Showing results by narrator "Todd Haberkorn" in All Categories

This is a unique novel of old China, the traditional landscape of mountains and rivers without end, and life in an imperial city rife with plots, intrigues, culture, sensuality and wealth. Li Wen, a landscape painter of the Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD), is on a journey to deliver a message to the Chinese Emperor. His teacher has instructed him to paint four landscapes, one for each season, during the year it will take him to travel across China to the Emperor’s Court where he is to present the paintings to the Emperor as a long-life gift.

It is 1682 in Cremona, Italy. With his manservant, an insolent dwarf named Omero, Fabrizio Cambiati, a priest, climbs the town clocktower to await the return of a comet that is said to reappear in the skies every 76 years. He has a new invention called a telescope with which to scour the night. As they await the comet, he scopes the town below and sees the commedia dell’arte players setting up in the town square and a Jesuit arriving in a carriage.

Finn's re-adaptation to the human world is not going so well. He's got a great girlfriend, and is figuring out how things like the internet work, but he is still carrying the disembodied personality of Alynon, Prince of the Silver Demesne, the fae who had occupied his body during his imprisonment. And he's not getting along at all with his older brother. And oh, by the way, his dead grandfather is still trying to possess him in order to bring about Armageddon.

Brilliant kids from all over the country are disappearing - but no one knows why. Until now. In the cockpit, Search and Rescue pilot Deb Lansing is in control: her flight, her rules. But after the suspicious disappearance of her supersmart younger sister, she knows this is one rescue mission she can’t fly solo. She needs help. She needs Gabe Montgomery.

Zeus comes from a long line of heroic dogs, and he dreams of glory as a K9 commander. But he receives a much more dangerous assignment - middle school! And as all good service dogs know, the only way to get through hostile territory is by being invisible. Zeus’ new human, Madden, is diabetic, and he wants to be invisible, too. That’s hard to do with a huge German shepherd at his side to alert him when his blood sugar drops. And it’s even harder because Madden makes this noise called music that draws attention. Zeus’ mission becomes clear: He must destroy music.

Private security firm Rutherford Risk’s new client is a philanthropist with a headline-making cause: to locate and shut down an Amsterdam-based sweatshop that uses enslaved girls as forced labor. Enter import/export entrepreneur John Knox, with his former combat experience—and forensic accountant Grace Chu, who can trap and trace even the most sensitive financial information. Working through the picturesque streets and canals of Amsterdam, Knox and Grace face Middle Eastern mobsters, the owner of a local brothel and police officers they don’t trust.

When Thorne McCafferty rushes home to the family ranch, he is thinking only about whether his sister Randi will survive the car wreck that has put her in the hospital. He never expects that Randi's E.R. doctor will be Nicole Stevenson. Nicole has never forgotten the teenage passion she shared with Thorne...or the sting of his unexplained rejection. Now she's all grown up - but he still affects her in the very same way. Will they both be able to move beyond their pasts for a second chance at a happy ending?

When the CIA needed a fall guy, Dugan was the one it betrayed. Forsaken by those he’d trusted and with nowhere to turn, he’s made it his mission to stop the miscreants who ruined his life before they can destroy anyone else’s. From human-trafficking rings and remorseless hit men to byzantine plots to alter the world order, Dugan must outwit those chartered with terminating him while battling overwhelming odds.

Welcome to the wide world of paranormal pastimes, where striking out might strike you dead. Editors Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner are your announcers for this all-new story collection of the most peculiar plays ever made.… Sports fans live and die by their teams’ successes and failures - though not literally. But these 14 authors have written spirited - in more ways than one - new tales of killer competitions that would make even the most die-hard players ask to be benched.

A train gets waylaid in the middle of nowhere, and Luke and his dad find themselves with four hours to kill before it’s fixed. Just enough time for a trip to the mysterious, decrepit old museum on the edge of town. A short story from Guys Read: Other Worlds, edited by Jon Scieszka.

In search of some easy money, Nym and his friends have found work as earth mages in the town of Ebalsan, building fortifications against the rising incursion of the undead. But Nym is badly injured by one of the wights, and suffers a matrix destabilization, rendering him unable to perform magic. To make matters worse, the mysterious Collective is on his tail.

An Australian shamaness traveling in the body of a Chicago bartender leads to a surreal rendezvous with a presumed-dead rock star. An OkCupid encounter turns into blissful madness when souls connect over a national tragedy. A bloody accident at a city bus stop gives way to an absurdly rewarding feast.

When a zombie followed August DuPont home one day, he didn't expect her to stick around. But Claudette is in no hurry to leave August's side. And when he decides to go to Croissant City in search of the elusive Zombie Stone, Claudette joins him. It's a good thing she does, because no sooner had August set out than a mysterious white alligator began to follow him. Reptiles aren't the only creatures to look out for, though. When August is reunited with his dour cousins the Malveaus, and their menacing mother, Orchid, finding the stone before they do takes on a new urgency.

Stable nine-to-five jobs with pensions have gone the way of the dinosaurs. In today's economy, passive incomes, side hustles, and flexible careers are the keys to wealth and success. And it can all be achieved online - in the blogosphere. Timothy Kim went from having 500 dollars in his pocket to being a millionaire using the power of online presence. In Words Into Cash, he shows you how to create a beast of a passive income by blogging.

Flux Destiny is the first installment in a coming-of-age series following Marco Mendoza and Hugo Wandschneider - two teenage outcasts with supernatural talents in a universe where destiny itself is a controllable force. When the mysterious Board of Trials orders them and their headstrong Clockbot, Lucky, to investigate a situation at Anderes - an isolated city straddling a gigantic rupture in space-time nicknamed Big Mouth - they discover a plague of blood-thirsty, biomechanical creatures called Cankers that are wreaking havoc on the city.

Virtual Country examines the current nexus of technology and western democracy, pointing to a historical opportunity for We the People to evolve our democracy to include a new public institution that enables a coherent, collective voice on the issues that affect us all. The book's centerpiece is a proposal for a new online institution for citizen reengagement - the National Town Square. The Square would be a transparent, citizen-led, noncorporate, nongovernmental, nonpartisan online venue for individual advisory voting, moderated discussion, and more.

Eleven-year-old Kieran wants to be part of the in-group at school. He wants to be on the soccer team. He wants to fit in. But then his weird cousin Bon turns up, both at school and at home. Bon's mom hasn't taken good care of him, and he knows nothing about fitting in, with his long blond braid, babyish hand-knit hat, and funny, precise voice. Bon doesn't play sports and likes to draw imaginary maps with stories about "Bon the Crusader" and "Kieran the Brave." No wonder the boys call him Rapunzel and throw his stuff around!

Fresh out of college, Evan has everything going for him: a good job, a beautiful fiancée, and the prospect of making partner at his firm. Then one night, with one bad decision, his dream life turns into a nightmare of cover-ups and lies. It begins as one last drunken celebration with his old friend Peter but ends with a deadly confrontation so heinous the two make a pact to never tell anyone about it - not even the police. The truth has a way of getting out, however, and the truth about Peter is far more dangerous than Evan could have ever imagined.

As America plunges into the Great Depression, Marthanne Hendrix finds herself in rural Vidalia, Georgia, with no memory of how she got there.

Bewildered when the neighbors call her Oma, Marthanne is haunted by memories of another life—and another self. With the help of Comfort, a domestic worker living with her own tremendous loss, Marthanne discovers that Oma is another distinct personality inhabiting her body. In a time when mental illness is taboo, Marthanne and Oma’s simple, small-town life is fraught with complexity and danger.

With gossip running rampant, Marthanne and Oma will do anything to avoid their greatest fear: commitment to an insane asylum. Only by relying on Comfort’s kindness can they navigate their uncertain future. Friendship becomes sanctuary, and the quest for an ordinary life leads to an extraordinary bond.

Deeply moving and exquisitely wrought, Show Me a Kindness is a haunting novel of love, survival, and hiding in plain sight.

Delaware, the morning of April 19. Senior Skip Day, and April Donovan's 18th birthday. Four days after the Boston Marathon bombing, the country is still reeling, and April's rare memory condition has her recounting all the tragedies that have cursed her birth month. And just what was that mysterious gathering under the bleachers about? Meanwhile, in Nebraska, Lincoln Evans struggles to pay attention in Honors English, distracted by the enigmatic presence of Laura Echols, capturer of his heart.