Showing results by narrator "MIke Vendetti" in All Categories

It is the turn of the last century, and Alaska is a mysterious wilderness. At the suggestion of several hundred thousand ladies desiring to revel and possibly riot in the saturnalia of equal franchise, the unnamed lakes in that vast and little known region in Alaska bounded by the Ylanqui River and the Thunder Mountains were now being inexorably named after women.

Did you ever wonder at the lonely life the bird in a cuckoo clock has to lead--that it might possibly love and hate just as easily as a real animal of flesh and blood? Philip Dick used that idea for this brief fantasy tale. We're sure that after reading it you'll give cuckoo clocks more respect.

The title of this short story by F Scott Fitzgerald is a bit deceptive and doesn't do this story justice. The four fists are actually four very valuable life lessons delivered with a fist.

This short story remains an enigma, as F. Scott Fitzgerald once again takes on the aristocracy. The heroine, Ardita, beautiful, rich, and spoiled rotten lounges on her uncle's yacht until she is carried away by an offshore pirate, Curtis Carlyle. Carlyle tells her of his upbringing as poor white trash in a Tennessee town, and his rise to become a successful musician - but one who has never been able to dance with the aristocracy. Until that is, the beautiful, spoiled-rotten Ardita falls in love with him, as much as she is capable of falling in love with anyone other than herself, on the deserted tropical island.

In this modern retelling of the classic Greek myth, Pandora is created by the gods and sent to live among humans with a sealed jar and one simple command: do not open it. The jar sits in the corner of her new home like a question no one will answer. As days pass, curiosity grows heavier than obedience, and Pandora finally lifts the lid.

On the island of Crete, master craftsman Daedalus is trapped with his young son, Icarus, under the watchful eye of a ruthless king. With no road to freedom by land or sea, he turns to the only path left: the sky. By studying the birds and trusting his own genius, Daedalus builds wings from feathers and wax—an impossible invention that might carry them both to safety. But when Icarus tastes the thrill of flight, excitement drowns out caution, and a daring escape becomes one of the most enduring cautionary tales in history.

The Island That Sank Beneath the Sea is an original, audiobook-style retelling inspired by the ancient Egyptian "Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor," shaped specifically for spoken performance. In Mike Vendetti's steady, seasoned narration, you'll hear of a great ship shattered by a sudden storm, one survivor cast up on a miraculous island no map has ever marked, and the immense, wise serpent who rules there. On this island rich with food, fresh water, and uncanny peace, the sailor grapples with grief, gratitude, and the question of why he alone was spared.

Eric Branson and his brother Keith have established a stronghold and base of operations for their newly-formed militia in the maze of remote waterways that make up the vast Atchafalaya Swamp. But before they can even begin training for what they plan to do next, they must first conduct a rescue mission pitting them against a fortified and well-equipped enemy force.

Former Navy SEAL and security contractor Eric Branson has accomplished the first half of his mission—finding his daughter, Megan. But though he’s rescued her from the dangers she faced in the Rockies, Eric is still a long way from getting her and the rest of his family to a place of real safety. Treachery strikes from multiple fronts, sidetracking Eric and taking him far from those he loves as he faces down new enemies that threaten to derail his plans. Read Sabotage, Defiance and Alliances: the seventh, eighth and ninth books in the Feral Nation Series right here in one collection.

Former Navy SEAL and security contractor Eric Branson has reunited with most of the surviving members of his family, but he still hasn’t found the one person he came here to get: his only daughter, Megan. Eric’s quest has taken him from south Florida across the Gulf of Mexico, and from there he will make his way up the Mississippi River and west to the Colorado Rockies. What he finds out there in those mountains will change everything, but nothing will stop him until his mission is complete.

In the blistering heat of rural Mississippi, the Bundren family loads their dead matriarch, Addie, into a handmade coffin and sets out on a bleak, often darkly comic journey to bury her in her hometown of Jefferson. Each mile of flooded rivers, broken bones, starving mules, and simmering resentments peels back another layer of this family's grief, faith, and desperation, as husband Anse and children Cash, Darl, Jewel, Dewey Dell, and Vardaman tell the story in their own, often clashing voices.

A Battle for Survival... commander Mitchell Reyes, the ruthless C.R.I. leader, escalates his tactics to crush the civilian resistance in the Atchafalaya Basin. Determined to eliminate Eric Branson and his allies at any cost, Reyes unleashes a campaign of terror that will test the limits of the resistance. Eric leads a daring counteroffensive against C.R.I. forces, but when the mission takes an unexpected turn, he finds himself in a race against time through treacherous swampland. With enemies at every turn, Eric must use all his skills to keep his team alive while evading relentless pursuit.

Imagine for a moment if you will, a world where everything is predestined, and if someone in this world steps out of his predestined role, a monster called an expunger in the disguise of an ordinary citizen will call upon that person. After the expunger's call, that person will never have existed. The protagonist, Steven Crane, finds himself thrust into the role of expunger through a simple misunderstanding in a cigar store, changing his existence and the existence of those he calls upon.

From the July 1937 Issue of Spicy Mystery Stories, "30 Seconds" by Robert Leslie Bellem and narrated by Mike Vendetti takes us to a rooftop forty stories above the pavement below where Philip Hayden is preparing to end his life because he has murdered his wife. But a strange bearded man pulls him from the parapet. Dr. Zarkov introduces himself as a Surgeon of Souls and offers Phillip a second chance if he can demonstrate that he has changed his evil philandering ways.

A man makes a deal with the devil. The devil can't give him immortality in return for his soul, but he can protect him from being killed as long as he wears his patent leather shoes. Robert Bloch's masterful storytelling shines through in this tale of greed and consequences. Discover the twisted repercussions of a Faustian bargain in "The Shoes," a must-listen audiobook for fans of classic horror fiction.

"Dark Vengeance" is a captivating novelette by Fritz Leiber published in "Suspense" in the Fall of 1951 featuring the iconic duo Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Dive into the sinister world of Lankhmar, where malevolent birds besiege the city with a sinister agenda of plundering precious gems and trinkets from the town's noble women. These cunning avian thieves are not just after riches but pose a grave threat, wielding their sharp talons to inflict harm, even resorting to the gruesome act of plucking an eye from their victims.

Lean Times in Lankhmar, a gripping novella by Fritz Leiber Jr, follows the divergent paths of Faford and the Gray Mouser in the city of Lankhmar. The Gray Mouser becomes a Lieutenant for the city's top extortioner, dealing with the various religious sects on the Street of the Gods. Meanwhile, Fairford becomes an acolyte for the dottering apostle of the god, Issac of the Jug, setting the stage for a clash of interests between our two heroes. As the Issac of the Jug religion gains popularity and wealth, the Mouser is tasked with extracting funds from Fairford's mentor.

Life as Livy Random came with its challenges. Struggling with her appearance and her unhappy marriage to Mr. Mark Random, Livy found solace in her vivid imagination. By conjuring an imaginary lover, Livy discovered a world where she felt truly alive, feeling his presence in ways she couldn't quite explain. As her connection to this invisible paramour grew stronger, Livy ventured into uncharted territory when she became pregnant--not by her husband, but by this ethereal lover.

Journey into the treacherous world of Lankhmar alongside the fearless duo of Fafhrd the Barbarian and the Gray Mouser in Fritz Leiber Jr.'s novelette, "Thieves' House." Originally published in the pulp magazine Unknown Worlds in 1943, this gripping tale follows our protagonists as they navigate the dangerous headquarters of the Guild of Thieves and Murderers, as well as underground catacombs filled with intrigue and peril. It's not the human adversaries that terrify them—it's the supposedly long-dead beings lurking in the shadows.

George Halton, a private investigator from New York City, is hired as a bodyguard for the wealthiest family in Sleepy Hollow. There have been two gruesome murders, including that of the patriarch of the family, in the otherwise sleepy little town. The murders were particularly violent and apparently committed by a human being with superhuman strength, strong enough to tear the heads from the bodies of the victims. There are few clues as to who the individual who seems to be roaming the woods of the small town is.