Showing results by narrator "Julienne Irons" in All Categories

The supernatural, the surreal, and the all-too real . . . tales of the dark. Such stories have always fascinated us, and modern authors carry on the disquieting traditions of the past while inventing imaginative new ways to unsettle us. Chosen from a wide variety of venues, these stories are as eclectic and varied as shadows. This volume of The Year's Best Dark Fantasy and Horror offers tales from some of today's finest writers of the fantastique. Sure to delight as well as disturb!

Once a lowly Chadi sector GEN girl terrified of her first job assignment, Kayla is now a valued member of the Kinship, a secret organization of GENs, lowborns, and trueborns who fight to further the cause of GEN freedom. But she is still a slave to the trueborn ruling class, and her relationship with trueborn Devak is still strictly forbidden. Kayla longs to be truly free, but other priorities get in the way. A deadly new virus is sweeping through GEN sectors—a disease only GENs catch.

Taking up that challenge and drawing from Baldwin's fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and interviews, You Mean It or You Don't will spur today's progressives from conviction to action. It is not enough, authors Hollowell and McGhee urge us, to hold progressive views on racial justice, LGBTQ+ identity, and economic inequality. True and lasting change demands a response to Baldwin's radical challenge for moral commitment. Called to move from dreams of justice to living it out in communities, churches, and neighborhoods, we can show that we truly mean it.

Our narrator is a gifted photographer, an uncertain wife, an infertile mother, a biracial woman in an unraveling America. As she grapples with a lifetime of ambivalence about motherhood, yet another act of police brutality makes headlines, and this time the victim is Noah, a boy in her photography class. Unmoored by the grief of a recent devastating miscarriage and Noah's fight for his life, she worries she can no longer chase the hope of having a child, no longer wants to bring a Black body into the world.

These days, hot chicken is a "must-try" Southern food. Restaurants in New York, Detroit, Cambridge, and even Australia advertise that they fry their chicken "Nashville-style." But for almost seventy years, hot chicken was made and sold primarily in Nashville's Black neighborhoods—and the story of hot chicken says something powerful about race relations in Nashville, especially as the city tries to figure out what it will be in the future. Hot, Hot Chicken recounts the history of Nashville's Black communities through the story of its hot chicken scene.

Gemma Daniels has never been quite the "down to earth" woman her adoptive parents raised her to be. She even has a unique gift: she can see ghosts—and she likes helping them settle their unfinished business. But the hotter-than-hot stranger she impulsively kisses on a bet is not only a phantom, he's determined to help her. And the only way Gemma can explain his presence is to pretend they're a real-life couple. Levi Walker lived—and died—to save his sister. Now he's got a second chance at life if he assists Gemma in reuniting with her own long-lost sibling.

Teaching for Justice & Belonging: A Journey for Educators & Parents provides a practical and powerful blueprint to unrooting racism in the educational setting. The book is an easy-to-understand guide designed to cultivate an educational experience that inspires a culture of true belonging, liberation, and justice for all.

Efforts to address inequities within our schools tend to ignore the underlying beliefs that sustain injustices, and focus instead on short-lived policies and practices. This book takes a different approach to eradicating educational disparities. Drawing on more than 40 interviews with teachers, principals, and district leaders, Manya C. Whitaker offers educators guidance for leading a school or district grounded in social justice that centers teachers - not just teaching practices - and that focuses on the belief systems that shape decision-making.

A shocking murder. A web of deceit. A twist even Hitchcock wouldn't see coming. It starts with a phone call - Sondra Ellis' beautiful baby sister, Tracy, has disappeared during a jog along Chicago's snowy lakefront. She's even more devastated when Tracy's mangled body is found days later, the victim of a mugging gone wrong. A year later, Sondra continues to struggle with Tracy's death. Her trauma deepens when she discovers series of odd and unsettling cracks in her sister's seemingly perfect life: puzzling messages, inexplicable meetings, and secrets and lies at every turn.

What is a mentor? Why is having a mentor crucial to success? Or how do you make sure that you're a good mentor? In Mentorship Unlocked: The Science and Art of Setting Yourself Up for Success, veteran entrepreneur and innovator Janice Omadeke delivers an insightful discussion of mentorship, including what it is, how to find a qualified mentor, and how to make mentorship work for you. In the book, she explores the mentorship advice that helped her start a groundbreaking company after studying entrepreneurship and strategic management at MIT and Harvard.

Monsters of the Upside Down, beware! Travis Langley (author of the acclaimed Batman and Psychology) returns with a group of expert contributors to explore these and other questions to shine a light on true human nature through the Netflix series and cultural phenomenon Stranger Things.

Ten-year-old Jackie needs to learn to control her dragon familiar, but what she finds is a mountain full of secrets that will lead her to her destiny. Sound interesting? The author thinks so too! Listen to The Dragon Keep, and experience the compelling world of kids' fantasy fiction.

A stand-alone companion to two-time Newbery Honor author Kevin Henkes’s award-winning and acclaimed The Year of Billy Miller. With themes of family, friendship, and resilience, this very funny school story focuses on Billy’s little sister, Sal, and her first day of school. For fans of Ramona...

Being a bush pilot in Alaska is dangerous, but it's nothing compared to the threat stalking me now. I'm Piper Tikaani, an Inupiaq Raven Clan shapeshifter, and the skies have always been my refuge—until the day I find a family friend dead on the roof of his wilderness cabin. His death isn't just a tragedy—it's a warning. My people whisper of hidden treasure and long-buried secrets, but the truth is far worse. Ancient beasts, long thought extinct, are prowling the land once more. The gods of my ancestors have awakened, and they want the shadow-winged—like me—erased.

Five families. Perfect from the outside. Broken on the inside.

“Delightfully superb.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “Henkes is a master.”—The Horn Book (starred review) “Captivating. ”—Booklist (starred review) A stand-alone companion to two-time Newbery Honor author Kevin Henkes’s award-winning, bestselling, and acclaimed The Year of...

A troubled Delia Ellis returns to her old neighborhood, Don Mount Court, to retrieve a beloved childhood diary. While the entries uncover significant revelations around her mother's past, it is Delia's return home that leads to a true understanding of the circumstances that forged her identity.

Six short stories set in the worlds of Quincy Harker, Demon Hunter, Bubba the Monster Hunter, and The Dead Old Ladies Detective Agency from award-winning author John G. Hartness!

With more than a decade of success bringing companies and organizations together to the benefit of both, Tynesia Boyea-Robinson is an expert in helping business leaders and managers leverage social impact for increased business profits. In The Social Impact Advantage, she offers tools, resources, and insights to help you successfully navigate the modern business climate in an authentic way.

A distillation of profound insights on love and happiness. With warmth and wisdom, Mack explores the frustration and futility of seeking love from others, instead of yourself—and in the future, instead of in the present. In short-form meditations, Love from the Inside Out invites you into an intimate conversation about relationships and into your own personal inquiry on love. Inside, some of your most cherished thoughts, opinions, and beliefs about love and relationships will be questioned and challenged—if not refashioned and revised.