Showing results by narrator "Eric Smies" in All Categories

Once considered a fringe activity, climbing without a rope has entered the mainstream consciousness, largely because of the Oscar-winning documentary Free Solo featuring professional climber Alex Honnold. Yet climbers have been free soloing all along—motivated by reasons as varied as the climbers themselves. All and Nothing delves into the cultural history of free soloing, ranging across the storied climbing cultures of the Alps, Rocky Mountains, Sierra Nevada, Joshua Tree, Yosemite, the Gunks, Eldorado Canyon, and several other locales.

For Dex Foray, con­vinc­ing Perry Palomino to open her­self to their bur­geon­ing rela­tion­ship has been more chal­leng­ing than hunt­ing ghosts, bat­tling demons, and stalk­ing Sasquatch com­bined. Add in the fact that the only way they can keep their Exper­i­ment in Ter­ror show run­ning is to take on a third part­ner in the form of the mys­te­ri­ous Max­imus Jacobs—all while inves­ti­gat­ing a sin­is­ter voodoo sect in New Orleans—and you've got the per­fect South­ern storm and a recipe for dis­as­ter.

Growing up in a lighthouse on a remote island, Orca Monroe has lived isolated from the world . . . until one day when she finds a cell phone washed up on the beach. Orca has her first conversation with Jack Stevenson, a young man whose older brother, Adam, has gone missing after crashing his seaplane off the coast. Orca becomes Jack's lifeline and his reason to hope that Adam is still alive. One stormy night, Orca finds Adam Stevenson collapsed on her doorstep. As she nurses him back to health, she finds herself spellbound by his inquiring mind and rugged good looks.

Nikolai: She came to my territory to spy on me. No one does that and lives. But this girl, she's a rare beauty. She's a temptation I have to conquer, and so I make her an offer. My mark, on her skin. The Volkov family insignia tattooed on her shoulder, to tell the world she's mine, and she earns my protection. It starts out as a game but becomes an obsession. Trouble is, I can't tell who is winning the game.

Nora Reid believes scientific laws control everything, even love. With her grandparents' epic first kiss story cemented in her brain, Nora develops a hypothesis she's determined to prove: for each person in the world, there is exactly one other person, and at first kiss, they'll experience an immediate and intense reaction. But after four years of zero-reaction kisses, she comes up with a new theory: maybe that pesky crush on her stunningly hot best friend Eli Costas is skewing her results.

So . . . I didn't handle the zombie apocalypse well. I used to be a third-grade teacher, but since the Gorging, my life has been . . . kinda rotten. I lost my group to the undead, became indebted to one of the gangs, and now I've been sold as a blood-slave. My new owner is Atlan, one of the vampire warriors who guard Blue City's walls and defend us from the zombies. The vampires are like celebrities around here. It's my job to provide Atlan with a clean blood source and any other services he needs.

Maxim Volkov. A name I had never heard before but one that my heart now beats for. He's not an easy man to love. He's hard. Brutal. Unforgiving. A weapon forged in the fire and pain of his early life. I will take that weapon and use it to bring down all who betrayed me. At first we ran, needing to put distance between ourselves and those happy to sell me off like a brood mare at the local market. Now, we plan. Next, we take our revenge.

She was given to me as a gift. I was to keep her safe, protect her. An old friend called in a big favor, and now I have this innocent young woman in my home. Scared, fragile . . . tempting. The lines blur and the heat between us ignites. She's my good girl gone bad, and I'll burn the world down to keep her safe. But as we grow closer, old secrets rise to the surface. I'm supposed to keep her safe, but she hasn't told me everything. I can't protect her if I don't know the truth, and soon things take a dangerous turn. One even my power and money might not be able to fight.

I've been separated from Atlan, and there's definitely something creepy and deadly going on in this bunker. This isn't the rescue mission we were told it was. No, this is a trap, and we've been lured here on purpose by a beautiful, monstrous man. I'm not sure why he wants Atlan and me, but I need to find out, because this new enemy just might be more dangerous than the zombie hordes racing across the plains. But what if the bunker also holds humanity's best hope for survival?

My body is changing, and so is the power dynamic inside the bunker. With the chimera serum racing through my veins, I can barely believe in a future for myself, much less one that includes Atlan. He's trying, though. Trying to convince me that his love is unbreakable . . . while I can barely think past my need for revenge on the people who did this to me. They have to pay, and they need to be stopped before they do more damage to what's left of the human race.

In the heart of the mysterious Louisiana bayous, where legends come alive and darkness lurks, an ancient curse binds the sacred land to keep balance between the living and the dead. For centuries, the myth warns of a dreaded creature, a nocturnal terror known as the Rougarou, which transforms from ordinary souls into bloodthirsty beasts compelled to protect the swamps with each full moon.

When Caleb Gray heads to the Texas coast to mentally prepare for a future he isn't sure he wants, the last person he expects to see is Catie Dixon. Yeah, their mothers have been planning their wedding since they were born, but he and Catie are most definitely not friends. He can't see her as anything but the annoying kid who followed him everywhere. Except, it's really bothering him that everyone is staring at her in that bikini . . .

The true test for surviving war lies in the mind, not on the battlefield. Inspired by the author’s own experiences of US military operations during the Vietnam War, Boot is a debut literary novel that charts the journey of marine George Orwell Hill, known affectionately as G.O. by his brothers-in-arms, as he comes to grips with the psychological impacts of war in the jungles and rice paddies of Southeast Asia.

Neurodivergent, young Dwight Skinner considers his mental challenges to be a superpower, but it's a pure bloodline that will put him in danger. When a tragic event brings a mysterious Romani neighbor, Mr. Mortimer, out of seclusion and into the Skinner family's lives, Dwight and his emotionally overloaded mother find an unsuspecting protector in this dark lurking whisperer.

Between school, two jobs, and trying to get into NYU film school, Bailey Banfield has zero time for a social life. But then she meets Alex in her express lane at the grocery store, and their secret friendship becomes the only place she can breathe. She refuses to complicate that with more. No matter how charming Alex can be. When Bailey decides to film outrageous promposals for her NYU application, she enlists Alex's help to plan an over-the-top, epic promposal to someone else. Too bad the only prom date Alex wants anywhere near Bailey is him.

As the sun sets over New Orleans, two brothers, John and Wayne Carter, find themselves standing in a French Quarter alleyway, their clothes stained with blood, and their minds foggy. They have no memory of how they got there or what they have done. All they can recall is a new friend, Jacques St. Germain offered them a deal-work for him, and he will give them a home, purpose, and power.

Life for a World War II paratrooper was grave and perilous; John H. Canfield's experience was no different. However, this young man found himself in so many crazy—sometimes humorous—situations that he almost forgot about how dangerous it was. Filled with pranksters and superiors full of bravado and an unfortunate brush with racial bigotry with a fellow African American soldier, Canfield shares his many stories from basic training and jump school. But his best stories are from the war.

Wild American ginseng, America's most famous medicinal plant, is in trouble. In plain prose, James McGraw explains why as he translates the latest in ecological and conservation science findings on this unassuming understory herb. As the world's foremost authority on wild ginseng, McGraw is uniquely poised to present this story based on more than twenty years of uninterrupted field research.

Hunter Damon got jilted at the altar and fired from his job within 60 seconds. With his assumed "perfect-life scenario" now destroyed, Hunter takes a long cathartic drive before getting a hotel room hundreds of miles away. Waking up the next morning, Hunter realizes there's nothing left for him back in his hometown, and decides to keep going on what becomes a metaphorical and literal Odyssey. But he's not alone on his journey. Along the way, Hunter is joined by the spirit of his dead father.