Showing results by narrator "Seth Podowitz" in All Categories

At first glance, Daniel Winters is a shopkeeper with a glint in his eye and the charm of James Bond. The truth involves far more aliens. Presented with a cover-up slipping out of control, he faces a new brand of enemy, one who knows too much and is prepared for anything. That can only mean one thing: They have a man on the inside. What Daniel doesn’t realize is how close to home that revelation’s going to hit.

As Earth is torn asunder by the arrival of mysterious and magical energy known as Qi, an extraordinary journey begins to unfold, the cataclysm birthing creatures of unimaginable power and abilities drawn from the ancient legends of humanity.

Twenty years ago, an out-of-control prank ended in an accident that destroyed the high school gym and threatened the futures of star athletes Beth and Ally. They move on with their lives carrying their secret while someone else is blamed, but the years reveal that no one truly comes out unscathed. Now, both women are at a crossroads: Beth returns to her hometown after a concussion ends her professional soccer career, and a surprise pregnancy disrupts Ally’s idyllic family. The only thing either of them are sure of is their desire to mend their estranged relationship.

It’s been two years since the murder of Joe’s fiancée, Laurel. Two years of grief and loneliness. On this hot summer night, he is finally going on a blind date, his first since Laurel’s death. He’s not looking for love, just testing the waters to see if it’s possible to live a normal life again. And after the first awkward minutes, Joe starts to think this date wasn’t such a bad idea after all. In fact, maybe it will turn out to be one of the best things that ever happened to him. He couldn’t be more wrong.

1944. Paul Brandt, a soldier in the German army, returns wounded and ashamed from the bloody chaos of the Eastern Front to find his village changed and in the dark shadow of an SS rest hut—a luxurious retreat for officers recuperating from their injuries and for those who manage the nearby concentration camps of Auschwitz. The hut is run with the help of a small group of female prisoners from the camps who, against all odds, have survived the war so far. When, by chance, Brandt glimpses one of these prisoners, he realizes he must find a way to access the hut.

The Bug Man is getting married on Saturday. . . if his fiancée can find him. Forensic entomologist Nick Polchak lives in a world of maggots and blow flies and decomposing bodies. No wonder he's still single. But Nick has finally found a woman as strange as he is—dog trainer Alena Savard, a woman who is odd, reclusive, and can seemingly talk to animals. It was a match made in heaven. Nick and Alena are scheduled to be married on Saturday—but there's one small problem. Nick has disappeared.

When Hurricane Katrina strikes New Orleans, forensic entomologist Nick Polchak signs up to help with the recovery effort. He is known as the Bug Man for his knowledge of insects and what they can reveal about the dead. The government's mandate is clear—rescue the living first, recover the dead later. But something is very wrong in the toxic soup-bowl of post-Katrina New Orleans. Someone is using the cover of disaster to kill . . . hiding the victims of murder in the same watery grave as the victims of Katrina.

When forensic entomologist Nick Polchak is called to the scene of a murder on a small organic farm in North Carolina he is astonished to find that the victim's estranged wife is an old friend, a woman he once worked with—a woman he once had feelings for. When she asks Nick to investigate her husband's drug-related murder, Nick seeks the assistance of Alena Savard, the reclusive dog trainer known to the people of northern Virginia as the Witch of Endor.

All roads lead to the White House for John Henry Braden, the charismatic senator from Virginia aristocracy whose beautiful wife Victoria is the talk of Washington and the crown jewel of Endor, her backwoods Virginia hometown.

Praised as “chaotic and vibrant” (Charles Yu), “visionary” (Sam Lipsyte), and “supremely original” (John Cusack), the work of Mark Leyner has inspired a generation of contemporary novelists and has long deserved its place of recognition among the literary superstars of the seismic postmodernism-influenced movement of the early 21st century. A Shimmering, Serrated Monster!: The Mark Leyner Reader samples the staggering highlights from Leyner’s extraordinary career in all of its bizarre and infatuating glory.

Brand Stafford has long felt he didn’t quite fit in with his siblings. Now he has the DNA evidence to prove his real father is the Staffords’ ranching rival, Holden McKenna. That secret does more than complicate his family—it’s also made him the prime suspect in a kidnapping. His unlikely ally in clearing his name is Birdie Malone, newly arrived in Powder Crossing in search of answers of her own.