Showing results by narrator "Kevin Free" in All Categories

The Chosen: a prophecy older than dirt and more dangerous than death. Even as they perfected steam-powered gadgetry and rounded up varmints from Hell, the Jackson brothers didn't believe in it. But when the chips are down, three brothers named for weapons aren't going out without a fight…A walk on the wild side…Attorney by day, demon-hunter by night, Remington Jackson is used to being on the sunny side of the law, even in the Wild West. But it's showdown time, and Remy and his brothers are getting desperate.

Winn Jackson isn't interested in hunting nightmares across the Wild West - even if it's the family business. Unlike his rakehell brothers, Winn believes in rules. As sheriff of Bodie, California, he only shoots actual law breakers. That's what he's doing when he rescues the Contessa Drossenburg, Alexandra Porter, a lady with all the elegance of the Old World - grace, beauty, and class. And then he sees her fangs.

New Orleans, May 1862. The largest city in the ill-starred Confederacy has fallen to Union troops under the soon-to-be-infamous General Benjamin "the Beast" Butler. The city is rife with madness and rage. When 12-year-old Joseph Woolsack disappears from his home, he draws into the unrest his mother, Elise, a mixed-race woman passing for white, and his father, Angel, whose long and wicked life is drawing to a close. What follows forces mother and son into a dark, new world.

Brand-new stories by: G. M. Ford, Skye Moody, R. Barri Flowers, Thomas P. Hopp, Patricia Harrington, Bharti Kirchner, Kathleen Alcalá, Simon Wood, Brian Thornton, Lou Kemp, Curt Colbert, Robert Lopresti, Paul S. Piper, and Stephan Magcosta. Early Seattle was a hardscrabble seaport filled with merchant sailors, longshoremen, lumberjacks, rowdy saloons, and a rough-and-tumble police force not immune to corruption and graft.

The most civilized and 'decent' among us find that we are complicit with the most brutal murderers. We enter into literally unspeakable alliances - of which we dare not speak except through the obliquities and indirections of fiction, poetry, and visual art of the sort gathered here in New Jersey Noir.

Can you keep a beat and bust a rhyme? Did you know that learning can help you earn a hard dime? With rhythm and flow, the voices of U.S. history hip-hop to life.

Wherever your home is, it’s probably not as tough as Gary, Indiana. Gary has been called a lot of things. The Armpit of Chicago. The Land of Robbing Hoods. Hell. For the children of Gary, living often boils down to surviving. Maybe these kids get caught up in games of gin rummy. Maybe they spin tops as a way to scratch something fun out of their desperation. Maybe they stand by helplessly as their tenement buildings go up in flames. Or maybe they get held up at gunpoint by somebody who wants more money than he could steal from his church collection box.

On the eve of the opening of the 30th Olympiad in London this summer, sports activist and writer Mark Perryman presents a sharply critical take on the way the Games have been organized and an imaginative blueprint for how they could be improved. The London Olympics have been promoted as of great benefit for the host city and nation. The organizers insist that the lasting value of the facilities built, the tourism the Games will attract, and the popular participation in sport they will promote, all make the spending of billions of pounds of public money an excellent investment.

They're the chosen - Winchester, Remington, and Colt - brothers trained to hunt down supernatural beings using the latest steam-powered gadgetry. It's a hard legacy to shoulder, and it's about to get a lot more dangerous…A devil of a job. Colt Jackson has gotten his name on many a wanted poster with success in the family business: hunting supernaturals across the frontier. Lately, though, there's a sulfur stink in the wind and the Darkin population is exploding. A rift in the worlds is appearing.

The Cruisers are in trouble - again. The freedom of expression they've enjoyed by publishing their own school newspaper, The Cruiser, has spread all the way to England, where kids from a school "across the pond" are now contributors to their own school's most talked-about publication. When photos start to go alongside the articles written by kids, things get suspicious. Zander, Kambui, LaShonda, Bobbi - and a bunch of students from Harlem’s Da Vinci Academy and London’s Phoenix School - come to learn that words and pictures in a newspaper don’t always tell the whole story.

In The Team That Changed Baseball: Roberto Clemente and the 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates, veteran baseball writer Bruce Markusen tells the story of one of the most likable and significant teams in the history of professional sports. In addition to the fact that they fielded the first all-minority lineup in major league history, the 1971 Pirates are noteworthy for the team's inspiring individual performances.

The Cruiser, the alternative newspaper published by Zander and his crew of middle school misfits, is alive and well. And now there’s plenty to report on when LaShonda, one of the Cruisers, steps into the spotlight with her costume designs for an upcoming play. LaShonda’s designs get rave reviews, but she soon learns that show business is filled with challenges and choices. LaShonda is forced to consider what’s more important — fame or loyalty to her autistic brother.

In this second book of The Cruisers series, the term “gifted and talented” takes on a whole new meaning for Zander, Kambui, LaShonda, and Bobbi - a group of misfits who attend Da Vinci Academy, a school in Harlem for only the brightest kids. Their friend Sidney Aronofsky is considered one of the best chess players in the city. When Sidney is arrested for trying to buy drugs, it comes as a shock to those who know him, especially the Cruisers. Sidney loves chess, but the pressure never lets up.

Winner of the Sonja H. Stone Prize in Literature, Preston L. Allen’s Jesus Boy was listed by O, the Oprah Magazine as one of “Ten More Titles to Read Now.” Sixteen-year-old Elwyn Parker is dedicated to God. But when the one he loves marries another man, Elwin gets involved with a much older woman. Soon, his lust will test his devotion - and may alienate him from his congregation.

This Old West adventure from genre stalwart Mike Kearby comes heartily recommended by Historical Novels Review. Free Anderson's days as a soldier may be over, but his war is just beginning. An enemy stalks him, waiting to exact vengeance. Now framed and set to hang in Texas, Free is aided by a friend from his army days. Together again on the trail of Free's accuser, the two men encounter such towering figures as Wild Bill Hickok and General Custer.

Rufus and his snooty cousin Abigail soon become entangled in the tantalizing world of the feylings, mischievous fairy-like creatures desperate to find their way home. In helping the feylings, Rufus tumbles down a dark path rich with age-old secrets and difficult truths. Any move he makes might be his final fatal error - or perhaps, his most spectacular beginning. Award-winning author Dashka Slater spins a tale of friendship, magic, and eternal life in this evocative and witty middle-grade fantasy.

A lovable dog helps his human girl solve a mystery. Thor has been accused of wrecking Mr. Gary’s yard, knocking over trash cans, eating the vegetables out of the garden, and pooping. But King and Kayla, with the help of some other neighbors, are determined to clear his name, using a wide variety of familiar and new detecting skills. With simple, straightforward language and great verbal and visual humor, the King & Kayla series from Geisel Honor Award-winning team Dori Hillestad Butler and Nancy Meyers is perfect for newly independent readers.

A girl walks home from school. She's tall for her age. She's wearing her winter coat. Her headphones are in. She's hurrying. She never makes it home. In the aftermath, while law enforcement tries to justify the response, one fact remains: A police officer has shot and killed an unarmed 13-year-old girl. The community is thrown into upheaval, leading to unrest, a growing movement to protest the senseless taking of black lives, and the arrival of white supremacist counter-demonstrators.

One of Silicon Valley's top leadership trainers distills his proven framework that has empowered teams at the world's most innovative companies - from Google and Facebook to Cisco Systems and biotech giant Genentech/Roche - to do the best work of their lives. Richard Lee has worked with thousands of ambitious leaders and their teams, and has found that they all share the same frustration. Whether it's because of communication breakdowns or systemic complexity, people at every level of an organization feel like their results fall short of their expectations.

When Peter Smith’s classmate snaps a picture of him during a late night run at the track, Peter thinks he might be in trouble. When she posts that photo - along with the caption “See the Pretty Boy Run” - Peter knows he’s in trouble. But when hostiles drop through the ceiling of his sixth-period chem class, Peter’s pretty sure his trouble just became a national emergency. Because he’s not really Peter Smith. He’s Jake Morrow, former foster kid turned CIA operative.