Showing results by narrator "Nick Podehl" in All Categories

Aryc Tal Venn was supposed to be the savior of the universe. But a fateful decision left him blighted, unable to cultivate the primal Aether into the life-empowering energy of the Quintessence. With nothing but hope, Aryc undertakes a desperate quest to reverse his blighting. But when a terrible truth challenges everything he believes, Aryc is forced to question whom he fights for and why. Destiny comes for Aryc Tal Venn, and the fate of the universe rests in his hands.

A funny and deeply felt novel that illuminates the pivotal role of work in our lives—a riveting fusion of The Nest, Up in the Air, and Then We Came to the End that captures the emotional complexities of five HR colleagues trying to balance ambition, hope, and fear as their small company is...

Big business often seems the reserve of ruthless money grubbers desperately looking for a way to make their next buck. But a quiet revolution is reshaping the corporate world, as the world's most dynamic entrepreneurs and businesspeople are starting to change how a successful business is run. A new breed of mindful managers are using meditation, yoga and other Zen techniques to focus on feeling good while making money - and using the money to do good too.

After revealing the deception spread by the Galactic Council and the hidden aspects of the System, John Lee and his friends flee the council building on Irvina. Just escaping the capital planet will tax them to their utmost. Evading the full force of the Galactic Council and their minions might be more than they can handle. While old allies deal with the new truths, friends fracture under the increasing pressure, and all the while, the System Quest hangs over John's head, unfinished. Their only hope - their only clue - lies in the Forbidden Zone.

During the summer of 1987, from their tree house fort in the woods, neighborhood boys Tim, Scott, and Luke spot a man holding a gun to missing 16-year-old Molly Peterson's back. The problem is, nobody believes their story, not even the police. As search efforts to find Molly dwindle, the boys know that she, and the man with the gun, are nearby - and that they must now find and save Molly themselves.

To gain his Master Class, John Lee made a deal with the Erethran Empire. Now, the empire has come to collect on the debt, forcing him to appear in their capital after his last fight. Thrown into Galactic politics of a militarized, system-based society, John will have to weigh consequences of the decisions he's been asked to make and confront the warped reality of a system-created empire. When politics, self-interest, and a human's stubbornness collide, the very stars are threatened.

John Lee has come far from his time as a struggling survivor of the System Apocalypse. But now, his actions have gone too far, and he has drawn the ire of the Galactic Council. Not only he and his friends, but Earth itself, are faced with the displeasure of the Council. With the whole galaxy turned against them, John will have to scramble for allies and make Faustian deals to save Earth. But against the might of multiple empires, will it be enough?

When designer and computer scientist John Maeda was tapped to be president of the celebrated Rhode Island School of Design in 2008, he had to learn how to be a leader quickly. He had to transform himself from a tenured professor - with a love of argument for argument’s sake and the freedom to experiment - into the head of a hierarchical organization. The professor is free to speak his mind against “the man.” The college president is “the man.” Maeda has had to teach himself, through trial and error, about leadership.

What if you could paint with reality? Elijah Brighton can bring a girl back from the dead, travel outside his body, and absorb a lifetime of memories from anyone he touches in the fugue state. Everyone seems to think he's the prophet they're waiting for...including the girl he's falling in love with. The truth is, the fugue is bleeding over into reality, bringing his sketches to life and haunting him with visions of a girl in metal armor. She stabs him with her blade and denounces him as any prophet worth the name - and it's not like he disagrees.

Elijah Brighton is the face of the Human Resistance Movement. He's the Olympic-level painter who refused an offer of immortality from the ascenders - the human/machine hybrids who run the world - in solidarity with the legacy humans who will never get a chance to live forever. Worse, Eli's not even entirely human. Few know about the ascenders' genetic experiments that left him...different. Fewer know about the state that creates his transcendent art - as well as a bridge that lets him speak to the dead.

The suitcase looks like a standard weekend bag. But like the man who carries it, it isn't what it seems. Lined with tinfoil to mask the smell, it is a smuggler's bag and will soon be filled to the brim with marijuana bricks. The smuggler is a Harvard student who has come to California to make his fortune. He hopes to score not just with his connection but with his new girlfriend, a Golden State beauty with an appetite for fine weed. When the deal goes south, she takes the fall, and a crooked FBI agent swipes half the stash.

For the past six weeks, LAPD detective Matt Jones has been recovering from the wrong end of a hit man's bullet. Before he can look for payback, Jones finds himself enlisted in the manhunt for an old foe. Dr. George Baylor, the serial killer who escaped after murdering three coeds in LA, resurfaces on the East Coast. This time, an entire family has been slaughtered in their home outside Philadelphia, and the doctor's fingerprints are all over the crime scene.

The hot indie rockers introduced by In the Band return in this compelling second installment of the Luminescent Juliet series. This time the focus is on Justin, the band’s gorgeous lead singer - and a notorious womanizer - who sails through life without a second thought. His only problems stem from the power struggles he has with his band mates, some of whom are living with dark troubles that he wants no part of. Then one night Justin stumbles into a tattoo parlor and meets Allie.

Santa has it so easy: a workforce of elves to make the presents, a team of reindeer to deliver them, even a hi-tech factory! The Easter Bunny has to make and wrap all the chocolate eggs and deliver them all by himself. Now Bunny has had enough. But will his plan for a Christmas disaster turn into a Christmas delight?

In this eerie and atmospheric novel, New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Neal Shusterman explores questions of life, death, and what might lie in between. Nick and Allie don’t survive the car accident—and their souls don’t exactly get where they’re supposed to go. Instead...

Welcome to the world of Zaneen, a world with a dark past and more secrets than answers. For Lian, a 12-year-old orphan, the world consists only of his remote village and the hazardous mountains surrounding it. He always questioned his existence and longed for meaning; Lian will soon get his answers.

In all the ways that matter, Mark is a normal kid. He's got a dog named Beau and a best friend, Jessie. He likes to take photos and write haiku poems in his notebook. He dreams of climbing a mountain one day. But in one important way, Mark is not like other kids at all. Mark is sick. The kind of sick that means hospitals. And treatments. The kind of sick some people never get better from.

Author and photographer Susan Kuklin met and interviewed six transgender or gender-neutral young adults and used her considerable skills to represent them thoughtfully and respectfully before, during, and after their personal acknowledgment of gender preference. Each honest discussion and disclosure, whether joyful or heartbreaking, is completely different from the other because of family dynamics, living situations, gender, and the transition these teens make in recognition of their true selves.

Gary Paulsen was one of the kids who slipped through the cracks, until art and dogs saved him. So are Jake, Jojo, and Jamie, all 12-year-olds who, like Gary Paulsen, had to grow up too fast. Gary Paulsen’s three poignant novellas add up to an unforgettable book.

Fueled by visions promising him prolonged life and political power, the dying Corajidin, leader of a millennia-old dynasty, has brought the nation of Shrian to civil war. But is his bright destiny assured, or do the events unfolding around him promise a more ignoble, and finite, future? Indris, warrior-mage of the Seq Scholars and scion of a rival Great House, is caught in the upheaval. Driven by loyalty and conscience to return to a city that haunts his past, Indris reluctantly accepts the task of finding a missing man, the only one able to steer the teetering nation toward peace.