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Sebastien de Castell - The Malevolent Seven
Picture a wizard. Go ahead, close your eyes. There he is, see? Skinny old guy with a long straggly beard. No doubt he's wearing iridescent silk robes that couldn't protect his frail body from a light breeze. The hat's a must, too, right? Big, floppy thing, covered in esoteric symbols that would instantly show every other mage where this one gets his magic? Wouldn't want a simple steel helmet or something that might, you know, protect the part of him most needed for conjuring magical forces from being bashed in with a mace (or pretty much any household object).
Now open your eyes and let me show you what a real war mage looks like . . . but be warned: you're probably not going to like it, because we're violent, angry, dangerously broken people who sell our skills to the highest bidder and be damned to any moral or ethical considerations.
At least, until such irritating concepts as friendship and the end of the world get in the way.
My name is Cade Ombra, and though I currently make my living as a mercenary wonderist, I used to have a far more noble-sounding job title - until I discovered the people I worked for weren't quite as noble as I'd believed. Now I'm on the run and my only friend, a homicidal thunder mage, has invited me to join him on a suicide mission against the seven deadliest mages on the continent.
Time to recruit some very bad people to help us on this job . .
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Sharon Michalove - At the Ready
41:34What happens when a hunky French-Canadian security executive falls for a feisty Chicago lawyer?Micki Press and JL Martin both have complicated lives, but when they come together, the sparks are undeniable. Micki is trying to make it to the top of one of the most conservative corporate law firms in Chicago. JL is the CEO of WatchDog Inc., a successful security company, and is struggling with his own family complications. When Micki's former lover stalks her, JL steps in to protect her, and the two soon realize their feelings go beyond friendship. But with their complicated pasts and the struggles of the corporate world, are they ready to take the next step, or will the twists and turns have them singing the Chicago blues? If you enjoy a story of complicated love and corporate ambition, you'll love At the Ready. If you enjoy fast-paced action, romance, and a dash of karaoke, you'll fall for At the Ready.Sharon Michalove is the author of At First Sight, and At the Crossroads, the first two novels in the Global Security Unlimited seriesDaniella Bernett - Betrayed by the Truth
44:35An inconvenient alibi…a priceless treasure…an MI6 mole It’s a lethal cocktail Journalist Emmeline Kirby and her jewel thief/ insurance investigator husband Gregory Longdon become targets after a desperate stranger asks them to deliver a fortune in rare red diamonds to hotelier Alexander Colefax. Before they can ask any questions, the man is killed. Driven by dark secrets, Colefax is willing to flirt with treason if it means getting what he wants. His coterie included the son of a Kremlin elite and a Russian mafia boss. When a man’s only loyalty is to money, his enemies become twice as ruthless. After Colefax is bludgeoned to death, Emmeline and Gregory discover that his dangerous games involved not only diamonds, but a stolen Fabergé egg that has vanished and a spy named Snowdrop. The trail of lies and revenge leads to Switzerland, where a treacherous double-cross could cost Emmeline and Gregory their lives.Richard H Stephens - Windwalker
45:50'The White Witch had foreseen Pecklyn’s death at Grim Watch Tower. If the Queen of the Fae was to be trusted, Pecklyn wasn’t coming back.'Maturing into a confident leader, prepared to take on the world, the rightful heir to the Willow Throne is faced with a fierce battle if she is ever to assume her mother's place.Denied by the infamous dragon, Grimclaw, Ouderling seeks the aid of the King of the Dwarfs. Embarking on a journey to a mysterious castle inhabited by ghosts, she experiences a terrifying encounter with the White Witch.Haunted by the prophecy of the Fae, Ouderling must overcome the fear of an impending tragedy if she is to have any chance of saving the world from the encroaching darkness of the Dragon Witch Wraith.Daniele Cybulskie - Chivalry and Courtesy: Medieval Manners for a Modern World
47:45A surprising look at how medieval etiquette can improve our lives today, from the author of the popular How to Live Like a MonkMedieval people are often portrayed as having poor hygiene and table manners―licking their knives or throwing chicken bones on the floor. In the Middle Ages, however, such behavior was not tolerated. Medieval society cherished order in nearly every facet of life, from regular handwashing to daily prayer. There were consequences if you didn’t adhere to the rules of good behavior: you wouldn’t be invited to the lord’s next dinner, you wouldn’t win the battle, and you wouldn’t win the lady.Author Daniele Cybulskie explores the world of medieval etiquette, encompassing table manners and interpersonal relationships as well as running a household and ruling a kingdom. With wit and insight, Cybulskie draws on a wide variety of primary sources, from handbooks for young knights to romantic poems. Though we may no longer need best practices for things like dueling or ordering about our servants, the principles of generosity, kindness, and respect still apply today. After all, it’s a good reminder to “not talk when you have food in your mouth” and “anything you say should be entertaining, polite, and sophisticated.”Illustrated with original drawings by Anna Lobanova as well as eighty medieval artworks, Chivalry and Courtesy is full of good advice for everyone, whether you are a peasant or a knight, a student or a CEO, a king or a queen.Michael L. Hawley - Dr. Francis Tumblety & The Railway Ripper
52:30Undetected by the FBI for three decades until the turn of the twenty-first century, a handful of elusive, transient long-haul trucker serial killers had been murdering hundreds of sex workers and hitchhikers along major US highways. This was not the first time innocent victims were attacked along major US interstate thoroughfares. Nearly lost to history was a similar pattern of carnage that occurred in the late nineteenth century. No less than thirty-nine unsolved murders and nearly forty brutal assaults of women were committed in the United States, but instead of along major highways, these heinous crimes were committed along the railways. At the time, the attacks were termed ‘mysterious,’ since they seemed to be motiveless—meaning there was no evidence of the usual rape or robbery. In cases where an assailant or suspicious person was spotted, his physical description was the same: tall, middle-aged, and wearing a specific gray overcoat. Shockingly, one of Scotland Yard’s prime Jack the Ripper suspects cannot be eliminated as having committed each of these Stateside crimes. That suspect was the tall, transient hater of women, Dr. Francis Tumblety.Jonas Saul - The Disappearance (Sarah Roberts Book Thirty-Four)
48:40The Disappearance (Sarah Roberts Book Thirty-Four)On a cold, snowy evening in northern Ontario, Sarah Roberts has gone missing. When the snowstorm clears, a search party begins the arduous job of trekking through the wintry Canadian forests in search of her car.They find her vehicle in a deep ditch, hidden from the road and covered in snow. The passenger door is open, there’s blood on the steering wheel, and signs that someone was dragged from the car.Frustrated and panicked, Parkman, Aaron, and Alex band together to hunt for Sarah before she dies in the minus temperatures of a freezing Canadian winter.When the authorities call to say they’ve found the body of a female who matches Sarah’s description, they’re confused. How could Vivian allow Sarah to die? Could it really be the body of Sarah Roberts?Determined to find answers and save Sarah—they refuse to believe she’s dead—the three men begin a hunt through cottage country, breaking every law possible to get answers.Gary V Brill - DESCENT: A Novel Based on Several True stories
45:56An airplane will pick up speed quickly in its descent when released from its obligation to hold altitude. A man, when released from his obligations to society will..... Steve Barnes is about to find out.Lee Kelly - With Regrets : A Novel
56:01With Regrets, from author Lee Kelly, is equal parts Big Little Lies and Bird Box, a suburban drama wrapped in a 24-hour survival story at the end of the world, perfect for fans of David Koepp's Aurora.Seven courses, seven guests, twenty-four hours that will obliterate everything.When recent NYC-transplant Liz Brinkley and her husband are invited to an exclusive soiree by their neighbor, “lifestyle guru” Britta Harris-Che, Liz’s immediate thought is hell no. Britta is insufferable, and Liz is wary to leave her young children with a barely-teenage babysitter. And yet she RSVPs anyway, trying to extend an olive branch to her withdrawing husband, who seems desperate to get in with the cliquey elite.They’ve barely made it through their first round of champagne when a “red alert” comes through their phones, and every channel on the television tells the same story: strange atmospheric masses, reported to look like “glimmering clouds,” have been spreading through major U.S. cities and killing anyone they touch. Authorities have just one clear directive: Find shelter. Immediately. A collective panic seizes the dinner party; all the guests have children at home. In the mad dash to their cars, they see it: a shimmering net floating over the town. The street is littered with wrecked cars and dead bodies. Leaving now is not an option. Instead, the group launches into survival mode, grabbing supplies to take shelter in the hosts’ wine cellar. But everyone has very different opinions about the best plan from there.Liz becomes increasingly willing to do anything it takes to get back to her children. As the glimmering clouds continue to kill anyone who steps outside, the tensions and suspicions among the party guests near a boiling point. But she begins to realize that there may be others in that cellar even more desperate than she is.Dr. Pam - When Black Panthers Prowled Amerika
42:18Nef, short for Nefertiti, is born and raised in the French West Indies. Her mother is a devout Catholic who believes in racial integration, while her father advocates armed revolution to bring down white rule around the world. Nef attends college in New York, graduating with a journalism degree, and then participates in the 1964 “Mississippi Freedom Summer” project led by Martin Luther King Jr.Back in New York, the editor of the Harlem Herald hires Nef as a reporter. She covers fires and crimes in Harlem until her editor assigns her to do the newspaper’s first-ever investigative report, covering the Black Panther Party in Oakland.Following the Party’s astonishing rise to national prominence, she meets Eldridge Cleaver and Huey Newton. Cleaver wants to unleash the Panthers immediately in guerrilla warfare against the police, whereas Newton wants to establish community programs in order to enlist the support of the black community when he decides to order the revolution to begin. As Nef gets more intimately familiar with Newton (whom the Panthers reverentially call “Servant of the People,” or “Servant” for short, and the FBI dubs as the “Black Messiah”), she begins to question his veracity and intentions.