Showing results by narrator "Stephen Davies" in All Categories

Anything you can imagine. Everything you crave. For the members of The Raven Room, it's every fantasy fulfilled. But for some, that desire is a matter of life and death. Drawn by a need he cannot control, Julian ventures to The Raven Room, a secret and exclusive sex club in the underbelly of Chicago. It goes beyond sex. It goes beyond kink. The Raven Room is the only place where Julian finds release from the dangerous urges that threaten to destroy the successful life he's worked so hard to build.

Wolfgang Schmitt, ex-underwear model, self-proclaimed wisecrack, and cynical copywriter turned undercover agent, is biding his time, unsure how to spend the millions he scored after his recent undercover mission for the FBI. Complicating matters is the fact that he might be called in for a new mission; if it's off the books and calls for a touch of seduction, Wolf is the man for the job.

In Understanding the Metaverse: A Business and Ethical Guide, expert product and customer experience strategist Nick Rosa delivers a timely exploration of what is bound to be one of the most important technologies of our time. The author explains the technology that underpins the metaverse as it exists today and that will form the basis for its rapid evolution in the future.

At once grand in scope and intimate in human detail, Isle of Woman tells the story of a man and a woman born at the dawn of human history, separated by fate, yet united by an unquenchable passion that even time could not conquer: Blaze, the fire worker who raised his kind of savagery, and Ember, the beautiful green-eyed woman who forever haunted his dreams.

Boston real estate agent William Collins knows that his habits are slipping out of control. Due to obsessive-compulsive daily cleaning binges and a penchant for nightly online cruising for hookups, he finds his sales figures slipping despite a booming market. There’s also his ongoing struggle to collect the rent from his passive-aggressive tenant and his worries about his best friend, Edward, whom he’s certainly not in love with. Just as he decides to do something about his life, he meets Charlotte and Samuel, wealthy suburbanites looking for the perfect city apartment.

"Readers of Brooklyn Noir will recall that its contents were labeled by neighborhood - Bay Ridge, Canarsie, Greenpoint, etc. We have chosen the same principle here, and the book's contents do a good job of covering the island, from C.J. Sullivan's Inwood and Charles Ardai's Upper East Side, to Justin Scott's Chelsea and Carol Lea Benjamin's Greenwich Village."

Freedom of choice lies at the heart of American society. Yet, many Americans don't realize that these choices are illusory at best. The available options in food, healthcare, education, transportation, and even online presence are largely constructed by corporations. At What Cost confronts how globalization, financial speculation, monopolies, and control of science and technology have enhanced the ability of corporations and their allies to overwhelm influences of government, family, community, and faith.

'Never mess with power-hungry people!' Or so Sophie's dad is always telling her. But when her friend Gidaado the Fourth starts working for a famous general, Sophie finds herself mixed up in some very dirty business. She discovers that General Crêpe-Sombo is not at all the kind, peaceful man he pretends to be.

While Blake Masters is elated he's found his mate, convincing Greer Caspian that they are destined for each other is another matter. Between dealing with his now ex-girlfriend to battling an evil that seems to have many faces, there's never enough time to explore the depths of his desire for her. Fate's timing couldn't get any worse. Just when Greer is ready to admit that Blake and she belong together, some strange transforming werewolf from Earth breaks into her house and robs her. They decide the only way for any peace and quiet is to go after this guy.

Angelique Carson had no idea that once she was let out of her hidden realm to protect the Guardians' children that her life would take a turn for the worse. Sure Thane Sinclair is her mate, but there is no way she intends to indulge in any kind of carnal pleasure until her main job is done - and that could take years. Thane's sole purpose is to train the Guardians for battle. The moment he encounters the powerful and beautiful Angelique, however, his mission takes a back burner. Boy, does it. The only problem is that Angelique isn't interested. Could have fooled him.

In The Intentional Leader, Tim Hebert explores the various actions that define and shape leadership. From those decisive moments in which a difficult decision must be made, to the unguarded moments when our emotional, authentic selves manifest themselves for better or worse.

Captured and imprisoned by Colton, the wizard Premoran rails against his fate. Without Premoran, the essences of the ancient Lalas trees will be lost forever. While the Twins prepare to embark on their separate quests for the Gem of Eternity, another rises to aid the Lalas. Her name is Tamara, a Sister of Parth. Trained in the mystical mysteries, though unaware of the true extent of her power, she alone can traverse the Hollows.

In this gripping and wide-ranging essay, Nadelson deals with his grief after the premature death of a close friend, coupled with the joy accompanying the birth of his first child. Everything he now does - from caring for his daughter to wandering the streets of his run-down neighborhood in Oregon - starts to feel like a betrayal. Nadelson looks over his life, thinking about his run-in with a Soho cab driver, a college Halloween party spent with his dead friend, and his favorite Chekhov story, "Grief".

Five years removed from winning a state championship in Nowata, Jerry Bailey had ended his run as the head coach at Sapulpa and was ready to move on to another high school and another football team. However, Bailey and his assistant Reagor left school on a January morning and never returned. Because of the Hate is the true story about the murder of Jerry Bailey, a beloved high school football coach in Oklahoma. In 1976, Jerry Bailey had resigned as the Sapulpa High School head football coach but was murdered by his assistant Paul Reagor, Jr.

The mighty Lalas are dying. The great sentient trees are departing the world that they have protected since the beginning of time, leaving the people bereft and confused. The fabric weaves of its own will, winding around the Twins, binding them inextricably into the cloth as they are violently thrust into a threatening world. Separated at birth, Davmiran and Tomas, heirs to the throne of Gwendolen, struggle to find the truth that will save their world.

The work of Mike Nichols pervades American cultural consciousness - from The Graduate and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? to Angels in America, The Birdcage, Working Girl, and Primary Colors, not to mention his string of hit plays, including Barefoot in the Park and The Odd Couple. Over a career that spanned half a century, Mike Nichols changed Hollywood, Broadway, and comedy forever. Here, for the first time, Ash Carter and Sam Kashner offer an intimate look behind the scenes of Nichols' life.

Evoking such classics as Elmer Gantry and The Day of the Locust, William Giraldi's About Face boldly transfers the perennial literary themes of celebrity, ambition, and obsession to twenty-first-century Boston. There we meet Val Face, a charismatic self-help guru who captivates multitudes with his uncanny ability to heal adherents using only the power of his words, the mysterious touch of his hands, and the transcendent beauty of his face.

Look around. Clearly, we humans are radically different from the other creatures on this planet. But why? Where are the Bronze Age beavers? The Iron Age iguanas? Byron Reese argues that we owe our special status to our ability to imagine the future and recall the past, escaping the perpetual present that all other living creatures are trapped in. Envisioning human history as the development of a societal superorganism he names Agora, Reese shows us how this escape enabled us to share knowledge on an unprecedented scale, and predict—and eventually master—the future.

Billionaires in World Politics shows how the privatization of politics assumes a new dimension when billionaires wield power in world politics, which requires a rethinking of individual agency in international relations. Structural changes have generated new opportunities for individuals to become extremely rich and to engage in politics across borders. The political agency of billionaires is being conceptualized in terms of capacities, goals, and power, which is contingent upon the specific political field a billionaire is trying to enter.

Scholars have often claimed that democracies, whatever their virtues, are functionally short-sighted. The evidence is clear: We have been unable to manage many long-term issues, including climate change, nuclear waste disposal, natural disaster preparedness, infrastructure maintenance, and budget deficits. To solve long-term problems, do we need political systems that are less democratic, or even authoritarian?