Showing results by narrator "Ali" in All Categories

California. Elle Blessing has painted herself into a corner. Desperate to maintain her veneer of success, the twenty-something influencer feels trapped in her miserable job and mostly platonic relationship. And when she reluctantly joins her fiancé on a trip to Alaska, she can't decide if their hunky guide is annoyingly grumpy or drop-dead gorgeous.

After she is forced out of her home, Elle heads north. What she finds is a group of bunker survivors, unlikely comrades, and the hope of a safe haven. Together, they journey toward the dregs of civilization, facing starvation, imprisonment, and death.

The stories in Ali Smith’s new collection are about what we do with books and what they do with us: how they travel with us; how they shock us, change us, challenge us, banish time while making us older, wiser and ageless all at once; how they remind us to pay attention to the world we make.

Twelve-year-old Marwand's memories from his previous visit to Afghanistan six years ago center on his contentious relationship with Budabash, the terrifying but beloved dog who guards his extended family's compound in the rural village of Logar. But eager for an ally in this place that is meant to be "home", Marwand misreads his reunion with the dog and approaches Budabash the way he would any pet on his American suburban block—and the results are disastrous: Marwand loses a finger, and Budabash escapes into the night.

As an illegal clone of the murdered galactic princess, Dora's face would get her killed the minute she steps off her dull farming moon. She spends her days tinkering with gadgets and gears, with Tau, her kitchen-timer-bot, for company. But when forces close in and threaten her family, her escape attempt lands her deep in the Outer Zone — and on top of the Technowitch of Night, crushing her in the process.

Upon his return home from the battlefields of Europe in 1918, Col Blackwood, a UK Army infantry officer, is reunited with his family on Christmas Eve after nearly four years away. In the midst of telling his children a bedtime story, we learn of Artaban, a Magi priest, and the fourth wise man to present gifts to the newborn King. As a result of dissension among his fellow Magians, Artaban has no other choice but to embark on this journey alone. Though his quest is fraught with challenges along the way that test his courage and stir his compassion, his faith never wavers.

Swahili is the future. The first collection of contemporary Swahili fiction of its kind, No Edges introduces eight East African writers—including Clara Momanyi (tr. Enoch Matundura), Katama G. C. Mkangi (tr. Richard Prins), and Euphrase Kezilahabi (tr. Duncan Ian Tarrant)—as they share tales of insects, mass transit, begrudging wizards, carceral spaceships en route to eternity, and more. These stories present the joy-filled chaos of life on a crowded Earth (particularly cities in Tanzania and Kenya), as well as the mysteries that extend well beyond it.

The tech boom of our time is changing San Francisco at warp speed. Famously home to artists and activists, and known as the birthplace of the Beats, the Black Panthers, and the LGBTQ movement, the Bay Area has been transformed by Silicon Valley. But the richer the region gets, the more unequal and less diverse it becomes, and the cracks in the city's facade begin to show. Inspired by Studs Terkel's classic works of oral history, writer Cary McClelland has spent years interviewing people at the epicenter of the Bay Area's rapid change: tech innovators, venture capitalists, coders, homeless advocates, pawn brokers, prosecutors, public defenders....

After defeating the necromancers and bringing alchemy back to the Alexandria Academy, Shad Hadid is ready for an exciting second term at school. It doesn’t hurt that he’s being called a hero, but the new lessons are harder than he expected and his mentor, Kahem, is nowhere to be found. When Shad intercepts a letter from an informant with a possible clue for thwarting the necromancers’ evil plans once and for all, he's determined to help. Joined by his friends, Shad embarks on a perilous journey across Lebanon to track down this secretive stranger.

Daniel is a freelancer without health insurance or a committed relationship when he suddenly finds himself as the sole caregiver for his dangerously premature daughter. As he grapples with whether he will run from responsibility or grow into fatherhood, he befriends an outspoken neonatal intensive care unit nurse struggling to balance the demands of her job and her own family.

We have always fought. War is the furnace that forges new technologies and pushes humanity ever onward. We are the children of a battle that began with fists and sticks, and ended on the brink of atomic Armageddon. Beyond here lies another war, infinite in scope and scale. But who will fight the wars of tomorrow?

Set in urban Los Angeles, a foreign country to this family of displaced Southerners, and spanning 30 years, beginning in the late 1950s, this intimate episodic story, told by the family's daughter, begins with her birth on a hot August afternoon, following her as she recalls her most challenging, pivotal memories. With wry humor and tenacity she survives rejection and alienation, the corrosive secrets of abuse and incest, grief, heartbreak, and finally hope. Funny and scrappy, she tells her story with a voice uniquely her own.

Georgette dreams of slitting her husband's lying throat and escaping Hallow manor. It's not out of the realm of possibility for the pirate captain, but killing the king won't be without consequence. Princess Mercy faces two battles. One is a battle of wills with her brother, the King of Adamas. The other is an internal battle with dueling realities. As she grieves for her friends, she pines for a life on the high seas, aboard The Siren. Mercy wants to be the princess her people deserve, but with the handsome Captain Elias Baine at her side, she's decidedly conflicted.

When the color of your skin is the only thing society sees, even being a doctor is not enough. In this compelling book, Dr. Robert Butler shares his experiences growing up Black in America. From his time as a young boy in the Bronx - up until present day - Dr. Butler has experienced racism in all aspects of his life. The incidents will shock you, but his resilience will inspire you!

For Jade, there is one customer who makes going to work at the coffee shop worthwhile, Officer Alex Kane. With just a look, Constable Kane turns her body into an inferno of desire, but being too shy to make the first move she endures countless nights longing for his hard body and tender touch. Luckily, fate has plans for the sexy cop and the cute, shy girl from the coffee shop.

Dax Jones will not be tamed. The Children of Limitless Ability can do all sorts of amazing things. Terrifying things too. Some can move things with their minds. Some can make themselves vanish. Dax Jones can change his form; can hurtle through the sky at 200km an hour, or swim underwater for minutes on end. But all is not well. Fenton Lodge, the school and home the COLA kids had grown to love over the past few years, is being turned into a prison.

Living Well Through the Menopause is based on a wealth of psychological research, including randomised controlled trials of the MENOS CBT intervention with over 1000 women, that has demonstrated the effectiveness of this approach hot flushes, night sweats, low mood, insomnia and their impact on daily life.

A unique collection of assorted themes, listeners can relish the best of Urdu Ghazals and Nazms on the subject of your choice.

Sixteen-year-old Rosa lives in one of the eight enclosed cities of The Woodlands. Where the lone survivors of a devastating race war have settled in the Russian wilderness because it's the only scrap of land left habitable on the planet. In these circular cities, everyone must abide by the law or face harsh punishment. Rosa's inability to conform and obey the rules brands her a leper and no one wants to be within two feet of her, until she meets Joseph.

Today, many of us are feeling the pinch - and being bombarded with portrayals of social media 'perfection' is making that pinch feel more like a punch. We may know that social media - with all its billionaires and beauty queens - is just a highlight reel. So why is it still making most of us feel so low? Comedian Shabaz Ali wants to help you see the funny side of social media again. Because while it looks nice to live up in an ivory tower, this book reminds us that it is much more fun to be part of the baying mob that surrounds it.