Showing results by narrator "Luke" in All Categories

The SynthNet is a galaxy-sized simulation where every sector plays by its own rules. One moment you’re casting fireballs in high-fantasy ruins; the next, you’re hacking elevators in a neon megacity or fighting off raiders in a sun-scorched desertpunk outpost. For Fen, a gruff NPC whose job is to hand out beginner quests and pretend it still matters, it’s just another day in the loop—until everything changes. A mission glitches. A player dies. Permanently. Now the system blames him.

Lillian Linden is a liar. On the surface, she looks like a brave survivor of a plane crash. But she's been lying to her family, her friends, and the whole world since rescue helicopters scooped her and her fellow survivor, Dave Hall, off a deserted island in the South Pacific. Missing for almost two years, the castaways are thrust into the spotlight after their rescue, becoming media darlings overnight. But they can't tell the real story--so they lie.

Brodie is learning the hard way that gaining power always comes with a price. It isn't like the stories where one high ranked Skill suddenly changed his life. Instead, it's just brought more problems. Maybe that is because of the dead body, but that was a clear case of self-defense, wasn't it?

Hot flings at a seedy truck stop. Homemade glory holes in the stall walls of a dorm shower. Fun and fornication at an infamous park. Steamy bathhouse trysts and other tales of public eroticism is what Cruising is all about. Filled with hot plots and even hotter characters, Cruising doesn't shy away from new erotic territory and includes several true confessions, including those of the editor himself. As with all of Allison's sexy compilations, creativity and diversity of story lines are key.

Ian survived his first week as a quality control tech for the biggest virtual reality game online. What's more, he's in love with the hottest woman imaginable. Only trouble is, she's a demoness from hell. In a videogame. And now he has to go and rescue her. There will be pirates in airships, lustful female elves, and an insanely powerful warlock intent on destroying Ian, Alaria, and Stig.

These 24 inspiring lectures introduce you to the sages who, as a group, represent the "missing page" of the history of philosophy. Although their names are sometimes familiar to us, as in the case of Cicero and Plutarch, their philosophy is not. Studying these thinkers offers some surprising ways to think about philosophy. This course offers ample opportunity to hear, in their own words, the philosophers' prescriptions for healthier living.

Lord Shiva, the most mystical and enigmatic deity of the Vedic pantheon, remains the most popular and yet, the least understood personality.From being the destroyer to the most compassionate, being the personification of anger to the one who is easily pleased, living a life of complete...

From the author of the Audible #1 bestsellers The Stone Man, The Physics of the Dead, and In the Darkness, That's Where I'll Know You. Five more stories from Luke Smitherd to keep you intrigued, shocked, and asking what you would do...

This is the story of a man caught in the middle of a huge American destabilising operation, illustrating the secret economic war that the United States is waging against developed nations across the world. In 2014, France lost part of the control of its nuclear power plants to the United States. Frédéric Pierucci, former senior executive of one of Alstom's subsidiaries, found himself at the heart of this state scandal. His story goes to the very heart of a $12 billion thriller that illustrates the secret economic war that the United States is waging in Europe.

Deceived by a trusted colleague, Loredana Cyber, heir to the world's largest entertainment company, walks away from big business and vows never to return. When a young programmer on the verge of perfecting an incredible new technology comes to her for help, she must decide—remain anonymous, or return to an arena that betrayed her.

In a day that starts with amnesia, mysterious old men, and a scrawled, barely-legible note that says only "DON'T TRUST HIM", follow Tom as he tries to piece together not only his memories of the day before, but the answer to the question... what happens when you never let go of the ones you love?

Mason Alexander thought all he wanted in life was something to call his own - something without the family name attached. He got that when he bought his bar in Blackcreek...but then a hard truth opens his eyes that he's been lied to his whole life, and he's tangled amid the family that loves him, a truth that haunts him, and torn between the life he wants for himself and the obligation he feels for his family.

Rade and the Argonauts hunt a fugitive alien to a colonized world. Embedded within the most populous city, the rogue is hidden in plain sight. Unable to obtain clearance from the local authorities, Rade and his team must sneak inside the city and quietly capture the rogue without alerting law enforcement. The operation won’t be easy. The city’s security forces have drones and mechs watching on every street corner, and the alien fugitive himself is known for his cunning, resourcefulness, and cruelty.

Discover the story of the world's most consistently best-selling book, which came into being through a remarkable and complicated process. In 24 stimulating lectures, Professor Johnson investigates the many forms the Bible has taken and the ways history, scholarship, and technology have helped shape this great tradition, as well as the Bible's powerful influence on human history and culture.

“The Theos await you. Only then will we stop the Unwinding.” The threat of invaders is gone, and Earth has been bartered away as a price for peace. Yet, the human world of New Spero is thriving and full of hope. Joining the rank of the Gatekeepers, Dean and Mary set off to explore worlds connected by the mysterious portals. When they stumble upon a strange symbol, they are led to an ancient object, one that sets them on an unstoppable path. The journey takes them through multiple worlds, before they can find what they’re searching for.

You're never too young to start! In Escape the Rat Race, you’ll find out: How "working to learn, not to earn" paves the way to money-making opportunities. The basics of making money by creating assets. How to make money work hard for you, so that you don't have to work so hard for money.

The matter is settled: Aisling, a beautiful Gaelic lass living on the rocky coast of Ireland, is betrothed to a disgusting (and disgustingly rich) suitor - and the arranged marriage simply cannot be called off. Until it is...by a horde of Viking raiders led by their fierce leader, Cormac, who sweeps into town and sweeps Aisling off her feet. Stolen away to a rough Viking settlement in Norway, Aisling will need to use all of her wits and wiles to free herself, protect her friend, save her captor's village - and win his heart in the process.

New York Times bestselling author and neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin shifts his keen insights from your brain on music to your brain in a sea of details. The information age is drowning us with an unprecedented deluge of data. At the same time, we’re expected to make more—and...

Charlaine Harris (the Sookie Stackhouse novels) and Toni L. P. Kelner (the Laura Fleming mysteries) have gathered together another 11 writers with serious vamp credentials to provide a baker's dozen tales. Meet Sookie Stackhouse, who, as the only non-vampire at a 'Dracula's birthday ball', soon finds that's she's the one on the menu, and Harry Dresden, who drops by a role-playing game to find himself dealing with deadly party crashers.

What if life as we know it was just a game? What if instead of traditional schools, children learned by participating in a virtual reality simulation, one that allowed them to experience "life" from birth to death—multiple times? What if one player, on his final play, could change the world forever?