Showing results by narrator "Andre' Santana" in All Categories

After a lifetime of taking care of his impossible but irresistible sister and his cherished niece, Tom is ready to put himself first. An architect specializing in tiny houses, he finally has an opportunity to build his masterpiece—“his last shot at leaving a footprint on the dying planet.” Assuming, that is, he can stick to his resolution to keep the demands of his needy family at bay. Naturally, that’s when his phone rings.

What My Mother and I Don’t Talk About has become a rare gem in the literary world. Both a viral sensation online and chosen by Oprah Daily as one of the best nonfiction books of the past two decades, it is an essential collection that dives into the personal and poignant topics we often struggle to discuss with those who are meant to know and love us best. This captivating follow-up, edited by Michele Filgate, tackles the intricate and challenging relationships we have with our dads, breaking the silence around these vital connections.

Crest is not excited to be on their Journey: the month-long sojourn on land all teen merfolk must undergo. The rules are simple: Help a human within one moon cycle and return to Pacifica to become an Elder—or fail and remain stuck on land forever. Crest is eager to get their Journey over and done with. Humans are disgusting. They’ve polluted the planet so much that there’s a floating island of trash that’s literally the size of a country.

By sinking a fleet of Imperial Warships, the Pirate Supreme and their resistance fighters have struck a massive blow against the Emperor. Now allies from across the empire are readying themselves, hoping against hope to bring about the end of the conquerors’ rule and the rebirth of the Sea. But trust and truth are hard to come by in this complex world of mermaids, spies, warriors, and aristocrats. Who will Genevieve—lavishly dressed but washed up, half-dead, on the Wariuta island shore—turn out to be?

Despite the heavy gold bounty on his head, Joey's on the war path to greatness and rising like a star. He has millions of livestream viewers watching him solo an entire dungeon during an apocalypse where the multiverse system integrates whole universes and initiates countless humans to its game-like realms of limitless magic.

Jesse Logan doesn’t want a fresh start. He wants his old life back—before an injury made his career as a firefighter impossible, before his grandfather’s Alzheimer’s got so bad he doesn’t recognize Jesse anymore. When a friend tells him about a paid psychological study, Jesse sees it as a chance to get back to the man he was while making a little extra cash.

Escaping to NYU for college didn’t turn out the way Cameron planned—he’s flunking his theater classes, about to lose his scholarship, and he still hasn’t found anyone he can call his “people.” When he gets home for winter break, he’s so desperate to avoid a Conversation with his dad that he takes the first acting job he can get—as a mall elf. Despite how Scroogey he feels, the plus side is that there’s a cash prize for the most festive of Santa’s helpers. But the competition is fierce—especially from fellow elf Marco.

Joey Eclipse has returned to his beginner challenge area after winning a solo dungeon crawl. He's the first Dungeon Master of his entire realm and can instantly swap out enchanted weapons from his dungeon inventory dimension. This is during an apocalypse where the multiverse integrates whole universes and initiates countless humans to its game-like realms of limitless magic. And while Joey is still a small part of the system, his shadow, necromancy, dragon magic, and cultivation of fate are way too overpowered for the average beginner to face.

Shadow work—the process of exploring your pain, trauma, and imperfections—is a powerful tool to help you embrace and accept yourself, even the parts that are difficult. Shadow Work gives you everything you need to get started with a clear explanation of what shadow work is, how it works, and how it helps you, as well as guided meditations and affirmations to walk you through your own shadow work. Written by licensed therapist Jor-El Caraballo, this book is the perfect companion for your self-exploration journey.

In 2018, novelist Jami Attenberg, faced with a looming deadline, needed writing inspiration. Using a bootcamp model, she and a friend set out to write one thousand words daily for two weeks straight. They opened this practice to Attenberg’s online community and soon hundreds then thousands of people started using the #1000WordsofSummer hashtag to track their work and support one another. What began as a simple challenge between two friends has become a literary movement—write 1,000 words per day without judgement, or bias, or concerns about writer’s block, and see what comes of it.

On the eve of their college graduation, best friends Javier Báez and Marisol Campos swore never to date someone the other doesn’t approve of. Now, almost a decade later, Javi has a problem. Mari, the woman he’s secretly pined for since sophomore year, is engaged—and Javi didn’t even get the chance to vet the Pedro Pascal knockoff she plans to marry.

Teo never thought he could be a Hero. Now, he doesn’t have a choice. The sun is gone, the Obsidian gods have been released from their prison, and chaos and destruction are wreaking havoc on Reino del Sol. All because Teo refused to sacrifice a fellow semidiós during the Sunbearer Trials. With the world plunged into perpetual night, Teo, his crush Aurelio, and his best friend Niya must journey to the dark wilderness of Los Restos, battling vicious monsters while dealing with guilt, trauma, and a (very distracting) burgeoning romance between Teo and Aurelio.

Todd loves his basement worm farm. Worms are fascinating creatures—it's just a convenient bonus that they happen to gross out his family. But when Todd starts to find worms in unlikely and unwanted places, like his bed, his toothbrush, and his spaghetti—the tables have turned. Now Todd is the one running scared!

Percival Everett by Virgil Russell is a story inside a story inside a story. A man visits his ageing father in a nursing home, where his father writes the novel he imagines his son would write. Or is it the novel that the son imagines his father would imagine, if he were to imagine the kind of novel the son would write Not only is Percival Everett by Virgil Russell a powerful, compassionate meditation on old age and its humiliations, it is an ingenious culmination of Everett’s recurring preoccupations.

“Short stories have to accomplish a nearly impossible magic trick: to introduce a world often much stranger than our own and make you care about it in a matter of pages,” writes R. F. Kuang in her introduction. “The most important part of this magic trick is just a willingness to get weird.” The stories in The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2023 are brimming with bizarre and otherworldly premises.

After a recent string of disappearances in a small Connecticut town, a grieving widower with a grim secret is drawn into a dangerous ritual of dark magic by a powerful and mysterious older gentleman named Heart Crowley. Meanwhile, a member of local law enforcement tasked with uncovering the culprit responsible for the bizarre disappearances soon begins to learn of a current of unbridled hatred simmering beneath the guise of the town’s idyllic community.

For six amateur bakers, competing in Bake Week is a dream come true. When they arrive at Grafton Manor to compete, they're ready to do whatever it takes to win the ultimate prize: The Golden Spoon. But for the show's famous host, Betsy Martin, Bake Week is more than just a competition. Grafton Manor is her family's home and legacy - and Bake Week is her life's work. But as the competition commences, things begin to go awry. At first, it's small acts of sabotage. But when a body is discovered, it's clear that for someone in the competition, The Golden Spoon is a prize worth killing for.

A brand-new collection of four intense, claustrophobic and terrifying horror tales from the Bram Stoker Award®-nominated and Splatterpunk Award-winning author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke.

What would you do if you found a rare magical animal? Nico, who has just begun passing as a transgender man, relishes the quiet life working as a bonsai bodyguard. But during a chance encounter one night amidst the aftermath of a territory dispute, he meets Brant, an excitable, good-natured cookie guard, and the two strike an instant friendship. They form an irresistible bond with Gustopher, a baby gargoyle in need, setting off on a thrilling 3-day adventure to rescue the creature and reunite it with its rightful owner.

Inspired by writer and philosopher Audre Lorde’s famous claim 'Poetry is not a luxury', this anthology proves the vitality of poetry as a crucial source of inspiration, comfort and delight. Each poem within has been chosen from centuries of verse from around the world, with an emphasis on living poets. Friends old and new await, with selections from Rita Dove, Victoria Chang, Ross Gay, Naomi Shihab Nye, C.D. Wright, Eileen Myles, Ada Limón,Ross Gay, Ilya Kaminsky, Jos Charles and more.