Showing results by narrator "Ray Porter" in All Categories

In this short story from New York Times best-selling author Jonathan Maberry, a reporter accompanies a special ops team on a dangerous mission against space pirates.

In "Plan 7 from Sin City", a 1950s seedy Las Vegas PI is hired to follow a philandering husband who may be selling atomic secrets to the Reds. This noir science fiction parody is a prequel to the worst movie of all time, Plan 9 From Outer Space.

The Venus Asteroid Expedition is en route to the "Mirror," an impenetrable membrane to another universe that holds all the riches of the Federation, but the only point of entry is the point through which Landolph and his men traveled long ago - with most of the men never returning.

When a county employee is found shot to death in sun-drenched daylight while sitting in his county road grader, Undersheriff Bill Gastner is faced with puzzling questions. The simplest explanation - that an errant bullet from a careless target shooter’s rifle blew out Larry Zipoli’s brains - is soon discarded as inconsistencies surface. The fatal bullet shows no rifling marks, and investigation shows that the shooter walked directly toward the road grader, in full view of the victim - who did nothing to defend himself.

A fan from the moment the Doors’ first album took over KMPX, the revolutionary FM rock ’n’ roll station in San Francisco, Greil Marcus saw the band many times at the legendary Fillmore Auditorium and the Avalon Ballroom in 1967. Five years later it was all over. Forty years after singer Jim Morrison was found dead in Paris and the group disbanded, one could drive from here to there, changing from one FM pop station to another, and be all but guaranteed to hear two, three, four of the Doors’ songs in an hour - every hour.

Narrated from the perspective of an American-born contract killer based in London, Calling Mr. King takes us into the mind and life of a man who is growing both increasingly cautious and distracted as he travels from job to job, city to city. Though long considered a first-rate, consistently reliable marksman with a cool, unshakable personality, he appears to be undergoing a severe change of character and focus, taking an interest as never before in the world beyond his targets.

Leo Painter is the CEO of Earth Global, a large energy, mining, and real-estate development firm. He and his party of company executives are traveling in Botswana to consult with the government about accessing their extractable resources. Sekoa is a male lion who shares with his bipedal enemies the misfortune of being the bearer of HIV/AIDS. Painter, pursued by his own "hyenas", only wishes to find a last resting place where he can further his dream. Their paths cross with tragic consequences.

In 1926, musician Tom Hickey reads in a broadside about a lynching that the Los Angeles newspapers failed to report and discovers that the Negro victim was an old friend. When his neighbor, an LAPD detective, confirms that, officially, the lynching didn’t occur, Hickey decides to investigate the murder, earning himself beatings, gunfire meant to dissuade him, and warnings from a Klansman that he’s made some formidable enemies.

In the weeks before the 1979 Mexican elections, San Diego PI Alvaro Hickey is checking the stories that Baja California campesinos are spreading about visits from the Holy Virgin - an apparition with definite political preferences. Though Alvaro doubts that this visitor is divine, he's firmly on her side. Then, Lourdes Shuler asks him to unite her with her sister, Lupe, whom she claims is the campesinos' Virgin.

After dawn the siege began. It was April 1, 1970, and Army Green Beret medic Gary Beikirch knew the odds were stacked against their survival. Some 10,000 enemy soldiers sought to obliterate the 12 American Special Forces troops and 400 indigenous fighters who stood fast to defend 2,300 women and children inside the village of Dak Seang. For his valor and selflessness during the ruthless siege, Beikirch would be awarded a Medal of Honor, the nation's highest and most prestigious military decoration. 

In this short story from Beneath the Skin, Sam tackles another case worthy of his particular skill set.

Paul Wright's family sends him to find his cousin, a photographer whose subjects have become increasingly macabre. Paul investigates Len's last known address, a cabin in California's Napa Valley, only to discover the frightening and sinister truth behind his cousin's obsession with the past.

A short story from New York Times best-selling author Jonathan Maberry!

In "The Things That Live in Cages", an MMA fighter at the end of his career is offered the chance to stay young, fit, and stronger than ever - but the price is his humanity.

Clifford Hickey is scheduled to perform at the festival in what might be his last guitar gig before heading off to law school to please his father. He arrives at the peaceful woodland campsite of his brother Alvaro, but within moments six armed men in badges crash the camp, and Alvaro runs. Clifford is arrested and roughly handcuffed. One of the sheriffs’ nephews has been murdered, and Alvaro is the posse’s quarry. When Clifford’s father and mother arrive on the scene, it’s the beginning of a confrontation between the Hickey family and the locals, including the Cossacks, who seemingly have their own agenda for Alvaro.

I volunteered to be a spy, not an assassin. I know this is war...but I just want to do what's right. If you ask me, none of us should be here - but no one gave me a choice. And I won't blindly follow orders. I am essential to the plan. And I will be a hero for my country. If I were normal, I wouldn't be old enough to join the army. But I'm not normal. I'm a weapon.