Showing results by narrator "David Bendena" in All Categories

Under the direction of the brilliant, unscrupulous, and enigmatic Professor, Logan begins an agonizing transformation process to harness his mutant powers and forge him into “Weapon X” - an unstoppable, indestructible killing machine, a bringer of mayhem with retractable harder-than-diamond steel claws and the ability to recover from any wound. 

The secretive Mysteries conducted at Eleusis in Greece for nearly two millennia have long puzzled scholars with strange accounts of initiates experiencing otherworldly journeys. In this groundbreaking work, three experts - a mycologist, a chemist, and a historian - argue persuasively that the sacred potion given to participants in the course of the ritual contained a psychoactive entheogen. The authors then expand the discussion to show that natural psychedelic agents have been used in spiritual rituals across history and cultures.  

This is the first truly comprehensive book examining the life and career of the murderer who has become one of America's great supervillains. It reveals not only the true story but how the legend evolved, taking advantage of hundreds of primary sources that have never been examined before, including legal documents, letters, articles, and records that have been buried in archives for more than a century.

When Eddie Brock becomes biologically linked to a bizarre alien symbiote, the two share a common goal. At first, they seek to squash their arch-foe Spider-Man. But after repeated attempts, Venom reaches an uneasy truce with the web-spinner. Brock leaves New York and heads west to San Francisco, the city of his birth, eager to put trouble behind him, but trouble has different ideas. Brock commits himself to becoming a defender of the innocent, but he's a six-foot-three-inch, 260 lb. figure with bulging muscles and fangs like a shark. Venom quickly draws attention.

It has been months since Logan escaped the secret research complex in the Canadian Rockies where he was held captive, breaking through punishing psychological conditioning, slaughtering all those who stood in his way, and fleeing into the wilderness. Now, at the clandestine agency known as Department K, the director of the Weapon X program decides it's time to reclaim the most successful experiment for his group. 

Based on true events and individuals, this compelling play outlines the life and love of Cyrano de Bergerac, a man whose talent with words rivals that of his talent with a sword. Sworn to protect a man who loves the woman that Cyrano pines after, he finds himself penning love letters to her on the other's behalf. As Christian and Roxane fall even more in love, Cyrano must stand by watching a life that could have been his.

In this new collection, Richard Thomas has crafted 14 stories that push the boundaries of dark fiction in an intoxicating, piercing blend of fantasy, science fiction, and horror. Equally provocative and profound, each story is masterfully woven with transgressive themes that burrow beneath the skin. 

This is the ultimate field guide to the 82 extraterrestrial species that populate the universe. ET enthusiast Craig Campobasso explores the origins, physical characteristics, technological and consciousness abilities, dimensional capacities, belief systems, and cosmic agendas of each species. The species fall into two categories: 1) benevolent races, which function as the guardians of humanity, whose goals include protecting people, helping people overcome duality, and healing them; and 2) malevolent races, which are responsible for abductions, cloning, and domination. 

A family of giants drops a crumb of chocolate yule log - but one crumb doesn't matter, does it? Join Pip and his mother, the mice, and the ants as everyone benefits from the giant Christmas bonanza. The audience will learn along with each of the characters that what might be a small thing for you can turn out to be a very big thing for someone else. 

Walter M. Miller, Jr., is best remembered as the author of A Canticle for Leibowitz, which has been universally recognized as one of the greatest novels of modern science fiction. But he also produced many shorter works of fiction of stunning originality and power. His profound interest in religion and his innate literary gifts combined perfectly in the production of such works as The Darfstellar, for which he won a Hugo in 1955, Conditionally Human, "I, Dreamer", and "The Big Hunger", all of which are included in this brilliant and essential collection. 

We each inhabit many worlds, often at the same time. From worlds on the inside to the world on a cosmic scale. Worlds imposed on us, and worlds of our own making. In time, though, all worlds will end. With Skidding Into Oblivion, his fifth collection, award-winning author Brian Hodge brings together his most concentrated assortment yet. It includes all of the best picks and awards finalists. All stories have one thing in common: It’s the end of the world as we know it, and we don’t feel fine at all.

Jake Paynter is in deep trouble. With a $1000 bounty on his head, every lawman, bounty hunter, and desperado west of the Mississippi is gunning for him. His plan to lie low with the Shoshone quickly falls apart, but before he can leave for far Yellowstone, his two best friends, Gus Rivers and Stacy Blue, show up with a dilemma. Miners at South Pass City are getting murdered by a man or beast—no one is certain—and his immigrant friends from the Oregon Trail are in danger. Against his better judgment, he travels to the mining fields to bring the culprits to justice. 

Said Sayrafiezadeh has been hailed by Philip Gourevitch as “a masterful storyteller working from deep in the American grain”. His new collection of stories are set in a contemporary America full of the kind of emotionally bruised characters familiar to fans of Denis Johnson and George Saunders. These are people contending with internal struggles - a son’s fractured relationship with his father, the death of a mother, the loss of a job, drug addiction - even as they are battered by the larger, often invisible, economic and political forces of American society.  

Mrs. Grace Humiston was an amazing lawyer and a traveling detective during a time when no women were practicing those professions. She focused on solving cases no one else wanted and advocating for innocents. One of her greatest accomplishments was solving the cold case of a missing 18-year-old girl, Ruth Cruger. Her work changed how the country viewed the problem of missing girls, but it came with a price: she learned all too well what happens when one woman upstages the entire NYPD.  

The washboard abs of fitness models and magazine covers are the work of professionals and extreme diets. A proven alternative to these unrealistic programs, The Four-Pack Revolution by famed MMA fighter Chael Sonnen and MMA sports-performance expert Ryan Parsons relies on the latest science and motivational exercises to guide readers on a journey toward a healthier and more sustainable weight-loss program.

Jake Paynter is a doomed man. Haunted by an abusive childhood and his participation in atrocities of the Civil War, he seeks the isolation of the Plains Cavalry as a White officer for an all-Black buffalo soldier troop. Now, he is in irons and certain to be hanged for killing his captain after refusing an inhumane order. Despite his best efforts to maintain isolation, he starts to make friends on his journey to trial. The people of the wagon train begin looking to him for leadership, and he reluctantly falls into the role.  

School’s out for summer and that means one thing to Parker, Chloe, and their four friends: a well-deserved camping trip in the Pine Barrens, a million-acre forest deep in the heart of New Jersey. But when old grudges erupt, an argument escalates into the unthinkable, leaving one of them dead and the killer missing. As darkness descends and those left alive try to determine a course of action, the forest around them begins to change....

If you've ever seen your teenage crush 10 years later, and he turns out to be a complete jerk, then you know how Molly Ward feels. The last time she saw Noah Griffin was the regrettable day that she decided to climb into his bedroom window and turn her unrequited crush into something more. That day was bad enough, but things are about to get worse. Noah has become one of the best football players in the country, and he's just landed on Molly's front step.

Serving a 10-year sentence in a Nevada prison for armed robbery, Ethan Lockhart hopes that he can one day become a productive, law-abiding member of society. But society has other plans for Ethan. When he’s given a 48-hour furlough to attend his sister Abby’s funeral, he learns that her body was never found - just enough blood to declare her dead instead of missing - and he begins to suspect that there’s more to her death than was reported. Ethan decides to use his 48-hour window to find out what happened. 

In an overgrown industrial area of wartime Munich, 27 children hide from the Gestapo, scared and hungry. Their parents have been sent to concentration camps, and they have nowhere to go. Teacher Claudia Kellner discovers the group when she first takes in two homeless victims, risking her own safety by giving them shelter. Meanwhile, Commando Peter Chesham, a spy working for the British, succeeds in entering Third Reich territory. But his top-secret mission is threatened when he discovers the hiding place of the orphans.