Showing results by narrator "Nick Podehl" in All Categories

When a steamboat arrives heralding the news that Iowa has been called up to represent the Union of the United States of America, Ike is beside himself with excitement. For months, the promise of war has enveloped small-town Keokuk like a grand game that everyone's in on - everyone but Ike, his swaybacked pony, and his best friend and checkers partner, Albirdie. Left behind with Mother and the aunts and girl cousins while the Button men march forth toward glory, Ike's fate is sealed.

In a period of just three days, everything changes for young painter Eduardo “Tato” Simmone, who has never sold a painting. During the funeral of Tato’s renowned and beloved mentor, Aníbal Marsotti, Tato meets two people who will determine his fate: a beautiful young woman who may be a vampire and a major dealer of art forgeries. Tato gets caught up investigating the theft of famed Italian figurative painter Amadeo Modigliani’s tombstone, and all signs point to Curitiba, Brazil - Tato’s hometown.

David is a freshly minted NYU grad who's working a not-quite-entry-level job, falling in love, and telling his parents he's studying for the LSAT. He starts a Tumblr blog, typing out posts on his BlackBerry under his desk - a blog that becomes wildly popular and brings him to the attention of major media ( The New York Times) as well as the White House. But his outward fame doesn't quell his confusion about the world and his direction in it.

The Fracking King follows Winston Crwth - a boarding-school kid, loner, and Scrabble prodigy - who becomes an unlikely hero in the fight to stop fracking in Pennsylvania. Truth is a rare commodity in politics, and the idea of "winning" a debate as cleanly and simply as you'd win a Scrabble game can seem impossible. But with the truth on his side, a jar of toxic "frackwater", and the belief that he can win a Scrabble tournament whose first prize is a meeting with Governor Linda King LaRue, Winston creates a moment of devastating truth.

>In this beautifully imaginative collection, young people attempt to negotiate the often surreal terrain of childhood and adolescence where family, friends, clergy, and teachers often pose a threat instead of providing safe harbor. At the heart of the collection is the relationship between the meek narrator, his best friend alpha-male Clip, and the near-feral Roger - but there are also agoraphobic mothers, gorgeous babysitters from New Zealand, paranoid stoned veterans, and deeply sad older sisters.

They come from different walks of life, with different problems and different hopes and dreams. But they have one thing in common: they need a scholarship to college. And they’re ready to battle seven other contestants on a reality TV show to get it. But only one contestant can win on "The Benefactor". Who will take home the big prize? Tune in to find out.

Against all odds, - A God has returned - to Earth. Chance Kyrien is turning seventeen, and on this day he will be confirmed as a Puriman and learn the shape of his life to come. Young Chance is ambitious, rebellious, but also fiercely devout, and his only thoughts are about farming and wine-making - and marrying the girl he loves. But in a shocking burst of violence, Chance's dreams are shattered. Now he must survive against hellish forces to face his ultimate foe: a long-forgotten god whose destiny is intertwined with his own.

In a post-apocalyptic America that has shattered into a hundred perpetually warring fiefdoms, anyone with a loud voice and a doomsday weapon can be king (and probably has been). Duncan Archer - con man, carpetbagger, survivor - has found a way to somehow successfully navigate the end of the world, with its giant killer robots, radioactive mutants, mad scientists, rampant nanotechnology, armed gangs, sea monsters, and 101 unpleasant ways to die.

Boldly go where no geek has gone before! You keep your action figures in their original packaging. Your closets are full of officially licensed Star Wars merchandise. You’re hooked on Elder Scrolls and Metal Gear, but now you’ve discovered an even bigger obsession: the new girl who just moved in down the hall. What’s a geek to do? Take some tips from The Geek’s Guide to Dating. This hilarious primer is jam-packed with cheat codes, walkthroughs, and power-ups for navigating the perils and pitfalls of your love life with ease.

Dave Harris is a scientist living aboard the Alley, a military space station where he carries out hyperfield experiments. The technology to harvest energy from hyperspace saved humanity from extinction thirty years ago, and Dave’s research is at the cutting edge of hyperfield technology. Just as Dave’s experiments make progress, an accident engulfs the Alley in a whirlwind of chaos and mysterious forces, leading Dave to a disturbing discovery: His work has uncovered the energy behind psychic powers...

Seven years after the Strangers decimated the planet, Joad is one of the Remaining, the few left unharmed when most of humanity was obliterated. He was halfway around the world when disaster struck and has been trying ever since to get home to Nemo, where he prays his wife waits for him. >Days from his destination, Joad's thrown off-course by four merciless brothers who glide across The Flats in a pirate ship.

The hot indie rockers introduced by In the Band return in this compelling second installment of the Luminescent Juliet series. This time the focus is on Justin, the band’s gorgeous lead singer - and a notorious womanizer - who sails through life without a second thought. His only problems stem from the power struggles he has with his band mates, some of whom are living with dark troubles that he wants no part of. Then one night Justin stumbles into a tattoo parlor and meets Allie.

If Jess Stark really knew what was on the other side of the coffin lid, he might just decide to remain six feet under…. Jess stayed away from Palm Springs for seven years, avoiding his family and the girl who broke his heart. It took a desperate call from his mother to force him home to see his ailing father. As soon as he was back, Jess found himself embroiled in two suspicious deaths, emotional turmoil with his family, and a supernatural secret that involved them all. The best Welcome Home he received? Winding up in an unmarked grave in the middle of the Coachella Desert.

Expert swordsmen Basilio and Alejo have one last mission before they go their separate ways: they must recover their teacher Don Manuel's ancient fighting manual and take it to remote Cataluña in order to have it translated by the famous alchemist Paracelsus. Unbeknownst to them, however, Don Manuel has been murdered, and a host of powerful forces has come looking for the coveted book - everyone from old lovers and lifelong archenemies to the King's assassin, and the Spanish Inquisition.

Tommy has given himself a new name - Kenny - from the Japanese ken, meaning sword. It’s a good samurai name. A warrior’s name. This summer at camp - a camp for kids who are not wanted at home - Kenny and his friends need all the samurai cunning and strength they can muster. They have declared a war - between themselves and the camp’s sadistic overseer, Matron, and her adult son, Christian, who secretly stalks one of the girls. Covertly building a samurai castle in the woods, Kenny and his motley band of warriors strategize their attack and eventual escape. But then things go horribly wrong.

Walker shouldn’t be so surprised to find Jesus standing in the middle of his bedroom. After all, he prayed for whoever was up there to help his mom, who hasn’t stopped crying since Noah died, two months ago. But since when have prayers actually been answered? And since when has Jesus been so...irreverent? As astounding as Jesus’ sudden appearance is, it’s going to take more than divine intervention for Walker to come to terms with his brother’s death. Why would God take 17-year-old Noah when half of the residents in his mom’s nursing home are waiting to die?

Jacob Cameron Asprey, Jr., is the charming son of a charming crook who’s currently residing in the state pen. Strangled by family ties, Jake is barely scraping by. When a local crime boss offers him a deal he’d be a fool to take and a chump to pass up, Jake sees a way out of his troubles - until his options begin to close down, and he finds himself at the heart of a dark plot that will place those he loves in harm’s way. This Is How You Fall is a story of old flames, old debts, and a new twist on an old con.

Unable to escape his own past, Rick Cahill risks his life for a woman who is hiding her own. Rick Cahill was never convicted of his wife’s murder, but he was never exonerated either. Not by the police. Not by the media. Not even by himself. Eight years later, police suspicion and his own guilt remain over his responsibility in his wife’s death. When he meets Melody Malana, a beautiful yet secretive TV reporter, he sees a chance to love again. When she is arrested for murder and asks Rick for help, the former cop says no, but the rest of him says yes, and he grasps at a chance for love and redemption.

In a remote northern village, a close-knit community survives at the edge of the known world. On the far bank of the river that no one crosses lies an unnaturally straight road. Nothing ever grows on the road, and the curious heat emanating from its surface keeps it uncannily clear of snow and ice. Along this road, Aaron and his companions must travel. It is rumored that at the end of the road lies an object - the work of the devil - which is responsible for the untimely deaths of the villagers. The small band of men have volunteered to destroy this thing, whatever it is, at whatever cost.

When childhood friend Victoria rejects his love, Jeremy takes his life on his 20th birthday.

On his 21st birthday, he wakes to find Victoria holding his hand, blissfully in love with him. Jeremy can’t remember the previous year, but he savors the miracle of waking up alongside the woman he loves. The next time he wakes, two years have passed and Jeremy is now a spectator of his own life. Victoria has given him a child, but the man alongside her is a cruel, egotistical, seemingly unknowable Jeremy. Is it amnesia? Insanity? Or has Jeremy been cursed for his selfish, destructive act?