Showing results by narrator "Steve Marvel" in All Categories

Dakota Bombay prided himself on his Bond-like image-bad-guy killer by day, lady-killer by night. But his life gets both shaken and stirred by an irate grandmother demanding a marketing plan for the family assassination business, a precocious six-year-old son he never knew he had, and a mysterious redheaded funeral director who's got him intrigued in more ways than one.

Skip tracer Henry Swann cares little about anything but money, so when a beautiful Upper East Side woman shows up in his office and hires him to find her missing husband, he smiles and takes the cash. But when this seemingly simple missing-person case turns into homicide, Swann finds himself trapped in a complex web of connections and multiple identities that takes him out of New York City and across two continents.

Many believe that despite its destructive character, war ultimately boosts long-term economic growth. For the United States this view is often supported by appeal to the experience of the Second World War, understood as a triumph of both production and productivity. Alexander Field shows that between 1941 and 1945 manufacturing productivity actually declined, depressed by changes in the output mix and resource shocks from enemy action, including curtailed access to natural rubber and, on the Eastern Seaboard, petroleum.

Space may be the final frontier, but no frontier has ever captured the American imagination like the Wild West, which still evokes images of dusty cowboys, outlaws, gunfights, gamblers, and barroom brawls over 100 years after the West was settled. A constant fixture in American pop culture, the 19th-century American West continues to be vividly and colorful portrayed not just as a place but as a state of mind.

Jaxon Jennings. Cop. Homicide detective. Partner. He always had your back and rarely made mistakes. Until the death of his son. Until the night he couldn't save him. Until everything he held dear was taken away from him. Now, a shell of a man, his reckless actions mark him as a burn-out. A Loner. A dangerous man whom many in the Fairfax County Police Department cannot trust.

An urgent plea from a former flame brings CIA agent Scott Stiletto to San Francisco. Ali Lewis was once a capable spy herself before striking out on her own, creating a fashion empire that stretches around the world. Now her father has been murdered, and Stiletto is the only man Ali can trust to learn the truth behind the killing. Evidence points to a growing international conspiracy orchestrated by Iran involving the smuggling of nuclear bomb parts, kidnapped scientists, and a decades-old mafia/Silicon Valley alliance the government has been powerless to stop.

China's Quest for Military Supremacy provides a broad and accessible exploration of Chinese military power, including relations between the Chinese Communist Party and its army, the strategic worldview of Chinese leaders, military strategy and resourcing, conventional and nuclear modernization, military diplomacy and coercion, preparations for war, and the People's Liberation Army's emerging global role.

Work is stressful: We race to meet deadlines. We extend ourselves to return favors for colleagues. We set ambitious goals for ourselves and our teams. We measure ourselves against metrics, our competitors, and sometimes, our colleagues. Some of us even go beyond tangible metrics to internalize stress and fear of missing the mark. Managing Your Anxiety will help you distinguish stress from anxiety, learn what anxiety looks like for you, understand it, and respond to it with self-compassion at work.

Dubbed "CryptoDad" for his impassioned plea to Congress to acknowledge and respect cryptocurrencies as the inevitable product of a fast-growing technological wave and a free marketplace, Chris Giancarlo is considered one of "the most influential individuals in financial regulation." CryptoDad: The Fight for the Future of Money describes Giancarlo's own reckoning with the future of the global economy - at the intersection of markets, technology, and public policy - and lays out the fight for a Digital Dollar.

From the beginnings of big-city police work to the rise of the Mafia, Rogues' Gallery is a colorful and captivating history of crime and punishment in the bustling streets of Old New York. Rogues' Gallery is a sweeping, epic tale of two revolutions, one feeding off the other, that played out on...

Evelyn Lewis's secret dream of marrying her brother's best friend is shattered when he leaves their home town to seek his fortune elsewhere. For six long years, she's waited and wondered if he would return. After the shocking murder of her parents, her brother is the only family she has left. Refusing to accept a betrothal to a man she doesn't love, she decides to take control of her destiny and confront her parents' killer.

Meaningful experiences don't come without commitment—you need slow magic for profound and enduring work. Featuring dozens of hands-on exercises and theoretical discussions of magic, this book supports you in making big changes without getting burned out.

Psychologist, stand-up comedian, and bestselling author Dr. Brian King reveals the techniques he used to lose one hundred pounds, and provides guidance and humor to make your weight loss journey a healthy, sustainable, and even enjoyable one.

There is no light at the end of some tunnels.... The New York subway system has:656 miles of track... 468 stations... 31 thousand turnstiles... and 1.64 BILLION fares yearly.

For six of those fares, the trip is going to be one they will never forget.

Six strangers will board a subway. But this subway is unlike the others.

This subway doesn't take you where you want or where you need. It takes you where you fear.

This subway...is Darkbound.

I thought I had grown powerful enough. I thought I'd managed to tame all my enemies. But as the saying goes, there's always a bigger fish. And that means I no longer have a choice. I have to risk everything I've accomplished until now. Because I'm no longer a low-status loser, and I will not accept anything less than total victory. It's either that or death. Look out world. Here I come.

When I took my place as a mid-level boss for a crime syndicate, I thought my life would be easy. Turns out, I just attracted a much more powerful enemy, one that could literally drag my demon-powered ass all the way down into Hell. Looks like I'm going to need to find out just how far murders and mayhem can take me. Good thing I have my own personal Incubus along for the ride, and that leveling up is an absolute pleasure!

In 1948 American polls rated Bing Crosby "the most admired man alive", and it's no surprise given how popular he was across every major form of entertainment during the decade. With a string of major hits, Crosby was the most popular singer in the country during that era. Of all the show business icons in American history, one of the most beloved was Bob Hope, whose career spanned over six decades across film, television, vaudeville, comedy, and touring and earned him uncountable accolades.

The State of Play is a call to consider the high stakes of video game culture and how our digital and real lives collide. Here, video games are not hobbies or pure recreation; they are vehicles for art, sex, and race and class politics. The 16 contributors are entrenched - they are the video game creators themselves, media critics, and Internet celebrities. They share one thing: They are all players at heart, handpicked to form a superstar roster by Daniel Goldberg and Linus Larsson.

Coney Bombay isn't your average PhD. While he may be well versed in philosophy, he's also one of the most lethal members of the Bombay Family of assassins. Choosing to travel the world operating carnival rides and spending quiet evenings knitting with his pet guinea pig, even in his crazy family, Cy stands out as wild card. But after a series of run-ins with perennial grad student, Veronica Gale, the cool cat is starting to feel a little hot under the collar.

South Korea's extraordinary economic and technological transformation after the Korean War (1950-1953) is often referred to by observers and historians as the "Miracle on the Han River." The nation underwent an astonishing makeover from being one of the poorest countries to become the 12th largest economy in the world and 4th in Asia. South Korea also became one of the most technologically advanced countries in a short span. As in other capitalist economies, some people have benefited from the economic and technological attainments, while others have been left out....