Bøger udgivet af Open Road Media

A mind-opening collection of short science fiction from one of the genre''s most revered Grand Masters.Legendary author Robert A. Heinlein proclaimed, "To read science fiction is to read Simak. A reader who does not like Simak stories does not like science fiction at all." The remarkably talented Clifford D. Simak was able to ground his vast imagination in reality, and then introduce readers to fantastical worlds and concepts they could instantly and completely dig into, comprehend, and enjoy.In the title story, a man''s newfound ability to walk in the past allows him to dwell among dinosaurs, saber-toothed tigers . . . and something even more timeless. In "Construction Shack," the first manned expedition to Pluto reveals that no matter how advanced aliens may be, even they don''t always get everything right. And in "Univac 2200," the thin line between humans creating technology and humans becoming technology is about to be crossed-and there may be no going back.Each story includes an introduction by David W. Wixon, literary executor of the Clifford D. Simak estate and editor of this ebook.

“An irresistible tale that ventures into the ghostly realms of psychology, personality and intimacy” from the bestselling author of The Music Room (San Francisco Chronicle).  When their daughter leaves for college, newly minted empty nesters Cookson and Ellen Selway decide to escape the eerie quiet of their home and take a trip to London. But not long after arriving, it becomes apparent that the Selways have traded one unsettling locale for another. Like Cookson, a recovering alcoholic and drug addict, the Hotel Willerton has a disturbing past. Fifty years ago, a young girl fell to her death from one of the hotel’s windows, and her ghost is haunting Cookson, slowly drawing him back toward the darkness that once consumed him. As Cookson descends into a spiral of self-destruction, he is joined by two more apparitions, each reflecting the worst parts of himself and forcing him to confront the mistakes of his past that have tormented him for years. From the celebrated author of the Washington Post Best Book of the Year Nostalgia and the New York Times–bestselling The Music Room, this is “a gripping, stylish, consistently entertaining novel” that offers a literary spin on the traditional ghost story (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution).

Dennis McFarland’s acclaimed debut novel, hailed by the New York Times Book Review as “a rare pleasure . . . Remarkable from its beginning to its surprising, satisfying end”Musician Marty Lambert’s life is already falling apart when he receives the phone call that changes everything. His brother, Perry, has killed himself in New York, and Marty—with his marriage on the rocks and his record company sliding into insolvency—decides to leave San Francisco to investigate exactly what went wrong. His trip sends him headlong into the life his only brother left behind—his pleasures and disappointments, his friends, his lovely girlfriend, Jane—and finally, to the home they shared growing up in Virginia. Along the way, through memories and dreams, Marty relives their complicated upbringing as the children of talented, volatile musicians and alcoholics. Through the tragedy, Marty finally faces the demons of his past, ones he pretended he had buried long ago, to emerge on the other side of grief, toward solace and a more hopeful future.

Nine tales of imagination and wonder from one of the formative voices of science fiction and fantasy, the author of Way Station and City.   Named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America, Clifford D. Simak was a preeminent voice during the decades that established sci-fi as a genre to be reckoned with. Held in the same esteem as fellow luminaries Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, and Ray Bradbury, his novels continue to enthrall today’s readers. And his short fiction is still as gripping and surprising now as when it first entertained an entire generation of fans.   The title story is just one example of this. Cheviot Sherwood doesn’t believe in miracles. They never seem to pay off. So when he’s marooned on a planet with no plan for escape and no working radio, he takes it in stride and prepares for a long stay gathering food, making shelter, and collecting all the diamonds the world has to offer. But when a ship like none he’s ever encountered lands, he sees his salvation—and an opportunity to take the priceless craft for himself. Unfortunately, his “rescuer” has the same idea . . .   This volume also includes the celebrated short works “Eternity Lost,” “Shotgun Cure,” and “Paradise,” among others.  Each story includes an introduction by David W. Wixon, literary executor of the Clifford D. Simak estate and editor of this ebook.

In Egypt, Blaine McCracken tracks down a secret society whose ancient weapon threatens the entire world Far beneath the sands of Alexandria, an archaeological team digs deeper than anyone has before, seeking an ancient power older than the pyramids. What they unearth is an evil that threatens the whole world. First it targets the worst of humanity: Ex-Nazis, Central American warlords, and the pushers who peddle drugs to children are found massacred, ripped limb from limb without having fired a shot in their own defense. But the next to die will be ordinary people. An insidious secret organization, the Tau, attempts to harness the vicious force as part of a plan for world domination. But Blaine McCracken is on their trail. The rogue American op has fought the worst men in the world, and he now faces something the likes of which he has never imagined.

A mysterious league of elite assassins targets ninety-six of the most powerful people in America, and Blaine McCracken must stop them before the murderers bring the country to its knees There are ninety-six names on the list. They are those of businessmen, judges, and senators-the nation's wealthiest and most powerful. And they are all going to die. A man named Takahashi has hired the world's finest assassins to eliminate these men in secrecy and style, crossing names off the list without raising any suspicion. And they are killing ahead of schedule. But someone has noticed the pattern of these seemingly unrelated deaths, and she knows enough to call Blaine McCracken. Takahashi didn't consider the rogue American agent, and that is a grave mistake. His carefully orchestrated vendetta is just the sort of thing that McCracken lives to upset. He has made a career teaching lessons to those who underestimate him, and Takahashi's league of assassins is next.

The first novel featuring CIA agent Blaine McCracken from the USA Today–bestselling author, “one of the best all-out action writers in the business” (Los Angeles Review of Books). A space shuttle disappears during a routine repair mission, 180 miles above Earth’s surface. An intelligence operative with a dark secret is murdered, his car set ablaze, while he is in the middle of fulfilling a depraved fantasy. And a reporter receives a message from a dying man that suggests the organization responsible may be one of the world’s most prestigious corporations.The government knows just one man who can untangle this mystery: a throwaway on the deactivated list. Exiled to a desk job in Paris for stepping on the wrong toes, Blaine McCracken is a killer—a ruthless pursuer of truth who will let no one, friend or enemy, stand in his way when civilian lives are in danger. McCracken gets results, and his country needs him now more than ever.

When his estranged son is kidnapped, Blaine McCracken goes to work for a group of Arab militants to recover the child he never knew Since he first went behind enemy lines in Vietnam, Blaine McCracken has faced death on every continent. In the line of fire he is an iron man, but now he faces a different challenge: fatherhood. His son, Matt, is thirteen-the unknown product of a long ago tryst. When the boy's mother dies, McCracken goes to England to meet him. He finds a son cut in his father's mold: a young athlete determined to put his body at risk to serve his country. But before Blaine can explain their relationship, Matt is snatched away, kidnapped by a band of Arab nationals intent on using McCracken's strength to serve their own cause. The target? An Israeli weapon that they claim threatens the entire Arab world. To recover his son, McCracken must bring the Middle East back from the brink of war.

“The greatest thriller writer alive today” puts rogue agent Blaine McCracken in the sights of a space-borne superweapon in this Cold War nail-biter (Bookviews).In the last years of the Cold War, policy and trust for the Russians have led to disarmament treaties and hope for a new beginning. But peace is not yet within grasp. An entire American town has been wiped off the map: not by nuclear strike, but rather a space-borne particle cannon capable of reducing the entire nation to dust in hours. But who pulled the trigger? Was it the Russians, making a final bid for world domination? Or was it a third power—some aspiring conqueror hoping to pit the superpowers against each other? It’s up to Blaine McCracken to find out. An old flame has contacted the rogue op, begging for help protecting her father, a jeweler who has just been robbed of five rare stones—five rubies that could mean life or death for the United States.

In this "marvelously entertaining" mystery, a hard-boiled Hollywood private eye investigates a murdered Munchkin on the set of The Wizard of Oz (Newsday). A year after The Wizard of Oz's smash success, the yellow brick road is crumbling. The famous sets have been left standing on a soundstage in the depths of the MGM back lot in case the studio greenlights a sequel. But that doesn't explain what Judy Garland is doing there--or why she finds a Munchkin in full costume, lying facedown with a knife buried in his back. To avoid even a whiff of scandal and protect Judy's wholesome image, the studio boss hires Toby Peters, a Hollywood private detective with a reputation for discretion. But as Peters quickly learns, the real threat to Miss Garland isn't the tabloids--it's the psychopathic killer who stalks the back lot and plans to kill the young actress next. In addition to the murder mystery swirling around Judy Garland, the second Toby Peters novel features cameos from "Clark Gable and Raymond Chandler [who] give an assist in this imaginative mystery recreated from yesterday's movie-land" (The Plain Dealer, Cleveland).

A man is endangered by his family's long-ago Nazi ties in this "riveting" thriller by a New York Times-bestselling author (Rolling Stone). His marriage destroyed by drinking, John Cooper returns to Cambridge, Massachusetts, trying to recapture the joy he felt as an undergraduate in Harvard University's sacred halls. He is just beginning to piece his life together when he gets a telegram calling him home to Minnesota. The message comes from Buenos Aires, and with Cooper's family history, that can mean only one thing: The Nazis are staging a comeback. To John and his brother, their grandfather was a kind, distinguished old man. But to the American people, he was the worst kind of traitor. An industrialist who spent the 1930s in business with Fascists, he became infamous as "America's Number One Nazi." When Hitler's old lieutenants decide to get together a Fourth Reich, the Coopers are the first family they call. John hasn't even made it to Minnesota when the first attempt on his life comes--a message that if he isn't ready to honor his family legacy, he will die for it.

Yorkshire's detective duo descends into the kinky world of underground films in an "undeniably lively" mystery of murder and illusion (Kirkus Reviews). Reginald Hill "raised the classical British mystery to new heights" when he introduced pugnacious Yorkshire Det.Inspector Andrew Dalziel and his partner, the callow Sgt. Peter Pascoe (The New York Times Book Review). Their chafing differences in education, manners, technique, and temperament made them "the most remarkable duo in the annals of crime fiction" (Toronto Star). Adapted into a long-running hit show for the BBC, the Gold Dagger Award-winning series is now available as ebooks. What's playing at the Calliope Club may draw a furtive crowd, but as far as the CID's Andrew Dalziel can tell it's all perfectly legal. His partner, Peter Pascoe, begs to differ. From what he hears, an actress's violent ordeal on film looked all too real. When she turns up unharmed, it appears his suspicions were wrong . . . if Andrew and Peter can trust what they see. Because if this dirty business is well and good, why has the film in question vanished? Why has the theater been set ablaze? And why has its proprietor been beaten to death? For answers, Yorkshire's finest are being led into the dark, where someone's bent for pain, pleasure, and murder is just beginning to unreel. A Pinch of Snuff is the 5th book in the Dalziel and Pascoe Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

A detective is drawn to a newly widowed woman in this "darkly funny" British murder mystery in the Gold Dagger Award-winning series (Kirkus Reviews). With his partner away on a honeymoon, Yorkshire detective Andrew Dalziel tries to beat the blues by taking a vacation of his own. But after getting caught in a torrential rain and running into a funeral procession, he winds up accompanying a crowd of upper-class mourners to a crumbling country house. Dalziel isn't known for his elegant manners, but he has bigger problems than not fitting in: The owner of the home has died under unusual circumstances, and soon more bodies are turning up. And while Dalziel finds himself undeniably attracted to the widow, he knows that she, and everyone in the family, is a suspect. "Hill's high standards of humor and civilized characterization are intact here, and justice and ambiguity are served in satisfactory fashion." --Publishers Weekly Praise for Reginald Hill "Hill's polished, sophisticated novels are intelligently written and permeated with his sly and delightful sense of humor . . . Enjoyable as much for their characters as for their complicated, suspenseful mystery plots." --The Christian Science Monitor

An old-school Southerner is recruited to run a political campaign in a dangerous African electionClinton Shartelle doesn't seem like a good choice to run a political campaign in Albertia. For one thing, he's American, and Albertia is a small coastal republic in Africa, about to be cut loose from the English Crown. For another, Shartelle is Southern and fiercely proud of it, and his ideas about racial politics veer unpredictably from progressive to rigidly old-fashioned. But Shartelle is the best, and the political future of Albertia is too important to be left to anyone else. If history is any indication, this first fair election will probably be the country's last. Rich natural resources make it attractive to businessmen on both sides of the Atlantic, opening Albertia up to political corruption. For his part, Shartelle is hired to make sure that a British industrialist's favored candidate wins the presidency. But the opposition is backed by the CIA, for whom murder is just another political tool.

Tales of science fiction and adventure from the Hugo Awardwinning author of Way Station and City. The long and prolific career of Clifford D. Simak cemented him as one of the formative voices of the science fiction and fantasy genre. The third writer to be named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America, his literary legacy stands alongside those of Robert A. Heinlein and Ray Bradbury. This striking collection of nine tales showcases Simak's ability to take the everyday and turn it into something truly compelling, taking readers on a long journey in a very short time. In ';Dusty Zebra,' Joe discovers a portal that allows him to exchange everyday objects with an entity he can neither see nor hear, and soon learns that one man's treasure may be another dimension's trash. In ';Retrograde Evolution,' an interplanetary trading vessel tries to figure out how to deal with a remote society that has suddenly decided to become far less civilized. And in ';Project Mastodon,' an unusual ambassador from an unheard-of country offers amazing opportunities in a place the modern world can never compete with: the past. Simak's mastery of the short form is on display in these and six other stories. Each story includes an introduction by David W. Wixon, literary executor of the Clifford D. Simak estate and editor of this ebook.

New York Times Bestseller: The ';astonishing' true story of the notorious ';black widow' who preyed on her husband and daughter and faked her own death (The Washington Post Book World). Pretty, smart, and pampered, Audrey Marie Hilley grew up in a small Alabama town believing she was entitled to the best of everything. But marriage to her high school sweetheart, a cushy secretarial job, and motherhood were not enough to satisfy Marie, and she soon began to act out in troubling ways. Only when her husband, Frank, became sick with a mysterious illness, did it seem that she was ready to put someone else's needs ahead of her own. The truth was far more disturbing. Four years after Frank died, Marie's daughter, Carol, began to experience debilitating stomach pains. The young woman was near death when the horrifying reality finally emerged: Marie had poisoned her husband with arsenic and was attempting to do the same to her daughter. It was the first in a series of shocking twists that exposed Marie Hilley as a cold-blooded chameleon capable of the most sinister of crimes. From Alabama to Florida to New Hampshire, her trail of death and deceit included multiple identities, a second marriage, a false kidnapping, a fake death, several dramatic escapes, and a final act of desperation that brought the whole sordid saga to an astonishing end. A mesmerizing portrait of an American murderess with ';a genius for deception,' Poisoned Blood is ';one of the most riveting true-crime stories in memory' (Publishers Weekly).

Bored with retirement, an ex-spy embarks on a dangerous game, in this Edgar Award winner from a crime writer who is "one of the best" (The New York Times).Miles Kendig is one of the CIA''s top deep-cover agents, until an injury ruins him for active duty. Rather than take a desk job, he retires. But the tawdry thrills of civilian life-gambling, drinking, sex-offer none of the pleasures of the intelligence game. Even a Russian agent''s offer to go to work against his old employers seems dull. Without the thrill of unpredictable conflict, Kendig skulks through Paris like the walking dead.To revive himself, he begins writing a tell-all memoir, divulging every secret he accumulated in his long career. Neither CIA nor KGB can afford to have it in print, and so he challenges them both: Until they catch him, a chapter will go to the publisher every week. Kendig''s life is fun again, with survival on the line.

Based on the Sherlock Holmes film: Ellery Queen matches wits with the Baker Street sleuth to unmask Jack the Ripper.Ellery Queen is struggling over his latest book when a friend brings him a mystery. It is a journal, written by a Victorian doctor, of reports on the remarkable adventures of his close friend, a brilliant detective named Sherlock Holmes. Queen''s surprise turns to amazement as he turns its pages and discovers the lost story of Sherlock Holmes''s greatest case: the pursuit of Jack the Ripper. From the brothels and back alleys of fog-choked Whitechapel to the manor of one of England''s greatest families, Holmes and Dr. Watson chase history''s most fearsome killer. But it will take the brilliance of Ellery Queen to solve the case once and for all.Based on the Sherlock Holmes film A Study in Terror, this collaboration between two of the world''s greatest detectives is one of the most original mystery novels of all time.

Death Valley lives up to its name when a murder draws Ellery Queen into the strange practices of a religious cult.It''s 1943, the war is raging, and sleuthing scribe Ellery Queen wants to do his bit. After a tortuous cross-country drive, he takes a job writing scripts for a Hollywood propaganda house-twelve hours a day of hack work that quickly turns his mind to jelly. After a few weeks, he is so worn down that he can type nothing but gibberish, and he decides to drive home. The trouble starts as soon as he reaches the desert.His ancient roadster breaks down on the edge of Death Valley. Wandering in search of help, he is saved by a man known as the Teacher, who takes him to an oasis called Quenan. Here, Queen finds a bizarre, reclusive cult that seems to have come straight out of the ancient past. A murder has been committed in the desert, and the Quenanites plan on delivering some Old Testament justice. Queen is just the detective they''ve been waiting for.

The famous sleuth comes out of retirement to help his father hunt down a New York City serial killer: "Marvelous . . . one of his best" (Classic Mysteries).In the dog days of August, it is no surprise to see New Yorkers perspire. But this summer, a killer called the Cat gives the city a new reason to sweat. He selects his victims seemingly at random and strangles them, then escapes without leaving a clue. As the death toll climbs, and the press whips the public into horrified frenzy, Gotham teeters on the edge of anarchy.Ellery Queen, the brilliant amateur sleuth, has gone into retirement when the Cat begins to kill. As his father, a seasoned homicide detective, leads the investigation into the murder, Ellery tries to avoid getting involved. But as the body count rises, he can no longer resist the urge to hunt. The Queens are known for their curiosity-and everyone knows how curiosity can affect a cat.