assert its military strength and regain its role as a superpower. The Russian president refuses to greenlight a bold plan to disable American strategic nuclear capability and retake Ukraine and the Baltic States, fearing the potential consequences of involving nuclear weapons. But the generals won't have it and at the first opportunity, they overthrow the president in a military coup. Then they use a narrow window to initiate their bold plan - the Zolotov option - which will render all of America's B2 bombers and ballistic missiles useless.

In this full and frank memoir - a personal story of duty, family, justice, politics and resilience - New York Governor Andrew Cuomo reflects on his rise, fall, and rise in politics, and recounts his defining personal and political moments and tough but necessary lessons he has learned along the way.

It was an annus horribilis for Iran's Supreme Leader. The Green Movement had been crushed, but the regime was on edge, anxious lest democratic protests resurge. International sanctions were dragging down the economy while talk of war with the West grew. Hooman Majd was there for all of it. A new father at age fifty, he decided to take his blonde, blue-eyed Midwestern yoga instructor wife Karri and his adorable, only-eats-organic infant son Khash from their hip Brooklyn neighborhood to spend a year in the land of his birth.

The wanderer knows this, for over the last century he has lived those stories, has seen them scrawled in his blood or the blood of others. Others like those dead Perishables scattered about the noble’s courtyard, like those servants of the enemy, mortal and not, lying beside them. And yet…he knows it is only the beginning.

Heir to the Bear Clan of Valheim, young Raknar anticipates the day he will become chief and lead his clan across the sea to pillage foreign shores. When his village is sacked, his clan put to the sword, Raknar must forge a new destiny, alone. Captured during a raid on the Kingdom of Acheron, Raknar is enslaved by the diabolical Queen Zakara. She forces him to fight as a gladiator in the pits, but her true interest in Raknar lies in the fulfillment of a dark prophecy that will provide her an heir and unlock unworldly power.

Worlds Apart tracks the Bride’s epic westward journey from California to the Straits of Gibraltar, with adventures in Hawaii, Japan, China, and India. The wrongs he encounters and the attempts to silence him are a constant reminder of his true mission: Ease the suffering of those unfortunate enough to be in the path of blind greed posing as God’s will. He and his men confront tyranny, lend a hand to resistance fighters, and attempt to overcome the savagery of a corrupt enemy impervious to the values that define humanity.

Turquoise Eyes combines compelling narrative while teaching problem solving and critical thinking skills. Set after a bank begins implementing a new retail banking strategy, we follow Teresa García Ramírez de Arroyo, a director general in the Mexican government, who has received some disturbing news. A whistleblower has emailed Teresa with troubling news about a mistake in the loan default calculations and reserve ratios. The numbers do not add up. This audiobook teaches advanced business concepts through a compelling storyline.

Continuing the award-winning epic of a world where faith and dreams become reality, Mythborn Three follows Masters Silbane and Kisan, the young blade-master Ash, and Princess Yetteje as they journey into the ethereal realm Arcadia, home to the Celestial Lilyth and her Aeris demons. They search for Silbane's apprentice, Arek, and the lost prince of Bara'cor, Niall, as the two explore Arcadia for clues to the mystery of Arek's origin. Is he the son of the demon queen Lilyth, as she claims?