Showing results by narrator "Kirby Heyborne" in All Categories

Skiff Beaman has a boatload of problems. Ever since his mother died, his father doesn't want to get up off the TV couch - even when the Mary Rose, his fishing boat, sinks at the dock. Twelve-year-old Skiff's been bailing out Rose by himself for months, getting up before dawn to pump out the bilge and keep her floating - just in case his dad decides to put his beer aside and get up and go fishing. But once a boat has gone under, you can't bail it out.

In Baby, You’re Gonna Be Mine, Kevin Wilson’s first story collection in nearly a decade, Wilson combines his signature quirkiness with his keen eye for emotional complexity to explore the fraught relationship between parents and children. “Scroll Through the Weapons” is about a couple taking care of their underfed and almost feral nieces and nephews. “Baby, You’re Gonna Be Mine”, the title story, is about a narcissistic rock star who moves back home. These stories all build on each other in strange and remarkable ways, showcasing Wilson’s crackling wit and big heart.

Jason has just learned that his Afghan mother has been living illegally in the United States since his father was killed in Afghanistan. Although Jason was born in the US, it's hard to feel American now when he's terrified that his mother will be discovered - and that they will be separated. When he sees his mother being escorted from her workplace by two officers, Jason feels completely alone. He boards a train with the hope of finding his aunt in New York City.

Shane Dakota's world is falling to pieces. He's just moved over Christmas break from North Carolina to the very strange mountain land of Utah. Suddenly Shane's grandparents are raising him and he's spending way too much time teaching his grandpa about Netflix while learning more than any seventh grader ever should about pickleball. But even Shane knows those aren't his biggest problems.

Friends and family gather to celebrate the wedding of the Iron Queen Meghan Chase’s brother...but one wedding guest feels more melancholic than the rest. The King of the Forgotten can’t forget his own lost love and slips away from the festivities...only to be attacked by a strange faery who calls him a fraud and a false king. Now the two must form a wary alliance to track a strange new threat, a creature of rage and hatred that threatens the newfound peace of Faery, in the opening to a grand new adventure in the enthralling world of the Iron Fey.

Pearl's job is to make people happy. Every day, she provides customers with personalized recommendations for greater contentment. She's good at her job, her office manager tells her, successful. But how does one measure an emotion? Meanwhile, there's Pearl's teenage son, Rhett. A sensitive kid who has forged an unconventional path through adolescence, Rhett seems to find greater satisfaction in being unhappy. The very rejection of joy is his own kind of "pursuit of happiness"....

Team Work presents a new approach to creating healthy, fulfilling, successful teams, and it all starts with individuals who put the team before themselves.

Hopper is just an ordinary pet-shop mouse before he escapes. Soon he finds himself below the bustling streets of Brooklyn, deep within the untamed tangles of transit tunnels, and in Atlantia, a glorious utopian rat civilization. But all is not what it seems. Though Hopper is treated as a royal guest, he misses his siblings that he lost in the escape attempt. That, and Atlantia is constantly threatened by the rebels who wish to bring the city to its knees.

Alex thought he was done with witches. But when Natacha, the witch who held him captive for scary stories, appears again one night, Alex realizes he’s trapped in a nightmare—literally. She’s found a way to enter his dreams with a new, terrifying familiar named Simeon. And they once again want Alex to write. Transported to a story graveyard with best friend Yasmin, Alex will have to complete an original scary story each night.

Arriving in New York City for an internship at an elite but fading magazine, Luca feels invisible: smart but not worldly privileged but broke, and uncertain how to navigate a new era of social change. Among his peers is Zara, a young Black woman whose sharp wit and frank views on injustice create tension in the office, especially in the wake of a shock election that’s irrevocably destabilized American life.

Narwhal is a happy-go-lucky narwhal. Jelly is a no-nonsense jellyfish. The two might not have a lot in common, but they do they love waffles, parties, and adventures. Join Narwhal and Jelly as they discover the whole wide ocean together. A wonderfully silly early graphic novel series, adapted for audio, featuring three stories. In the first, Jelly learns that Narwhal is a really good friend. Then Narwhal and Jelly form their own pod of awesomeness with their ocean friends. And finally, Narwhal and Jelly read the best book ever - even though it doesn't have any words...or pictures!

Buddy wakes up in the middle of a garbage dump, filled with a certain awareness: he’s a teddy bear; he spent time at a Store waiting for his future to begin; and he is meant for the loving arms of a child. Now he knows one more thing: Something has gone terribly wrong. Soon he finds other discarded teddies - Horace, Sugar, Sunny, and Reginald. Though they aren’t sure how their luck soured, they all agree that they need to get back to the Store if they’re ever to fulfill their destinies.

It's his last year at Pine Mountain, and Ryan Dean should be focused on his future, but instead he's haunted by his past. His rugby coach expects him to fill the roles once played by his lost friend, Joey, as the rugby team's stand-off and new captain. And somehow he's stuck rooming with 12-year-old freshman Sam Abernathy, a cooking whiz with extreme claustrophobia and a serious crush on Annie Altman - aka Ryan Dean's girlfriend, for now, anyway.

For three nerve-wracking years, Naveed Jamali spied on America for the Russians, trading thumb drives of sensitive technical data for envelopes of cash, selling out his own beloved country across noisy restaurant tables and in quiet parking lots. Or so the Russians believed. In fact this young American civilian was a covert double agent working with the FBI. The Cold War wasn't really over. It had just gone high tech.

With his father’s mysterious disappearance and his brother Ronnie enlisting in the Vietnam War, 13-year-old TJ Crowley is left alone with his racist, unstable mother, Kate. The newly enforced Fair Housing Act results in the unthinkable for the Crowleys when a Black family, headed by the eminent Dr. Washington, crosses the racial red line and moves in next door. Kate is quick to warn TJ that their new neighbors are strictly off-limits and makes a panicked call to beg Ray, her old flame, to travel to their home in Wichita Kansas to help deal with “the problem next door.”

Everyone has that one line they swear they’ll never cross, the one thing they say they’ll never do. We draw the line. Maybe we even believe it. Sage Hendricks was my line. Logan Witherspoon befriends Sage Hendricks at a time when he no longer trusts or believes in people. He's drawn to Sage, with her constant smile and sexy voice, and his feelings for her grow so strong that he can’t resist kissing her. Sage finally discloses a big secret: She was born a boy. Enraged, frightened, and feeling betrayed, Logan lashes out at her.

In the wake of San Francisco Noir, Los Angeles Noir, and Orange County Noir - all popular volumes in the Akashic Noir Series - comes the latest California installment, Oakland Noir. Masterfully curated by Jerry Thompson and Eddie Muller, the "Czar of Noir", this volume will shock, titillate, provoke, and entertain. The diverse cast of talented contributors will not disappoint.

There's a cultural evolution taking place inside of Mormonism. The evolution of church culture has been something that has needed to happen for a long time. Culture, traditions, oral laws, and the status quo can be a good thing, but it can also be a bad thing.

This overview discusses how important imagination is and the major effect it has on our lives, including the role it plays in hallucinations, moods, and creativity.

Mara Nichols, a successful lawyer, and devoted wife and adoptive mother, has recently been diagnosed with a terminal disease. Scott Coffman, a middle school teacher, has been fostering an eight-year-old boy while the boy’s mother serves a jail sentence. Scott and Mara both have five days left until they must say good-bye to the ones they love the most.