Showing results by narrator "George Guidall" in All Categories

The winner of the Scott O’Dell Award, The Bomb is a powerful history lesson and a gripping tale of suspense that no listener will ever forget. In 1946, 16-year-old Sorry Rinamu watches as U.S. Navy warships appear off the coast of Bikini Island. The U.S. Government wants to test the deadly power of the atomic bomb—and Sorry’s island has been chosen as the test site. The young man knows he must stop the Americans from dropping the bomb—even if it means defying orders from the U.S. Government and risking his own life.

One day, 13-year-old Jessie Bollier is earning pennies playing his fife on the docks of New Orleans; the next, he is kidnapped and thrown aboard a slave ship, where his job is to provide music while shackled slaves "dance" to keep their muscles strong and their bodies profitable. As the endless voyage continues, Jessie grows increasingly sickened by the greed, brutality, and inhumanity of the slave trade, but nothing prepares him for the ultimate horror he will witness before his nightmare ends - a horror that will change his life forever.

Ellen Wingate thinks she's hit the jackpot when she learns the millions she's inherited comes with a super-exclusive condo in the mountains outside of Las Vegas. But leaving Minnesota for paradise turns out to be the ultimate nightmare. Trapped with her neighbors in a freakish winter avalanche, a chilling discovery at the bottom of an indoor pool signals a frightening turn of events.

As his parents’ shouting tears through the walls to the room where he is supposed to be sleeping, young Neil Waldman buries his face in his pillow and tries to swallow his tears. The trauma of his parents’ fighting rips at him, but it will also open the path to Neil’s career as an artist. Seeking refuge from a turbulent home life, Neil and his three siblings turn to the world of creativity. Their mother’s book from an art museum in Russia is all the children need to set fire to their imaginations. And from there, drawing and painting become much more than pleasurable diversions....

This piece, which appeared in Outside magazine and was originally recorded for "Rough Water: Stories of Survival From The Sea," is about an old man, a Bequian harpooner, who uses a wooden sailboat to hunt humpback whales. The piece is an elegy of sorts - an unsentimental lament for something lost. Sebastian Junger is the internationally acclaimed author of The Perfect Storm, which spent over three years on the New York Times bestseller list and was the basis for a major motion picture starring George Clooney.

Three 12-year-olds, two notorious gunfighters, a half-crazed albino, and a grieving woman vie for $30,000 in gold coin, buried 20 years ago in treacherous Doubtful Cañon.

Spending the summer with his grandparents in the Pennsylvania countryside is pure joy for young Jamie. There, he fills his days with looking up at the sky, watching the clouds make dragons and knights. There, it doesn't matter that he can't read. The special school he attends is far away. But one afternoon, when Jamie sees a man parachute down through the sky, the boy's fantasy world of clouds is shattered. The man is very real - and very dangerous. How can he convince his grandparents that the man is not part of his imagination?

Stanley Elkin’s The Living End is a marvelously funny novel about life and death, heaven and hell. In it, the National Book Award-winning author sets into motion a divine comedy that will have you chuckling at his wry visions of celestial affairs. Ellerbee, the unassuming owner of a small liquor store, is fatally shot in a holdup. First, the Angel of Death ushers him into a wondrous heaven, but St. Peter has other, more infernal plans for this hero. After his transfer, Ellerbee discovers that hell is a busy place. Even God pays an occasional visit there.

Everyone will stay up late. Best of all, Henry says, there will be popcorn. Mudge gets very excited because popcorn is one of his favorites.

When the night comes, the boys and dogs gather in Patrick's attic and have a great time. They play all kinds of games, but nobody can play with the bowling set, because a bulldog keeps stealing the pins. They eat pizza and watch a movie about giant lizards. There is still lots of popcorn to eat before everybody falls asleep.

Serpent Gate portrays former Santa Fe policeman Kevin Kerney in a perilous struggle against corrupt officers, New Mexico politicians, and a deadly enemy from the past. Recruited for the State police by the new chief, Kerney searches the mountainous countryside for a patrolman’s killer. Quickly solving the months-old murder, he takes on a more challenging assignment: recover the priceless art collection stolen from the governor’s office.

Fielding Pierce is a rising young Chicago attorney who has been offered a seat in Congress. But even in the midst of the demanding campaign, Pierce still mourns the loss of his love, Sarah. Five years ago, in an attempt to provide sanctuary for refugees, she was apparently killed by a car bomb. As Pierce becomes immersed in the world of politics, he begins to suspect that Sarah is still alive. Soon, his obsession drives Pierce to question all he sees and hears.

Lucius Watson is obsessed with learning the truth about his father. Who was E. J. Watson? Was he a devoted family man, an inspired farmer, a man of progress and vision? Or was he a cold-blooded murderer and amoral opportunist? Were his neighbors driven to kill him out of fear? Or was it envy? And if Watson was a killer, should the neighbors fear the obsessed Lucius when he returns to live among them and ask questions?

Ryne Douglas Pearson has been compared to both Thomas Harris and James Patterson. In Top Ten he delves into the heart and mind of a tormented man who becomes the terrifying killer known as Michaelangelo. Michaelangelo believes himself to be an artist of unparalleled vision. He stages elaborate murders and sends pictures of his “work” to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Best-selling author Louis Begley created a beguiling icon of middle age in About Schmidt. Recently widowed, pushed into retirement by his law firm, at odds with his family, Albert Schmidt captivated readers with his cautious courage. Now he is facing ever mounting challenges of life, love, and age. Schmidt is happy living with his affectionate young girlfriend, Carrie. His grumpy daughter, on the other hand, seems to want only money from him.

With his breathtaking social insight and his graceful sentences, Sinclair Lewis—a Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winner—stands out as one of the most important American writers of the 20th century. At turns lyrically soul-searching and scathing in its honesty, Babbitt captures the essence of the 1920s while remaining a timeless piece of literature. Babbitt, the ultimate conformist and social climber, seeks power in his community and self-esteem from others. Outwardly, he is the ultimate “big booster,” and he toes the company line with “zip and zowie.”

One day in 1952, the strangled body of 10-year-old Cathy Lake is discovered in a public park. A homeless suspect, Albert Jay Smalls, is arrested and held for interrogation. Now, Officers Norman Cohen and Jack Pierce have only 24 hours to make the sullen young man talk before he's released. How far are they willing to push him to get a confession?

Kenny Huldorf is not happy when he learns that he and his family will be moving all the way across the country to Rhode Island, a state smaller than Los Angeles, the city he’s known his whole life. His new home, The Stillwell House, was built in 1789 and, like everything in Providence, it seems old-fashioned and somber. But things start to look a little brighter when Kenny’s mom shows him his new bedroom: a long, open attic with plenty of room and privacy.

Newbery Medal winner Cynthia Rylant has sold more than two million copies of her beloved Henry and Mudge books. In this tale, Henry and his enormous dog go on vacation in the West. They have a great time wearing cowboy hats and bandannas, chasing tumbleweeds, and eating jerky. And when they finally return home, they learn something they never expected.

It has been said of five-time Spur Award winner Loren D. Estleman that even “Louis L’Amour looks down with envy” ( Kirkus Reviews). Here Estleman applies his incomparable narrative panache to this novelization of a real-life romance that never was. Judge Roy Bean is an infamous arbiter of Old West justice.

The Old City lay dark and cold … It is night. And Edmund is alone. His mother is gone. His aunt, who went in search of her, is dead. His sister has disappeared. Edmund has no one. Except for a stranger of the night.