Showing results by narrator "Andy Harrington" in All Categories

The Wonderful Visit tells the story of an angel who finds himself unexpectedly marooned on Earth. Wells used John Ruskin's remark that an angel appearing on earth in Victorian England would be shot on sight as the inspiration for this tale of a celestial being who is completely out of place in human society. Ironically, the angel's first confidant and protector is a clergyman, who never recovers from the eventual and inevitable disappearance of the angel. Wells dwells in detail on the contrast between the idealism of the celestial visitor and the discourtesy of his hosts.

My dream job just got snapped up by the one man who rejected me… That’s right. I’m an unemployed twenty-something stuck sleeping on my grandmother’s old futon while Hudson Blaine, the guy who shot me down, gets to manage The Beachfront Inn. Talk about life being unfair. I’m about to flee town with what’s left of my pride when Mr. Rejection begs me to stay. Apparently, he needs my help resuscitating the inn’s reputation before the grand reopening.

Beau Slater sure brings the fireworks. Too bad they’re not the good kind. My brother’s best friend was so smoking hot, he blew up our small-town graduation night with one humiliating almost-kiss. It took me five years, one potential dream job, and three thousand miles to diffuse that horrifying memory. So when my worst enemy and I are forced together by our meddling mothers for a first-ever Christmas in July, I can’t risk Beau reigniting my heart. Which means I’m probably supremely stupid to enlist him in my plot to teach our manipulative families a lesson.

Six percent of Americans are ex-evangelicals. Their stories often include being spiritually abused by authoritarian church leaders and/or psychologically traumatized by harmful religious teachings and practices. Whereas religion and church often provide a welcoming community that has positive effects on mental health, sadly they can just as easily cause devastating hurt and harm. According to therapists and faith transition coaches, they can cause what is being recognized in the mental health community as religious trauma.

Mike Carver has spent most of his adult life sleepwalking. He goes through his marriage, his routines, and his days on autopilot, doing everything he is supposed to do and almost nothing he actually wants. When his best friend Derek dies in a COVID ICU, the shock tears open all the feelings Mike has spent years pushing down.

Despite Dorothy's many tales of her adventures in Oz, Aunt Em and Uncle Henry never quite believe her stories. Upon finding out the tornado that destroyed their farmhouse in book 1 (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz) is the cause of her Uncle Henry's horrible debt, Dorothy is determined to help her family. She makes plans with Ozma to bring her aunt and uncle to Oz where they may live happily ever after. Unbeknownst to Ozma and our friends in Oz, the Nome King is plotting to take over the Land of Oz and retrieve his magic belt that Dorothy took from him in book 3, Ozma of Oz.

Camilla and Nick fall hard. She's finally ready to find love. He is not expecting to. Nick's enemy has been threatening him for a while now. And now that he has Camilla, he's concerned for her safety. He reveals to her the truth of things, but she stays at his side against his better judgement. But when the threats become too much, Camilla gives him an ultimatum. Either he reaches out to his estranged family for help with the matter or she can't do this.

Kate doesn't know what to expect when Simon crashes her family vacation. She hasn't seen or heard from her childhood love since he and his family's sudden departure years before, leaving Kate completely confused and devastated. Simon's return has reopened the wounds of heartbreak. As Kate cautiously lets Simon in again, she finds out all sorts of secrets which led to their parting. Being in familiar places takes Kate back, as she relives the memories of her childhood sweetheart and finds that even as a grown woman, she just might not be over him.

The Invisible Man was the fourth sci-fi novel written by Wells in the 1890s. The main character, Griffin, is one of the intimidating villains in all popular literature. The archetypal "mad scientist," Griffin devotes himself to an obsessive study of optics and realizes his ambition to render livings things permanently invisible. After making a cat invisible, he successfully applies the procedure to himself. After causing chaos in London, he travels to the village of Iping in Sussex and takes up residence in a local hotel.

Having only just recently reconnected with his old military friend, Aaron, William was devastated upon hearing the news of his passing. But when a delivery driver arrives the next day bearing several boxes of journals from Aaron, William realizes there was so much more to learn about his now-deceased friend. Meet Aaron as a young boy growing up in Kellas, Washington, during the 1970s, and follow him and his friends through the decade. Join them on their misadventures in love, mischief, woes of virginity, and mayhem.

In 1896, H.G Wells was stimulated to compose this dystopian fantasy about an obsessed scientist and his efforts to artificially accelerate the intellectual development of animals using bizarre medical procedures involving vivisection. Wells described the book as "an exercise in youthful blasphemy."

Sam lives a mild-mannered, trailer park life looking after her little sister, caring for her drunk father, and watching over her brothers. High school graduation is looming, woes of virginity hang overhead, and on top of it all, her perverted brother won’t stop pushing his affection on her. Though her thoughts are on leaving the lazy life, the dog attacks will pull her in deeper than she’d ever imagined.

Spoon River Anthology is a collection of poems that describe life - and death - in a small town. Each poem is a monologue delivered by a resident of Spoon River, describing events in their lives, and the circumstances that led to their occasionally untimely end. Edgar Lee Masters wrote this theatrical masterpiece to highlight the typical small town. The fascinating characters and realistic imagery make it easy to see why this is an American classic.

The story of an exciting test of wits between world-class thief Arsène Lupin and master detective Herlock Sholmes. LeBlanc's creation, gentleman thief Arsene Lupin, is everything you would expect from a French aristocrat - witty, charming, brilliant, sly... and possibly the greatest thief in the world. In this classic tale, Lupin comes up against the only man who may be able to stop him... no less than the great British gentleman-detective Herlock Sholmes! Who will emerge triumphant?

The Frozen Deep was originally written as a play by Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens. With Dickens himself gracing the stage as Wardour, the play was met with success, drawing audiences to tears night after night, and even performing for Queen Victoria herself. Drawing on reports of the real-life Franklin expedition of 1845, in which a crew had set out from England to discover the North Passage and disappeared without a trace, Collins and Dickens recreated the events of the ill-fated journey.

This play is a fictionalized account of the life of William Shakespeare, beginning from his humble origins in Stratford-upon-Avon with his wife, Anne Hathaway, to his life as a successful playwright in London. This play uses several biographical speculations about Shakespeare's life to tell a fascinating tale, such as his relationship with his wife (to whom he famously left his "second-best bed" in his will), his friendship with fellow playwright and competitor Christopher Marlowe, his interactions with Queen Elizabeth I, and an extramarital dalliance with the queen's maid of honor.

Jay Gatsby is a millionaire who throws extravagant parties that attract famous celebrities, but no one really knows him - no one except for his neighbor, Nick Carraway. Often touted as a Great American Novel, The Great Gatsby is Nick's account of one summer spent with his wealthy friend and Nick's front-row seat to Gatsby's wealth, his dreams, and his impossible quest for love with the enigmatic Daisy Buchanan.

The crew of the Seraphim learned the hard way that saving humanity comes with getting blamed for all the collateral damage. The Alliance is bleeding but not yet dead in the aftermath of the war with the genocidal Children. With entire star systems in ruins and others cut off from accessing the Cascade for faster-than-light travel, there's no shortage of damage to go around.

In the not-too-distant future, 2185 AD, anti-gerisone is the new drug that stops ageing. People are now living into their hundreds until it's time to take their own big trip up yonder, and in the case of the Ford family and Gramps, the notable patriarch, families are living and fighting together in one home for much longer. Eventually there are no prisons, slums, asylums, poverty, wars, or disease. and 200 years later the population of the US is set at 40 million people. But since no one gets any older, someone must volunteer to die if a baby is born.

Richard Dudgeon, who has become an outcast from his puritanical family due to his religious apostasy, returns home on the death of his father. Much to everyone’s surprise, it is revealed that the father changed his will shortly before his death and has left the bulk of the estate to Richard. Now that he is lord of the manor, Richard asserts himself and declares his opposition to the colonial British authorities. Later, he is arrested by the British and sentenced to death but is rescued in the nick of time by a local militia commanded by Anthony Anderson, who, ironically, is a pastor.