Showing results by narrator "Mirron Willis" in All Categories

Buffalo, New York, is still the second-largest metropolis in the state, but in recent years its designation as the Queen City has been elbowed aside by a name that's pure noir: The City of No Illusions. Presidents came from here; and in 1901 a president was killed here while visiting the Pan-American Exposition, by a man who checked into a hotel under a name that translates as Nobody.

Naomi and Ely are best friends. Naomi loves and is in love with Ely, and Ely loves Naomi, but prefers to be in love with boys. So they create their "No Kiss List" of people neither of them is allowed to kiss. And this works fine - until Bruce. Bruce is Naomi's boyfriend, so there's no reason to put him on the List. But Ely kissed Bruce even though he is boring. The result: a rift of universal proportions and the potential end of "Naomi and Ely: the institution." Can these best friends come back together again?

This amazing memoir follows the story of Reggie Williams - ex-NFL linebacker, former Disney executive, renaissance man, and the epitome of determination in the face of extreme challenges.

"Volunteers needed for a very private, very elegant S/M party for a discreet group of ladies and gentlemen to be held in San Francisco. Only the very willing and the experienced need apply…" And only a virtuoso of erotic fiction could build a spellbinding novel from the planning and preparation for an S/M party.

In Entertainment for a Master, acclaimed author John Preston follows a skilled and respected dom as he interviews and personally inspects the men who respond to his unusual ad. Carl, a former Marine, will drop and give his master fifty, kissing his boots at each dip to the floor.

Born into slavery in Kentucky, raised on the Western frontier on the farm adjacent to Daniel Boone’s, “rented” out in adolescence to a succession of steamboat captains on the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, the young man known as “Sandy” reinvented himself as “William Wells” Brown after escaping to freedom. He lifted himself out of illiteracy and soon became an innovative, widely admired, and hugely popular speaker on antislavery circuits (both American and British) and went on to write the earliest African American works in a plethora of genres....

A dozen years after his last visit, Jeebleh returns to his beloved Mogadiscio to see old friends. He is accompanied by his son-in-law, Malik, a journalist intent on covering the region's ongoing turmoil. What greets them at first is not the chaos Jeebleh remembers, however, but an eerie calm enforced by ubiquitous white-robed figures bearing whips.

In this provocative book, Mugambi Jouet describes why Americans are far more divided than other Westerners over basic issues, including wealth inequality, health care, climate change, evolution, gender roles, abortion, gay rights, sex, gun control, mass incarceration, the death penalty, torture, human rights, and war.

For nearly 15 years NINE: A Journal of Baseball History and Culture has been a leading scholarly journal of baseball history. Covering the cultural and historical implications of America’s national pastime, NINE has explored baseball from the earliest matches and little-known players of the 1800s to the modern billion-dollar industry and its superstars of today. Here, gathered for the first time, are the best essays from NINE that center on the complex and multifaceted topic of African Americans in baseball.

An inspired and original compilation for the 2016 election year, God Is in the House is a collection of essays by members of Congress who reflect on their deep faith and how it guides them as legislators. Compiled by Representative Virginia Foxx, who personally asked for contributions from congressional colleagues and coworkers, God Is in the House features essays from 18 members of Congress from both political parties, representing 11 faiths and denominations.

A refreshing, insightful, sacrilegious take on African American history, Crazy as Hell explores the site of America's greatest contradictions. The notables of this book are the runaways and the rebels, the badass and funky, the activists and the inmates—from Harriet Tubman, Nina Simone, and Muhammad Ali to B'rer Rabbit, Single Mamas, and Wakandans—but are they crazy as hell, or do they simply defy the expectations designated for being Black in America?

The number one thing on Monte and Mabel’s Christmas wish list is the chance to hang out with Santa Claus. So when his sleigh breaks down in their yard as he’s finishing up his last delivery, they couldn’t be more delighted—Santa’s gonna stay with them while he waits for spare parts to be delivered! It’s a dream come true . . . or is it? It turns out Santa doesn’t have a lot of experience being a houseguest, and likes to rock out late at night and swigs spaghetti sauce from the jar.

Lloyd Daniels learned to hoop on the playgrounds of Brooklyn and Queens during the 1980s. "Swee'pea" they called him. His rep on the court traveled all the way to the Bronx and across the country, earning him enthusiastic comparisons to the likes of Magic Johnson. Swee'pea was sure to make it to the big time and out of a New York City where drugs and violence had gripped many of its neighborhoods. Eventually he did, leaving the city's asphalt courts for the shiny hardwoods of NCAA programs.

After years of flying B-52 bombers in the United States Air Force, David Harris applied to be a pilot for commercial airliners, an opportunity no other African American before him—not even the famed Tuskegee Airmen—had ever been afforded. After receiving rejection after rejection, he finally signed on with American Airlines in 1964. But this success was just the beginning of another uphill battle for equal treatment.

After detainment by the Bureau of Investigation, Arthur Tormes is forced to spy on Hubert Julian. For thirteen years he follows Julian-a parachutist, pilot, and possible seditious threat to the United States. To win his freedom, Arthur must stay close to Julian, from New York City to Ethiopia, often at great personal sacrifice.

Jeebleh is returning to Mogadiscio, Somalia, for the first time in 20 years. But this is not a nostalgia trip - his last residence there was a jail cell. And who could feel nostalgic for a city like this? U.S. troops have come and gone, and the decimated city is ruled by clan warlords and patrolled by qaat-chewing gangs who shoot civilians to relieve their adolescent boredom.

Former bodyguard D Hunter has moved to Los Angeles to become a talent manager. Business is good: He has signed a hot Atlanta rapper named Lil Daye for management and negotiated a lucrative endorsement with a liquor band. However, when D learns of the liquor CEO's unsavory sexual habits and reactionary political views, he worries that he has sold his soul. Back in Brooklyn, a body has been found in the waters near the Canarsie Pier, a body that connects D and the retired hit man Ice to incidents from back in The Plot Against Hip Hop, the second book in the series.

This original audio play is based on the life and writings of freed slave William Wells Brown. William’s Leap for Freedom is a two-part drama; a play within a play beginning with a fictionalized conversation between William Wells Brown and Mr. Polite. This audio drama then introduces Part Two of the play, which features selected portions of Well's The Escape or Leap for Freedom, as it relates to the tale of three slaves.

"Be as kinky as you want to be," advises Alison Tyler in a commanding new collection that proves that bondage can bring a partner closer to their object of desire, both literally and figuratively. Whether by rope or silk scarf or cuffs, the bonds grow even tighter as listeners surrender to the pleasures of BDSM. Twisted is a collection of kink and bondage tales curated by editrix extraordinaire Tyler, who has cornered the market in bondage erotica.

Secular models of peacemaking are insufficient. And the church has not always fulfilled its call to be agents of reconciliation in the world. In Reconciling All Things, Emmanuel Katongole and Chris Rice cast a comprehensive vision for reconciliation that is biblical, transformative, holistic, and global. They draw on the resources of the Christian story, including their own individual experiences in Uganda and Mississippi, to bring solid, theological reflection to bear on the work of reconciling individuals, groups, and societies.

In Dig Deep, J.C. Watts offers seven powerful maxims that have kept him grounded throughout his roller-coaster career from star college quarterback to U.S. Congressman. The first black Republican ever elected to a leadership position in Congress, Watts resisted the rat-race of Washington and eventually declined re-election. His seven simple principles are a blueprint for living a fulfilling and meaningful life without falling to the temptations of reckless ambition or indulgence.