Showing results by narrator "Mike Vendetti" in All Categories

Imagine if you will, a South Sea island with no trees, only grass. The natives haven't ventured into the grass since a dead woman was discovered there and it was apparent that she died of snakebite. But there are no snakes, and the only mark on her not unlike the bite of a very small child. Now imagine that upon visiting the only non-native inhabitant you see sitting upon a shelf an amazingly lifelike foot high carving of a beautiful Polynesian woman and you cannot believe how lifelike it is until you discover that it is...

Forbidden love in name baronial estate. An evil man dies with an evil smile upon his face believing his evil secret is going with him to the grave. And there it remains until the lovers creep into the crypt shortly after the stroke of midnight. An erie tale certain to creep you out and keep you in suspense.

The world has turned. Plague-infected, flesh-eating zombies now infest the earth. Black ops agent Chad Halverson of the CIA's top secret National Clandestine Service and a motley band of survivors must do everything they can to survive one more day, even as they try to find out what caused the pandemic.

The time has come to listen to echoes from our land... the wisdom and teachings of the mountains, streams, and woods. Their words are simple and their voices are soft. We have not heard them, because we have not taken the time to listen. We have been too busy smothering them in crypts of concrete and steel.

In the streets of Harrisburg, a man is killed in what appears to be a straightforward hit-and-run - until the victim turns out to have no identity whatsoever. Obituary writer Lenny Holcomb's ability to glimpse the secrets of his column's subjects leads him to suspect that his old friend, ex-congressman George Packard, may have had a hand in the "accident.” But if so, why do all the clues point to Packard's slick political rival?

A student needs to find a quiet place to study for his exams. He wants to be totally alone. He goes to the train station and picks a destination he has never heard of. He finds the ideal house. It hasn't been lived in for years. There is legend that surrounds this abode, and explains why it is unlived in. He of course ignores this, and since the rats don't bother him he takes up residence. Unfortunately by the time he realizes his mistake, it is too late to escape.

The fear of being buried alive was alive and well in the 19th century. It is said that Poe himself harbored this fear. An excellent audiobook to accompany a nighttime visit to a lonely graveyard.

This short story by O. Henry depicts the plight of a homeless person, Soapy, living in New York at the turn of the last century. A park bench is fine during the summer, but winter comes and Soapy needs a winter home. God willing to pay the price of philanthropy, Soapy determines to spend the winter months in jail. Now the problem is how to be arrested.

One of the worst storms - thunder, lightning, and rain - ever to strike London, arrived the same day the visionaries have predicted the end of the world. Could this be a harbinger of the arrival of an unseen comet that will destroy Earth? Has the apocalyptic day arrived? A beautiful maiden visiting the home of a doctor and his family believe so to the extent she is rendered catatonic. While in this state, her mind sees things unseen by mortal man.

A short story by Edgar Allen Poe about a mesmerist who puts a man, M. Valdemar, in a hypnotic state at the moment of death. M. Valdimar remains in the state for seven months. When the mesmerist removes M. Valdemar from this state, it resembles opening the door of a freezer that has been unplugged for months, the turkey inside.

Imagine being lost in Mammoth Cave, with no light, and your imagination begins to run wild. You hear footsteps, but they are not the footsteps of a biped. H.P. Lovecraft wrote this short story when he was 14 years old. A harbinger of future genius.

Bill Driscoll and Sam (we never learn his last name), a pair of turn-of-the-20th-century con men embark on quite an adventure. The pair need $2,000.00 to pull off a fraudulent town-lot scam in Western Illinois. They decide to kidnap the only son of a prominent Alabama citizen in the small town of Summit. They should've known when they grabbed their target, who was at the time throwing stones at a kitten, that it would be best to leave him alone. Particularly after he beans Bill with a brick. The situation does not improve with time. O Henry, famous for his humor, plays on words, and plot twists makes this a highly amusing short story.

In Gold Rush-era California, Jim Smiley, a minor who loves to gamble and will bet on anything, obtains a frog. Sniley spends three months training this talented amphibian athlete to become a champion jumper. Smiley finds his mark in the form of a stranger who comes to town and shows an interest in the frog, and would love to bet but if he could find his own frog. "No problem, you hold my frog and I'll go find a frog for you." When hustler meets hustler, the results can be interesting. You might say Smiley didn't know his frog was loaded.

The Lady or the Tiger, which will it be? The unanswerable question, but certainly something to think about. And going even further, did the princess regret her decision later? Originally published in 1882, in The Century magazine by Frank R Stockton, this short story has become an allegorical expression for an unsolvable problem.

Rigid! Locked! Enslaved!: That was our Earth in 2200. East and West had merged at last, so there were no more wars, no more political differences. Citizens everywhere could concentrate on working off their TAX DEBTS! If you were capable and industrious, you might be able to make freeman status for the last few years of your life. No one questioned. No one spoke out. No one rebelled until one bright morning Citizen TRH-247 decided not to go to work - and worse than that, became desirous of a girl below his own classification!

When Stacey arrived at Bill Bateman's for her five year class reunion, she had no idea how a memory from her past would alter her future. In one innocent moment, a simple cordial act leads one on a path of jealous rage and another fighting for their life. Tempers flare, threats are exchanged, blood is shed, and the services of the homicide detectives are soon requested. In his second release, former homicide detective and award-winning author, Ken Lang, unveils the inner workings of a chaotic homicide unit.

Can you tolerate the suspense? When a kid commits a crime in Pittsburgh, the trouble is just beginning. That's because teenage criminals end up doing time in the River County Reform Camp for Boys. Rehabilitation isn't what the manipulative colonel running the military-style boot camp has in mind for some. He sees his chance to control a lethal and fearless force - teen criminals.

Brian Dalrymple returns home after three weeks of pursuing the retreating Germans at the end of World War I. His hometown considers him a hero, and gives him a hero’s welcome. After basking in his quickly disappearing notoriety, he goes looking for job. Seems all those wonderful offers have gone away, and Brian takes a job as a stock clerk in Mr. Macy’s wholesale grocery. It doesn’t take Brian long to find that advancement is going to be difficult, and he is stuck in a no-win job with few prospects.

Lois, a beautiful 19-year-old young woman travels to Baltimore to meet Harold, her love interest, as they consider a breakup. We never meet Harold; instead, the short story becomes more about Catholicism and the priesthood, as Lois first spends an afternoon with Keith, her 36-year-old brother, a seminarian in a Jesuit monastery. Lois and Keith have not seen one another for 16 years, so it is an extremely interesting reunion.

We meet Evelyn as she is dumping a "male" friend who, in today's world, would be considered her lover. He probably was, but in 1920, they just did not say that in polite literature. Meet the bowl. It was a wedding gift to Evelyn from another suitor she dumped when she married Mr. Porter. As you might guess Evelyn is a beautiful yet rather shallow person. The male friend was about to leave but, unfortunately, Mr. Porter is walking up the drive. Evelyn hides her friend in the closet, but when he decides to leave he bumps into the bowl and it gives off a resounding alarm.