Showing results by narrator "Eric Michael Summerer" in All Categories

Three years after the showdown with Finch razed their hometown of Freepoint and changed their lives forever, Phillip and the rest of The Ables gang find another school year interrupted by a growing threat. Relations with the government have never been more strained and the political rhetoric has shifted to a more hostile tone when discussing those with special abilities. A new branch of Homeland Security has been empowered to investigate custodial acts of heroism and even detain suspects indefinitely.

Most of us believe when we're depressed that our situation is hopeless. That's a mistake, Dr. Elisha Goldstein reassures us in Uncovering Happiness. The secret to overcoming depression and uncovering happiness is in harnessing our brain's own natural antidepressant power and ultimately creating a more resilient antidepressant brain.

In the era of mass incarceration, over 600,000 people are released from federal or state prison each year, with many returning to chaotic living environments. In these circumstances, how do former prisoners navigate reentering society? In Homeward, sociologist Bruce Western examines the tumultuous first year after release from prison. Drawing from in-depth interviews with over 100 individuals, he describes the lives of the formerly incarcerated and demonstrates how poverty, racial inequality, and failures of social support trap many in a cycle of vulnerability.

Operation Iraqi Freedom Veteran and former host of All Access, DC Comics' web show, Jason Inman, discusses the influence war has had on some of the most memorable superheroes in comics.

Ever wonder why your self-control, rationality, and compassion seem to go out the window when dealing with your partner? Couples therapist and psychiatrist Steven Stosny explains it all in this revelatory book about the divide between our adult and our toddler brains. Too often, conflict in our intimate relationships reactivates our least-regulated "toddler" side, bringing out an instinctive desire to assert our own way and make everything a zero-sum game. Dr. Stosny shows the way toward overcoming these destructive impulses.

From the High Sierra to the Adirondacks and the Everglades, Dan White travels the nation to experience firsthand - and sometimes face-first - how the American wilderness transformed from the devil's playground into a source of adventure, relaxation, and renewal. Whether he's camping nude in cougar country, being attacked by wildlife while "glamping", or crashing a girls-only adventure for urban teens, White seeks to animate the evolution of outdoor recreation.

Known only as Jag, he leads the Knights of White against the soulless Darkland Beasts who took his wife and his life. Jag is immortal, destined to live with the vengeance he feels in his heart and the dreams that haunt his soul. Sensual dreams of a woman. Karen Gibson is an innocent mortal, unwittingly thrown into this millennia-old battle, and - unwillingly - under Jag's protection. She and Jag are about to discover they have met before - in the dreams they share. Neither trusts the other. Neither can survive alone.

It seems like people are always talking about the end of the world, doesn't it? Y2K, the Mayan apocalypse, blood moon prophecies, nuclear war, killer robots, you name it. In Apocalypse Any Day Now, journalist Tea Krulos travels the country to try to puzzle out America's obsession with the end of days. Along the way he meets doomsday preppers - people who stockpile supplies and learn survival skills - as well as religious prognosticators and climate scientists, and much more.

Pioneering oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer unravels the mystery of marine currents, uncovers the astonishing story of flotsam, and changes the world's view of trash, the ocean, and our global environment. Curtis Ebbesmeyer is no ordinary scientist. He's been a consulting oceanographer for multinational firms and a lead scientist on international research expeditions, but he's never held a conventional academic appointment.

Emperors call him friend. He wanted to retire - now he wears a target on his back. Rumors of dungeons raided, dragons robbed, emperors showering him with gratitude.

I survived a near-death battlefield head injury just to get thrown right back into the meatgrinder. My friends and I survived brigands, beasts, scheming nobles, a rigged tribunal, and oh, more beast! But it wasn’t all bad. My bond with ether helped put part of my fractured mind back together. What did I see? Glimpses of a life lost. A woman I’d failed. But also...a rift forming from the ether convergence. You see, I was there when the collapse started, even though I couldn’t remember.

When a catastrophic solar storm brings about the collapse of modern civilization, an Amish community in Pennsylvania is caught up in the devastating aftermath. Once-bright skies are now dark. Planes have plummeted to the ground. The systems of modern life have crumbled. With their stocked larders and stores of supplies, the Amish are unaffected at first. But as the English (the Amish name for all non-Amish people) become more and more desperate, they begin to invade Amish farms.

I did it. It took a lot of sweat and coin, but I managed to bring the Karl back to a functioning dungeon. With my adventuring shop running in full swing, now's the time for the second part of my plan: building New Valley. All that's left for me to do is wait for the lumber I ordered to arrive so I can stake the land, start expanding, and… What? What did you say? My cargo's been stolen? As I start investigating the incident, it becomes increasingly clear that someone's been sabotaging my efforts on purpose.

My end goal's been the same from day one, and that is to build my Merchant Empire. Although I've now become the new Governor of Karlton—a position I had to accept to appease the King and keep Lord Reinley in power—unfortunately, that did nothing to advance my plans. What I need is to unlock the Merchant Class, but the requirements are steep to say the least. If I do have the infrastructure needed, as well as the levels, I'm far from generating enough revenue to qualify. And that's a bummer because I'm currently sitting on a good chunk of XP that I saved for after I've gained my new class.

Parents everywhere want their children to be happy and do well. Yet how parents seek to achieve this ambition varies enormously. Through personal anecdotes and original research, Matthias Doepke and Fabrizio Zilibotti reveal that in countries with increasing economic inequality, such as the United States, parents push harder to ensure their children have a path to security and success.

The gospel is good news - God's message that He loves you even when you don't deserve it. It's not a story of God searching for one righteous soul, or being willing to meet sinners halfway. The news is so much better than that. God gives grace freely to people who don't deserve it at all - people like you and me. We are recipients of a descending, one-way love that changes everything.

In early 2003, a young Wall Street investment banker named Bo Parfet set out to accomplish something very few had done before - climbing the highest mountain on every continent. He was not a professional climber, but what began as a casual interest would soon become a lifelong passion and in just over four years, Bo would overcome the odds and conquer all of the mountains - Kilimanjaro, Aconcagua, Denali, Vinson Massif, Elbrus, Carstenz Pyramid, Kosciusko, and Everest - with courage, unbridled passion, and determination.

The Gamesmaster is a narrative memoir chronicling the life and career of Flint Dille. And while he isn't exactly a household name, you almost certainly know his work - which includes credits from some of the most important and successful entertainment franchises throughout the world across the cartoon, film, video game, and comic book industries and beyond.

The hoax proposed to John Baird by a two-bit con man in a seedy Key West bar was shady but potentially profitable. With little left to lose, the struggling, middle-aged Hemingway scholar agreed to forge a manuscript and pass it off as Papa's lost masterpiece. But Baird never realized his actions would shatter the history of his own Earth - and others. And now the unsuspecting academic is trapped out of time - propelled through a series of grim parallel worlds and pursued by an interdimensional hitman with a literary license to kill.

Ollie and Moritz are two teenagers who will never meet. Each of them lives with a life-affecting illness. Contact with electricity sends Ollie into debilitating seizures while Moritz has a heart defect and is kept alive by an electronic pacemaker. If they did meet, Ollie would seize, but turning off the pacemaker would kill Moritz. Through an exchange of letters, the two boys develop a strong bond of friendship that becomes a lifeline during dark times.