Showing results by narrator "Jaime Lincoln Smith" in All Categories

From one of rap’s most evocative writers comes a stirring memoir and “masterpiece of a book” (Snoop Dogg) about how Boosie Badazz, one of the industry’s most controversial figures, was able to overcome insurmountable odds to make his music dreams a reality.

This stirring coming-of-age tale unfolds in 1930s rural Kansas. A poignant portrait of African-American family life in the early twentieth century, it follows the story of young Sandy Rogers as he grows from a boy to a man. We meet Sandy's mother, Annjee, who works as a housekeeper for a wealthy white family; his strong-willed grandmother, Hager; Jimboy, Sandy's father, who travels the country looking for work; Aunt Tempy, the social climber; and Aunt Harriet, the blues singer who has turned away from her faith.

Even a city that boasts three hundred days of sunshine a year has its sudden, often violent storms—and writers have long taken advantage of that metaphor. Renowned authors Katherine Anne Porter, Jack Kerouac, Stephen King, Rex Burns, Robert Greer, Michael Connelly, and Kali Fajardo-Anstine—among many others—have brilliantly portrayed this picturesque but often merciless city. Today, Denver is home to a thriving literary scene, with writers of all stripes finding inspiration in its people and streets. The authors and stories featured in Denver Noir are no exception....

Diana Steel has it all—a luxurious Denver penthouse, a limitless trust fund, and the job of her dreams at one of the city’s top architecture firms. Housing brooding Dragon Locke isn’t a priority, but when her sister asks, Diana relents. Dragon knows what it means to fight for survival. Abandoned at eight and raised in the system, he’s been hardened by life’s brutal lessons. Addiction nearly destroyed him, and after a disastrous fall during his band’s European tour, he’s clawing his way back. Fresh out of rehab, he’s determined to rebuild on his own terms.

Heavy is the head that wears the crown.

Audrey Pilar is a master in the art of breaking up. Her friends have dubbed her ritual of leaving men as “The Expiration Date.” Hurt from her past has caused Audrey to protect her heart at all costs, even if it means self sabotage. She’s developed the habit of looking for red flags, and it seems to work for her—until she meets Sullivan Santiago. The confident, thirty-three-year-old owner of Sullivan’s Coffee Tavern is unlike anyone she’s ever met, and for Audrey, if it’s too good to be true, it usually is.

Detective Andrew Logan hears that Detective Antonia Oliver is back in town. It’s been four years since they were involved in a hot, heavy, and steamy affair. Andrew’s life gets complicated when Toni is assigned as his new partner. Paired together, they try hard to ignore the sexual chemistry that’s stronger than ever between them. One homicide investigation turns deadly and Toni’s life is in danger. Andrew goes into action, determined to protect the woman he’s trying his damnedest not to fall in love with.

Roland Summers wonders if there’s a reason he keeps running into Charlottesville's new medical examiner, Lennox Roswell. First, there was the wedding of his good friend Stonewall Courson and then they participated in a career panel at a local high school; and then again at the grocery store. He soon discovers they are neighbors. What confuses Roland more than anything is his fierce attraction to Lennox.

Law and Zuri met in the most unconventional way, but their connection was straight out of a storybook. It was genuine, poetic, and undeniable. However, haters will always ruin it. Learning what truly sent Law her way, Zuri cut off all ties with the man who had finally reminded her of what truly being unconditionally loved felt like.

This bundle includes Tempting Fate, The Perfect Seduction, Simply Wonderful.

The riveting twists and turns of Helen Hardt’s Steel Brothers Saga continue with Steel Legends. The next generation of Colorado’s Western Slope’s most successful yet tortured dynasty faces new challenges and adventures with all the secrets and seduction that have captivated readers around the globe.

Austin joins Dallas and Houston in Akashic's deep dive into the Lone Star State's darkest dimensions. Featuring brand-new stories by: Gabino Iglesias, Ace Atkins, Amanda Moore, Jeff Abbott, Scott Montgomery, Richard Z. Santos, Alexandra Burt, Lee Thomas, Miriam Kuznets, Jacob Grovey, Chaitali Sen, Molly Odintz, Amy Gentry, and Andrew Hilbert.

In a dim clearing off a county road in Kentucky sits a sagging outdoor stage buried in moss and dead leaves. It used to be the centerpiece of carnival-like Sunday afternoons where local guitarists, fiddlers and mandolin players hammered out old mountain ballads and legends from the dawn of country music performed their classic hits. Most of the musicians who showed up have long since passed, but Nashville stars Ricky Skaggs and Marty Stuart survive. Highways and Heartaches takes listeners on the rural circuit Skaggs and Stuart traveled.

Featuring all-new tales of dark fantasy, cosmic horror, supernatural revenge, and the sorcery of terror from masters of the craft, this issue includes stories and poems by Alma Katsu, Heather Graham, Maurice Broaddus, Fran Wilde, Priya Sharma, Anne Walsh, Yvonne Navarro, Jake Bible, Gabrielle Faust, and Christina Sng.

In How to Be a Lawyer, a team of veteran lawyers and entrepreneurs delivers an eye-opening discussion of how to translate your years of training and education into a running start in the world of practice. The book bridges the gap between law school and practice, whether you hope to be a big firm transactional attorney, a solo criminal lawyer, work for the government or any other legal profession. You'll discover how you can use what you learned in law school and how you can develop the real skills you'll need as you deal with clients and colleagues.

The Orca Job was supposed to set them all up for life, but it did not go according to plan. They lost their money, they lost their ship, and some of them lost their lives—the survivors scattering in a storm of recriminations. Ten years later, no one is who they were...and some are not what they seem. But Strange's son, Cayce, wants to put the gang back together to rescue his father, currently held captive. As if uniting the club isn't enough of a challenge, they also need major resources, and the only way they know how to acquire them is by falling into old habits.

After Baz Luhrmann’s movie, Elvis, hit theaters in the summer of 2022, audiences and critics alike couldn't help but question the Black origins of Elvis Presley’s music and style, reigniting a debate that has been circling for decades. In Before Elvis: The African American Musicians Who Made the King​, author Preston Lauterbach answers these questions definitively, based on new research and extensive, previously unpublished interviews with the artists who blazed the way and the people who knew them.

This bundle includes Perfect Moments and Perfect Makeover.

His story is unprecedented in the world of golf. Born to a family of migrant laborers, Calvin Peete dropped out of school in the eighth grade, went to work picking crops, first swung a golf club at the age of twenty-three-and rose to the top of the PGA. In Calvin Peete: Golf's Forgotten Star, Gordon Hobson tells for the first time Peete's incredible story. Calvin Peete's story is inspiring, but it also reveals the struggles many Black golfers endured even after the Caucasian—only clause was removed from the PGA's bylaws.

Deja is a “barrel girl”—one of the Jamaican kids who get barrels full of clothes, food, and treats shipped to them from parents who have moved to the US or Canada to make more money. Gabriel is caught up in a gang and desperate for a way out. When he meets Deja at a party, he starts looking for a way into her life and wonders if they could be a part of each other’s futures. Then, one day while out fishing, Deja spies a go-fast boat stalled out by some rocks, smeared with blood.