Showing results by narrator "Stephen Davies Bel" in All Categories

I'm not your typical girl. I've been running away from the memories that haunt me for so long that depression has become my only comfort. I was content in the darkness...until Wes Michels offered to be my light. I didn't know that time wasn't my ally - that every second that ticked past was one step closer to the end of something that was beginning to mean the end of myself. He tried to warn me. He promised me all he was able to offer - each moment as it came - but it would never be enough.

In spring 2008, inspired by the Vietnam-era Winter Soldier hearings, Iraq Veterans Against the War gathered veterans to expose war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq. Here are the powerful words, images, and documents of this historic gathering, which show the reality of life in Afghanistan and Iraq.

From the Queen of Scream comes a novel that will raise the hair on the back of your neck. Not every grandmotherly type bakes cookies. What's more frightening than finding out that the kindly old ladies living across the street from you are anything but? As a child, Tim Robertson is selling cookies with his best friend Damien when they knock on the door of the house across the street from him. Two old ladies open the door and Tim never sees his best friend again. 

Victor Faust's new Order is growing. Business is good as there is no rest for the wicked in an underground world of hardcore criminals and contract killing. Relationships among the operatives have changed little over the past year - but things are about to change now, and all six high-ranking members of the new Order will be blindsided by an unlikely enemy. Loved ones whose only ties to Victor's organization are their relationships with its members, are abducted.

Leo Hollis presents evidence that cities can deliver a better life and a better world in the future. From exploring what slime mold can tell us about traffic flow, to looking at how traditional civic power structures are being overturned by Twitter, to investigating how cities all over the world are tackling climate change, population growth, poverty, shifting work patterns and the maintenance of the fragile trust of their citizens, Cities Are Good for You offers a new perspective on the city.

A handsome young tribal warrior and sage, Yikaas has traveled across the sea to hear stories of the Whale Hunter and the Sea Hunter peoples. Around the fire, Qumalix, a beguiling and beautiful storyteller, barely old enough to be a wife, catches the eye of Yikaas, and so begins their flirtation through storytelling, which brings to vivid life tales of the Near River and Cousin River tribes.

In the middle of the American Second Civil War, born with a face that is half black and half white, Jetta belongs nowhere. In New Orleans, where she lives with her grandmother after her parents' death, she is believed to be a demon come to curse them all. Everywhere in the town, the blacks - or people of any color - are being persecuted and, one day, Jetta is moved by the white military and shipped outside of the city walls to live in a closed ghetto along with the rest of New Orleans' many blacks. But Jetta is not black.

Anything you can imagine. Everything you crave. For the members of The Raven Room, it's every fantasy fulfilled. But for some, that desire is a matter of life and death. Drawn by a need he cannot control, Julian ventures to The Raven Room, a secret and exclusive sex club in the underbelly of Chicago. It goes beyond sex. It goes beyond kink. The Raven Room is the only place where Julian finds release from the dangerous urges that threaten to destroy the successful life he's worked so hard to build.

When I met Kiersten, time stood still. It was as if every cell in my body screamed her. I couldn't look away, I couldn't walk away, I couldn't even move. My other half, my soul mate, was staring right at me. I had to have her. I had to make her mine. But I felt selfish doing that - knowing that I may not have endless amounts of time to give her... and even now that every things' over with and I've been given that time back. Nothing is ever certain in this life. Which is why I'm about to do something crazy, impulsive, daring.

Wolfgang Schmitt, ex-underwear model, self-proclaimed wisecrack, and cynical copywriter turned undercover agent, is biding his time, unsure how to spend the millions he scored after his recent undercover mission for the FBI. Complicating matters is the fact that he might be called in for a new mission; if it's off the books and calls for a touch of seduction, Wolf is the man for the job.

In Understanding the Metaverse: A Business and Ethical Guide, expert product and customer experience strategist Nick Rosa delivers a timely exploration of what is bound to be one of the most important technologies of our time. The author explains the technology that underpins the metaverse as it exists today and that will form the basis for its rapid evolution in the future.

Five centuries of chaos have passed unchecked since the great collapse. All that remains are the aging ruins, the magical wonders, the monsters...and other things entirely. For Zander, this is normal. He's a Summoner, a scavenger for his village. An elf. Though they call themselves post-humans. The demihuman races are all that survive in the world. A world overrun by the Draugr, but everything is about to change.

At once grand in scope and intimate in human detail, Isle of Woman tells the story of a man and a woman born at the dawn of human history, separated by fate, yet united by an unquenchable passion that even time could not conquer: Blaze, the fire worker who raised his kind of savagery, and Ember, the beautiful green-eyed woman who forever haunted his dreams.

Hiram is a man with mystical abilities derived from the commonsense application of Scot-Irish folk wisdom and German Braucher magic. He possesses an arcane Bloodstone that allows him to see a lie the moment it is spoken. Behind the played-out farms and failed businesses are demons, curses, sorcerers, and unatoned wrongs. Bags of groceries and carpentry won't be enough this time. The job will take a man who has known sorrow. A man who has known war. A man of wisdom. A man of magic. The job will take a cunning man.

Boston real estate agent William Collins knows that his habits are slipping out of control. Due to obsessive-compulsive daily cleaning binges and a penchant for nightly online cruising for hookups, he finds his sales figures slipping despite a booming market. There’s also his ongoing struggle to collect the rent from his passive-aggressive tenant and his worries about his best friend, Edward, whom he’s certainly not in love with. Just as he decides to do something about his life, he meets Charlotte and Samuel, wealthy suburbanites looking for the perfect city apartment.

In the fourth installment of Germany’s popular Ghostsitter series, famous best-selling author Tiffany Shuster wants to promote her latest vampire romance novel, so she decides Tom’s Ghost Train is the best place for a photo shoot. But when she and Vlarad the vampire suddenly disappear, Tom and his team of monsters must investigate and rescue them. All leads seem to point toward rival carnival attraction Zoracz's House of Mirrors. Will Tom and his friends find Vlarad and Tiffany before they are accused of kidnapping?

When Tom is invited to the reading of a will of a great-uncle he’s never heard of, there’s no way to know what to expect. But on the long list of possible things to inherit, a travelling carnival ghost train is the very last on the list. To get his full $10 million inheritance, all Tom has to do is run the antique ride until his 18th birthday. Easy. Except for a strange caped-creep he’s never met, who’s trying to con him out of the money...and the actual ghosts and ghouls who call the ride home.

Freedom of choice lies at the heart of American society. Yet, many Americans don't realize that these choices are illusory at best. The available options in food, healthcare, education, transportation, and even online presence are largely constructed by corporations. At What Cost confronts how globalization, financial speculation, monopolies, and control of science and technology have enhanced the ability of corporations and their allies to overwhelm influences of government, family, community, and faith.

While Blake Masters is elated he's found his mate, convincing Greer Caspian that they are destined for each other is another matter. Between dealing with his now ex-girlfriend to battling an evil that seems to have many faces, there's never enough time to explore the depths of his desire for her. Fate's timing couldn't get any worse. Just when Greer is ready to admit that Blake and she belong together, some strange transforming werewolf from Earth breaks into her house and robs her. They decide the only way for any peace and quiet is to go after this guy.

Angelique Carson had no idea that once she was let out of her hidden realm to protect the Guardians' children that her life would take a turn for the worse. Sure Thane Sinclair is her mate, but there is no way she intends to indulge in any kind of carnal pleasure until her main job is done - and that could take years. Thane's sole purpose is to train the Guardians for battle. The moment he encounters the powerful and beautiful Angelique, however, his mission takes a back burner. Boy, does it. The only problem is that Angelique isn't interested. Could have fooled him.