Showing results by narrator "Von Johnson" in All Categories

In 1992, at the dawn of the age of technology, disgraced ex-game show host Manny di Martini schemes for a comeback with a deep-sea television special in the South Pacific. He quickly finds himself in over his head, attracting the attention of a cosmic being who will lead Manny to a television broadcast event much bigger than the entire planet bargained for: evidence of a slumbering alien in a ruined city at the bottom of the ocean. One look at the monster on TV, and humans collectively freak out.

In a world awash in educational chess content, knowing how to study the game most effectively can be challenging. As the Perpetual Chess Podcast host, USCF Master Ben Johnson has spent hundreds of hours talking chess with many of the world’s top players and most accomplished trainers. In the popular Adult Improver Series, he has spoken with dozens of passionate amateurs who have elevated their games significantly while pursuing chess as a hobby.

In They're Not Gaslighting You, expert couples therapist and clinical psychologist Dr. Isabelle Morley sheds light on all the messy, frustrating, and sometimes downright harmful ways "therapy speak" has taken over our relationships. She'll explain why throwing around clinical terms and armchair diagnoses robs us of the intimacy, empathy, and growth that make relationships worth having in the first place.

From the pulpy pages of Black Mask Magazine in the 1920s and '30s, through the film noir era of the 1940s, to today, noir fiction has lured many a reader and movie-goer away from the light and into the dark underbelly of society. Names such as Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, and James M. Cain; titles like The Big Sleep, The Maltese Falcon, The Postman Always Rings Twice...these have inhabited our collective consciousness for decades. Humanity, it seems, loves the dark. And within the dark, one figure stands out: that of the femme fatale.

In this intelligent and highly important narrative, Chicago native Natalie Moore shines a light on contemporary segregation on the South Side of Chicago through reported essays, showing the lives of these communities through the stories of people who live in them. The South Side shows the important impact of Chicago's historic segregation and the ongoing policies that keep it that way.

The fifth book in the wildly successful Convoluted Universe series is, in the words of the author, "like a big box of mind candy". It is meant to be tasted, enjoyed, and pondered over. Here are new concepts and theories about the true meaning of virtually everything of universal significance. Like Cannon's previous books, this volume covers a startling range of topics: explorations of alternate universes, time travel, pyramids, extraterrestrial assistance, Bigfoot, mermaids, gold, reincarnation, and much more.

Chicago, 1861 After years of painful separation, Justin Young finally locates his orphaned siblings—on opposite sides of the Civil War. Setting aside his budding romance, he brings his widowed sister and younger brothers home to Chicago, determined that the ties of the same blood are strong enough to bring them together despite the secrets they each carry from their pasts. But faced with his inadequacies as a provider and leader, Justin discovers that real love is the hard work of granting grace and second chances to imperfect, hurting people with whom he has nothing in common.

You have the right to restore a culture of the can-do spirit. People are destroyed for lack of knowledge. For less than the cost of one movie you can get the knowledge you need to start living your Non Profit business dreams! Don't wait. You'll wait your life away...

Inspired by classic fairy tales, but with a dark and sinister twist, Grim contains short stories from some of the best voices in young adult literature today: Ellen Hopkins, Amanda Hocking, Julie Kagawa, Claudia Gray, Rachel Hawkins, Kimberly Derting, Myra McEntire, Malinda Lo, Sarah Rees-Brennan, Jackson Pearce, Christine Johnson, Jeri Smith Ready, Shaun David Hutchinson, Saundra Mitchell, Sonia Gensler, Tessa Gratton, Jon Skrovron.

The Witcher meets Naomi Novik in this fast-paced fantasy rooted in Slavic folklore, from an assured new voice in genre fiction. As a witch in the walled city of Chernograd, Kosara has plenty of practice treating lycanthrope bites, bargaining with kikimoras, and slaying bloodsucking upirs...

He's a blood stained monster, but one look at her and he knows she will be his. Gaven Belmonte is a cold-hearted killer. A hitman. Now, he's my jailer. Even though he's twice my age, I'm being forced into an arranged marriage to secure Gaven's position as the next head of the Price Family Syndicate.

Holly Knight’s singular music career included crafting a good part of the soundtrack to the MTV '80s with mega-hits for Tina Turner (“The Best”), Pat Benatar (“Love Is a Battlefield”), and Patty Smyth (“The Warrior”)—songs that celebrated female empowerment and shaped pop and rock for years to come.

The fall of mankind begins with just one man, a man who sells his soul piece by piece. Perhaps he does it with the purest of intentions or perhaps he does it because he's a greedy, grasping, evil son of a bitch. Either way the results are the same: Hell on Earth. Jack Dreyden, a doctoral candidate in ancient languages, begins his road to Hell when he translates an ancient scroll that was never supposed to see the light of day.

Wagner’s Ring cycle is the most ambitious work in the history of music: four operas that combine to tell a single epic story. Based in legend, it has become a legend in its own right: a supreme challenge for conductors, singers, opera producers, and indeed for audiences. But for all its grandeur and complexity, The Ring is far more accessible than many music lovers think.

All it takes is one glance and I know Jordan is going to be mine. Her sweet smile and infectious energy make me feel alive again. She chases away the shadows, giving me a reason to continue on. But just as I’m beginning to win the elusive beauty over trouble comes for my family. I may be a veteran with PTSD and a member of a notorious motorcycle club, but both have given me skills that allow me to address any threat and win. I refuse to let my past dictate my future, and convincing Jordan to trust me is a matter of life and death.

Growing up on a ranch with four brothers, Ella Mae Hawkins is no stranger to rugged, tough men. But her heart's always belonged to the one man she couldn’t have. After a secret, romantic weekend with him leaves her broken-hearted, Ella Mae accepts an opportunity to go to Paris to pursue her fashion dreams. It’s her chance to start over. Instead, she’s going there with the same stubborn man who claimed he was too dangerous for her—as his fake wife. Despite falling for her brother’s best friend all over again, this time, the stakes are higher. She’s in danger.

Cole Matheson didn't think the road to being a successful painter would be paved in gold, but he hoped there'd be fewer potholes. Insidious self-doubt that whispers that he's no good, talentless, and hopeless has him on the brink of despair. Maybe it would be better to just give up. A midnight visitation by a beautiful creature of darkness changes everything... Ambrosius Edward Meade-Finch surrendered to darkness centuries ago after knowing only pain and suffering during his short life. Now, Ambri makes humans dance on his strings, feeding on their desire for his own pleasure.

In 1961 Charlotte, North Carolina, the predominantly black neighborhood of Brooklyn is a bustling city within a city. Self-contained and vibrant, it has its own restaurants, schools, theaters, churches, and night clubs. There are shotgun shacks and poverty, along with well-maintained houses like the one Loraylee Hawkins shares with her young son, Hawk, her Uncle Ray, and her grandmother, Bibi. Loraylee's love for Archibald Griffin, Hawk's white father and manager of the cafeteria where she works, must be kept secret in the segregated South.

Multiple times a day, in cities across the US and beyond, a simple yet powerful message is repeated by the well-meaning, the ignorant, and the bigoted: “don’t go”—avoid at all costs those Black and Brown disinvested neighborhoods that have become bywords for social disorder and urban decay. This book is a collection of intimate stories that uncover the hidden influence of both subtle and overt “don’t go” messages and the segregation they perpetuate in Chicago.

I have a hot British bodyguard in my guest room. Could be worse, I guess. Like…bats in the attic? Though bats don’t rip your panties and ruin you for all other men. How did this happen? My sister married the prince he protects, so I now have an extra room and insisted my friend stay with me when she left her husband. Her husband is being a real a-hole about that. Which made the bodyguard all growly and he moved in to protect us. That sounds nice, I know. But he’s my ex.