Showing results by narrator "Léon" in All Categories

All Marinka's life, she has lived in her house with chicken legs. Running across the world on magical adventures, Marinka knows how her house is feeling, and it listens to her, too. But something is wrong. And before anyone can stop it, the house has pulled itself apart and run away. With her friend Benjamin and crow Jack, Marinka races after it to find answers. Travelling across far-distant lands, through new realms and magical places, Marinka must face up to her fears to save her friends. But her house might not want to stop running...

You may think you know Jerry Springer—the iconic TV host who presided over America's most controversial daytime talk show for 27 years. In that time, Springer’s name became synonymous with outrageous guests, taboo confessions, and vicious on-stage fights. But before The Jerry Springer Show made him infamous all over the world, Springer was something else entirely: a respected Midwestern politician whom many saw as a future leader in the Democratic Party. So how did this serious-minded idealist with lofty political aspirations take such a turn in such a radically different direction?

Lillian Smith leads an unexceptional life, writing obituaries and killing time with her inattentive husband and disconnected son. Then she meets David, a handsome stranger, in a coffee shop. Lured into an affair, she invents a new persona, one without strings, deadlines, or brooding husbands. Lillian has never felt so reckless, unpredictable, or wanted. But as her affair with David intensifies, she withdraws from everything that’s real, even her closest friend.

Melanie Hoskins, an experienced firefighter-paramedic, has been recruited by a very selective and secret organisation known as The Division. Their mission is to protect the populace and secure the continuation of the United States. The Division is only activated at times of dire need. This just so happens to be one of those times. Based in New York City, Hoskins is forced to leave her civilian life and those she loves behind, and join the front line to try to control the 'dollar flu' virus that has been spreading throughout the city.

Dominic DeBlanc is a wayward street hustler and part-time rapper constantly running from a past that haunts him. With a bleak outlook on life, he finds himself teetering between two worlds - a seedy one where he’s not guaranteed to see his 22nd birthday, and a promising one that might bring him recognition for his talent. After a chance encounter with a peculiar waitress, he finds himself engulfed in a friendship he never knew he needed. However, his complex life and reckless decisions challenge their already complicated bond....

When two Stanford graduate students set out to create a new kind of cigarette that wouldn’t kill them, they didn’t foresee all the obstacles that lay ahead — or the powerful forces their invention would unleash. Nearly 10 years after the launch of the JUUL, Backfired: The Vaping Wars asks: Could e-cigarettes have been the solution to one of the world’s most pressing public health problems—or was this technology doomed to introduce a whole new generation to nicotine, and end up perpetuating an intractable addiction?

I don't believe in love. But then again, up until a week or so ago, I didn't believe in aliens either. And yet here I am having been abducted, stranded on a jungle planet, and now surrounded by a tribe of huge, protective aliens with wings and tails. At least these are the good guys. Their leader, Rynn, is convinced I'm the reason the skin on his chest is lit up like a Christmas tree, particularly the area directly above his heart. But that's just some weird alien biochemical reaction. Just like all supposed 'love', right?

A collection of essays that discusses such issues as the media, immigration, the minimum wage, and multiculturalism.

Two years ago, I moved back to the dusty small town I used to call home. Every day that goes by is the same until two men I have no business wanting turn my life upside down. Levi Rayburn: It's been a long time since I've seen the ex-hockey player, but now he's back in Texas—hotter and more rugged than ever.

He comes to me through a lattice in a confessional booth in my church. He's brash, vulgar, and confessing to things that would send him to hell, and yet, I find myself intrigued by the mysterious man. His sinful words thrill me. His way of life, so different from my own, has me coveting excitement that's long been missing. The more I'm around him, the more I realize how long I've been deprived of so much, and the more my own deviance begins to emerge.

"Africulture is a gift and inspiration."—Michael W. Twitty, author of the James Beard Foundation Award-winning The Cooking Gene A bold, timely history illuminating the essential contributions to U.S. agriculture arising from the expertise and innovations of Black men and women. In Africulture...

Dante would be there for her even if it meant missing his basketball game and getting fined. He'd always been there for her. Even after Ranae married her high school sweetheart—Dante called every year to wish her a happy birthday. When she answered the phone crying, he was willing to drop...

Für Landon Stackhouse ist es aufregend und beängstigend zugleich, als er zum neuen Ersatztorwart des Calgary Hockey Teams ernannt wird. Casey behandelt Landon wie einen alten Freund, auch wenn sie in der Vergangenheit nur kurz miteinander zu tun hatten. Die beiden könnten nicht unterschiedlicher sein, aber Landon braucht eine Unterkunft, die besser als ein Hotelzimmer ist, und Casey hat gerade ein riesiges Haus gekauft – und möchte nicht allein wohnen.

Robert Johnson is the subject of the most famous myth about the blues: he allegedly sold his soul at the crossroads in exchange for his incredible talent, and this deal led to his death at age 27. But the actual story of his life remains unknown save for a few inaccurate anecdotes. Up Jumped the Devil is the result of over 50 years of research. Gayle Dean Wardlow has been interviewing people who knew Robert Johnson since the early 1960s, and he was the person who discovered Johnson's death certificate in 1967. 

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “Fascinating…the fullest portrait of Kennedy ever written.” —The Washington Post The first oral biography of John F. Kennedy Jr. is an extraordinarily intimate and detailed look at the real man behind the myth. Sharing never-before-told stories, his...

More than a decade since Michael Jackson’s death, his legacy remains complicated and unresolved.

ADHD may be the defining diagnosis of our time. According to the latest data, more than 10 percent of American children (that’s 7.1 million kids) have been diagnosed with ADHD. And the number of stimulant prescriptions for adults in their 30s has shot up nearly threefold since 2012. In recent years, this explosion in demand has combined with other factors to create a widespread stimulant shortage in the US. In the second installment of Backfired, cohosts Leon Neyfakh and Arielle Pardes look at the unintended consequences of the ADHD industry, and trace the surprising path that brought us here.

Accepting a job on Spire Station sounded great in theory. Now that I'm on an enormous alien space station with no humans in sight, I'm questioning the sanity of that choice. When my best friend Mezli tricks me into using a pleasure sim, I find an unexpected connection with Breks, the intriguing alien running the sim. The only problem? He hides behind a holo and refuses to let me see his true form. For all I know, he could be a sentient ooze, but I'm too far gone to care. Now I just have to find a way to prove it.

An account of the author's meetings with the 135-year-old sage known as the Shivapuri Baba and the story of a forty year pilgrimage round the world on foot. A description and analysis of a teaching known as Swadharma — "Right Life."

Xavier Kingston’s life is turned upside down when his nemesis and business rival, Sierra Windsor, suddenly begins to show interest in a man that isn’t him. Certain he’s at risk of losing his chance with her forever, Xavier offers the Windsors a deal they cannot refuse: a merger between his company and Windsor Real Estate. On one condition: Sierra must marry him.