Showing results by narrator "Chris Ciulla" in All Categories

In the heart of a languid July, eleven-year-old John Reddy Heart drives a traffic-stopping, salmon-colored Cadillac into the quiet upstate town of Willowsville, New York. His mother, Dahlia Heart, a blackjack dealer, has brought her family east from Las Vegas to claim the rambling mansion left to her by a wealthy suitor. But it is John Reddy—already growing into a heartbreaking hybrid of James Dean, Marlon Brando, and Elvis Presley—who will claim the town itself.

Many of the men and women doing today's most consequential environmental work - restoring America's grasslands, wildlife, soil, rivers, wetlands, and oceans - would not call themselves environmentalists; they would be too uneasy with the connotations of that word. What drives them is their deep love of the land - the iconic terrain where explorers and cowboys, pioneers, and riverboat captains forged the American identity. They feel a moral responsibility to preserve this heritage and natural wealth.

What should have been a relaxing hunting trip for Sergeant AJ Cole, his kid brother Remmy, and two Marines from his unit turns into an all-out brawl with enemies from another planet. An invasion is being planned in the secluded woods of West Virginia. Ravagers from a distant world have set up a gateway, allowing them to move their forces through space. Earth is their next conquest. When push comes to shove, Earth's Marines are shoving back and taking the fight to the enemy.

General Keith Brennan would rather face an army with his trusty rifle than attend another state dinner. When the president of the solar system is assassinated on Mars, Brennan is the obvious choice to investigate. If he comes up with the wrong answer, though, his career will be over.

Independent freighter captain Mike Starrunner has seen it all, but when someone freezes his weapons officer into a six-foot cube of cryonite, even Mike is stumped. Who would have done this and why? And what happened to good old carbonite? On skanky, sweltering hub world Ponce de Leon, there’s no shortage of suspects. Fortunately, Mike is a Shifter - genetically gifted with the ability to shift into animal form. Unfortunately, so are the other guys.

Put your dice and paper away. Turn off that computer. Blades of Verchinor, the most popular fantasy role-playing game of all time, is now the world’s first fully immersive virtual reality game! Okay, maybe there are a few glitches and bugs. Perhaps the NPC’s and monsters aren’t behaving exactly as expected. And sure, the creator who can fix issues such as these is missing, but this shouldn’t worry you. Life’s an adventure, right? Step through the portal and enter a new reality.

Treated Like Family details the development of Sargento - a nationally recognized cheese company and household name. At the same time, it's a timeless story that showcases the importance of the individual and how a family united in a single purpose within the right culture is unstoppable.

When David's wife dies at the hands of a corrupt medical system, David is out for justice. With his skills as a lawyer and position inside the biggest health insurance company in America - American True Care - he plans to bring down the system, from the inside. David begins to work his way up the company while recruiting a clandestine team to build a covert case against American True Care. But this is a dangerous game and the players have ties to the highest levels of government. Propped up by lobbyists, senators, and even the White House, American True Care will do whatever it takes

Everyone wonders what it's really like in space, but very few of us have ever had the chance to experience it firsthand. This captivating collection brings together stories from dozens of international astronauts - men and women who've actually been there - who have returned with accounts of the sometimes weird, often funny, and awe-inspiring sensations and realities of being in space.

James Michael Curley was the stuff of legend. Twice jailed while serving in office, yet a champion of the people; builder of schools, yet a shameless grafter; born in the slums of South Boston, yet rising to become one of the most wealthy, powerful politicians of his day.

Warin is one of a small team charting the demise of the last few inhabitants of Retti 4, a distant planet in the throes of an extinction-level virus. It’s not Warin’s job to intervene in natural evolution or to question the whims of a cruel universe. He is only to observe and report. Until Warin actually steps foot on Retti 4.

It’s the middle of the night when Detective Chris Bailey is called to the side of a rural Tennessee highway. A young woman’s body is found sprawled on the shoulder of the winding country road, a glossy dark pool of blood around her head. The victim has been shot five times. She isn’t wearing a coat, though it’s late February. Her empty purse is discarded a few feet away, a single high-heeled pump obscenely alone in a pile of last year’s fallen leaves tinted with frost. Her other foot is bare.

A young girl’s life is torn apart when her parents are killed in the NATO bombing of Belgrade, Serbia, during the 1999 Kosovo War. An embittered Katarina Petrovic grows up with a hatred for Americans and becomes a willing candidate for special training by Russian agents. Alex Baker commanded an Air Force Office of Special Investigations unit until an incident forced him to resign his military commission. Still in his thirties, he finds a new career as the owner of a Manhattan-based travel agency specializing in tour packages.

Edwin Valero's life was like a rocket shot into a wall. With a perfect knockout record in twenty-seven fights, the demonic Venezuelan boxer, known as "El Inca" and "El Dinamita," seemed destined for a clash with all-time great Manny Pacquiao. But the Fates had other ideas. Fueled by cocaine and booze and paranoia, Valero blazed into a mania that derailed his career in the ring and resulted in the brutal death of his young wife Jennifer—and soon afterward, his own.

When something knocks Quinn Black and his team through an anomaly, he finds himself on a crash course with what appears to be an uninhabited planet. With an object of mysterious origin orbiting the system and his crew under attack from an unknown source, one thing is clear: they are not supposed to be there. Unfortunately, that’s just the beginning of their problems. Thrust into time loops and a seemingly parallel world where dinosaurs roam, someone is deliberately sabotaging them.

It isn’t every day that Detective Chris Bailey is handed a triple homicide. They may have their share of problems in the scenic wooded hills of Tennessee, but news that a young man—a child, really—wiped out his entire family sends a ripple of shock through the whole community. Seventeen-year-old Colin Simon is witnessed fleeing the scene, gun in hand. He’s arrested for murder, but refuses to explain any of it. Not even what he did with the gun. The police have their suspect, so is it case closed?

Lauren, Drew, and Rob go on a relaxing vacation that turns into a nightmare. As Lauren sunbathes by the lake, she sees the man from next door lugging something heavy into a boat. The night before, Lauren thought she heard a woman screaming. What is their rich and famous neighbor hiding? Women are vanishing in this beautiful corner of Tennessee, full of woods and water. Detective Chris Bailey has his hands full. He’s investigating a drowning from last summer. The woman was never identified. But a pattern is emerging.

A young actress, involuntarily committed to City of Roses Psychiatric Hospital, plunges James Flynn into a dangerous new adventure when she claims one of the most powerful producers in Hollywood is trying to kill her. Still convinced he's a secret agent for Her Majesty's Secret Service, Flynn springs into action, helps her escape, and finds himself embroiled in a battle with a dangerous sociopath worth billions. In the process, he uncovers a high-tech conspiracy to control the mind of every human being on Earth.

Saul doesn’t get why he’s misunderstood. At his high-tech day job, he hides in the bathroom writing a novel about his dead grandfather and wonders why his boss wants to fire him. He tells his almost ex-wife about a blind date and wonders why she slams the door in his face. He aches with worry for his seven-year-old son, who seems happier living with his mom and her new man. When the blind date becomes a complicated relationship, and Saul’s blunders at work threaten the survival of the company, Saul has to wake up and confront his fears.

A year after THE BAIT, Ania Throne is on the prowl. Gone into hiding, she’s planned her next move to perfection, intent on winning her dangerous game of cat-against-cat with the Leopard. But Ania doesn’t know that even the best-laid heists have hidden flaws. Jerome Curtis has taken a job at a Hollywood movie studio to try and put his life back together. When a familiar face from the past shows up unexpectedly, Jerome realizes that much as he’s tried to forget her, there’s no escaping Ania. And this time, what she’s about to do could be her doom.