Showing results by narrator "James Romick" in All Categories

Virtually all famous actors are regaled by the public, but even still, Fred Astaire occupies a privileged position in American pop culture. The specific films in which Astaire acted may not be especially famous in their own right - most people likely cannot recall the title of Top Hat (1935), his most decorated film - but Astaire's dancing prowess invariably creates a lasting impact on viewers.

Has American democracy's long, ambitious run come to an end? Possibly yes. As William G. Howell and Terry M. Moe argue in this trenchant new analysis of modern politics, the United States faces a historic crisis that threatens our system of self-government - and if democracy is to be saved, the causes of the crisis must be understood and defused.

1997 - Olive Park, California - the bodies of three children are found buried in shallow graves, brutally murdered. One of the most intensive investigations in California history fails to find any trace of the killer and the case goes cold. Fifteen years later - the newly formed Ongoing Investigation Division, charged with closing cold cases, is handed as its very first case - the Olive Park Murders.

1931. As Thomas Edison was dying, he left test tubes of what he believed would be his final breath, until it was. His intent was to leave his “last breath,” for his protégé, friend, and confidant, Henry Ford. But forty-two tubes were lost after he died. Then, year after year, one of the tubes of Edison’s breath would arrive at Ford’s Florida winter home where Ford would open it and breathe in the breath of his dead friend. He thought it brought him strength and wisdom.

Deputy Clementine Calaway spent her whole life trying to prove she was just as tough as her six older brothers. Becoming a deputy in the small town of Calaway Crossing was one way to do it. And it was relatively safe. She was related to half the people in a town whose crime rate was practically non-existent. She loved working with her Chief, the man who had been in charge of the department for thirty years. But an unexpected heart attack led to an early retirement for Chief Masters, and his replacement, an outsider, was a surprise to everyone.

From the safety of the Deep Hole Sanctuary, two are sent to the surface for the first time in nine years. Rumors, tales, and expectations for the world above are that they will find a desolate wasteland filled with mutated animals and bands of roving hoards of starving people.

King of the New York Streets is a gritty, utterly unrepentant memoir of growing up on the mean streets of New York City during the late 1970s.

Cantankerous, old-fashioned, and stubborn as hell, Donald Wilson was the first American soldier to enter Dachau, and has suffered with the horrors ever since. Now at 95, he grapples with a recent pancreatic cancer diagnosis and believes there is nothing left to live for.

Ashville is a town with a secret history. Ancient structures lie hidden in the woods, and strange rituals are performed to keep the dead where they belong. For gravedigger Abel Cunningham, it is also a town filled with regrets. And when Abel is tasked with an unusual burial, he discovers there are more than just corpses in the cemetery.

In China's Next Act, Scott M. Moore re-envisions China's role in the world, with a focus on sustainability and technology. Moore argues that these increasingly pressing, shared global challenges are reshaping China's economy and foreign policy, and consequently, cannot be tackled without China.

This may be the most challenging of Logan’s cases. When former child star and America’s Sweetheart is kidnapped off the set of a Western film, a producer hires Logan to take on the case. However, complications soon arise, and he’s now not only searching for a kidnapper but a crazed murderer as well.

A secretive, high-tech company in central California named QuarkSpin has achieved a major breakthrough in a stunning technology -- the development of a prototype quantum computer. A powerful US senator, chair of the Defense Appropriations Committee, has covertly engaged them to develop a military application, funding the R&D from a DOD black budget. The project is code-named The Quantum Protocol. Its objective -- use the technology to unmask, from earth orbit, the ballistic-missile submarine fleets of our adversaries.

Join LP Hernandez on an exploration of the terrain of haunted worlds and the souls of haunted people. A man becomes so detached from this world that he is claimed by another. An astronaut picks the worst possible time to leave Earth. A man for whom eternity is just the beginning. These stories present mankind at its most vulnerable. These are stories of triumph and of succumbing, of the dying and those already dead.

Dr. Dean Graves is notorious for being the medical examiner that gets assigned the wackiest accidental death cases in Georgia. But even as the detectives on those cases can’t hold in their laughter, Dr Graves finds nothing funny about death and shows great respect for the dead at all times. When a new serial killer chooses Augusta as his playground, Dr. Graves and his assistant, Kat, get pulled into the investigation, throwing everything they have into finding the murderer before he strikes again.

The only daughter of United States Senator Adam Lucas is brutally murdered. When her killer is set free by an irreparably broken justice system, it sends the father on a search for answers and retribution and causes him to question the corruption that permeates the government he is sworn to serve. Hans Richter is a scientist working on a top-secret military project that could hold the key over death. When a test subject is sent home instead of being cremated, it sets in motion a chain of events that will send Hans on a flight for his life and threaten to unravel the fabric of time.

Part detective story, part personal quest, Michael Good's book is the story of the German commander of a Lithuanian work camp who saved hundreds of Jewish lives in the Vilnius ghetto - including the life of Good's mother, Pearl. Who was this enigmatic officer Pearl Good had spoken of so often? After five years of research - interviewing survivors, assembling a team that could work to open German files untouched for 50 years, following every lead he could, Good was able to uncover the amazing tale of one man's remarkable courage.

Luke Valenti has never fit into his swaggering family of overbearing loudmouths. Even worse, the world is at war again and Uncle Sam has stamped his draft notice “4-F” - the ultimate rejection - because of a rare eye condition that has left Luke unable to see colors. So instead, he dreams of escaping Brooklyn for the beaches of Montauk. That is, until a stolen prop from "The Maltese Falcon" pitches him down a reluctant path to Hollywood. Luke is tasked with returning it to Warner Brothers.

The dragon is rising. An ascendant China has decided it is time to grasp their reunification dream - the seizure of Taiwan. First, they must take the United States out of the game. They develop a plan to attack America and frame Islamic terrorists. With the United States 100 percent focused on the aftermath of the attack and retribution against ISIS, China believes their hands will be free to achieve their destiny. Once again, Joseph Michael Barber and his partner, Marcus Day, are reluctantly drawn into the action.

The fight is on for the soul of resurrected America, and the good guys are losing. Tom Steeple and his Chinese allies have taken control of Overtime Prime, and with the fall of Nick Angriff their opposition is powerless to stop them. Steeple’s dream of a totalitarian America under his hand as benevolent dictator can now become a reality, even if it means making common cause with America’s mortal enemies. No treachery is too great to fulfill his ambitions, and those of his friends.

Chad Huntley can’t get sick. When an influenza pandemic kills almost everyone around him, he finds himself on the run, hunted by soldiers and mercenaries, chased across a wasteland of empty houses and dying suburbs as he tries to escape Fort Worth. Mankind’s only hope is for him to partner with a brilliant virologist to find a cure - but not everyone wants a cure for the greater good.