Showing results by narrator "Jason Vu" in All Categories

The summer was prosperous for Jiyong, giving him the funds he needed to attend another year at Bastion Academy. The new first-year students are just as bright-eyed and rowdy as he remembers being, but there's something more sinister to blame for their aggressive behavior: designer drugs. The ability for any student to temporarily unlock the full potential of their magic with a single potion threatens to upend the school's ranking system. Worse, something dark lurks in the shadows of these performance enhancers.

Nature is rife with cheating. Possums play possum, feigning death to cheat predators. Crows cry wolf to scare off rivals. Amphibians and reptiles are inveterate impostors. Even genes and cells cheat. The Liars of Nature and the Nature of Liars explores the evolution of cheating in the natural world, revealing how dishonesty has given rise to wondrous diversity.

Danny Taylor thinks he's just the butler. Then, his eccentric employer's apocalyptic predictions, impossibly, come true. In an instant, the Earth transforms into a ruthless world of magic governed by an unforgiving System. His master gains land and authority, but an unexplained afflictions renders him unable to rule his new kingdom.

Rentt, now short on funds, sets off on a journey to retrieve items required to craft equipment and weapons for his disciple, Alize. With his faithful mouse familiar, Edel, Rentt sets off to the New Moon Dungeon, slaying his share of forest wolves and lizardmen. But is he prepared for the legendary monster that's appeared in the labyrinth's boss chamber, in place of the usual earth dragon...?

When Rentt Faina crosses paths with Nive Maris, he finds himself victim to a rain of Holy Fire! But rather than prove he's a vampire, it disproves it! Lorraine believes Rentt's divinity may have protected against the Holy Fire, and together they decide to make for Hathara, where Rentt obtained his divinity.

Being a pastor is a complex and demanding role, especially for someone leading alone. The majority of pastors find themselves in this position, leading their smaller church with no additional professional assistance. The challenges are many, including loneliness, isolation, self-doubt, overwhelm, feelings of inadequacy, and a constant search for additional resources and volunteers. Where does a solo pastor turn for help and encouragement?

One beautiful morning, Zhang Dongsheng pushes his wealthy in-laws off a remote mountain. It's the perfect crime. Or so he thinks. For Zhang did not expect that teenager Chaoyang and his friends would catch him in the act. An opportunity for blackmail presents itself and the kids start down a dark path that will lead to the unravelling of all their lives.

Rentt Faina has achieved Existential Evolution, evolving from a skeleton into a ghoul. His next objective: rising the ranks and becoming a Copper-class adventurer! But to do so, Rentt must face his next greatest challenge . . . A written test?! Using his years of wisdom and the help of two companions, Rentt tackles the challenge head-on. But the worst is yet to come as Rentt finds himself in yet another pickle as he tries to prove his innocence to none other than trusted guild member, Sheila, as she raises concerns over his potential involvement in a recent string of adventurer disappearances.

This collection contains all-new stories of coulrophobia (fear of clowns) from some of the most talented horror writers alive!

At night, Little Jon's people go out to watch the stars. Mesmerized by a meteor shower, he forgets to watch his step and falls through a moss-covered door to another land: America. He awakes hurt, his memory gone, sure only that he does not belong here. Captured by a hunter, Jon escapes by leaping six feet over a barbed-wire fence. Hungry and alone, he staggers through the darkness and is about to be caught when he is rescued by a kind family known as the Beans. They shelter him, feed him, and teach him about his new home. In return, he will change their lives forever.

Author William Lin spent over a decade in venture capital, starting in an entry-level position, helping to start a leading VC firm from scratch, and eventually becoming managing partner. In The VC Field Guide, Lin shares his unique framework, the Venture Capital Investment Framework, to help any venture capitalist, entrepreneur, or investor make better startup investment decisions, quicker. Lin delivers an incisive and practical handbook for the world of venture capital.

Critical Race Theory (CRT) has become a lightning rod in American politics and evangelical Christianity. This book offers a critical but constructive and sympathetic introduction to CRT written from a perspective rooted in Scripture and Christian theology. The authors take us beyond caricatures and misinformation to consider how CRT can be an analytical tool to help us understand persistent inequality and injustice—and to see how Christians and churches working for racial justice can engage CRT in faithful and constructive ways.

Seventeen-year-old Bucky Yi knows nothing about his birth country of South Korea or his bio-dad's disappearance; he can't even pronounce his Korean name correctly. Running through the woods of rural Washington State with a tire tied to his waist, his sights are set on one all-American goal: to become a college football player. So when a misadventure with his adoptive family leads the US government to deport him to South Korea, he's forced to navigate an entirely foreign version of his life.

More than 2,000 years ago, Aristotle said: "let there be a law that no deformed child shall live." This idea is alive and well today. During the past century, Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. argued that the United States can forcibly sterilize intellectually disabled women and philosopher Peter Singer argued for the right of parents to euthanize certain cognitively disabled infants. The Life Worth Living explores how and why such arguments persist by investigating the exclusion of and discrimination against disabled people across the history of Western moral philosophy.

Marcie Hugo and Drake Soldado are unusual travel companions united by similar goals. A teenage girl and a man in his 30s. One is returning home to honor a promise; the other needs to find his daughters, whom he hasn’t seen since they were taken from him and sold as slaves. Marcie has promised her best friend and childhood sweetheart that she’ll return from Prime City with the lung transplant he desperately needs. Neither reunion will be easy, but first they have to reach Scala City and the Blind Spot. Miles of wasteland stand before them. And neither Marcie nor Drake know the way.

Twelve-year-old Enly Wu Lewis is determined to go to band camp and follow in the footsteps of his musician father, who died years ago. But his mom, a single parent working two jobs, is saving every penny for his older brother's college tuition. So Enly sets out to earn the money for camp on his own, by busking with an obscure instrument he can only kind of play. When someone drops a winning scratch-off lottery ticket into his tip box, Enly thinks it's the answer to his problems—but he'll have to overcome teenage thieves and his own family if he wants to achieve his dreams.

Lissa is obsessed with Ancestral, the latest and greatest battle arena co-op game out there—and she's really good at it. If she wants to get to the top, she will have to band together with her best friend Ji-Soo—and their friends Ray, Zio, Jae-Jin, and Lucas—to become Team Phoenix. With the support of former pro Esport-player, Devon, Team Phoenix trains day and night for the upcoming Regional Championships.