Showing results by narrator "Ed Sals" in All Categories

Outer Dark is a novel at once fabular and starkly evocative, set is an unspecified place in Appalachia, sometime around the turn of the century. A woman bears her brother's child, a boy; he leaves the baby in the woods and tells her he died of natural causes. Discovering her brother's lie, she sets forth alone to find her son. Both brother and sister wander separately through a countryside being scourged by three terrifying and elusive strangers, headlong toward an eerie, apocalyptic resolution.

One of America’s most celebrated novelists, Cormac McCarthy announced his towering presence on the literary stage with his first novel, The Orchard Keeper. Within the pages of this classic work, John Wesley Rattner, his uncle Ather, and bootlegger Marion Sylder find their lives dangerously entwined in pre-World War II Tennessee. There, the men’s tragedies and struggles are mirrored by the looming specter of industrialization.

Shotgun, Texas didn’t come by its name accidentally. In this Wild West town, shootouts are commonplace. Trying to keep peace in this rough place is Liberty Drake, a sharpshooting female deputy who has no trouble holding her own—until she meets Slater Rawlings, a handsome ex-Texas Ranger. As their love grows, Slater wants Liberty as his wife. But he also wants her to give up her gun and badge. Caught between her heart and her job, Liberty asks God for guidance. All the emotions and struggles the young couple face are fully captured by Ed Sala’s dramatic narration.

Zane Grey’s books shoot fast and straight from the hip, hitting readers dead center with thrilling action. His name has become synonymous with western adventure. Because of his killing speed with a revolver, Buck Duane has lived the lone-wolf life of an outlaw. Every day is a struggle against desperate men anxious to prove themselves—and a bigger struggle to hold onto his basic human decency. So when the Texas Rangers offer to deputize him for a dangerous undercover mission, Buck grabs it as his final chance for redemption.

Mr. Griffin is the least-liked teacher at Del Norte High School. It’s not just because he is the toughest grader in the school, or won’t accept late work for any reason. He even fails seniors and makes them beg to get back in his class … the next year. This time, he’s humiliated the wrong students. When a group of classmates decide to kidnap him, the plan is only to scare their English teacher—to make him grovel and give him a taste of his own medicine. They don’t intend to kill Mr. Griffin.

In the summer of 1882, Dakota Rawlings, Texas Ranger, is still recuperating from an ambush that nearly killed him. Not yet fit for duty, the bored ranger eagerly accepts the opportunity to escort his boss’ beautiful daughter, Darvi, to the train station in Aurora. The trip won’t be difficult, and he’ll get to share his newly found faith with her. But Darvi is kidnapped from the train and held hostage, and Dakota must singlehandedly solve the mystery of her disappearance and stage a daring rescue.

The Convict and Other Stories is a superb collection of stories set in and around the American Deep South and its charismatic people.

Before he won stunning acclaim as one of today's most gifted southern writers, Larry Brown was a firefighter with the Oxford, Mississippi, Fire Department. On Fire, his powerful and unflinching account of this experience, catapults listeners into the daily trauma all firefighters face, from the blistering heat of burning homes to the crunch of broken glass at crash scenes.

This gripping novel is not only one of the best books written about Vietnam; it is also one of the most powerful anti-war novels in American literature. Walter James has no face. Braiden Chaney has no arms or legs. They lost them 22 years ago, in Vietnam. Now, in the course of one long night in a V.A. hospital, these two soldiers, one black, the other white, reveal how they came to be where they are and what they can only hope to become.

Set mainly in Louisiana during the years 1861-1868, this passionate novel of me, woman and war tells the story of the author's ancestor's, Confederate soldier Willie Burke, during the American Civil War. A classic Burke hero, Willie is soon in conflict with his superiors. The characters who people these pages, many of them based on real historical figures, are as memorable as any Burke has created.

In the late 1800s, the adventurous Reagan Sullivan leaves the bustle of New York City and moves to the wide open spaces of Texas, to work as a nanny. Fiercely independent and headstrong, she trusts no man - not even God. But when Reagan meets Cash Rawlings, she embarks on an adventure she never anticipated. As they have many conversations about spirituality, her fears miraculously melt away, and she opens up her heart to Christ.

After its publication in 1962, Harry M. Caudill’s acclaimed portrait of the southern Appalachian Mountains became a rallying cry for action against the poverty plaguing the region. Here Caudill explores the area’s history, from its first settlement to the Civil War, and from the rise of coal barons to the economic despair of the 1950s and 1960s.

Megan's life isn't going well. It's also about to get worse. A drunken joke has left her having to see a tedious therapist. In his absence, the dynamically different Dr Peters takes over - or so Megan thinks. He manages to shock her innermost secrets out of her, and then he whacks a syringe into her arm before she has time to cry out. Aaron Matthews, alias Dr Peters, isn't having the best of times, either. Chance keeps sabotaging Megan's meticulously planned abduction. If he believed in luck, he'd be cursing his.

Three years after leaving her family behind on the idyllic lighthouse island where she grew up, 17-year-old Elizabeth "Squid" McCrae returns, full of anger and accusations and eager to confront her father about a family tragedy. But as a ghostly voice from the past sparks her memories, Squid soon realizes that nothing is exactly as she thought it was, and no one, not even herself, is completely free from blame.

Borden Watson goes to the giant redwood forest for one reason: to shoot spotted owls. They are the reason his dad has lost his job as a logger, and Borden hates them. But when he comes across a baby owl that has fallen out of its nest, Borden can’t resist the tiny, elflike creature. And luckily this owlet doesn’t have spots, so it must be a barred owl - not the enemy. Borden takes the little owl home and names it Bardy. Before long, Bardy wins over each member of Borden’s owl-hating family.

Zane Grey is America’s most beloved author of western novels. Set during the American Revolution, the Fort Henry Saga is based on the lives of Grey’s own ancestors. The war is winding down when the pioneers at Fort Henry must fight off a fierce Indian attack. Their only hope lies with Betty Zane, who must run a deadly gauntlet.

After a series of bizarre events, ironworker Mick Brannigan finds himself knee-deep in laundry - and considering a retreat to his hopelessly littered kitchen. He soon learns important lessons from unlikely sources. W. Dale Cramer, multiple Christy Award-winning author of Bad Ground and Levi's Will, delivers a Romantic Times Top Pick tale of a reluctant Mr. Mom who discovers what matters most.

Ron Hansen has won an Award in Literature from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters for his rich writing and poetic style. Atticus begins in the vein of a contemporary western. As it unfolds, it includes an intriguing murder mystery and a dramatic parable of the prodigal son. For years, prosperous Colorado rancher Atticus Cody has tried to understand his rootless son, Scott, who is now living a marginal life in Mexico.

In 1916, aging cavalryman Napoleon Childs leads an expedition into Mexico to capture Pancho Villa and bring him to justice. But Childs' troops are wiped out, and he is left to die alone in the Mexican desert.

Winners of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, O. Henry Award and Edgar Awards, the 19 writers in this 2005 edition are not just considered some of the best Southern writers, but among the best American writers period. With works by such writers as Dennis Lehane, Moira Crone, Robert Olen Butler, Cary Holladay, Tom Franklin, and Rebecca Soppe, this collection provides an electrifying current of deep, dark subjects set in the brutal, but charming south.