Showing results by narrator "Rudy" in All Categories

Los Angeles is burning. During one of the hottest summers the city has ever seen, someone is murdering mages with fires that burn when they shouldn't, that don't stop when they should. Necromancer Eric Carter is being framed for the killings and hunted by his own people. To Carter, everything points to the god Quetzalcoatl coming after him, after he defied the mad wind god in the Aztec land of the dead. But too many things aren't adding up, and Carter knows there's more going on.

Theo Wallace usually laughs at the horoscopes his mom sends. Still hung up on his ex-girlfriend and practically friendless, this one begs him to reconsider. Because a friendship that stuck, that thrived, well, that would be a reason to leave past pains behind and look to the bright future. When his sister Leone challenges him to find her the perfect date for a spring wedding, Theo uses it as a chance to make new friends.

The eighth book of this dark urban fantasy series follows necromancer Eric Carter through a world of vengeful gods and goddesses, mysterious murders, and restless ghosts.

Three unruly friends. A wedding we shouldn't have been invited to. Two unexpected romances. A scoop of sexy. And a double scoop of chaos. Lydia is a good girl who is above revenge. Good thing she has us. No one cheats on our best friend and rides off into the sunset with his new bride. What was supposed to happen? Unleash hell like two badasses.

Lily's quiet life was upturned the day she found out her sister was dead. Now, she only has one thing on her mind - to keep her sister's baby safe . . . at all cost. A new life, a new job . . . a new world awaits Lily in Paris, Tennessee. She's determined to make it work. Not even the sexy mountain of a man, Goliath, is going to stand in her way. She had no idea why her presence has him so riled, but she really doesn't care what he thinks. She's there for one reason, and one reason only - to protect her nephew. A brooding biker is the last thing on her mind.

Arc kept his end of our bargain and helped me with my family's problem. Now it was time to return the favor. He's been on the run ever since waking up next to his dead on again/off again girlfriend. He swears he didn't kill her. I believe him. He also says she wasn't in his bed when he went to sleep. That's a harder pill to swallow. Arc is a very powerful witch in his own right. And from what I've seen, when he sets a ward, it sticks. So how did the killer not only get through his wards, but plant poor Sonya's body right next to him without him knowing it?

When wildlife photographer Ray Ingalls is murdered in the new owl-protection zone in rural White Rock, New Hampshire, Chief Sam Mason's number-one suspect is his archenemy Lucas Thorne. .... Until a mysterious stranger reveals that the victim was up to a lot more than just taking photographs of endangered owls. Suddenly it appears that a lot more people had motive to want Ray dead. Sam, Sergeant Jody Harris, and their K-9 Lucy now have a fresh batch of suspects, all of whom have secrets they don't want exposed. But when Sam's hopes of putting Thorne away for good dwindle, help comes in the form of an unlikely ally.

Possessing no supernatural powers, Batman is the most realistic of all the superheroes. His feats are achieved through rigorous training and mental discipline, and with the aid of fantastic gadgets. Drawing on his training as a neuroscientist, kinesiologist, and martial artist, E. Paul Zehr explores the question: Could a mortal ever become Batman? Zehr discusses the physical training necessary to maintain bad-guy-fighting readiness while relating the science underlying this process, from strength conditioning to the cognitive changes a person would endure in undertaking such a regimen.

Looking for an escape from childhood abuse, Reymundo Sanchez turned away from school and baseball to drugs, alcohol, and then sex and was left to fend for himself before age 14. The Latin Kings, one of the largest and most notorious street gangs in America, became his refuge and his world, but its violence cost him friends, freedom, self-respect, and nearly his life. This is a raw and powerful odyssey through the ranks of the new Mafia.

With a nation seemingly more divided than ever, many worry that Americans risk losing ground on solving the complex, interrelated problems the country faces - including rising inequality, the specter of climate change, astronomical health care costs, and economic stagnation. The renowned economist Jeffrey D. Sachs offers a practical approach to move America toward a new consensus: sustainable development.

Bryan Jenson is a former Marine who's been running from his past. When an acquaintance comes to him with a job, he takes it. He doesn't care about the pay or the job specifics. He just wants to escape the nightmares. But in trying to run from his past, he runs into an even more terrifying nightmare when he and four others journey into the Rift Plains - a dimension connected to hundreds of other worlds. His party is overwhelmed, and Bryan is taken prisoner. Now, he must team up with an archangel who has lost more than half her power and a low-level succubus to escape.

Jim Wekle's first day as a trooper on an island in Alaska could have gone better. It was raining, the coffee was bad, and within hours of stepping off the seaplane, he found a bikini-clad girl floating in a kelp bed. As Jim investigates who might have put the bullet in her back, he stumbles across a uniquely diverse and extraordinarily hilarious batch of island inhabitants. Puffing on his imported cigars, Jim soon learns that no one on the island is more unique, diverse, or hilarious than his unlikely counterpart: a man simply known as Kram.

Taylor Roberts had been in love with her brother's best friend for as long as she could remember. It was a love left burning in her heart - pointless, because it was love never returned. Noah "Renegade" Hudson had life knock him down more than once. As Sergeant of Arms of the Devil Chasers, he's known for not letting people get too close. The day he met Taylor, a change ignited within him, and he wanted to reach out and claim her. She was innocent and untouched though, so he made himself walked away. When both lives are rocked by tragedy, can they find comfort in each other's arms?

At long last, an extraterrestrial civilization reached out and made the First Contact. However, no one on Earth took their communique for the genuine article. In a similar vein, very few people appreciated just how little time our new suzerains had promised to keep our planet safe. Regardless, the end of their message showed humankind how to access a mysterious game. The objective of this game is unclear. No one can say where its servers are located, and its inner workings are beyond comprehension.

Excuse Me As I Kiss The Sky is the third installment of the Rudy Francisco poetry collection. With every book, the author utilizes various tools and methods to excavate his experiences and find poetry in everyday things. Rudy believes that poetry can be found in our immediate surroundings at any given moment and poignantly includes this idea as the foundation of his work.

Move over boomers, Xers, and millennials; there's a new generation - making up more than 25 percent of the US population - that represents a seismic cultural shift. Born approximately between 1993 and 2012, generation Z is the first truly post-Christian generation, and they are poised to challenge every church to rethink its role in light of a rapidly changing culture.

It's no secret that Mary Kay Inc.—home of the famous "Pink Cadillac"—is one of the best run and most successful companies in the world. But what many people may not realize is that Mary Kay is much more than a Pink Cadillac. While this widely recognized icon is a symbol of top performance, it stands for something greater—a way of doing business with a personal concern for people that has made Mary Kay a different kind of company. This book explains the methods and mindset that can bring the same kind of success to your organization.

Andy: The day my bank was robbed by six masked men was the worst day of my life. The next day, I lost my job for not following protocol during the robbery. Eventually, I found a new job. Luckily, it was right next door to the sexiest man I'd ever met. His name was Baker. He was a biker, a badass, and he was sex on a stick. Baker: Six months after my MC robbed a bank, a familiar face moved in next door - the manager of the bank we'd robbed. She had no idea who I was, but I never forgot the faces of my victims. Especially when they were as smokin' hot as she was.

When Drake and I arrived at our new home, I could pretend it had been all a dream. A nightmare. Here, we are safe and happy - and together. Our safety and comfort are only temporary. Drake and I know that to reach the peace we seek, to be really free of the past, we need to return and fight back. We need to put an end to this chaos and madness. We need to face the vampires, the witches, the werewolves, and we need to win. But since fleeing the last battle, I've been sick, and it's only getting worse.

Return to the world of Wicked Lovely! Listen to an all-new Dark Court short story. "Love Hurts" catches up with Irial, Niall, and Leslie - and offers clues about the Wicked Lovely prequel novel, Cold Iron Heart. Tales of Folk & Fey also includes "Old Habits" and "Stopping Time" (previously published Wicked Lovely Dark Court stories) and two previously published selchie short stories ("Awakened" and "Love Struck"). As a bonus, the collection also includes "Carnival of Lies", a prequel story to the 2012 novel, Carnival of Secrets.