Showing results by narrator "J.J. Campanella" in All Categories

Police psychologist Edwardo Bratenahl is a young widower, still mourning the tragic loss of his wife. Bratenahl, an academic and native of the insular Cleveland neighborhood of Little Italy, is asked to assist with the homicide investigation of world-class geneticist Dr. Simon Pederson, who was viciously slain during Sunday mass. Bratenahl is partnered with Mary Kate Calderon, veteran homicide detective. The two soon discover a related murder, which Calderon confesses looks eerily like a scenario she witnessed as a child in Nicaragua.

In Chicago, a man whispers into a telephone: “The cat is ready.” With those four words, a chain of perilous events begins—pulling Rick Brant and his friend Don Scott into ten days of danger, intrigue, and suspense. Their official mission takes them to Egypt, where they join radio astronomers struggling to decipher strange, otherworldly signals. The anomalies defy explanation—neither terrestrial interference nor natural phenomena can account for them. The signals appear to come from light-years away, pulsing with a rhythm unlike any known star, and moving at an impossible speed.

Rick and Scotty fly off to the Philippines, along with Dr. Zircon, to search for missing Doctors Briotti and Shannon. It's a similar setting to the tenth book, The Golden Skull, but takes place mainly on Sulu Sea and the island of Shan. Some of the characters from The Golden Skull reappear in this one, as does the ever helpful and cunning Chahda.

In Chicago, a man whispers into a telephone: “The cat is ready.” With those four words, a chain of perilous events begins—pulling Rick Brant and his friend Don Scott into ten days of danger, intrigue, and suspense. Their official mission takes them to Egypt, where they join radio astronomers struggling to decipher strange, otherworldly signals. The anomalies defy explanation—neither terrestrial interference nor natural phenomena can account for them. The signals appear to come from light-years away, pulsing with a rhythm unlike any known star, and moving at an impossible speed.

The Pirates of Shan is the fourteenth Rick Brant adventure, and is one of the more adventure-oriented volumes in the series. Rick and Scotty fly off to the Philippines, along with Dr. Zircon, to search for missing Doctors Briotti and Shannon. It's a similar setting to the tenth book, The Golden Skull, but takes place mainly on the Sulu Sea and the island of Shan.

It is the near future. The Islamic Jihad is over. The Jihadis have beaten the West. Israel stands alone . . . Can what remains of Western civilization oppose their total world domination? What might arise from the dust of the crushed West to resist the martial efforts of the whole Arab world? This is the controversial novella of the final crusade and one soldier’s dark destiny as part of it.

Rick Brant, Don Scott, Dr. Tony Briotti, and Dr. Hobart Zircon travel down to the Virgin Islands on what is planned to be a pleasure trip. The boys’ only goal is to unearth a possible sunken shipwreck and find a golden, Spanish statue lost centuries before to pirates. Archaeologist Tony plans to look for submerged Native American artifacts, while physicist Zircon expects to spend time just fishing.

Rick Brant, Don Scott, Dr. Tony Briotti, and Dr. Hobart Zircon travel down to the Virgin Islands on what is planned to be a pleasure trip. The boys’ only goal is to unearth a possible sunken shipwreck and find a golden Spanish statue lost centuries before to pirates. Archaeologist Tony plans to look for submerged Native American artifacts, while physicist Zircon expects to spend time just fishing. Soon after they reach Charlotte Amalie, the boys run across JANIG security agent Steve Ames in a chance encounter on the street.

This novelette is an homage to the amazing P. G. Wodehouse and his legendary characters Jeeves and Bertie Wooster. While living in 1920's New York City, Bertie is saddled with looking after the son of one of his Aunt Agatha's best mates, the Lady Mallowan. Bertie thinks that the young Lord Wiltshire is a useless, annoying nitwit, but he has no idea that left on his own a completely different side of the young Dermot will start to emerge, putting Bertie in a serious pickle.

All the Spindrifters want to do is to locate, quietly dig up and study some ancient native artifacts, including a full-sized, solid-gold skull that is sacred to the Filipino natives. Unfortunately, corrupt government officials want to steal it to sell on the black market, and head-hunting natives want to stop them because unearthing it will desecrate their lands.

Uvula Publishing presents the tenth volume in the Rick Brant Science-Adventure stories-- The Golden Skull. Here Rick Brant and Don Scott leave New Jersey to join Dr. Tony Briotti on an Indiana Jones-style archeological expedition in the Philippines. All the Spindrifters want to do is to quietly dig up and study some ancient native artifacts, including a full-sized, solid-gold skull that is sacred to the Filipino natives.

Rick Brant and Don Scott are back from their vacation in the South Pacific and are finding adventure near Spindrift Island. They're on their own this time, with no support from any of the Spindrift scientists, though they do get help from a likable old sea salt named Cap'n Mike and some familiar members of the press. The young men are trying to solve the mystery of why a fishing trawler owned by an experienced captain ran aground onto the well-known Smugglers' Reef and the odd happenings at nearby Creek House.

Rick Brant and Don Scott are back from their vacation in the South Pacific and are finding adventure near Spindrift Island. They're on their own this time, with no support from any of the Spindrift scientists, though they do get help from a likable old sea salt named Cap'n Mike and some familiar members of the press.

This short story by J.J. Campanella falls into the categories of speculative fiction and horror with bits of Japanese anime and manga samurai tales thrown in. It is a dark two-hander and takes place in a blasted, post-apocalyptic world where the remainder of civilization is isolated to a few securely protected and walled city-states. The tale was originally written for a short story collection that was never published. The anthology aimed to retell classic fairy tales in the guise of science fiction.

The story involves foreign espionage against a secret government missile project that is based in Washington. Steve Ames comes for help from the Spindrift Foundation after several scientists are struck down by a mysterious neural malady that seems to cause severe aphasia and inability to communicate. Steve suspects foul play and decides that isolating the remaining members of the research group on Spindrift Island for security purposes might save them from further attacks, but as the whole Brant family discovers the enemy does not give up that easily.

The Electronic Mind Reader, the 12th Rick Brant novel, was published in 1957 and is another JANIG-based adventure with government spook Steve Ames as one of the main characters. The story involves foreign espionage against a secret government missile project based in Washington. Steve Ames comes for help from the Spindrift Foundation after several project scientists are struck down by a mysterious neural malady that seems to cause severe aphasia and inability to communicate.

As a former New York City cop who's working as a private detective in the state of Georgia, Myron Abramowitz is a stranger in a strange land. His big city detective agency has been hired by two rich heiresses to find their kidnapped father. This seems pretty straight-forward to Myron at first, but to his dismay, he quickly discovers that so far south of the Mason-Dixon Line there are more things than he can possibly imagine in his philosophy.

The Mystery of Scarlet Lake, the 13th Rick Brant novel, was published in 1958. In this thrilling story Rick and Scotty go to work on a project at a secret experimental rocket installation in Nevada with Spindrift Island scientist Dr. John Gordon in order to help stop the sabotage that has been plaguing the project. Only two men at the base know their real mission: to track down the saboteur who calls himself Homo Terrestrialis : “The Earthman”.