Showing results by narrator "Jonathan Sleep" in All Categories

Over a century after Darwin published the Origin of Species, Darwinian theory is in a "vibrantly healthy state," writes Stephen Jay Gould, its most engaging and illuminating exponent. Exploring the "peculiar and mysterious particulars of nature," Gould introduces the listener to some of the many and wonderful manifestations of evolutionary biology.

Evolutionary theory in the theme that binds together these essays on such seemingly disparate topics as the feeding habits of flamingos, flowers and snails that change from male to female and sometimes back again, and the extinction from baseball of the .400 hitter.

They rode into town like the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Four armed outlaws bringing their own brand of hell to Paris, Texas. First they rob the First National Bank. Then they take a woman hostage as insurance. When Perley Gates learns that local waitress Becky Morris is in the hands of these tough customers, with only his friend Possum he rides to get her back. Problem is, the outlaws are heading toward the Red River--straight into Indian Territory. That's where the ranch hands draw the line. But Perley won't give up.

Charles Smith brought magic back with him to Earth, but will even that be enough to end the Reaper threat? The reapers have brought a Queen through the dimensional barrier. With her magic behind them, the reapers intend to open a massive portal, allowing tens of thousands more of their kind to pour into Earth. They have to be stopped—no matter the cost. As governments of the world gird themselves to use their most terrible weapons to stop the reaper threat, Smith and his allies throw everything they have into one final attempt to defeat the enemy with more conventional means.

The novel continues the exploits of Tito, an anonymous Imago slummer who was mysteriously transported through the Ikarion VR MMO game into the real fantasy world of Ikaris as his alter ego identity, Card the Hedge Merchant. Trapped in a virtual realm with no way to log out, Card’s journey will soon force him to confront his newfound destiny.

To the world, Linda DeSilva's marriage to Robert Edelman was perfect. He was her college boyfriend turned wealthy and successful husband, and the father of her children. But what friends and family didn't know was that the Texas real estate tycoon who set her up with a luxurious life in Dallas was also her abuser. When she asked him for a divorce, the violence against her only escalated, until the shocking moment she learned her husband had hired an assassin to take her life.

Ikarion Gate is an isekai LitRPG adventure novel – Book One in the Ikarion trilogy. The novel follows the exploits of Tito, a down-on-his-luck and anonymous Imago slummer. Daily, he logs in to Monad’s Ikarion VR MMO to earn survival “gang protection” money in his alter ego identity as Card, the Hedge Merchant. With his fellow player friend Perk, the cheerful Agrarian Dwarf, and a host of other unlikely companions, Card is about to discover there is much more to the Ikarion game and its mysterious gate than he could have ever imagined.

Thirty years after the events in the Solar system, the Empire had entered a time of expansion and advancement. Six hundred light years from Earth, humanity starts again. But, their safety and peace are threatened when a hostile force is detected in one of the systems close to the Empire's border.

From cultish rituals to cosmic horror, Michael Jess Alexander's collection of horror fiction will leave you disquieted and unsettled. In "Chatterbox", a college professor is haunted by the spirit of a former student. "A Profound Impact" tells the story of a lost group of people who finally find a place they belong. In "Space for Amateurs", a science experiment goes horribly awry. These tales and six others await you in this haunting volume of horror fiction.

The role and range of the American presidency has undergone significant changes in the twenty-first century, with George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden transforming the office in distinct ways. Many but not all of these changes stem from the numerous crises of this young century: 9/11 and the resulting war on terror, Hurricane Katrina, the Great Recession, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the social unrest of 2020.

Not only do individuals have core beliefs about what the government should or should not do, but individuals have become more likely to support the party that best matches their policy attitudes by both identifying as a member of that party and voting for that party in elections. However, as Zingher demonstrates, voters' ability to match their attitudes to a party or candidate varies according to signals sent by elites and increases as parties become more polarized.

In this short story collection, award-winning writer Michael Jess Alexander serves up a morbid menagerie of aliens, cultists, murderers, and more.