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

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.

Former Marine Tucker Wylder wants nothing more than to work with his brothers in their vintage car restoration business and be left alone with his nightmares and regrets. The last thing he needs is to take on someone else's troubles...Then Elisa Danvers and her young daughter arrive in Misty Bottoms, Georgia. Elisa has reached the end of the line-flat broke, engine trouble, sick in body and spirit. Tucker steps up to the rescue and finds himself reluctantly taking care of a feisty preschooler and her independent mother, who doesn't seem to want his help.

Herman, Ohshiet, and the gang have made it to Uncle Ray's compound . . . a prepper's dream of high fences, stockpiled food, and enough ammo to arm a small country. For the first time since the System hit, they have a roof over their heads and a plan for survival.

Stephen McAllister was a grunt, a dog handler in Vietnam, tasked not only with fighting what was by then an unwinnable war but with rehabilitating a scout dog named Big Mike whose trauma ran even deeper than his own. McAllister's voice has an abundance of heart and humor, but the laughter has a catch in its throat. For all the ingenuity and camaraderie, a dark and suspenseful melody plays behind the adventures of McAllister and his unforgettable constellation of young characters, American and Vietnamese.

On the coast of the Strand, Sal and his father arrive in the small, apparently normal town of Fundelry, where the locals are suspicious of newcomers and of anyone who stands out or appears different. Sal and his father are on the run from an unnamed someone...or something. When a local bully attacks Sal, he is rescued by Shilly and her teacher, Lodo. Lodo is marked with mysterious tattoos and seems to know a lot more about Sal than Sal knows about himself.

For years, I was close enough to fame to touch it. Taste it. Drink it. Until one more drink became my answer to everything. Until one night I made a mistake which couldn't be undone. So, I cut all ties to my former life and the addiction that destroyed it. And I left in search of redemption on the other side of the country. After months building a new future, I thought my past had stayed put. Until I opened my front door to find she'd followed me.

The Black Prince has fallen, cut down in battle against Six Kingdoms. As news of the tragedy sweeps the empire, Liz and her allies resolve to set aside their grief and finish what Hiro started. Yet the new heir apparent faces a treacherous path to the throne. In the palace, forces conspire to undermine her rise, some driven by mundane self-interest, others by more sinister motivations.

The bitter conflict in Faerzen has drawn to a close with the Grantzian Empire's victory. As Hiro and his allies return to the capital, it would seem that, for the moment, the bloodshed is done. Yet only a fool would take this temporary lull for a lasting peace. The empire's foundations are creaking. War is coming; indeed, for those with eyes to see, its harbingers are already here. Second Prince Selene has left the north, an almost unheard-of occurrence.

Unexpectedly summoned to the world of Aletia from modern-day Japan, Hiro Oguro soon discovers this isn't his first visit. As the legendary Hero King Mars, he once ruled battlefields, conquered nations, and founded the continent-spanning Grantzian Empire before giving up all memories of his hard-won glory to return home to his old life.

Exhausted after their successful defense of the Gurinda Mark, Hiro and Liz would like nothing better than a few weeks of respite. There's no rest for the wicked, though, and Hiro's claim to the War God's bloodline has echoed in high places. Soon, he finds himself summoned to the imperial capital for an audience with the emperor himself. Hiro's first appearance at court will determine his future in Aletia, but he must tread carefully—powerful nobles are already plotting to use him, and the emperor has his own plans for his newest son.

The battle is done. The war is won. Peace reigns once more on the empire's southern border. Returning in triumph to the capital, Hiro learns that his next assignment will take him to the northern kingdom of Lebering, where he will attend the coming-of-age ceremony of the lovely Princess Claudia. But Lebering is a harsh land, steeped in grudges both new and old.

The Faerzen offensive has collapsed. Aura is trapped behind enemy lines, Liz is missing, presumed captured, and every passing second is a second that their lives hang in the balance. With the clock mercilessly ticking, Hiro readies the Crow Legion for its first true engagement. But right from the start, some things don't add up. Who is really pulling the strings of this war? And as Hiro rides into the battle-scarred west, he unwittingly draws closer to his greatest challenge yet: a renegade princess hellbent on revenge, wielding the fearsome Gáe Bolg.

You're in a bind, and the only person who can help you wants something in return—but he won't reveal what it is until later. Do you dare take the risk? Paige is at a loss. She can't find any other way to describe her situation when her dance partner gets injured. How is she going to pass her final exam at the dance academy? It's not as if a man who knows all the relevant dances and pairs perfectly with her can just be found walking down the street. But when she visits her brother, Paige unexpectedly finds such a man.

He will give you a great career. But in return, you must act as his fiancée for eight days. Skye gets the opportunity of a lifetime when her boss assigns her to write an article about Ethan Huntington. Everyone wants to know what makes the handsome entrepreneur so successful, and what could possibly appeal to a man who already owns everything. But Skye's encounter with Ethan turns out differently than planned. Completely different! Out of the blue, he asks her to pretend to be his fiancée for eight days. In return, she gets a full home story.

Chloe Morel, junior reporter by day, has a secret by night: she's the most discerning—and notorious—food critic in New Orleans. Now one of the biggest food magazines in the business wants her, and she's on the verge of making her food writing dreams come true. Everything would be perfect—if only her least favorite chef and seven-year nemesis wasn't moving into the apartment across the hall.

Lash by bloody lash, the she-devil from Dallas would get her revenge.

Regulus Lafaye, the leader of the Caelans - a technologically advanced human-like race - has become infected by the anger disease spreading amongst his people. He comes out of the shadows, using his significant mental abilities to psy both Caelan and indigena alike, for nefarious purposes. And while others have tried to warn Caelus - their home planet - of Lafaye’s lust for power, their communications have been intercepted, and help is not coming.

Lucan's human life was ripped from him by a demon known as a Darkland Beast, but he was saved by the Archangel Rafael to join the immortal Knights of White, as a protector of humanity. For 200 years, Lucan served honorably but one fateful night, he did the unforgivable, the one thing he can never be saved from. Lucan vowed servitude to the leader of the Darkland Beasts, and the underworld in the process, and he did it to save a woman, a firestarter who the demon leader intended to use to destroy the Knights.

As a Knight of White, the demon warrior Rinehart has long struggled to keep the beast within him at bay. But his unyielding attraction to Dr. Laura Johnson - the dangerous woman he has sworn to protect - threatens to rip his soul apart. When Rinehart discovers that she has paranormal abilities of her own, he must choose: will he give in to his animal attraction to her or fulfill his duty to protect humanity from the rising army of evil? Will Laura prove to be his saving grace - or his final undoing?

With his mother in jail, Sequoyah, a 15-year-old Cherokee boy, is placed in foster care with the Troutt family. Literally and figuratively scarred by his unstable upbringing, Sequoyah has spent years mostly keeping to himself, living with his emotions pressed deep below the surface - that is, until he meets the 17-year-old Rosemary, another youth staying with the Troutts. Sequoyah and Rosemary bond over their shared Native American backgrounds and paths through the foster care system, but as Sequoyah's feelings toward Rosemary deepen, the precariousness of their lives and the scars of their pasts threaten to undo them both.