Showing results by narrator "Shawn K. Jain" in All Categories

I've been secretly married for eight years. Why is it a secret? Because having an open marriage splashed all over headlines isn't a good look. We'd constantly be under the spotlight, our lives and relationships judged. That's not the kind of hockey player I want to be known for, especially because we play for different teams. Although most of my relationships outside of my marriage are passing, I've been pining over my best friend and teammate for years. Years! Just as I decide that maybe it's time to see where this leads, management throws an unexpected play in our faces.

His sanity restored, Felix Harrowgate knows there's only one way back to the life he once knew as one of an elite society of wizards: return to Melusine and restore the Virtu, the source of the city's power and protection. After all, it was the manipulations of Felix's former master that destroyed the magical orb. Now that Felix has determined his course of action, there's a very specific companion he needs for this epic journey.

Decolonizing Palestine challenges the weaponization of biblical texts to support the current settler-colonial state of Israel. Raheb argues that some of the most important theological concepts—Israel, the land, election, and chosen people—must be decolonized in a paradigm shift in Christian theological thinking about Palestine.

All Aaron wants for Christmas is for his brother, Casey, to get over his ex, Raquel. He’d prefer not to be at Winter Wonderland, the island north of Alaska that’s home to a year-round Christmas theme park. But Casey loves Christmas, so here they are. Unfortunately for Aaron, Casey’s determined to do anything to win Raquel back. All Kris wants for Christmas is for his uncle to move back to Winter Wonderland to be the first gay Santa. To make that happen Kris needs to win the Race, his grade’s annual competition to see who can get a guest to fall in love with them first.

This wasn't supposed to happen to me. I'm supposed to be at the top of my career. Untouchable. Worshiped. Finally proving to all the jerks in my life that I made it. I'm at the top. Then a video that shouldn't exist leaks and everything comes crashing down. I'm about to lose it all and I can't seem to get out of my own way. My agent banishes me to a place that technology can't touch while he tries to salvage my career.

Welcome to Apex City, formerly Bangalore, where everything is decided by the mathematically perfect Bell Curve. With the right image, values, and opinions, you can ascend to the glittering heights of the Twenty Percent—the Virtual elite—and have the world at your feet. Otherwise you risk falling to the precarious Ten Percent, and deportation to the ranks of the Analogs, with no access to electricity, running water, or even humanity. The system has no flaws. Until the elusive "Ten Percent Thief" steals a single jacaranda seed from the Virtual city.

It's totally normal for two straight guys to do this when they're alone, right? That's what I keep telling myself after I meet Reggie. I'm a pro tennis player, and I usually spend my life on the court. But an embarrassing injury in the middle of the US Open sidelined my career, landing me in the hands of my new athletic trainer. Reggie is a big old jock with an easy smile, and my grumpy butt has never met anyone like him. We start hanging—at the gym and at his place, on the tennis court and out at the bar. I haven't had a real friend in years, and Reggie's big heart warms me deep inside.

Vivek Chibber provides a clear and accessible map of how capitalism works, how it limits the power of working and oppressed people, and how to overcome those limits. The capitalist economy generates incredible wealth but also injustice.

When I fled my small town home to fly across the globe for a potential job on a remote island, I did it on a whim. And let's just say my parents were not happy. According to them, the journey of self-discovery is not nearly as important as tending the family farm.

Commodities For Dummies gives you a complete overview of the basics of investing in commodities. Step-by-step explanations, plus the most up-to-date market information and global events, make it easy to invest in the stuff the world is made of. This book helps you identify the most valuable commodities to add to your portfolio, use commodities as a safe haven in shifting economic times, and come out on top. Learn quick, with real-life examples, expert advice, and basic explanations to get you involved in energy, agriculture, and metals.

Now, as awareness of the apartheid nature of the State of Israel continues to grow, Omar Barghouti, founding member of the Palestinian Civil Society Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel, presents a renewed call to action. Aimed at forcing the State of Israel to uphold international law and universal human rights for the Palestinian people, here is a manifesto for change.

Through compelling case studies, including those of Starbucks, Coca-Cola, Sony, Amazon, and Google Books, Vaidhyanathan shows that the modern intellectual property systems reflect three centuries of changes in politics, economics, technologies, and social values. Although it emerged from a desire to foster creativity while simultaneously protecting it, intellectual property today has fundamentally shifted to a political dimension.

The little-engine-that-could story of how a band of scrappy entrepreneurs are reviving the enterprise of manufacturing clothing in the United States.

Joey thinks he's broken. I think he's beautiful. Joey's body began betraying him years ago. With his world in chaos, his new friends search for a Daddy to cherish him. When his ex-boss volunteers for the position, Joey panics. Can Daddy Tucker's gentle touch and soothing presence reassure Joey that he can trust him with all his pain, or will fear of being broken beyond repair keep him from the man he's wanted for years? Welcome to The Tap Tavern where this chosen family of boys are braver than they think, and their Daddies are ready to be what they want and so much more.

An incisive and inspiring call to look beyond capitalism to chart a road map for a planet ravaged by pandemics, climate crisis, and wars. Prompted by trenchant questions by international solidarity organizer Frank Barat, renowned author and activist Vijay Prashad shows that the path toward hope and liberation lies in looking closely at myriad, under covered struggles being waged all across the world by workers in countries such as India, Kenya, Peru, Tunisia, and Argentina. A marvelously global but grassroots perspective.

Digital transformation of the business landscape is well underway, and businesses are being reshaped faster than ever before. Agility and adaptability are now critical components of these businesses' survival. But building these traits requires a holistic approach with an unrelenting focus on automation. How does one go about developing that focus? Vijay Tella, Scott Brinker, and Massimo Pezzini deliver a guide to implementing automation in the real world, avoiding jargon and vague bromides in favor of concrete examples.

Even a gay athlete has an appearance to uphold. There are a handful out in every sport and while every trashy magazine wants to get the scoop on what the gays are up to, looking for a scandal and a way to ruin us, every one of us is constantly on our best behavior. Acting a certain way, dressing a certain way, speaking a certain way. If the world knew the real me, it'd shudder. Lace. Pearls. Dresses. Collars. All I want is to be someone's pretty little doll that they dress up and tell me how pretty I am. I want to be loved for the real me, not the image I'm forced to show to the world.

Nida, intelligent and lonely, has married into an affluent political family and is desperately searching for meaning in her life, while impulsive, lovely Sasha, from the ordinary middle class, willingly consorts with rich men who can satisfy her frantic longing for designer labels and upmarket places. Nida and Sasha meet at the famous Data Sahib Dargah and connect—their need to understand why their worlds feel so alien and empty bringing them together.

A romantic getaway for vampires Cat Crawfield and her husband Bones is cut short when they’re called on to guard a spoiled heiress with a price on her head, and an undead hitman on her trail. What starts as a simple bodyguard job ends up being a fight for survival that neither Cat, nor Bones, saw coming.

Ideology consists of normative prescriptions regarding how society should be shaped, together with an interpretive roadmap indicating how this normative vision can be implemented in reality. Ideological Fixation is the result of tensions and conflicts between these two elements. The book focuses on ideologies' factual claims about the world, typically subordinate to, and often distorted by, their normative commitment. In exploring this phenomenon, the book combines insights from evolutionary psychology regarding the nature of some of our deepest proclivities.