Showing results by narrator "Lily" in All Categories

Esmay Suiza wasn't a member of a great Navy family like the Serranos. She'd had to make her way on grit alone, which meant it wasn't likely she'd ever make admiral and "hoist her own flag". Well, that was fine with her: All Esmay wanted was a secure berth where she could be part of something greater than herself, and otherwise just live her life in peace. But what we want or think we want from life and what we get are seldom the same - and one day, Esmay found herself in the middle of a space battle, and the senior surviving officer in a mutiny against a traitorous captain.

We are living in an age of turmoil, destruction and uncertainty. Global warming has reached terrifying heights of severity, human expansion has caused the extinction of countless species and neoliberalism has led to a destructive divide in wealth and a polarisation of mainstream politics. But, there is a constructive way to meet this challenge, there is a reason to keep on fighting and there are plenty of reasons for optimism.

Elizabeth Eden is a fallen woman. Having borne a child out of wedlock, the doors of society are closed and no reputable bachelor will give her a second glance. Her only escape from a life of poverty and humiliation is a marriage of convenience to an aging recluse who is desperate for an heir. When the old Lord dies suddenly, leaving his entire fortune in her name, Countess Elizabeth finds that the world is full of possibilities for a wealthy widow. A new alliance with the right match could secure her a glorious re-entry into society.

In the early days of the Civil War, rumors of gold in the frozen Klondike brought hordes of newcomers to the Pacific Northwest. Anxious to compete, Russian prospectors commissioned inventor Leviticus Blue to create a great machine that could mine through Alaska’s ice. Thus was Dr. Blue’s Incredible Bone-Shaking Drill Engine born. But on its first test run the Boneshaker went terribly awry, destroying several blocks of downtown Seattle and unearthing a subterranean vein of blight gas that turned anyone who breathed it into the living dead.

When Brian Doyle passed away at the age of 60 after a bout with brain cancer, he left behind a cult-like following of devoted listeners who regard his writing as one of the best-kept secrets of the 21st century. Doyle writes with a delightful sense of wonder about the sanctity of everyday things, and about love and connection in all their forms: spiritual love, brotherly love, romantic love, and even the love of a nine-foot sturgeon.

Have you ever felt lost, anxious, panicky about adulthood? Have you ever spent a hungover Sunday crying into a bowl of cereal? Have you ever scrolled through Instagram and felt nothing but green-eyed jealousy and evil thoughts? Award-winning journalist, Grazia agony aunt and real-life big sister to five smart, stylish, stunning 20-something young women, Daisy Buchanan has been there, done that and got the vajazzle.

Has Rachel been taken against her will by the powerful King Adriano, known to her as Ian? You will find out in the beginning of a story filled with romance, lust, conflict, and heat. The king recently ascended the throne of Corythia, and his brother, Gianni, is out for revenge, for what he feels is rightfully his, a kingdom he once renounced. Meanwhile, Rachel is pregnant and determined not to fall for the handsome king's plot to get her to the altar. Shane has left on a mission for his special-operations team, and Lia is heartbroken that, once again, the man she loves has lied to her.

Local weather reporter Suzanne Maretto craves nothing more than to transcend life at her suburban cable television news station and follow in the footsteps of her idol: Barbara Walters. When she concludes that her unglamorous husband is getting in the way of her dream of stardom, the solution seems obvious: Get rid of him. She seduces a 15-year-old admirer, Jimmy, and persuades him to do her dirty work. Mission accomplished, Suzanne takes to the airwaves in her new role as grieving widow, in search of a TV deal. If that means selling Jimmy down the river, she’s ready.

Kylara Vatta is the only daughter in a family full of sons, and her father's only child to buck tradition by choosing a military career instead of joining the family business....

In this delightfully inventive series of short solo sketches, an eclectic range of unusual individuals find themselves cheerfully engaging in a deeply un-British activity: chatting to a stranger. And in each scenario, the silent recipient of their confidences is the listener themselves. They may be a stranger you thought you knew, a stranger you've just met, or the only stranger in a room full of friends. But whatever the situation, they all want to open their hearts to us - and they're not shy about sharing.

Pippa should have known better. She knew that Cameron had built a fortress around his feelings. Yet there she was, pregnant after an evening of passion with the enigmatic entrepreneur. He would surely offer her a financial arrangement, but given his tragic past, would he ever want more?

On the eve of the Civil War, Kirby Jensen is the youngest of three children living on a hardscrabble ranch in Southwestern Missouri. But in 1861, shots were fired in Charleston harbor, and Kirby's father and brother went to war. Smoke Jensen: The Beginning follows the Jensen clan during these volatile years, from Civil War battles to border state raids to the kind of frontier justice achieved only by bullets and blood.

The war was over except for the crew of the TSS Phoenix. Lost deep in enemy space, crippled but not dead. The odds of survival were stacked against them, but they were still determined to fight their way back toward allied space. On New Terra, Roy O’Hara had discovered peace for his spirit and joy in a simple life. Yet he had only fulfilled a portion of the Commander’s Prophecy. It told of a darkness that would fall on his new home from the stars, and he would be called upon once again to save them all.

Kirby — later Smoke — Jensen has just earned his first paying job as a deputy US marshal for the Colorado Territory and is sent to the lawless town of Las Animas. There, he finds a sheriff too cowardly to face the outlaw leader Cole Dawson, whose six-gun has left a lot of good men dead. Young Smoke feels no such fear. He takes Dawson down fast. Then the real fight begins.

On the night of the new moon, the demons rise in force, seeking the deaths of two men both of whom have the potential to become the fabled Deliverer, the man prophesied to reunite the scattered remnants of humanity in a final push to destroy the demon corelings once and for all. Arlen Bales was once an ordinary man, but now he has become something more - the Warded Man, tattooed with eldritch wards so powerful they make him a match for any demon. Arlen denies he is the Deliverer at every turn, but the more he tries to be one with the common folk, the more fervently they believe.

Shaving his beard and posing as a farmer from Ohio, Preacher comes face-to-face with Shad Beaumont and insinuates himself into his organization — as Beaumont's own personal bodyguard. But before Preacher can take down the sadistic leader, innocents — and not-so-innocents — are drawn into Beaumont's intricate web and Preacher finds the stakes of the game have become alarmingly high.

Somewhere in North Dakota, there is a town called Owl that isn't there. Disco is over, but punk never happened. They don't have cable. They don't really have pop culture, unless you count grain prices and alcoholism. People work hard and then they die. They hate the government and impregnate teenage girls. But that's not nearly as awful as it sounds; in fact, sometimes it's perfect.

Much to Clothahump the Wizard's distress, ex-hippie Jon-Tom and Talea's son Buncan wants to be a questing hero, but not a spellsinger. Instead he forms a band with Mudge's kids, otters Noctor and Squill, one that creates a wild unpredictable magic - based on rap! Then an anteater arrives with rumours about a dangerous legend. Soon the young rappers, aided by a drunk rhino, are off on an odyssey to a fortress where evil sorcerers threaten the world. And where only the unknown power of Buncan's beat can stop the hordes of hideous hybrids.

The race is on to claim the area between the Ohio River and Tennessee. What's left of the resistance is hiding out in the tangle of Central Kentucky hills - leaving the powerful, well-organized Kurian vampires the opportunity to fill the void. Major David Valentine knows a small group of fierce, freedom-loving allies who would be glad to settle the rich lands. But they're more than 300 miles away, with hostile aliens and vicious human slavers standing between. But even if by some miracle they make it, the Kurian Order isn't about to easily yield the blood-soaked Kentucky soil....

A landmark collection of writings by street prostitutes, exotic dancers, nude models, escorts, porn stars, and massage parlor workers. Since publication in 1987, Sex Work has generated much discussion and has changed the language we use to talk about sex for money.