Showing results by publisher "Brilliance Audio" in Sports

Once a Runner captures the essence of what it means to be a competitive runner; to devote your entire existence to a single-minded pursuit of excellence. It has become one of the most beloved sports novels ever written. Originally self-published in 1978 and sold at road races out of the trunk of the author's car, reading the book became a rite of passage for many runners, and tattered copies were handed down like sacred texts from generation to generation.

Television director Brooke Gordon thinks that baseball player Parks Jones is an insufferable cad with an inflated ego. Unfortunately, he's also brilliant and her client's spokesman. Brooke is determined to ignore the intense attraction she feels while directing Parks in a commercial. But Parks is willing to break a few rules to convince Brooke that love isn't just a game to him. It means forever.

Quenton Cassidy thought he had left his athletic career far behind as he built a successful professional career in south Florida. But as several personal tragedies and the wear and tear of life began to weigh upon him, he wonders if perhaps he hasn't given up a special part of his life too soon. His return to the world of competitive running is dramatic and revelatory to both the protagonist and the listener, as is his desperate, all-out attempt to make on last Olympic team.

It’s 1937. Poland is about to catch fire. In the boxing ring, Jakub Szapiro commands respect, revered as a hero by the Jewish community. Outside, he instills fear as he muscles through Warsaw as enforcer for a powerful crime lord. Murder and intimidation have their rewards. He revels in luxury, spends lavishly, and indulges in all the pleasures that barbarity offers. For a man battling to be king of the underworld, life is good. Especially when it’s a frightening time to be alive.

He is the man she had once dreamed about, but never dared to love. Now, Cynthia "Foxy" Fox is back in town and she's forced to confront race car driver Lance Matthews and all the old feelings simmering between them. Just as in the world of auto racing, Foxy knows the stakes are high - but so is the prize. Because this time, the only true victory would be love.

Frank Ryder is unstoppable on the baseball field—his pitches arrive faster than a batter can swing, giving his opponents no chance. He’s being heralded as a game-changing pitcher. But within the maelstrom of press, adulation, and wild speculation, Frank is a man alone. Haunted by a tragic incident from years past, he yearns to be the best but cannot reconcile the guilt he carries with the man everyone believes him to be.

For Nikko "The Bull" Del Toro, an ex-marine turned MMA fighter, only two things quiet the demons raging inside him - facing an opponent in the cage...and the memory of his hottest one-night stand. But when his PTSD resurfaces, causing him to lose control at a CFA press party, it's his career that may be KO'd.

Vivien Kendall has always been different. Born with a birthmark covering much of her face, she’s been bullied, ridiculed, and mistreated as a child. But at the age of six, Vivien learns that in each of us there burns a spirit flame—a deep belief in oneself that must be nurtured and never allowed to go out. Living by that wisdom and through the enduring friendships of her nanny, her mentor, and the legend who eventually becomes her coach, she chases her dream to someday become the greatest figure skater in the world.

Twenty years ago, an out-of-control prank ended in an accident that destroyed the high school gym and threatened the futures of star athletes Beth and Ally. They move on with their lives carrying their secret while someone else is blamed, but the years reveal that no one truly comes out unscathed. Now, both women are at a crossroads: Beth returns to her hometown after a concussion ends her professional soccer career, and a surprise pregnancy disrupts Ally’s idyllic family. The only thing either of them are sure of is their desire to mend their estranged relationship.

True has a singular path: to be the greatest soccer player of her generation. And she will do whatever it takes to be the top girl on the field. True has to stay focused because her family is crumbling. With the loss of her mother, True is forced to take care of her autistic younger sister while her grieving father wastes his time gambling. And high school isn’t much better. While True’s teammates are getting taller and growing up, she’s hardening around the edges, at a loss for what it means to be a typical teen girl.

The catcher is a statistical savant, the first baseman speaks in Buddhist koans, and the twin star pitchers may or may not derive mystical powers from scars betraying their Siamese birth. In fact, everything about the Birmingham Barons baseball team is remarkable - except for their performance on the field. For decades, the Barons have been woefully mediocre and Pudge Morrison - former better-than-average left fielder now long past his prime - has become the symbol for the team's disappointment.

Hugo Hunter, a would-be champion who never quite made it, is on his last legs. Thirty-seven years old, soft around the middle, and broke, he’s plummeted from his glory days of title fights to small-time bouts against brawlers and punks. Watching ringside for nearly twenty years has been Mark Westerly, a sportswriter who has struggled to keep a professional distance from the man whose life and career have become enmeshed with his own tumultuous trajectory.

Charley Hunter unearthed the life and career of the greatest player who never lived, and then spent years successfully attempting to bring Beau Stedman's story to light. His actions did not go unnoticed. Now, it is time for Charley to put the whole experience behind him . . . pass the bar, learn the ropes at the new firm, and settle into a promising legal career. But he's been receiving these intriguing notes attached to clipped obituaries that have caught hold of his curiousity.

In an America ravaged by the Great Depression, a talented but ragtag baseball team sets out to change the world. Barnstorming the back roads and dusty ballparks of the Midwest, the Racine Robins rally fans to the populist cause, raising money for soup kitchens and strike funds even as they thrill small-town crowds and dazzle opponents on the field. Yet winning the hearts and minds of the people turns out to be easier for the players than facing the twin seductions of love and money, conflicting desires that threaten to derail everything they are fighting to achieve.

Set on the high prairies of Montana, in small towns scattered across vast landscapes, the distances in Broken Field are both insurmountable and deeply internalized. Life is dusty and hard, and men are judged by their labor. Women have to be tougher yet. That’s what sixteen-year-old Josie Frehse learns as she struggles to meet the expectations of her community while fumbling with her own desires.

In her debut novel, author Jaclyn Gilbert weaves together the strands of two lives that form a union as finely nuanced and delicate as a spider’s web - and just as vulnerable. Following the relationship of Murray and his ex-wife, Nancy, in alternating narratives, we experience their early moments of hope and desire as well as their fears and failings. With poignancy and grace, Late Air traces the collapse of a marriage, exhausted by time and trauma, and one couple’s journey to regain their footing.

That's the question Elliott Goodman hears in the OR as he's about to have emergency surgery following a heart attack. But it isn't Elliott's surgeon who's asking. It's God. As in the Almighty. And God has a wager for Elliott. He challenges him to an eighteen-hole golf match. If Elliott wins, he is saved; if he loses...So begins this witty, insightful, and very funny novel about golf and life and the lessons learned from both.

Unwritten in the annals of the sporting world is the story of a man with unlimited potential who was denied his rightful place in the lore of golf...It is a story that might never have been told had Charley Hunter not accepted a summer internship at Butler & Yates, a prestigious Atlanta law firm. Bobby Jones, the legendary amateur golfer, had once been a partner at the firm and his old legal files had been severely neglected over the years.

It’s 1989, and college freshman Michael Greco is ready to leave his dreary small town—and the grief of his father’s death—behind. He has everything he needs for a great year: a starting spot on the football team, new friends, and a promising flirtation with a beautiful grad student. But just as Greco settles in to campus life, his uncle shows up demanding that he take care of his father’s unfinished business with a powerful Chicago gangster.