As Fleet is threatened by mutiny, class conflict, and power struggles, Esmay Suiza-Serrano finds herself unceremoniously dismissed from Fleet and hurtled into the midst of warfare that threatens all galactic civilization.
From the New York Times–bestselling “master of crime fiction and equine thrills,” a jockey turned investigator tackles crime in the horse racing world (Newsday). Dick Francis, Edgar Award–winning master of mystery and suspense, takes you into the thrilling world of horse racing. A hard fall took hotshot jockey Sid Halley out of the horse racing game, leaving him with a crippled hand, a broken heart, and the desperate need for a new job. Now he’s landed a position with a detective agency, only to catch a bullet from some common thug. And things are about to get even more hectic. The agency is giving him a case to handle on his own. The case brings him to the door of Zanna Martin, a woman who might be just what Sid needs to get him back up and running. But he’s up against a field of thoroughbred criminals, and the odds against him are making it a long shot that he’ll even survive . . . “Dick Francis is a wonder.” —The Plain Dealer “An imaginative craftsman of high order.” —The Sunday Times “Few things are more convincing than Dick Francis at a full gallop.” —Chicago Tribune “Few match Francis for dangerous flights of fancy and pure inventive menace.” —Boston Herald “[The] master of crime fiction and equine thrills.” —Newsday “[Francis] has the uncanny ability to turn out simply plotted yet charmingly addictive mysteries.” —The Wall Street Journal “Francis is a genius.” —Los Angeles Times “A rare and magical talent . . . who never writes the same story twice.” —The San Diego Union-Tribune
Anyone who watched part three in the Star Wars movie trilogy, Return of the Jedi, saw Matt Roloff. His handicap helped land him a part as one of the diminutive, furry Ewoks. In Matt's biography Against Tall Odds, readers view a world of fast-walking giants, where common obstacles for most are mountains for little people, and stares from strangers are the norm. Through perseverance and faith, Matt shows that success comes not by trying to be what you're not, but by being what God has made you.
I'd prepared myself for a life without love. Lost my parents and anyone else I got close to. Nothing good ever stays for long. I'm a statistic after all. Former foster kid. Former drug addict, alcoholic. Always thought I was destined to be alone. Always felt like I wasn't worth a damn. Then Carla Evans walked into my life. One look at her in that uptight, buttoned-up outfit and I knew I had to have her. For a night, I'd indulge myself in the fantasy of a girl like her actually wanting a guy like me. Then she moved here with no job and that ridiculous bucket list. I knew she needed my help. I just didn't expect to need hers. I spent a long time letting myself believe I didn't deserve happiness. It took me a while (and a whole lot of therapy) to realize I'd had it all wrong. Now I know. And now I have to tell her. *Fighting the Odds deals with sensitive topics like drug addiction, death, foster care, homelessness, and miscarriage. But it is also an inspirational story of love, friendship, hope, and finding your inner warrior.
In the second title in the slam-dunk new series from bestselling author Amy Ignatow, the Odds are back and trying to figure out just who inflicted these lame abilities on them in the first place. Nick can still teleport four inches to the left, and Farshad’s thumbs are still super strong. Cookie can still read minds, if they’re thinking of directions, and Martina can still change the color of her eyes. But now, Martina can see the invisible, and when Nick is super stressed, he can move a lot farther than four inches. As their powers evolve in possibly dangerous ways, the Odds are even more determined to solve the mystery of their origin, but it means interacting at school—a serious social risk to popular girl Cookie. Soon, it becomes clear that Auxano, the chemical company that employs half the town, is involved. With the help of some renegade Amish teenagers and Ed, the invisible bus driver, this unlikely group of companions will uncover a nefarious experiment in which they’ve become unwitting test subjects. They’ll also begin to become something even more incredible—friends.
The common thread among the 18 stories in Against the Odds is the way people can resourcefully overcome obstacles to realize their ambitions and dreams. The “odds” are varied in these skillfully written tales. An obstacle to one’s success or happiness may lie in one’s own character or the prejudice of someone else. A potential employer may cast a suspicious eye on an individual’s background. A guardian seems reluctant to sponsor any further education for his charge. Other characters here are looking as much for increased self-respect as financial reward or better training. Set in locales as varied as Ontario, Saskatchewan, and Prince Edward Island, the stories of Against the Odds are peopled with orphans, teachers, actors, struggling single-parent families, intransigent relatives. It’s a world, though distant from our own, where Montgomery’s characters have problems similar to ours, and their methods of solving them are not very different from what we would try.
While working for a financial consulting firm that offers insurance against catastrophic events, a young mathematician becomes increasingly obsessed with doomsday scenarios until one of his worst-case scenarios unfolds in Manhattan.
It had been years since I had seen any of the children with whom I had grown up. When I left the children's home, I promised myself that I would have nothing to do with them, I was sure that my only chance of living a good life would be to put the past behind me, even though that meant saying goodbye to some of the people I loved the most - as well as the ones I hated...it turned out that six of us had died, several by slow suicide in the form of heroin abuse, and at least two by faster means. When two police officers arrived out of the blue at Paul Connolly's door, he learned the shocking news that, out of the eight children with whom he shared a dormitory in care, only two were still alive. The revelation unearthed painful memories of a childhood that, until this point, Paul had tried desperately to put behind him. Abandoned at two weeks old, Paul came of age in the infamous St Leonards's Children's Home in East London. The children there were routinely abused, often over the course of many years. All were underfed and unloved and told that they would amount to nothing. Angry and frustrated, Paul channelled his rage into boxing - but when an accident shattered his ambition to turn professional, he found his true calling and became a successful trainer, even working as a consultant on the pilot of a top model's fitness video. Paul has finally found peace and fulfilment beyond anyhing he could have imagined all those years ago. He has found happiness with his wife and children and now helps to heal broken bodies, build confidence and transform lives - but he will never forget his past and the unnecessary victims of broken society...
One of America’s wealthiest entrepreneurs, John H. Johnson rose from the welfare rolls of the Depression to become the most successful Black businessman in American history; the founder of Ebony, Jet, and EM magazines; and a member of the Forbes 400. Like the man himself, this autobiography is brash, inspirational, and truly unforgettable.
*The instant New York Times bestseller* The untold story of four of the most decorated soldiers of World War II—all Medal of Honor recipients—from the beaches of French Morocco to Hitler’s own mountaintop fortress, by the national bestselling author of The First Wave “Pitch-perfect.”—The Wall Street Journal • “Riveting.”—World War II magazine • “Alex Kershaw is the master of putting the reader in the heat of the action.”—Martin Dugard As the Allies raced to defeat Hitler, four men, all in the same unit, earned medal after medal for battlefield heroism. Maurice “Footsie” Britt, a former professional football player, became the very first American to receive every award for valor in a single war. Michael Daly was a West Point dropout who risked his neck over and over to keep his men alive. Keith Ware would one day become the first and only draftee in history to attain the rank of general before serving in Vietnam. In WWII, Ware owed his life to the finest soldier he ever commanded, a baby-faced Texan named Audie Murphy. In the campaign to liberate Europe, each would gain the ultimate accolade, the Congressional Medal of Honor. Tapping into personal interviews and a wealth of primary source material, Alex Kershaw has delivered his most gripping account yet of American courage, spanning more than six hundred days of increasingly merciless combat, from the deserts of North Africa to the dark heart of Nazi Germany. Once the guns fell silent, these four exceptional warriors would discover just how heavy the Medal of Honor could be—and how great the expectations associated with it. Having survived against all odds, who among them would finally find peace?