Showing results by narrator "Michael Wills" in All Categories

Local weather reporter Suzanne Maretto craves nothing more than to transcend life at her suburban cable television news station and follow in the footsteps of her idol: Barbara Walters. When she concludes that her unglamorous husband is getting in the way of her dream of stardom, the solution seems obvious: Get rid of him. She seduces a 15-year-old admirer, Jimmy, and persuades him to do her dirty work. Mission accomplished, Suzanne takes to the airwaves in her new role as grieving widow, in search of a TV deal. If that means selling Jimmy down the river, she’s ready.

Darfur, Sudan. 2009. Two doctors employed by NGOs stumble across a strange metallic cylinder, which has been embedded for perhaps millions of years in desert rock. Mystified by the object, they gather four of the world’s leading experts in science and technology a computer scientist, a physicist, a biochemist, and a genetic researcher and head to London to study it thoroughly. The six have barely begun running tests on the cylinder, when they suddenly disappear telling family members not to go looking for them.

In his startling and singular new short story collection, David Foster Wallace nudges at the boundaries of fiction with inimitable wit and seductive intelligence. Among the stories are 'The Depressed Person', a dazzling and blackly humorous portrayal of a woman's mental state; 'Adult World', which reveals a woman's agonised consideration of her confusing sexual relationship with her husband; and 'Brief Interviews with Hideous Men', a dark, hilarious series of portraits of men whose fear of women renders them grotesque.

The Flame is a stunning collection of Leonard Cohen's last poems, selected and ordered by the author in the final months of his life. Featuring lyrics, prose pieces and illustrations, the book also contains an extensive selection from Cohen's notebooks, which he kept in poetic form throughout his life, and offers an unprecedentedly intimate look inside the life and mind of a singular artist and thinker.

If you have ever been touched with a profound mystical experience, the daily grind of ordinary life can feel soul-crushing at times. How can you thrive in the here and now - managing image, career, and family - while surrendering the ego and embracing a power from beyond? Guided: Journey into the Unknown to Awaken the Soul and Live in Truth reveals an unexpected passage from fragmentation to wholeness, from hiding to being seen, and from fear to love.

It is 2015, weeks after the Supreme Court marriage equality ruling. A high school art history teacher, Sebastian Mote envies his queer students and their freedom to live openly the youth he lost to fear and shame. When he runs into his childhood friend Oscar Burnham at a wedding in Washington, DC, he can’t help but see it as a second chance. Now thirty-five, the men haven’t seen each other in more than a decade. But Oscar has no interest in their shared history, nor in the sense of belonging Sebastian craves. Instead, he’s outraged by what he sees as the death of gay culture.

When Michael Gustafson and his wife Hilary opened Literati Bookstore in Ann Arbor, Michigan, they put out a typewriter for anyone to use. They had no idea what to expect. Would people ask metaphysical questions? Write mean things? Pour their souls onto the page? Yes, no, and did they ever. Every day, people of all ages sit down at the public typewriter. Children perch atop grandparents' knees, both sets of hands hovering above the metal keys: I LOVE YOU. Others walk in alone on Friday nights and confess their hopes: I will find someone someday.

A famous 18-year-old fiddle player, Beau, is abducted from her parents’ huge Sierra home at a birthday folk jam in her honor one summer in the early part of the 21st century. As a fire burns up the mountain while she is buried on the land under a pile of brush, she is found just in time. A month later, much to her horror, she is abducted again, this time from a Berkeley music jam.

The cavern city of Pelismara has stood for a thousand years. The Great Families of the nobility cling to the myths of their golden age while the city's technology wanes. When a fever strikes, and the Eminence dies, seventeen-year-old Tagaret is pushed to represent his Family in the competition for Heir to the Throne. To win would give him the power to rescue his mother from his abusive father, and marry the girl he loves.

A joyful collection of the most popular, provocative and unforgettable essays from the New York Times 'Modern Love' column. A young woman goes through the five stages of ghosting grief. A man's promising fourth date ends in the emergency room. A female lawyer with bipolar disorder experiences the highs and lows of dating. A widower hesitates about introducing his children to his new girlfriend. A divorcée in her 70s looks back at the beauty and rubble of past relationships.

Since 2013, Tweet of the Day has been a daily delight for early risers, with its 90 seconds of beautiful birdsong and fascinating ornithological stories. But what of the people who tune in to this avian chorus? In this collection, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of an array of wildlife enthusiasts, all eager to recount their encounters with birds.

After three years in the service of the emperor of the Greeks, Ahl and his Viking friends have become very rich. Now the crew longs to return home with their wealth, their problem is that the emperor will not permit them to leave. They make a daring plan to escape. The route home is perilous as they navigate uncharted seas. They must overcome robbers, storms, and hostile strangers as they seek their way back to the Northlands with the riches they have earned.

Charlotte Pollard's adventures are over. She escaped death aboard the R101 and travelled in time and space - but now in the service of the monolithic, unknowable Viyrans, their unending mission is stifling her. An encounter with would-be adventurer Robert Buchan near the mysterious Ever-and-Ever-Prolixity provides the opportunity Charley needs for escape.... So the adventuress is abroad once more, meeting a lost expedition in uncharted forests, solving enigmas and hoping beyond hope to see the people she misses most: her family.

You don't need Hollywood. No, seriously. When we first started making movies, we were broke college kids with no connections or experience. Fast forward five years and we were producing a million-dollar movie with well-known Hollywood stars. We wrote The Break In to share all the most valuable lessons (and hilarious stories) from our experience so that you can launch a promising career on your own terms.

Righteousness? Me? provides a road map to the restoration that the Lord truly wants for us. The lessons of the restoration process are clearly described and illustrated with stories that look into the lives of people with real spiritual and life struggles. This book isn't narrated as vague theories but as practical descriptions of how this change can be integrated into real lives. This is not a self-help book. Instead, it is a God-help book. The whole concept of this book is a recognition of our own limits.

Amesbury, just two miles from Stonehenge, is regarded as one of the oldest towns in Britain, with evidence of habitation for more than 5,000 years. In 2002, a male skeleton was discovered there. It had lain undisturbed for almost that length of time. Archaeological research showed that the man was born almost a thousand miles from where he died. He had lived in the period when the Stone Age was ending and the age of metal was dawning.

Random House presents the audiobook edition of The Largesse of the Sea Maiden by Denis Johnson, read by Nick Offerman, Michael Shannon, Dermot Mulroney, Will Patton, and Liev Schreiber. The Largesse of the Sea Maiden is the long-awaited new story collection from Denis Johnson, author of the groundbreaking, highly acclaimed Jesus' Son.

Author Will Marré has spent a long, successful career training people how to be happy in life and productive at work. This small book is packed with the same practical wisdom and action tips he brought to the employees of Gap, the giant global retailer. It is based on the new discoveries of brain science, nutrition, and positive psychology that Marré translates into 8 simple, practical habits we can all adopt to start feeling radically happier. Today.

Maia is an Egyptian girl who lived at the time of the pharaohs. Her normal happy life is interrupted when she is kidnapped and made to work as a home help in a house very far from her own. Her only possessions are the clothes she wears and her very special red slippers. When one of these is stolen she is desperately sad. But help comes from an unexpected place and her plight comes to the attention of the pharaoh. The story is based on an Egyptian folk tale.

An exciting Viking story for six- to 10-year-olds. Sven’s father is a prisoner in a far-away country. There is a way to get him free and Sven knows how to do it, but he will need help. An offer of assistance comes from a very unexpected and frightening source. Will Sven be brave enough to accept it?