Showing results by narrator "Adam Sims" in All Categories

United States of Japan is set in a gripping alternate history where the Japanese Empire rules over America with huge robots. Is resistance possible in the form of subversive video games? Decades ago, Japan won the Second World War. Americans worship their infallible emperor, and nobody believes that Japan's conduct in the war was anything but exemplary. Nobody, that is, except the George Washingtons, a group of rebels fighting for freedom.

Published in 1888 to immediate popularity, Looking Backward: 2000-1887 is a dynamic rejection of industrial capitalism, and presents a depiction of a socialist utopia. The novel’s protagonist, aristocrat Julian West, falls into a deep, hypnotic sleep in 1887 and wakes up in the year 2000 to find a very different Boston from the one he knows. In Dr. Leete he finds a guide who explains the humane and efficient society in which he now finds himself - its transformation made possible by political and technological advances.

"To inherit a great fortune. To inherit a great misfortune." These words, from Nathaniel Hawthorne's notebook, neatly encapsulate the theme of The House of the Seven Gables - that of a family whose fortunes are poisoned by its past misdeeds. The sins of the Pyncheon father are visited upon his children over a period of several generations, until such time as one of his descendants unites with a member of the family he has wronged. Love conquers hate, and new blood washes away the original crime.

Since they were lured to the festival at Carousel, Riley (the Film Buff), Antoine (the Athlete), Camden (the Scholar), Anna (the Final Girl), and Kimberly (the Eye Candy) have lived through entire horror movie plots. So far, Riley's survival strategy is working. He's high on his Moxie, Hustle, and Savvy stats. But his Mettle and Grit have dropped dangerously low, leaving him vulnerable. If he gets caught by a killer, he's done for.

Roderick Hudson and Rowland Mallet are like two sides of the same coin: while the whimsical and egotistical Roderick recklessly follows his passions in the name of art, altruistic Rowland lives with restraint and measure. The two are bound together almost immediately when Rowland is shown a striking bronze statuette in his cousin's garden, which moves him to meet and support its creator, Roderick. They abandon their provincial New England lives for Rome, where the young sculptor perfects his craft and flourishes among Italy's great masters.

From the world's best-selling thriller writer - three chilling stories in one book! 'The House Next Door' (with Susan DiLallo): Married mother of four Laura Sherman was thrilled when her new neighbour invited her on some errands. But a few quick tasks became a long lunch - and now things could go too far with a man who isn't what he seems.... 'The Killer's Wife' (with Max DiLallo): Six girls have gone missing. Detective McGrath knows the only way to find them is to get close to the suspect's wife...maybe too close.

A blistering rebuke of religious hypocrisy, Elmer Gantry is the story of a charismatic and manipulative social climber who rises to power within his church, despite his insincerity. Though he preaches against immorality and temptation, Reverend Dr Elmer Gantry can’t seem to give up his own vices, and he leaves a trail of broken people behind him in his pursuit of pleasure and power, betraying anybody and doing anything to get ahead.

Having fled to New York following his involvement in a terrible crime, Irish-born Danny McCabe throws in his lot with Nicolas and Lucia Mariani, Corsican siblings who have come to America to make their fortune. In New York the trio get by, earning money from fighting and - on Nicolas Mariani's part - increasingly illicit activity. Lucia has ambitions of becoming an actress, and, following a fight that goes horribly wrong, the three of them head to Los Angeles, the city of dreams.

Ten Days That Shook the World is John Reed's phenomenal firsthand account of the October Revolution, leading up to the storming of the Winter Palace and the assumption of power by the Bolsheviks in 1917.

Jeff and genetically engineered spy dog Chipper are on the run from the mysterious and sinister government organisation knows only as The Institute. Due to a combination of bravery, luck and some of Chipper's more useful modifications, they've managed to evade their pursuers so far. But The Institute is closing in, and Chipper and Jeff will have to be stay one step ahead if they want to stay alive....  

Some people think I’m jealous of my sister, but it isn’t true. I love her confidence; her free spirit. She’s the reckless one in the family, always wearing skimpy clothes and posting her life on social media. I prefer reading, walking my rescue dog and early nights in my New York apartment. It’s not that I meant to keep her a secret from my boyfriend, Bradley, but she just didn’t come up in conversation. 

This is the biography of one of the titans of financial history over the last 50 years. Born in 1926, Alan Greenspan was raised in Manhattan by a single mother and immigrant grandparents during the Great Depression - but by quiet force of intellect, he rose to become a global financial 'maestro'. Appointed by Ronald Reagan as Chairman of the Federal Reserve, a post he held for 18 years, he presided over an unprecedented period of stability and low inflation.

For 11 years the clock has been ticking for Russell Gaines while he's sat in Parchman Penitentiary in the Mississippi Delta. His time now up, and believing his debt has been paid, he returns home only to discover that revenge lives and breathes all around.

Flapping Eagle is a young Axona Indian gifted with immortal life after drinking an elixir from his wayward sister. But after 777 years of sailing the world's seas, he becomes weary of life and sets out to find the mystical Calf Island, a place where his fellow immortals have gathered and created their own version of the human race. But Calf Island is a strange place - like its inhabitants, it is both blessed and cursed.

Captain Malcolm MacPhail of the Canadian Corps has been in the trenches for longer than he cares to remember. He's just landed a new job on the intelligence staff, but if he thinks staying alive is going to become any easier, he's sorely mistaken. The rain is pelting down, the shells are flying and the dreaded battle for Passchendaele looms. Malcolm reckons matters can still get worse. Which proves to be an accurate assessment, especially as his unruly tongue has a habit of making enemies all on its own.

Harry and Charlie are teenagers whose lives are shaped by a society that's shifting around them. He is a lonely Brit in his first term at a Las Vegas high school. She is an unlikely friend who gets accused of mixing a batch of explosives that blew up a football player. The two of them are drawn together at a time when gene editing technology is starting to explode. With a lab in the garage anyone can beat cancer, enhance their brain to pass exams, or tweak a few genes for that year-round tan and perfect beach body. But in the wrong hands, cheap gene editing is the most deadly weapon in history.

After the collapse of her marriage to an illustrious German prince, Baroness Eugenia Münster arrives in America with her brother, in search of wealthy New England relatives. The duo have an immediate impact on their American cousins, the Wentworths. The Baroness captures the eye of young Clifford Wentworth, and his girlfriend's older brother Robert; meanwhile, Felix falls for his American cousin Gertrude. The Wentworths are overawed by their European cousins and their frivolous lifestyle. What unfolds is a delightful comedy of manners.

Even as the popularity of videogames has skyrocketed, a dark cloud continues to hang over them. Many people who play games feel embarrassed to admit as much, and many who don't worry about the long-term effects of a medium often portrayed as dangerous and corruptive. Drawing on years of experience working directly with people who play games, clinical psychologist Alexander Kriss steers the discourse away from extreme and factually inaccurate claims around the role of games in addiction, violence and mental illness....

When Martin's raiding guild join the latest virtual reality MMO, they discover a challenge like no other. Strata Online is a 100-floor mega-dungeon, filled with an ever-shifting ecosystem of monsters. Martin's team soon find themselves in a race against the world’s strongest guilds, all competing to be the first to reach the unbeatable game's lowest depths. But unlike other games, Martin will need as much courage as skill to progress. Because the deeper he goes, the darker Strata gets.

Ethan Muller is struggling to establish his reputation as a dealer in the cut-throat world of contemporary art when he is alerted to a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: in a decaying New York slum, an elderly tenant has disappeared, leaving behind a staggeringly large trove of original drawings and paintings. Nobody can tell Ethan much about the old man, except that he came and went in solitude for nearly forty years, his genius hidden and unacknowledged.