Showing results by narrator "Megan Tusing" in All Categories

Dresden is cursed. His chest houses a hive of bees that he can't stop from stinging people with psychosis-inducing venom. His face is a shifting montage of all the people who have died because of those stings. And he has been this way for centuries—since he was eighteen and magic flowed through his homeland, corrupting its people. He follows harbingers of death, so at least his curse only affects those about to die anyway. But when he arrives in a Midwest town marked for death, he encounters Essie, a seventeen-year-old girl who suffers from debilitating delusions and hallucinations.

Just because you want to start your own black operations group doesn't mean the world opens its arms to you. An Important senator from Mexico needs protection to put away a cartel boss, and he has come to Viking for help. Viking needs to step away from any political fallout should it occur. They offer it to Valkyrie, Inc. as its first paid mission. Can they keep the senator alive? More importantly, can they afford to travel in the fashion to which they have become accustomed?

Using the power of the sun, moon, stars, and planets, this unique guide is filled with engaging exercises that deepen your knowledge of the solar system, help you take necessary pauses every day, and foster a renewed sense of presence in the universe.

Cautious Claire Shelton, employee at a Maine antique shop, is surprised when she’s recruited to catalog the treasures of reclusive Hanna Reeves, sole descendant of the state’s most colorful shipbuilders and industrialists. Hanna’s retreat from society years ago is just one of many mysteries behind the walls of Rose Hill, her fabled estate.

The remarkable inside story of how Instagram became the hottest website on Earth. With astonishing access to all the key players, she recounts the fateful meeting of the Instagram founders in 2010. She explores the company’s unlikely acquisition by Facebook and the internal clashes over whether it could retain its autonomy. And she reveals how when Facebook entered a tailspin brought about by data misuse and fake news, it was Instagram that came to the rescue. But this is not just a Silicon Valley story. No Filter reveals how Instagram has transformed global society.

Natalia D’Angelo has spent the last seven years planning for the day she can free both herself and her parents from the brutal clutches of slavery and return back to Valencia to find her little brother, Antonio. To everyone around her, even her best friend, she appears to be just another half-starved young man in the slave camp. This is only one of her lies and the key to her survival. But if someone was to see her chest binding or have other reasons to suspect her true nature, her mother’s spell will break, along with the illusion that she isn’t a young man at all.

It was worse than the date from hell. Teacher Leah Gerard waited hours for the man…until she saw his bloody body being dragged away. Did she imagine it? The police believe she did, as there’s no body to corroborate her story. Then Leah becomes their prime murder suspect. Determined to find the truth, Leah hires ace investigator Owen Walker, who delves into every possibility while protecting —and captivating—Leah. But when her longtime roommate disappears, troubling questions and danger follow. Who wants Leah charged with murder? And who wants her dead?

Santana Sokolov might be the one person who ties together all the mysteries of Atlantica. Which will probably get her killed. The woman has a penchant for the ancient. When Santana is approached by two enemy factions looking for the same legendary item, she partners with old friend Dick Chambers to enter the wilderness and unlock the mystery.

Valerie Kearie is still dealing with the issues behind her brother's pain. Unfortunately, another group has decided to "elevate" the poor, the weak, and the easily susceptible and help them achieve greatness. Or Death. They do not care which. Introducing a new drug, Ambrosia, to the streets of America provides the organization with money and cannon fodder, so what's the downside? Valerie and Jake must work with a foreign agency to outwit, outthink, and out gun the mastermind. Can Jake and Valerie help and still keep Valerie's secret?

Sadie Wilson’s heart stops the moment the phone rings. Deep in her soul, she knows what’s coming, and the voice on the other end only confirms her fears: Emma never made it to school. Her sweet, scared five-year-old climbed onto the bus for her very first day of kindergarten…and then vanished.

Los Angeles, the late 1970s: Jess Shepard is an installation artist who creates environments that focus on light and space, often leading to intense sensory experiences for visitors to her work. A run of critically lauded projects peaks with Zero Zone, an installation at the once upon a time site of nuclear bomb testing in the New Mexico desert. But when a small group of travelers experience what they perceive as a religious awakening inside Zero Zone, they barricade themselves in the installation until authorities are forced to intervene.

You are probably not aware, because of their hidden nature, but artificial intelligence systems are all around you affecting some of the biggest areas of your life - jobs, loans, kids, mental health, relationships, freedoms, and even healthcare decisions that can determine if you live or die.

Captain Jaya Mill and her band of rebels have been on the run for a year, their following growing in the beleaguered outer colonies. But every encounter with the Union Navy leaves them licking their wounds, as the Union amasses a horde of enhanced marines. Tynan rushes to find the key to disrupting the virus that bestows superior abilities to the Union’s chosen soldiers, but he fears Jaya will become a casualty of their own weapon.

As Jaya struggles to recover from life-threatening injuries, Luka unites the dissident voices in the galaxy to create something better to take the Union’s place. But he soon finds that it’s much harder to build a civilization than it is to tear one down. Jaya seeks answers in her past about the man now terrorizing the galaxy, revealing still more mysteries about her father’s origins.

Trampled by Unicorns: Big Tech's Empathy Problem and How to Fix It explores how technology has progressed humanity's most noble pursuits, while also grappling with the origins of the industry's destructive empathy deficit and the practical measures Big Tech can take to self-regulate and make it right again. Author Maëlle Gavet examines the tendency for many of Big Tech's stars to stray from their user-first ideals and make products that actually profoundly damage their customers and ultimately society.

Kate is a German immigrant newly arrived in America with only her brother as family. When she and her brother split, she eventually finds her way back to him, but with a secret. Van revisits the town and the farm of her ancestors to discover calamitous events in probate records, farm auction lists, asylum records and lurid obituaries, hinting at a history far more complex and tumultuous than she had expected. But the mystery remains, until she changes upon a small book—sized for a pocket—that holds Tante Kate's secret and provides the missing piece.

Antonio, a merchant sailor, has no idea how dangerous Fina Perona is when he rescues her from drowning in the middle of the Lingering Sea. His ship is headed to the home Fina just abandoned, carrying desperately needed payment for her father's prized wine stores. Pirates attack, and as Antonio and Fina escape the clutches of slavery, she steals back her family's small fortune from the pirate captain's quarters. Fina doesn't need Antonio's protection - she's more dangerous than he could ever be - but she needs his experience as a navigator.

Val Kyrie and her team are back, and this time they face their most formidable challenge yet. When a mysterious organization with seemingly limitless resources targets the Valkyrie team, they find themselves in the fight of their lives. With enemies around every corner and their lives on the line, the team must rely on their wits, skills, and each other to survive. But survival isn't the only thing on their minds.

Worn Out examines the underside of our historic clothing binge and the fashion industry's fall from grace. Former InStyle senior news editor and seasoned journalist Alyssa Hardy's riveting work explores the lives of the millions of garment workers—mostly women of color—who toil in the fashion industry around the world—from LA-based sweatshop employees who experience sexual abuse while stitching clothes for H&M, Fashion Nova, and Levi's to "homeworkers" in Indonesia who are unknowingly given carcinogenic materials to work with.

Kathy Kelly's world was shattered when a plane carrying her husband - an Iraq War veteran and devoted father - and her two children vanished from the sky one night. No trace of the plane was ever found. Eight years later, Kathy has struggled to rebuild her life, but then wreckage of his plane is found in the wilderness of Great Smoky Mountains National Park - hundreds of miles from where her husband's plane should have been. The pilot perished in the crash, but there is no sign of Jack or the children.