Showing results by narrator "Christopher Lane" in All Categories

After the success of This Side of Paradise, it was F. Scott Fitzgerald’s popular short fiction that helped maintain the luxury and celebrity to which he and his wife, Zelda, had grown accustomed. Reflections of that blithe and glittering lifestyle, these eleven stories reveal a man both beguiled by and critical of the American postwar generation he defined. Fitzgerald’s tales capture the inauguration of the age in all its hysteria, revelry, and tragedy - the same world he would later revisit in his renowned The Great Gatsby.

When Quentin Draith wakes up in a private sanatorium, he has no memory of who he is or how he received the injuries riddling his body. All he knows is that he has to get out, away from the drugs being pumped into him and back to the real world to search for answers. His first question: How did his friend Tony’s internal organs fill with sand, killing him in a Las Vegas car crash? After a narrow escape, he tracks down the basic facts: He is an investigator and blogger specializing in the supernatural - which is a good thing, because Quentin’s life is getting stranger by the minute.

The Paiutes warned the settlers, but they didn’t listen. Now, their desert town, Big Bell Station, is cursed. A century later, Big Bell has become a failed casino town and money launderer’s paradise where depravity is overlooked and morality is scarce, and where the desert—and the coyotes—have a deadly mind of their own. When a scorned outlaw motorcycle club and a wanted jewel thief find themselves in the godforsaken town, they’ll stay just long enough to get the revenge and retribution they came for and get out. But when the Devil of the Desert comes home… No one is going anywhere.

The cult members keep to themselves, but the suspicious circumstances under which they arrived have Gabriel Du Pre questioning their motives and seeking answers. He soon learns from a friend in the FBI that seven of the cult's recently defected members were killed, each shot to death, but no arrests have been made. Then another shooting occurs at the perimeter of the ranch, and Du Pre finds himself blindly searching for a killer, an explanation for the murders, and the identity of the cult's elusive leader.

This is ridiculous. I mean seriously. I work for years, since I was in high school for crap’s sake, to be prepared for any emergency, anytime. I study, I train, I keep up with the news. I look for new products, I scour the web for suggestions about things I should always have on hand. I took training courses.

These masterly poems span the whole of Nabokov's career from "Music", written in 1914, to the short, playful "To Vera", composed in 1974. The works are newly translated by Dmitiri Nabokov, and include "The University Poem", an extraordinary autobiographical poem in which Nabokov recalls his life in Cambridge, with its crooked alleys and age-old gates, teas at the vicar's and British girls. Included to are such poems as "To Russia" ("Will you leave me alone! I implore you!), the enchanting "Eve", and verse about America, sport, love, and poetry itself.

“A necessary book for anyone truly interested in what we take from the sea to eat, and how, and why.” —Sam Sifton, The New York Times Book Review Acclaimed author of American Catch and The Omega Princple and life-long fisherman, Paul Greenberg takes us on a journey, examining the four fish...

A New Year's Eve celebration begins with the pop of a champagne cork - and ends with the bone-chilling screams of a killer's victims . Ten-year-old Ben Brook is the lone survivor of the brutal murder of his wealthy family at their upstate New York compound. But from the moment he evades death, Ben's life is in constant danger. Can NYPD detective Buddy Lock keep the boy safe from a killer intent on wiping out the entire Brook clan?

In the desolate hills of the Fascelli family ranch, a skeleton has been discovered. The sheriff needs Du Pre's long experience in Montana to identify the bones. What Du Pre finds leads him on a search through the history of a troubled family, a search that brings him closer to a secret from his own past. Along the way, Du Pre meets a range of interesting folk, some to his liking, some decidedly not.

Red teaming. It is a practice as old as the Devil's Advocate, the 11th-century Vatican official charged with discrediting candidates for sainthood. Today, red teams - comprised primarily of fearless skeptics and those assuming the role of saboteurs who seek to better understand the interests, intentions, and capabilities of institutions or potential competitors - are used widely in both the public and private sector.

Jason Sterling had a simple life by all accounts. He had worked the same job his entire adult life, he had never married and he had no children. He was used to doing things on his own. His comfortable life was shaken to the core the day he learned of his fathers death. It set in motion life altering events and the allure of a new life that was too great to walk away from. When an electromagnetic pulse brings the modern world to its knees, Jason's choice proves to be the right one.

Andy Crowl barely knew his recently deceased cousin, Craig Moore, so he’s especially surprised to be named as the sole beneficiary in Craig’s will. Not that there’s much to inherit: just an empty bank account and a run-down house. Once Andy arrives in the town of Mortom, however, he’s drawn into his puzzle-obsessed cousin’s true legacy: a twisted and ominous treasure hunt. Beckoned by macabre clues of dead rats and cemetery keys, Andy jumps into the game, hoping to discover untold wealth. But unsavory secrets - and unanswered questions about Craig’s untimely demise - arise at every turn....

In Spam Nation, investigative journalist and cybersecurity expert Brian Krebs unmasks the criminal masterminds driving some of the biggest spam and hacker operations targeting Americans and their bank accounts. Tracing the rise, fall, and alarming resurrection of the digital mafia behind the two largest spam pharmacies - and countless viruses, phishing, and spyware attacks - he delivers the first definitive narrative of the global spam problem and its threat to consumers everywhere.

"Funding Eden" weaves an enthralling tapestry of suspense, corporate intrigue, and speculative science, where the lives of diverse characters intersect in the shadowy world of lawsuit funding. The story follows Cal, a young aspiring lawyer drawn into the murky depths of Plum Street Funding. There, he uncovers the company's enigmatic ties to the Heritage House Network and the secretive Braunian Society.

One year ago, a young woman checked into a small bed-and-breakfast in the hills of West Virginia. She was never seen again... Tonight, the Rushmore Inn will host four new guests who bear striking similarities to the woman who disappeared. And like her, they will experience the most terrifying night of their lives. But this year will be different. This time the women are fighting back...

In the four years since he traveled through time to save the world, Quinn Black has settled happily into life as a new space race billionaire, despite the fact he’s no longer able to travel or loop time. But before long, things start to go horribly wrong. The system he created to save the planet mysteriously begins to malfunction. His team receives a cryptic message, and he’s hurled back into the past once again...but with a twist. Now, instead of trying to go back in time, he’s desperate to travel in the other direction and get back to the future.

While on routine patrol in the tinder-dry Topanga Canyon, environmental scientist Rafael Salazar expects to find animal poachers, not a dilapidated antique steamer trunk. Inside the peculiar case, he discovers a journal, written by the renowned Robert Louis Stevenson, which divulges ominous particulars about his creation of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It also promises to reveal a terrible secret - the identity of Jack the Ripper.

She does not have a thousand lifetimes. She has just one - and time is running out. For the prophecy spoke not just of her, but of a great Darkness that would destroy the elven kingdoms. A Darkness that is coming ever closer. She is Vieliessar Farcarinon and she must save her people. Even if she must shatter custom and destroy the world she was born to rule.

I thought the day my younger brother waltzed back into my life was the day everything changed. I couldn’t have been more wrong. That didn’t happen until the night of July 4, 2016. That was the night the lights went out and stayed out. That fateful night was only the beginning of 10 months and 1,200 miles through hell. Jason Sterling, my brother, told you his story. My name is Braden Sterling. It’s my turn to tell you the tale of our journey from a tiny town in Kansas to Elko, Nevada, and The Ranch.

A gripping tale of men struggling against nature and themselves, Williwaw was Gore Vidal’s first novel, written at nineteen when he was first mate of the U.S. Army freight supply ship stationed in the Aleutian Islands. Here he writes of a ship caught plying the lethal, frigid Arctic waters during storm season. Tensions run high among the edgy crew and uneasy passengers even before the cruel wind that gives the book its title suddenly sweeps down from the mountains. Vividly drawn characters and a compelling murder plot combine to make Williwaw a classic war novel.