Showing results by narrator "Shawn Compton" in All Categories

The celebrated author of The Making of Second Life and Game Design Secrets Wagner, James Au, delivers an engrossing exploration of how nascent metaverse platforms have already captured the imagination of millions. Featuring powerful stories and dozens of incisive interviews with insiders including Metaverse creator Neal Stephenson himself, the author uses his unique, grassroots-level perspective as the first reporter embedded in a metaverse platform.

Combat takes a different toll on each soldier; so does coming home. All the Ruined Men by Bill Glose comprises linked stories that show veterans struggling for normalcy as they grapple with flashbacks, injuries (both physical and psychological), damaged relationships, loss of faith, and loss of memory. Beginning in 2003, All the Ruined Men spans ten years, from the confident beginning of America’s “forever war” to the confusion and disillusionment that followed.

Months after a life-altering revelation drove Sean Coleman from his mountain hometown of Winston, Colorado, the longtime security guard has found stable work as the sole caretaker of a retired nuclear missile site along the Eastern Plains. The desolate Cold War-era facility now serves as a rarely visited museum and records archive and provides, perhaps, the perfect job for a lonesome, headstrong man working to erase the painful memories of his past.

In 1972, America was completing its withdrawal from the long and divisive war in Vietnam. Air power covered the departure of ground forces, and search and rescue teams from all services and Air America covered the airmen and soldiers still in the fight. Day and night these military and civilian aircrews stood alert to respond to "Mayday" calls. The rescue forces were the answer to every man's prayer, and those forces brought home airmen, sailors, marines, and soldiers downed or trapped across the breadth and depth of the entire Southeast Asia theater.

Nothing is at all what it seems, and for four strangers, they'll have to discover why before they're driven over the edge of madness. Within them are the keys to free themselves. They'll need to traverse a landscape of horrors and fettered secrets. Unknown to these prisoners, another four desperately hunt for their own freedom - a freedom denied them by the tormenting existence of a monster. They will have to rely on all of their talents and each other to defeat the beast.

Big Tech Tyrants boast riches beyond emperors of old but act like juveniles who don't want to grow up. They are modern-day robber barons. Big Tech Tyrants don't know the meaning of privacy, when it comes to you. They try to make you believe they will give their products away for free as a service to society, when really, they are vacuuming your personal data. They use this data to discover your deepest secrets. Big Tech Tyrants is an eye-opening, must-listen book for anyone living in the 21st century.

Lieutenant Art Burkett is called up to take part in a rescue mission. Three scientists have been kidnapped by the terrorist group Thieves in Law. The rescue is swift. Art and his team return to military craft SubOrbital 7, intending to return to safety with hostages rescued and prisoners in tow. But Thieves in Law are not the only people looking for them. Art and his team must fight an ever-growing threat before time runs out for them, and possibly for the rest of the world.

After witnessing the aftermath of his wife's untimely death, Russell Clark finds himself hundreds of miles away from home at a casino resort tucked away in an unfamiliar town. While there, he encounters strange situations and stranger people, including a menacing figure that he swears has it out for him. With every passing night, Russell's sanity spins further out of his control and even in the face of his mounting losses, something sinister keeps pulling him back in. Can he beat the odds and hit it big, or does the house always win?

Although slowly building its navy while neutral during the early years of World War II, the US was struck a serious blow when its battleships, the lynchpin of US naval doctrine, were the target of the dramatic attack at Pearl Harbor.

A homeland security agent is found dead. Shocking evidence reveals the cause of death is the simultaneous collapse of the man's blood vessels. When a second body sharing the same gruesome symptoms is found, the hunt is on for a frightening new kind of killer. A vicious assault on his leading genetics researcher puts Dr. Ronni Saar, the CEO of Double N, and his friend Gadi, a former military police investigator, on the trail of a sophisticated killer. The deeper Gadi digs, and the more he learns, the more dangerous the terrain becomes.

One cycle has passed since the Siege of Clarion, and all of Rhea is supposedly at peace. But the alarming events that sparked the siege have not been forgotten—nor forgiven—and the inhabitants of the Great Houses face a host of challenges. To overcome such tribulations, each must confront old fears, enemies, and dilemmas. But with scylla attacks getting worse, and the Pax already starting to break down, do they have the strength to endure? Or will they stumble, plunging their Houses—and Rhea itself—into chaos once more?

Life's gotten better for hard-edged security guard Sean Coleman. With personal affairs in order and relationships rekindled, he travels to Las Vegas to help celebrate his buddy's last days as a bachelor. Soon after he arrives, however, a twist of fate spawns a reunion with an old flame. Curiosity and a desire to make amends unexpectedly lead Sean down a dark path into the Vegas underground, where another face from the past emerges---a federal fugitive whose family, years earlier, altered the course of Sean's life.

When I returned home from my latest deployment in the U.S. Army, my life began to fall apart. One night, after heavy drinking, I placed my 1911 pistol in my mouth and thought a prayer—silence. I deactivated the safety and began to slowly squeeze the trigger. BANG! I dropped the pistol, and I looked around me, but there was no blood. The bang I heard was the Bible on my desk falling and hitting the floor. I fell to my knees and asked God for forgiveness. I surrendered to Jesus Christ and asked him to help me. He answered.

Early in the crisis, a global volunteer collaboration called Pivot Projects was formed to rethink how the world works. Some members are experts in the sciences and the humanities; others are environmental activists or regular people who see themselves as world citizens. In The Pivot, the journalist Steve Hamm - who embedded in the enterprise from the start - explores their efforts and shows how their approach provides a model for achieving systemic change.

In this thrilling story of intellectual and archaeological discovery, David Roberts recounts his last 20 years of far-flung exploits in search of spectacular prehistoric ruins and rock art panels known to very few modern travelers. His adventures range across Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and southwestern Colorado, and illuminate the mysteries of the Ancestral Puebloans and their contemporary neighbors the Mogollon and Fremont, as well as of the more recent Navajo and Comanche.

Once he served God as a priest. Once he served his country as a soldier. Now he serves fate...and his need for redemption...by roaming the country as a professional gambler known only as The Preacher, an unforgettable hero who once saved souls and now deals death.

A mysterious new player has entered the competition, claiming to be Julian's friend Emma. It takes Julian only a single match to see the new pilot's skill. The imposter is capable of imitating any pilot, even masters of the game like Vile and Vermillion Angel. Julian had hoped he and his friend could fight side by side. Instead, she sold her spot to a competitor. It's the aspiring professional pilot's first taste of the ruthless business world of Overdrive.

After Julian qualifies for the Selection, he soon discovers the dark underbelly of professional Overdrive. The company CEO is an egotistical bully who eagerly encourages an atmosphere of backbiting and constant surveillance. The Heaven's Boxer resurfaces, but the noble Mech is used to sabotage the player-created training system, driving countless beginners out of the community. The game administration does nothing. The only way Julian can reclaim the Heaven's Boxer is hacking the server and disguising himself as a beginner.

Undercover FBI agent Josh Stuart has been tasked with targeting two Las Vegas mobsters who are expanding their criminal enterprise into drug trafficking. When Josh arrives in Tucson to have the mob-owned pickup modified for smuggling, he encounters terrorism and death. New York Times best-selling author and former undercover agent for the FBI Bob Hamer weaves his experience into this undercover thrill ride.

Josh Stuart, undercover agent for the FBI, is in L.A.'s inner city targeting medical clinics that exploit the poor and cheat the government. But when Josh discovers his homeless friend has been murdered, he learns almost too late terrorism is at the core of the investigation.