Showing results by narrator "Pete Cross" in All Categories

Rafe is a normal teenager from Colorado. He's been out since 8th grade, accepted by his peers & championed by his progressive parents. And while that's important, all Rafe really wants is to be a regular guy. To have his sexuality be a part of who he is, but not the headline, every single time. So when Rafe transfers to an all-boys' boarding school in New England, he decides to keep his sexuality a secret - not so much going back in the closet as starting over with a clean slate.

Dr. Steven Laureys has conducted groundbreaking research into human consciousness for more than 20 years. For this best-selling book, he explores the effect of meditation on the brain. He uses hard science to explain the benefits of a practice that was once thought of as purely spiritual. The result is a highly accessible, scientifically questioning guide to meditation, designed to open the practice to a broader audience.

Mars has always been the lesser twin, the shadow to his sister Caroline's radiance. But when Caroline dies under horrific circumstances, Mars is propelled to learn all he can about his once-inseparable sister who'd grown tragically distant. Mars's genderfluidity means he's often excluded from the traditions—and expectations—of his politically connected family. This includes attendance at the prestigious Aspen Conservancy Summer Academy where his sister poured so much of her time. But with his grief still fresh, he insists on attending in her place. 

You know the protocol. You've completed countless drills. Yet nothing can truly prepare you for what’s coming. No one is ever ready for zombie season . . . Joule refuses to evacuate with her mom. She can't leave town while her dad's still missing. He's out there, somewhere, and Joule is going to find him. But what if he's not just lost? What if he's become what she most fears?

From Rebecca Shaw and Ben Kronengold, the youngest comedy writers ever for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and masterminds behind the viral 2018 Yale graduation speech, comes a hilarious collection of short stories taking on coming-of-age, memes, sex, politics, relationships, and Goop, with satire, self-deprecation, and utter irreverence.

Raffy has a passion for bedazzling. Not just bedazzling, but sewing, stitching, draping, pattern making - for creation. He's always chosen his art over everything - and everyone - else and is determined to make his mark at this year's biggest cosplay competition. If he can wow there, it could lead to sponsorship, then art school, and finally earning real respect for his work. There's only one small problem...Raffy's ex-boyfriend, Luca, is his main competition.

The one thing Nugget, a cute puppy, has ever known to do is love, and his cuteness has always been enough for others to love him back. But when Nugget is put up for adoption, he thinks it's because no one loves him anymore—that he isn't cute anymore. So he does the only thing he can think of: he runs away. Now Nugget is alone on the streets of Boston, where he quickly learns that not everyone is kind. After an unfortunate run-in with another animal leaves him disfigured, he can't rely on his cuteness to get by like he used to.

Lions, Komodo dragons, dogs, monkeys, and pheasants - all have shared spotlights and tabloid headlines with celebrities such as Sharon Stone, Thomas Edison, and David Hasselhoff. In this critically acclaimed collection, Lydia Millet hilariously tweaks these unholy communions to run a stake through the heart of our fascination with famous people and pop culture.

There are three things you need to know about Preston “PK” Kingsley: He’s a writer, toiling in obscurity as an editorial assistant at a New York City publishing house. He is not a cliché. No, really. He’s been secretly in love with his best friend, Art, since they once drunkenly kissed in college. When Art moves in with PK following a bad breakup, PK hopes this will be the moment when Art finally sees him as more than a friend. 

When the Scarlet Witch of the Avengers and Rogue of the X-Men all disappear under mysterious circumstances, each team's search leads them to more questions than answers. When the X-Men appear to attack a high-security government installation, the Avengers must track down the mutants and learn the truth behind the abductions before it's too late.

Every great artist started out as a kid. Forget the awards, the sold-out museum exhibitions, and the timeless masterpieces. When the world’s most celebrated artists were growing up, they had regular-kid problems just like you. Jackson Pollock’s family moved constantly - he lived in eight different cities before he was 16 years old. Georgia O’Keeffe lived in the shadow of her “perfect” older brother Francis. And Jean-Michel Basquiat triumphed over poverty to become one of the world’s most influential artists.

At 11.30 a.m. on Saturday 12 August 2000, two massive explosions roared through the shallow Arctic waters of the Barents Sea. The Kursk, pride of the Northern Fleet and the largest attack submarine in the world, was hurtling towards the ocean floor. In Kursk (originally published as A Time to Die), award-winning journalist Robert Moore vividly re-creates this disaster minute by minute.

Breakthroughs in genetics present us with a promise and a predicament. The promise is that we will soon be able to treat and prevent a host of debilitating diseases. The predicament is that our newfound genetic knowledge may enable us to manipulate our nature - to enhance our genetic traits and those of our children. Although most people find at least some forms of genetic engineering disquieting, it is not easy to articulate why.

In 2002, acclaimed journalist Randall Sullivan’s groundbreaking book LAbyrinth ignited a firestorm with its startling disclosures about corruption in the LAPD. It told the story of Russell Poole, a highly decorated LAPD detective, who uncovered a cabal of “gangsta cops” tied to Marion “Suge” Knight’s notorious rap label, Death Row Records, and allegedly to the murders of Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G. Over 20 years later, no one has been held accountable for their killings.

In a world upended by the whims of the [Admin], all of humanity has been forced into a brutal game of survival. Nick is more than just another man: he's a man who saw the ending and used a wish to travel back in time. His story has started over. Following his escape from the Manhattan Rooftops, he must next fight against the Ancient Mariner of Central Island and the hoard of undead that the Ancient Mariner commands. The survivors are under attack, and all eyes are on Nick to make sure they survive to see the next challenge.

Hunter never expected to be a boy band star, but, well, here he is. He and his band Kiss & Tell are on their first major tour of North America, playing arenas all over the United States and Canada (and getting covered by the gossipy press all over North America as well). Hunter is the only gay member of the band, and he just had a very painful breakup with his first boyfriend—leaked sexts, public heartbreak, and all—and now everyone expects him to play the perfect queer role model for teens.

We have a glut of text and trade books on American history. But what we don’t have is a compact, inexpensive, and authoritative book that will offer to American citizens a clear, informative, and inspiring narrative account of their own country. Such an account can shape and deepen their sense of the land they inhabit and, by making them understand that land’s roots, and share in its memories, equip them for the privileges and responsibilities of citizenship in American society.

How is it that we can walk unfamiliar streets while maintaining a sense of direction? How can we come up with shortcuts on the fly, in places we've never traveled? The answer is the complex mental map in our brains. This feature of our cognition is easily taken for granted, but it's also critical to our species' evolutionary success. In From Here to There, Michael Bond tells stories of the lost and found - Polynesian sailors, orienteering champions, early aviators - and surveys the science of human navigation.

Aspiring investigative reporter Des Cleary had dreams of a better world—one more accepting of people like him—when he broke the story of Orion Broderick’s relationship. A story that kicked Orion out of the soccer halls of fame and sent him careening into obscurity. Racked with shame, Des abandoned his own career for good.

For a millennium, the Children of Amarid have served the people of Tobyn-Ser. Drawing upon the Mage-Craft, which flows from the psychic bond they forge with their avian familiars, the Mages of the Order have fulfilled their oaths by healing the injured and ill, repelling invasions by the land's enemies, and caring for the people in times of crisis. They are governed by laws handed down by Amarid, the first of their kind, who committed the Mage-Craft to the people's protection. Only once in a thousand years has a mage defied those laws.