Showing results by narrator "Emily Lawrence" in All Categories

One of Canada’s most acclaimed horror writers, Gemma Files presents a mosaic of interconnected stories about interconnected families. After fleeing Scotland, five clans settled in the fictional town of Dourvale in northern Ontario. Known as the Five-Family Coven, they are the descendants of witches and witch-children, none of whom were spared persecution in their native country. Now shamans, spellcasters, singers, and thieves, the members of the Devize, Druir, Glouwer, Roke, and Rusk families survive by trading their occult powers and talents.

Although she has read all about Vias the Destroyer’s dreaded liths, Salmaara has never seen one. In fact, she’s not even sure the nightmarish, mouthless creatures exist. She’s never been to Mauvias, land created by the goddess Vias the Destroyer, ruled by a ruthless immortal empress, a place where the very air is cursed with insatiable thirst, or to the ancient city Kalitoomba, a city of soaring glass towers ruled by a benevolent god-king. Salmaara lives a quiet life in her father’s pottery shop. Illun, the man she loves as her father, is keeping a secret. An important secret.

Three-year-old Vangie is mute and unresponsive. She shows no interest in the people or world around her, much to the frustration of her callous foster parents. Little do they know, Vangie is otherwise occupied observing “ghosts”—an infinite number of versions of herself, in an infinite number of parallel universes. When a tornado hits their trailer and Vangie is severely injured, she makes a desperate leap into another timeline where she survives the tornado, but her foster parents do not.

Luckily for humanity, scientist Marie Curie applied her brilliant mind and indomitable spirit to expanding the frontiers of science, but what if she had instead drifted toward the darkness? At the cusp of between child- and adulthood, at the crossroads between science and superstition, a teen Marie Curie faces the factual and the fantastic in this fabulous collection of stories that inspire, delight, and ask the question: What if she had used her talents for diabolical purposes?

Victoria and her dad have shared a love of the undead since the first vampire revealed his existence on live TV. Public fear soon drove the vampires back into hiding, yet Victoria and her father still dream about finding a vampire together. But when her dad is diagnosed with terminal cancer, it’s clear that’s not going to happen. Instead, Victoria vows to find a vampire herself—so that she can become one and then save her father.

Vanished tells the stories of women and girls in upstate New York who are often overlooked or unseen. The characters range from an aging art professor whose students are uninterested in learning what she has to teach, to a young girl who becomes the victim of a cruel prank in a swimming pool, to a television producer who regrets allowing her coworkers into her mother’s bird-filled house to film a show about animal hoarding because it will reveal too much about her family and past. Humorous and empathetic, the collection exposes the adversity in each character’s life.

Celebrate Passover by hearing about how Moses helped lead the Israelites to freedom. In addition to the story of Passover, which includes the Ten Plagues, the Burning Bush, and the Parting of the Red Sea, preschoolers will also learn about the Passover Seder and how Jewish people celebrate today. Filled with simple, yet informative text, this Big Golden Book is perfect to share with your family this Passover!

Front door locked, kitchen door locked, living room windows closed. Nobody in the closet, nobody under the beds. Still, Maggie is worried. Ever since she started middle school, she sees injustice and danger everywhere—on the news, in her textbooks, in her own neighborhood. Even her best friend seems to be changing. Maggie believes it is up to her, and only her, to make everything all right. Can she come up with a plan to keep everyone safe?

Triumph. Tragedy. The empyreal. The infernal. Even the mundane, filtered through the fantastical. Superheroes are, appropriately enough, a sort of super-genre, encompassing all other story types. This YA anthology features thirteen short stories that creatively turn superhero tropes on their head, while still paying homage to the genre that has found fans for more than eight decades. And there will be no mistake—superheroes don’t have to just be generic handsome white dudes.

Valora Rigmore understands pressure. As the Chosen One (resident telekinetic, superstar, and model girlfriend), her life revolves around it. According to an ancient prophesy, Valora is destined to fight Erys, a terrifying individual with the power to control monsters. Valora is worshipped at school, in the press, and by her parents, but as the battle with Erys looms near, the cracks in her perfect façade are beginning to show.

The Not Wives traces the lives of three women as they navigate the Occupy Wall Street movement and each other. Stevie is a nontenured professor and recently divorced single mom; her best friend, Mel, is a bartender, torn between her long-term girlfriend and her desire to explore polyamory; and Johanna is a homeless teenager trying to find her way in the world who bears shared witness to a tragedy that interlaces her life with Stevie’s.

It's Hanukkah time! Preschoolers will learn all about how people celebrate Hanukkah—from eating latkes, spinning dreidels, exchanging gifts, and lighting the menorah. And they'll also learn why they celebrate—from the destruction of the Temple, the bravery of the Maccabees, and the miracle of that little bit of oil that lasted for eight nights.

Shira Barbanel has a plan: This Hanukkah, she’s going to get a boyfriend. And she has the perfect candidate in mind—her great-uncle’s assistant, Isaac. He’s reliable, brilliant, and of course, super hot. The only problem? Shira’s an absolute disaster when it comes to flirting.

Lucy Rourke has two great loves in her life: the gorilla troop she cares for as a primatologist and the laundry list of reality TV shows she watches to escape the fact that her actual love life doesn’t exist. And like a reality contestant gunning for the final rose, Lucy’s laser-focused on one thing: getting promoted to head keeper. So when a wildlife docuseries hosted by hotshot TV personality Kai Bridges chooses her zoo as its summer filming location, she sees an opportunity to showcase her beloved gorillas to the world and land a starring role in her department.

The Cloudkiss Killer is dead. Now a true-crime podcast is hosting a contest to find his bones. Lucy was almost the serial killer’s final victim. Carolina is a true-crime fan who fears her own rage. Maggie is a psychology student with a little too much to hide. All of them are looking for answers, for a new identity, for a place to bury their secrets. But there are more than bones hiding in the shadows…sometimes the darkness inside is more frightening than anything the dead leave behind.

Welcome to the world of Droll Tales, in which reality is a mutually agreed-upon illusion and life is painful, paradoxical, beautiful, and brief. With an oddball cast of characters who reappear in various guises throughout these interrelated stories, Smyles reveals an off-kilter world overlapping this one. And in giving us a tour of this enchanted, sometimes absurd place, with its own workings and ways of expression, she gives us a new way to understand our own.

Sam is a charismatic actress with big plans for her future. Rosalyn Shew is the smartest girl in school - but she’s a loner and likes it that way. Then there's Christian Powell, the darling of the soccer team. He’s not the best at communication, which is why he and Sam broke up after dating for six months, but he makes up for it by being genuine and kind, which is why they're still best friends. When Christian falls for Ros on sight, their first interaction is a disaster, so he enlists Sam's help to get through to her.

Best friends Rora and Claudia have never felt more like their lives are spiraling out of control. And when they meet Major and Amir—two boys from one of the secret cities of the spheres, ruled by the magic of the astrological signs—they discover they’re not alone. There is a disruption in the harmony between the spheres, and its chaos is spreading.

As kids, Mark and his cousin, Talia, spent many happy summers together at the family cottage in Ontario, Canada, but a fight between their parents put an end to the annual event. Living on opposite coasts - Mark in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Talia in Victoria, British Columbia - they haven’t seen each other in years. When their grandfather dies unexpectedly, Mark and Talia find themselves reunited at the cottage again, cleaning it out while the family decides what to do with it.

Alex has survived his first year as high king. The new counsel has improved cooperation between the kingdoms, and peace seems achievable. When the Tuckawassee queen sends him an invitation he can't refuse, Alex must once again face his greatest threat for the sake of peace.