Showing results by narrator "Nick Nicks" in All Categories

For centuries, the Crusades have been central to the story of the medieval Near East, but these religious wars are only part of the region's complex history. As The Mongol Storm reveals, during the same era the Near East was utterly remade by another series of wars: the Mongol invasions. In a single generation, the Mongols conquered vast swaths of the Near East and upended the region's geopolitics. This is the definitive history of the Mongol assault on the Near East and its enduring global consequences.

For the modern world, it seems as if sexuality and spirituality have always been at odds. But what if the two are actually deeply connected? And what if science could prove this connection? From neuroscientist Andrew Newberg, Sex, God, and the Brain argues that our religious and spiritual experiences derive directly from our sexual being. While others have speculated on a connection between religion and sex, Newberg is the first to demonstrate that the underlying biological mechanism of religious, spiritual, and sexual experiences are identical.

In How Star Wars Conquered the Universe, veteran journalist Chris Taylor traces the series from the difficult birth of the original film through its sequels, the franchise’s death and rebirth, the prequels, and the preparations for a new trilogy. Taylor provides portraits of the friends, writers, artists, producers, and marketers who labored behind the scenes to turn Lucas’s idea into a legend.

I’ve hated spoiled, cocky Patrick Whitt since the first time I saw him at football camp when we were kids. Once we made it to the NFL, of course, he landed on the LA Royals, the biggest rivals of my team, the Denver Rush. Everything about him rubs me the wrong way…until one unexpected night, we happen to rub each other the right way, and suddenly I can’t get enough of him.

Teenager Vernon Gregory Little's life has been changed by the Columbine-style slaughter of a group of students at his high school. Soon his hole-in-the-wall town is blanketed under a media siege, and Vernon finds himself blamed for the killing. Eulalio Ledesma is his particular nemesis, manipulating things so that Vernon becomes the fulcrum for the bizarre and vengeful impulses of the townspeople of Martirio.

Charlie Falkingham is convinced someone is stalking him. There are signs. But no one believes him. After living through a childhood horror, Charlie suffers from a severe paranoia disorder, among many things, and the Hamilton Police Department has labeled him the boy who cries wolf. Arrogant and young, Officer Takoda Dyani has a chip on his shoulder a mile wide. He’s rude and brash and doesn’t play well with others. He has more enemies than friends. When his senior officer assigns him to be Charlie’s consultant, Takoda knows it will end badly.

Bold, charismatic, and charming Blu Henderson wears a fake smile every day, pushing through life because she has to—not because she wants to. Quiet, introverted, and mysterious Jace Boland catches her eye the second she sees him. After that, it’s game over—not just for Blu, but for Jace as well.

The West Texas desert towns of Inferno and Bordertown have been slowly dying. The Snake River isn’t the only thing that divides them. Racism and gang wars have turned the sun-scorched flatlands into a powder keg. If anything can unite them now, it’s the UFO that comes crashing through the clouds. It brings with it a young alien named Daufin, a fugitive who has taken human form. She knows the terror that awaits this planet—because it’s looking for her.

Mark Twain, beloved American writer, performer, and humorist, was a self-proclaimed glutton. With the help of a chef and some friends, Nick Offerman presents the story of Twain’s life through the lens of eight of Mark Twain’s favorite foods.

Frankie James is a young man with a lot on his shoulders. His mother disappeared when he was 16, his father's in jail for armed robbery and he owes rent on his Soho snooker club to one of London's toughest gangsters. Things, you'd think, can only get better. Actually, they're about to get a whole lot worse.

Police Chief Delaney Reed can handle the Valkyries, werewolves, gill-men and other paranormal creatures who call the small beach town of Ordinary, Oregon their home. It’s the vacationing gods who keep her up at night. With the famous rhubarb festival right around the corner, small-town tensions, tempers, and godly tantrums are at an all-time high. The last thing Delaney needs is her ex-boyfriend reappearing just when she's finally caught the attention of Ryder Bailey, the one man she should never love.

Former soldier Rob Langdon was working as a security contractor in Afghanistan when he was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death in a case that would have been ruled a clear miscarriage of justice in the British legal system. His sentence was commuted to 20 years in jail, and he served his time in Kabul's most notorious prison, Pul-e-Charkhi, described as the world's worst place to be a Westerner.

On Thursday, 1st July, 1999, Dr Nina Simone gave a rare performance as part of Nick Cave's Meltdown Festival. After the show, in a state of awe, Warren Ellis crept onto the stage, took Dr Simone's piece of chewed gum from the piano, wrapped it in her stage towel and put it in a Tower Records bag. The gum remained with him for 20 years—a sacred totem, his creative muse, a conduit that would eventually take Ellis back to his childhood and his relationship with found objects, growing in significance with every passing year.

Moving to San Luco wasn’t my choice. I was kicked out of my old school because of a protest I organized that went south. Now, I was attending Franklin University with only a semester left until graduation and not knowing a single soul. Until I meet Ryan Redpine at a frat party. He’s handsome, muscular, has a great smile, and I quickly find out he’s the son of a CEO hell-bent on destroying the environment. I push Ryan out of my mind, deciding to keep my sanity and morals in tact.

I feel like I've been fighting my whole life, and tapping out has never been an option. I can live with owing money to the Morettis. I can even live with the constant guilt that my brother is the one paralyzed in a hospital bed while I live his dream. What I can't live with is Elio Moretti, second in command to the infamous crime family, showing up to all my fights, sitting in the front row, watching me like he can't look away, and barging into the locker room to patch up my wounds and invade my space.

Become a master at talking to anyone - it will be much easier for you to succeed in life. Aside from becoming more confident, you’ll know how to make the right impression wherever you go.

US Marshal Raylan Givens is back in action, with a federal warrant to serve on a dope dealer named Angel Arenas. The state troopers are impressed when the marshal struts into the convict's hotel room without drawing his gun, but Raylan soon finds that Angel's already been the victim of another crime; one that's way bigger than a bit of pot, and clearly the work of a professional...

Toby Andrews is a busy, forgetful, scatterbrained musician with ADHD, a precocious dog named Ruffles, and a bad rep for partying too hard. When Toby’s actions put an all-important contract with a large label in jeopardy, his manager sarcastically suggests the omega needs a keeper who'll redden his bottom if he steps out of line. Toby is intrigued, so when he sees an ad for a discreet company called Rent-a-Dom while scrolling his social media page, he impulsively sends a request for a Daddy Dom to help him stay on track.

Maksim Lenkov is certain he’s not a good man. His father isn’t, and since Maks is his second in command, then certainly, he’s just as evil. The list of sins is long, and there’s no getting around that. What’s messing him up is that despite all that, in the midst of life and death, his only friend tells him he’s been a blessing, law enforcement is treating him like he prevented more bloodshed than he caused, and everyone is concerned with doing right by him. Why? And how is Maks supposed to figure out who he is when everything he thought he knew is suddenly turned upside down?

Underpowered and overwhelmed, Kenton tries to hold the Sand Masters together as forces political and personal conspire against them. Now, in one final push, Kenton must tap the most dangerous depths of his own abilities to combat the enemies within his own guild and discover the truth behind the ambush that killed his father and almost destroyed the Sand Masters for good.