Showing results by narrator "Von Johnson" in All Categories

Acclaimed author of The Adults Alison Espach’s short story "In-Depth Market Research Interviews with Dead People" is an at-once hilarious and heart-breaking portrait of a dead woman’s marriage and the Volvo that stood in the middle of it all.

Lydia returns to Mudaire to enter training at the healing temple. But instead of fighting to save lives, she’s convinced she is doing more harm than good. She delves into the history of the gods only to discover a truth that will change her life forever. His birthright as commander of the Royal Army is finally in his grasp, but Killian feels anything but victorious. Burdened by his past, he embraces the darker side of his mark - and in doing so, risks starting a war.

I want him to be my first. I want him to be the one. I want him to be my everything. I didn't expect to spend my 18th birthday stranded in the pouring rain with no way to make it home. I didn't expect to be rescued from the worst night of my life by the most amazing man I'd ever seen. His name is Nick, and he says he wants to take care of me, says he'll look after me, says I don't need to be alone anymore. He treats me like a princess, like the fragile little girl he saved from the cold. But I like him...I like him like that. I've never liked anyone like that before....

Wagner’s Ring cycle is the most ambitious work in the history of music: four operas that combine to tell a single epic story. Based in legend, it has become a legend in its own right: a supreme challenge for conductors, singers, opera producers, and indeed for audiences. But for all its grandeur and complexity, The Ring is far more accessible than many music lovers think.

Two irresistible forces are rushing together to crush the planet Grayson between them, and only one woman, uncertain of her capabilities, weary unto death, and marked for murder -stands between her adopted planet and its devastation.

On Al Chaudhury’s 12th birthday his beloved Grandpa Byron gives him a letter from Al’s late father. In it Al receives a mission: travel back to 1984 in a secret time machine and save his father’s life.

When you understand how your mind works, unhelpful and noisy thoughts move to the background, and your awareness shifts to something quieter and deeper. This is true peace of mind. And it's not some unattainable goal reserved for the most enlightened. Anyone can experience it. From life coach and psychologist Amy Johnson, this guide offers a no-willpower approach informed by ancient wisdom and modern neuroscience to help you change your negative thinking habits, make peace with your inner critic, and experience more self-confidence and freedom than you ever thought possible.

An ancient foe lurks in the shadows...licking its wounds and assembling its forces. Risen from the ashes and shrouded in darkness, these ancient beings are waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike back and set the universe on fire. After their world is ambushed in a devastating onslaught, the Star Alliance is nearly wiped out in one fell swoop. Hotheaded pilot Chase Athanatos leads the barely surviving fleet to the far edge of space and a small backwater planet.

The final year at Lander has finally arrived for the Melbrook students and their peers, and with it comes a whole new set of challenges. Still reeling from the events of their junior year, the remaining students will have to push past their pain—and so much more—if they hope to be one of the ten to claim the title of Hero upon graduation. Constant tests and trials await the senior students. Beyond simulated missions and classes, they’ll also have to buckle down to learn about agents, prospective teams, internships, and other seemingly endless elements of being a Hero.

Melody is not like most people. She cannot walk or talk, but she has a photographic memory; she can remember every detail of everything she has ever experienced. She is smarter than most of the adults who try to diagnose her and smarter than her classmates in her integrated classroom - the very same classmates who dismiss her as mentally challenged because she cannot tell them otherwise. But Melody refuses to be defined by cerebral palsy.

We're at an inflection point in data, where our data management solutions no longer match the complexity of organizations, the proliferation of data sources, and the scope of our aspirations to get value from data with AI and analytics. In this practical book, Zhamak Dehghani introduces data mesh, a decentralized sociotechnical paradigm drawn from modern distributed architecture that provides a new approach to sourcing, sharing, accessing, and managing analytical data at scale.

The Solarian League's navy counts its superdreadnoughts by the thousands. Not even its own government knows how enormous its economy truly is. And for hundreds of years, the League has borne the banner of human civilization, been the ideal to which humanity aspires in its diaspora across the galaxy. But the bureaucrats known as the "Mandarins," who rule today's League, are not the men and women who founded it so long ago. They are corrupt, venal, accountable to no one...and they've decided the upstart Star Kingdom of Manticore must be destroyed.

On December 7, 1941, as the great battleships Arizona, Oklahoma, and Utah lie paralyzed and burning in the aftermath of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. A crack team of U.S. Navy salvage divers headed by Edward C. Raymer are hurriedly flown to Oahu from the mainland. Their two-part orders are direct and straightforward: (1) rescue as many trapped sailors and Marines as possible, and (2) resurrect what remains of America's once mighty pacific fleet. Descent Into Darkness tells their story.

This mind-bending tour of metaphysics applies philosophy to the forefront of today's knowledge. Over the course of 24 fascinating lectures, Professor Johnson thinks through the big questions about humans and the universe: The relationship between the mind and the brain, how consciousness emerges from neurochemical processes, the existence of God, human free will, the possibility of time travel, and whether we live in a multiverse or even a computer simulation.

Holden Parish survived his parents' horrific attempts to make him the perfect son. After a year's stint in a Swiss sanitarium to recover, he has vowed to never let anything, nor anyone, trap him again. Brilliant but broken, he seeks refuge behind alcohol, meaningless sex, and uses his wicked sense of humor to keep people away. He only has to ride out one year in the coastal town of Santa Cruz with his aunt and uncle before he inherits his billions and can make his escape and disappear. Falling in love is not in the plans.

Orphaned and alone, Moss is happy to have found a place in the world. But his humdrum working routines take a terrifying turn when a mysterious woman breaks into his apartment and hands him a data chip from his dead parents. Suddenly hearing messages revealing his benevolent employer has a far darker side, he braves the dangerous megacity streets in search of the truth. Surrounded by outcasts and criminals and running on instinct, Moss stumbles onto a rebel group intent on exposing their corrupt oppressors.

My family’s ties to a certain set of crime lords are more tangled and volatile than the wires in an IED. They’ve called on me to disarm a situation ready to explode, but in spite of all my training, I’m not sure any of us are getting out of this unscathed. That’s especially true when I find out the black-ops mission I’ve signed up for is commanded by none other than Sadie Watts, the girl who left me in the dust so many years ago I should be over it. But I’m not, and seeing her again, especially in such close quarters, is a distraction I can’t afford.

At 19, Ary has spent 10 years mourning his father’s death. The aftermath of the attack still haunts him. Now, on the eve of the draft, he faces his greatest fear: being sent to become a marine. He knows the cost of war. All he wants is to marry Charlene, whom he has loved since they were kids. Building a farm and starting a family sounds perfect. There’s just one problem; his best friend, Vel, adores her, too. He’d give anything for peace.

Ages ago, the world was filled with mythical beasts and cultivators who could shake the heavens. Whispers say they are searching for a way home, but an ancient enemy has blocked the path. After passing through the River of Fate, Verse's memories are fragmented and mixed with others. Only by exploring a world on the verge of destruction will he be able to discover who he is and claim his destiny.

"The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door." A new crop of writers emerged from the dawning of the nuclear age, grappling with humankind's place in the universe. While imagining the wonders of space exploration and the rise of technological advancements, they questioned whether we were prepared to encounter aliens, or even control the machines and weapons we'd built ourselves.