Showing results by narrator "Peter A. Thomas" in All Categories

This folktale explains why Chinese people no longer choose long names for their children.

In our fast-paced society, we often overlook the needs of our inner selves. This best selling guide shows how to add depth, meaning, and spirituality to your life by nurturing the spirit. By teaching you how to sense the sacredness of everyday things, it will help you solve emotional problems, ease frustration, and gain new perspectives on what living means.

Near what was once the Pacific northwest, Ryan Cawdor and his roving band of post-holocaust survivors discover a beautiful valley untouched by the nuclear blast that changed the earth forever. Resisting the temptation to settle in that idyllic land, the group is captured and forced deep beneath an extinct volcano to an isolated community of in-bred scientists. These psychopathic descendants of a 20th century government research team are blindly laboring to find better ways of genocide, unaware that the world they are striving to slaughter has already died.

England's 'Glorious Revolution' of 1688 and the reign of new monarchs William and Mary signified a turning point for Restoration comedy with laws being passed to restrict playwrights' freedoms. The latter years are marked by a shift towards more moral storylines, mixing humour with social and political issues, alongside the lighthearted 'comedy of manners'. The works in this collection bring together these complementary styles, full of humour while also focusing on hard hitting themes.

For The Penguin Book of Murder Mysteries, writer and anthologist Michael Sims did not summon the usual suspects. He sought the unfamiliar, the unjustly forgotten, and little-known gems by writers from outside the genre. This historical tour of one of our most popular literary categories includes stories never before reprinted, features rebellious early “lady detectives," and spotlights former stars of the crime field—Austrian novelist Auguste Groner and prolific American Geraldine Bonner among them.

The worst has happened: Fleet is tearing itself apart. Some of the mutineers see injustice in the unequal spread of the rejuvenation drugs that offer virtual immortality to the rich; others are simply thirsty for power, or for blood. The Loyalists, meanwhile, fight desperately to preserve the rule of law in Familias Regnant space. But when Esmay Suiza-Serrano is unceremoniously booted out of Fleet, the apparent victim of family politics, she has no idea of the whirlwind of conflict into which she is about to be drawn.

Beluga Calf and her pod encounter frightening polar bears, sea lions, and orcas on their hunt for food. Will Beluga Calf and her pod survive the many dangers of the ocean? Children can find out as this thrilling adventure unfolds! Reviewed by the Smithsonian Institution for accuracy, Beluga Passage is a fun and informative story.

Two gentle Manatees must swim up a Florida river to escape the chill of winter. Along the way, Little Calf dives deep and gets caught in a clump of large seaweed. Can his mother save him? Find out as this exciting story unfolds! Reviewed by the Smithsonian Institution for accuracy, Manatee Winter is a fun and informative story. Appropriate for ages: 3-9.

The mysterious barons — either hybrids of another race or genetic evolution gone mad — are dying. Kane, once a keeper of law and order in the new America, is part of the driving machine to return power to the true inheritors of the Earth. California is the opening salvo in one baron's savage quest for immortality—and a fateful act of defiance against earth's dangerous oppressors. Yet their sanctity is grimly uncertain as an unseen force arrives for a final confrontation with those who seek to rule, or reclaim, planet Earth.

An icy wind blows over the waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence as a tiny harp seal pup is born. When her mother swims away to join the adult seal herd, Seal Pup must quickly learn to care for herself in the harsh, wintry landscape. Appropriate for ages: 3-9.

A girl walks home from school. She's tall for her age. She's wearing her winter coat. Her headphones are in. She's hurrying. She never makes it home. In the aftermath, while law enforcement tries to justify the response, one fact remains: A police officer has shot and killed an unarmed 13-year-old girl. The community is thrown into upheaval, leading to unrest, a growing movement to protest the senseless taking of black lives, and the arrival of white supremacist counter-demonstrators.

Louisiana, 2065. A lot has changed in the 43rd of the Kurian Order. Possessed of an unnatural and legendary hunger, the bloodthirsty Reapers have come to Earth to establish a New Order built on the harvesting of enslaved human souls. They rule the planet. They thrive on the scent of fear. And if it is night, as sure as darkness, they will come. On this pitiless world, the indomitable spirit of mankind still breathes in Lieutenant David Valentine. Brought into the Wolves - an elite guerrilla force sworn to win back Earth - Valentine leads his first command in the Kurian Zone.

Little Whale's mother must keep her playful, curious youngster out of the harmful paths of big ships, and teach her the wondrous ways of the humpback whale. Appropriate for ages: 3-9.

An unskilled Orca Pup gets caught in an abandoned net. Trapped and alone, will he ever hear the songs of his orca family? Find out as this exciting adventure unfolds! Reviewed by the Smithsonian Institution for accuracy, Orca Song is a fun and informative story. Appropriate for ages: 3-9.

From Mike Pesca, host of the popular Slate podcast The Gist, comes the greatest sports minds imagining how the world would change if a play, trade, injury, or referee's call had just gone the other way. Upon Further Review takes classic arguments conducted over pints in a pub and places them in the hands of writers, athletes, and historians. From turning points that every sports fan rues or celebrates to the forgotten would-be inflection points that defined sports, it answers age-old questions, and settles the score, even if the score bounced off the crossbar.

Sworn allegiances, cruel punishments, broken hearts, shattered dreams and ancient magic make for an utterly spellbinding listen in this full-cast adaptation of Gareth Jones’s masterful novel.

Königin Anna steht vor großen Herausforderungen – ihr Königreich empfängt Gäste, ein Freund braucht ihre Hilfe, und selbst der Neffe des Herzogs von Weselton treibt sich herum. Als dann auch noch die Naturgeister zu randalieren beginnen, ist ihr klar, dass sie rasch handeln muss, um das drohende Chaos abzuwenden. Auf ihrer Reise mit Elsa in den Zauberwald stoßen sie auf seltsame Maschinen aus Kupfer, die die Natur aus dem Gleichgewicht bringen. Wer steckt hinter diesen Apparaturen und was bezwecken sie im Wald?

Octopus escapes from a moray eel but more trouble lies ahead: Octopus' den has been stolen by another octopus! Reviewed by the Smithsonian Institution for accuracy, Octopus' Den is a fun and informative story. Appropriate for ages: 3-9.

In a world where any act of magic could open a portal to hell, the Order insures that no wizard will live to summon devils, and will kill as many innocent people as they must to prevent that greater horror. After witnessing a horrendous slaughter, the village girl Heloise opposes the Order, and risks bringing their wrath down on herself, her family, and her village.

Esmay Suiza and Brun Meager should be friends - they're both bright, brave, likable and adventurous. But true friendship doesn't run any smoother than true love. Brun thinks Esmay's a stuck-up prig, and Esmay thinks Brun's a spoiled rich brat who's making a play for Barin Serrano, Esmay's first love. So when Brun falls into the hands of a repressive religious militia movement, Esmay finds herself n disgrace, suspected of conniving at the capture.