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Matthew Hughes - A God in Hiding
In a far-future world of wizards and walled cities, Lieve Reder has risen from being a small chandler’s daughter to become the captain of a riverboat owned by House Bernaglio in the oligarch-run city of Exley. She has ambitions to rise higher and when her employer, the widow Philaria Bernaglio, asks her to travel to the remote desert town of Ur Nazim to retrieve a mysterious item her dead husband, Nulf Bernaglio ordered, she signs on to the quest.
Accompanied by Dai, an artificial human created by one of the mad thaumaturges of Olliphract to be part of the wizards’ deadly war games, she sets out on the perilous journey. But the object she is sent to collect turns out to be one of the abandoned, semi-sentient tools the demiurge used to create the cosmos in which she lives. It’s the kind of entity that can become a god. And other forces seek to possess it for their own purposes.
One challenge leads to another, leading Reder to embark on an even more dangerous quest, to the far northern rim of the world where she must awaken a powerful godlet that just wants to be left to dream in peace.
Along the way, she must contend with the assassins’ guild, secret agents of the Duke of Vanderoy, corruptible officials, a pair of quarreling, elderly wizard brothers, an ensorcelled flying reptile, ogres, cannibal weremen, and a surprise visitor who has the power to upend all of Phenomenality.
Through it all, Reder keeps her eyes on the prize: to move up in the world and make her own destiny.
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James Bow - The Sun Runners
19:48|“Hello, people of Mercury. This is planet Earth. Are you receiving this? Please respond.”Lieutenant Adelheid Koning was only twenty-three when the Earth’s long fight against its environment ended in collapse and nuclear war. Earth’s sudden silence leaves the colonies of the inner solar system without lifelines, in various stages of self-sufficiency.Or, in Mercury’s case, not.To help her fellow stranded colonists of Mercury survive starvation and a breakdown of order, Adelheid fights some cold equations and makes some hard choices, ending up wearing an iron crown as queen of one of the rail cities of Mercury, constantly moving to stay ahead of the Sun.Fifty years later, Adelheid’s granddaughter, Frieda, is a seventeen-year-old princess who would rather be an engineer. Frieda’s life is shattered when a suspicious accident takes one of her arms—and is then turned upside-down when her mother dies from that accident. Frieda is left a young and vulnerable queen, locking horns with her grandmother, who is now regent and dowager.When the Earth makes contact again, after fifty years of silence, Frieda is eager to end Mercury’s isolation, but Adelheid is suspicious of the Earth’s sudden return, and wary of the other latitude towns’ desires to accept all that the Earth is offering, without question.With thousands of lives on the line, is it wise to hope for healing? Or are we forever defined by what we do in the dark?Jeremy Hurewitz - Sell Like a Spy: The Art of Persuasion from the World of Espionage
28:00|Learn the art of influence from the best salespeople on Earth—spies. Tapping into the history of intelligence gathering and his working relationships with former CIA, FBI, and counterterrorism agents, corporate sales and security expert Jeremy Hurewitz offers field-tested spycraft strategies and government-agency tactics anyone can use to build relationships, persuade others, and sell anything.Jeremy Hurewitz has built his career around former CIA case officers, FBI agents, and other intelligence operatives—people like Steve Romano, former Chief Negotiator of the FBI; Mark Sullivan, former Director of the Secret Service; General Stanley McChrystal (Ret.), former commander of the Joint Operations Command; and John Cipher, former CIA Senior Intelligence Service member. Drawing on in-depth interviews, stunning spy-world anecdotes, and science-backed principles of emotional intelligence, Hurewitz has created a handbook of techniques that will strengthen your ability to better connect, entice, and make deals—in business and everyday life.Though a spy’s targets may be odious—terrorists, criminals, and corrupt diplomats—the agent’s focus is on cultivating relationships and understanding motivations to gather information, free hostages, or procure money. Elicitation, Radical Empathy, Disguise, and RPM (Rationalize, Project Blame, Minimize Fault) are just a few Sell Like A Spy methods in this playbook of persuasion tactics from the real world of the Secret Service, special forces, counterterrorism, and international espionage.Georgia Jeffries - The Younger Girl
38:04|A DARK LABYRINTH OF FAMILY BETRAYALBased on a true crime, The Younger Girl, by trailblazing, award-winning writer Georgia Jeffries combines historical fiction and supernatural suspense to unravel a thrilling tale of family deception and long-denied redemption.In 1933, Chicago tabloids trumpeted the death of twenty-year-old town belle Aldine Younger."HEIRESS SLAIN, MARRIED MAN HELD."In the aftermath of Aldine Younger's tragic death, her grieving brother Owen suspects that their wealthy uncle orchestrated a sinister murder plot to cover up the theft of Aldine's inheritance. Fast forward to 1996, when an aging Owen, burdened by the weight of the past, is compelled to discover the truth before he dies. His daughter, Joanna, becomes the key to unraveling the family's twisted history.Father and daughter journey back to Pontiac, Illinois, to claim Owen's rightful bequest. They find themselves caught in a labyrinth of lies born of family greed and treachery crossing three generations. Amidst violent storms and dramatic revelations, Owen's sanity teeters on the edge as he confuses Joanna with the sister he lost. Joanna, racing against time, unearths secrets that could shatter her world and discovers a psychic bridge linking past, present, and future. But at what cost? And who will survive the revelations?David List - What are the Odds?
31:27|The debut novel from screenwriter and producer David List, What Are the Odds is an entertaining, binge-worthy, and addictive crime thriller.Ray Dawson, a former NYPD detective unfairly forced into early retirement, never thought he would get another chance to be with his second wife and love of his life, Stephanie. So when she opens the door to the possibility, he spends his savings on an extravagant romantic getaway at a resort in Costa Rica. But Ray is still as much a cop as he is a man, and when, in the hotel elevator, he has a chance encounter with Wilbur Bailey—a wily, neurotic, and environmentally conscious fugitive with a $5 million bounty on his head—things get complicated.IRS Special Agent Phil Dancourt is determined to bust Mika Salko, the corrupt CEO of Houston-based Amco Oil, and believes Wilbur Bailey, an Amco analyst with a conscience, is the one guy on the inside who could help bring Salko down. But in a bizarre twist, Bailey embezzles millions and disappears, putting Phil’s job on the line. Now, after Wilbur is sighted in Costa Rica, Phil is sent to retrieve him. But from the moment he steps off the plane and crosses paths with Ray and Wilbur, nothing goes as planned.The encounter propels the three men into a harrowing, death-defying, life-changing, and often hilarious journey, attracting unwanted attention from a heroin-addicted dishwasher, a powerful, corrupt CEO, bloodthirsty gangs and drug cartels, and pandering government watchdogs. Along the way, they come face-to-face, in unexpected ways, with life’s larger questions: friendship, love, loss, faith, and the commitment to values larger than oneself. What results is a trio of unlikely friends, and Ray can only hope that once it’s all over, Stephanie will still be there.Jim Provenzano & Tim Curran - Now I'm Here
28:59|“It’s people like Mama and me, I guess, who like to make the regular happenings in our town—like what happened to Joshua and David—sound like myth. There are those who doubt the veracity of my words. But I know. I was there.”So begins the voice of Eric Gottlund in Jim Provenzano’s latest novel, Now I’m Here, as he begins his tale of how two boys discovered, lost, and then found each other again in the small town of Serene, Ohio, in the 1970’s and 80’s. It is both pointed and poignant. As the town’s history is slowly erased by fading memories and encroaching suburbia, Eric brings back to life the two friends who showed him what true courage is. Fighting religious intolerance, small-mindedness, “rehabilitation therapy,” the lure of fame, and the heartbreak of AIDS, the two boys grow into men before our eyes. And through their love of each other and rock’n’roll—and the English rock group Queen in particular—Joshua and David breathe life back into their home town, if only for a while.Steffen Hou & Adam Moyer - Face of Hate
42:31|Face of Hate is an intimate portrait of an American domestic terrorist contemplating mayhem and an unflinching look at hatred in the US. But 'Face of Hate' is not just another documentary about racism. It is a life-affirming film about human reconciliation. Its dark subject matter eventually shines a light of hope, proving that even the worst of people can redeem themselves with a shocking confession at the end.Brian O'Neill - The Twelfth Juror
29:56|The true account of the twisted affair between murder suspect Peter Gill and Canada's most famous juror Gillian GuessDavid Baldacci - To Die For (6:20 Man)
31:38|From a #1 New York Times bestselling author, the 6:20 Man returns, this time sent to the Pacific Northwest to aid in a complicated FBI case—and he’s about to come face-to-face with his nemesis, the girl on the train. Travis Devine has become a pro at accomplishing any mission he's given. But this time it’s not his skills that send him to Seattle to aid the FBI in escorting orphaned, twelve-year-old Betsy Odom to a meeting with her uncle, who’s under federal investigation. Instead, he’s hoping to lay low and keep off the radar of an enemy–the girl on the train.But as Devine gets to know Betsy, questions begin to arise around the death of her parents. Devine digs for answers, and what he finds points to a conspiracy bigger than he could’ve ever imagined. It might finally be time for Devine and the girl on the train to come face-to-face. Devine is going to find out the difference between his friends and his enemies–and in some cases, they might well be both.