Showing results by narrator "Nicol Zanzarella"

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism is neither a hand-wringing narrative of danger and decline nor a digital fairy tale. Rather, it offers a deeply reasoned and evocative examination of the contests over the next chapter of capitalism that will decide the meaning of information civilization in the 21st century. The stark issue at hand is whether we will be the masters of information and machines or its slaves.  

When the Colonial Marines set out after their deadliest prey, the Xenomorphs, it's what Corporal Hicks calls a bug hunt - kill or be killed. Here are fifteen all-new stories of such "close encounters", written by many of today's most extraordinary authors. Set during the events of all four Alien films, sending the Marines to alien worlds, to derelict space settlements, and into the nests of the universe's most dangerous monsters, these adventures are guaranteed to send the blood racing - one way or another.

From BSFA award-winning author Gareth L. Powell comes the first in a new epic sci-fi trilogy exploring the legacies of war. The sentient warship Trouble Dog was built for violence, yet following a brutal war, she is disgusted by her role in a genocide. Stripped of her weaponry and seeking to atone, she joins the House of Reclamation, an organization dedicated to rescuing ships in distress. When a civilian ship goes missing in a disputed system, Trouble Dog and her new crew of loners, captained by Sal Konstanz, are sent on a rescue mission.

The former warship Trouble Dog and her crew of misfits is called upon by the House of Reclamation to investigate a distress call from the human starship the Lucy's Ghost. Her crew abandon their crippled ship and seek refuge aboard an abandoned, slower-than-light generation ship launched 10,000 years before by an alien race. However, the enormous ship contains deadly secrets of its own.  

Jane’s days at a Midwest insurance company are perfectly ordinary. She blends in well, unremarkably pretty and extra efficient. She’s just the kind of woman middle manager Steven Hepsworth likes - meek, insecure, and willing to defer to a man. No one has any idea who Jane really is. Least of all Steven. But plain Jane is hiding something. Nothing can distract Jane from going straight for his heart: allowing herself to be seduced into Steven’s bed, to insinuate herself into his career and his family, and to expose all his dirty secrets. So she can take it all away. Just as he did to her.

Sheriff Reese Conlon and Doctor Tory King face the challenges of personal change as they define their lives and future together. Dr. Tory King’s pregnancy forces her to examine her personal needs and goals while her partner, Sheriff Reese Conlon, struggles with her escalating anxieties over conditions she cannot control. Twenty-year-old Brianna Parker makes a sacrifice for love that threatens not just her happiness, but her life, when she returns home as the newest member of the Sheriff's department.

All contact is lost with the first human colony on Mars during a long and destructive sandstorm. Satellite imagery of the aftermath shows extensive damage to the facility. The 54 colonists who called it home are presumed dead. Three years later, a new mission sets down on the surface to investigate what remains of the derelict site. But it's not long before they realize the colony is not as lifeless as everyone thought. Someone is still alive - hiding out somewhere. Yet, before they can find the elusive colonist, a strange illness starts to affect the crew.

Nicoletta knows all too well the curse that plagues the house of Scarletti. Then she gazes into the dark, mesmerizing eyes of Don Scarletti and she fears for her future - for it is Scarletti's ancient right to select a bride from among his people... and he has chosen her. Compelled by duty, driven by burning, inescapable desire, Nicoletta surrenders to this powerful, hypnotic man, giving her body willingly into his keeping. But will the tormented don be her heart's destiny... or her soul's destruction?

Homicide detective Mandi Murphy had seen enough bloodshed on the streets of Houston to last a lifetime. After a botched drug bust left a friend dead, she wanted out of the city. Peaceful little Sawmill Springs seemed like the perfect spot to start over. Six weeks on patrol proved the town to be as quiet and serene as she'd imagined.

Jeanne Liedtka and Tim Ogilvie educate listeners on one of the hottest trends in business development: "design thinking", or the ability to turn abstract ideas into practical applications for maximal business growth. Jeanne Liedtka's recent book, The Catalyst: How YOU Can Lead Extraordinary Growth, was named a Top Innovation and Design Thinking Book by Business Week. Tim Ogilvie has been hailed as a visionary for his pioneering contributions to service innovation, business model innovation, and customer experience design.

When a colonist dies in tragic circumstances, just a few sols before a major terraforming experiment, Dr. Jann Malbec begins to suspect that all is not what it seems. Her fears begin to grow when every attempt she makes to investigate the death is thwarted by the ruling council on Mars. In desperation, she resorts to secretly recruiting a recently arrived colonist, Mia Sorelli, an ex-cop with a troubled past, to quietly look into the incident. But Mia has some very good reasons why she left her old life on Earth behind.

Photojournalist Reagan Bryant has just returned from six-month stint in Afghanistan. Haunted by the tragedy that ended her last assignment, she's searching for some peace - something to end the guilt and chase the trauma away. Two weeks at the resort hotel owned by her future sister-in-law's father seems like the perfect escape.

Annadel, West Virginia, was a small town rich in coal, farms, and close-knit families, all destroyed when the coal company came in. It stole everything it hadn't bothered to buy - land deeds, private homes, and ultimately, the souls of its men and women. Four people tell this powerful, deeply moving tale: Activist Mayor C. J. Marcum. Fierce, loveless union man Rondal Lloyd. Gutsy nurse Carrie Bishop, who loved Rondal. And lonely Sicilian immigrant Rosa Angelelli, who lost four sons to the deadly mines.  

How can a colony on Mars survive when the greatest danger on the planet is humanity itself? All contact is lost with the first privately funded colony on Mars during a long and destructive sandstorm. Satellite imagery of the aftermath shows extensive damage to the facility. The 54 colonists who called it home are presumed dead. 

When Laura Fry returns to her childhood home to care for her invalid mother, she hopes the writer’s block that has swallowed her writing career will disappear. She doesn’t plan on turning into a “yard girl” but her mother’s long neglected lawn beckons her to return it to the lush and colorful display it had been before her mother’s accident. She also doesn’t plan on making friends with the “nympho lesbian” next door but she finds it impossible not to watch the parade of playmates the neighbor brings to her pool.

Amidst war abroad and upheaval at home, Reese Conlon and Tory King face their gravest challenge to their life together. Can love and passion survive the unforgiving storms of change? In the continuing saga of the Provincetown Tales, Reese Conlon’s obligations to family and country are put to the test as war engulfs the Middle East, while her partner Tory King must chose between her career and motherhood when her family is disrupted.

Dr. Bonita Burgoyne is pleased with the changes she's made in her life…she has a rewarding new job and is looking forward to renovating the historic sea captain's house she has just purchased. She's content, and that's all she needs to be, or so she thinks until she hires Deo to head up the renovations. They have nothing in common except a shared legacy of betrayal by those they'd trusted the most, and an impossible attraction they would both prefer to ignore.

The Kree Starforce are the baddest elite warriors in the cosmic business. Vers, their newest recruit, brings impressive photon-blasting powers to the team, but her impulsive nature has inspired some distrust among fellow Starforce members Korath, Att-Lass, Bron-Char, and, most of all, Minn-Erva, the team's most valued sniper. Under the tutelage of her commander, Vers will learn the ways of Starforce whether she likes it or not. Will Vers prove her worth to the team, and to herself, or will the pressure to succeed be her ultimate downfall?

There is darkness sweeping across the stars. Most know Androma Racella as the Bloody Baroness: a powerful mercenary whose reign of terror stretches across the Mirabel Galaxy. To those aboard her fearsome glass starship, the Marauder, she's just Andi, their captain and protector. When a routine mission goes awry, the all-girl crew's resilience is tested as they find themselves in a most unfamiliar place: at the mercy of a powerful bounty hunter connected to Andi's past and a harrowing betrayal.

A mysterious newcomer, a reclusive doctor, and a troubled gay teenager learn about love, friendship, and trust during one tumultuous summer in Provincetown. Reese Conlon, LtCol USMCR, is the new sheriff who has heads turning amidst speculation as to who will be the first woman to capture her attentions. Doctor Victoria King has been betrayed by love once and refuses to risk heartbreak again. Brianna Parker, the teenaged daughter of Reese's chief, fears her father’s wrath when he learns that she loves another girl.