Showing results by narrator "Chris Lutkin" in All Categories

In "Beyond the Door", a man buys a cuckoo clock for his wife who has always wanted one. When he catches her cheating on him, the man throws his wife out of the house with her lover. Though he never really cared for the clock, he keeps winding it because he dislikes the silence. But the cuckoo clock, who preferred the wife's company, begins to plot against its owner.

In Mr. Spaceship, humans in the distant future are at war with alien life forms known as Yuks. Using outdated mechanical machines to wage war against the life-based weapons of the advanced Yuks, a research team decides to build a spaceship powered by a human brain. Enlisting a dying professor who agrees to donate his brain to the project, the humans believe they have turned the tables on the Yuks. But the spaceship has other plans.

Ten-year old Tony Rossi, an Earthman growing up on Betelgeuse, becomes aware that the natives, known as the "Pas-Udeti", are driving out the Earthmen colonists on nearby Orion. His father, a staunch believer in the superiority of Earthmen, describes Tony's native friends as "Beetles". A trip into town to meet his native friends leads to awkward encounters with a Pas-Udeti cab driver and a fellow bus passenger.

In "The Skull", a convict is offered his freedom if he agrees to travel back in time and kill someone. He learns that the assassination target was the founder of a religious sect that grew in strength and influence from its inception in 1960. Carrying his target's skull so he can identify the religious leader, the convict comes to learn a terrible secret about why he was chosen to find its owner.

"The Eyes Have It" is a humorous, early short story by Philip K. Dick that first appeared in Science Fiction Stories in 1953. In it, a bus-riding reader of a discarded melodrama with an overactive imagination is persuaded by the hackneyed prose that the world has been taken over by aliens. Thus, when "eyes slowly roved around the room", the reader imagines disembodied eyeballs traveling of their own free will. A rare example of satire from the Dick canon.

In "Piper in the Woods", an army doctor is asked to treat a soldier from Asteroid Y-3 who claims he is a plant. This wouldn't be a problem, but the soldier is incapable of any physical activity, preferring to stand still and point himself towards the sun. When more soldiers return from Asteroid Y-3 also claiming to be plants, Dr. Harris travels there to investigate. While there, he learns about a mysterious indigenous people living in the woods called "Pipers", who might be able to shed some light on the subject.

In "The Hanging Stranger", TV salesman Ed Loyce is a practical man who, when he sees something wrong, tries to correct it. Then one day he sees a lifeless body hanging in the town square. What he can't figure out is why nobody seems to care.

In "The Crystal Crypt", Earth and Mars are poised on the verge of war. On the last spaceship to leave Mars for Earth, law enforcement officials are looking for three fugitives who somehow made a great Martian city disappear. Unable to find the perpetrators, the officials allow the ship to disembark for Earth. A businessman named Thacher strikes up a conversation with a young woman and two men who reveal a very interesting secret to him about the mysterious case.

In "Beyond Lies the Wub", the crew of a spaceship buys a "wub", a large pig-like animal from a native martian to eat on the way home. The Wub turns out to be a sentient being capable of intelligent conversation, empathy, and possibly telepathy and mind control. When a crew member converses with the remarkable Wub, the captain makes a rash and violent decision that could put the return mission in danger.

Revel in the in the magic of the holiday season with three classic Christmas tales. From the birth of Christ to a visit from Santa Claus, these family favorites will be enjoyed over and over again. Titles include: The Christmas Story; Twas the Night Before Christmas; and Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus.

The US Attorney's Office for the Central District of California is responsible for enforcing the federal law of the US for an area that is larger than 14 states and has a population of more than five million people. Here, follow Lizzie Scott as she untangles an excessive-force case against a cop, all while balancing agency turf battles, secret grand jury proceedings, interoffice rivalries, and on-the-make prosecutors.

Why is there winter in the Southern Hemisphere at the same time there is summer in the Northern Hemisphere? Here is an explanation of how the position of Earth in relation to the sun causes seasons and the wonders that come with each one of them. Summer. Autumn. Winter. Spring comes again. Year after year, the seasons repeat themselves.

Each of these themes has three sections: Wake-Up Call (the potential day ruiner); Follow-Up Exercise (practical steps to turn it around); and Lighten-Up Laugh (gaining a fresh perspective and moving right along). You Can't Ruin My Day is designed to help you unload the burdens you have been carrying around with you. This audiobook is filled not only with wise words but also inspiring stories and anecdotes, insightful and motivational quotations, and lighthearted and laugh-producing material.

The girl is found beside the East River, strangled. She's in her late 20s - so why was she carrying a fake ID? The case should have nothing to do with Reuben Frost, retired Wall Street lawyer, but Frost has never been known to mind his own business. Not to mention, his wife, Cynthia, has been slowed down by arthritis, and his social calendar is barren for the first time in decades. It's the perfect time to find a murderer.

Stories include: "The Raven"; "Hop-Frog"; "The Black Cat"; "The Cask of Amontillado"; "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar"; "The Fall of the House of Usher"; "The Gold-Bug"; "The Masque of the Red Death"; "The Murders in the Rue Morgue"; "The Purloined Letter"; "The Pit and the Pendulum"; and "The Tell-Tale Heart".

Did you know the moon is a satellite? In fact, the moon is the Earth's only natural satellite. Children will learn about lunar phases, eclipses, lunar exploration and the moon's effect on the Earth.

Famed Broadway producer Milo Short steps out of his Upper West Side brownstone on one exceptionally hot morning, he's not expecting to see the impossible: a woman from his life 60 years ago, winking at him on a New York sidewalk. The sight causes him to suffer a stroke. And when he comes to, the renowned lyricist discovers he has lost the ability to communicate. Milo believes he must unravel his complicated history with Vivian Adair in order to win back his words

Eighteen-year-old Henry Fleming is a private in the Union Army's 304th New York Regiment. Having enlisted despite his mother's protest, Henry internally questions if his bravery will hold true in the face of battle. Determining that all hope is lost during his regiment's first skirmish, Henry flees in the midst of a bleak and bloody situation. However, as he reaches the rear of the army, he learns that the Union has actually won the battle.

Join Francis Scott Key on the choppy waters of the Chesapeake Bay in this stunning iconographic audiobook that will transport you to one of the most important days in US history. This audio tells the story of the creation of the American national anthem. Includes patriotic songs performed by acclaimed singer-songwriter Jo Dee Messina.

Most of us think of bowling as a "sport" in quotation marks, and bowling alleys are places with disco balls, matching shirts, and funny shoes. But in the 1960s, New York City was the center of "action bowling", a form of high-stakes gambling in which bowlers - often teenagers - faced off for thousands of dollars every night. When money like that is changing hands, you can bet the pressure is on (and the balls are rigged), and losses come with dire consequences.