Showing results by narrator "Josh Hurley" in All Categories

The stories in Paul Alan Ruben's Terms of Engagement explore father and son as intimate enemies, each yearning to be understood, acknowledged, and validated by the other. Raw and gripping as delivered by a cast of incredible narrators, these nine stories take place in collision territory - where father and son engage in trying to repair their alienation.

Steven (Slim) Pickings is on the edge of a breakdown - but then, it always feels like Slim is teetering on the edge of something. The difference this time is that something’s caused Slim’s worries to come alive! He’s set loose a bunch of annoying, pesky, outrageously contagious creatures - and they’re infecting everyone they meet and massing to take over the town! To stop them, Slim will have to do more than just team up with his family and friends - he’ll have to face his fears, literally.

Callie is shocked when her friend Ivy reappears after an unexplained three-year absence, but the girls pick up where they left off, and suddenly Callie's summer is full of parties, boys, and fun. Beneath the surface, things aren't what they seem, however, and when a handsome boy with a dark past gets tangled up with Ivy, the girls' history threatens to destroy their future.

Ryan and Regan Resnick are the youngest members of a top-secret team exploring the greatest discovery ever made: a vast alien city buried deep underground - as potentially deadly as it is astonishing. When the city is captured by highly trained soldiers led by a ruthless alien, the adult members of the team are taken hostage. Now Ryan and Regan are the team's only hope of survival.

Ryan and Regan Resnick have just moved to the world's most boring place. But when they discover their parents are part of an ultra-secret project called Prometheus, they are plunged into a nonstop adventure - one that will be the ultimate test of their wits, courage, and determination. Soon they are under attack and facing hostile alien worlds, alien technology, and unimaginable dangers at every turn. Now, with their mother facing certain death, they must race to solve a seemingly impossible mystery to have any hope of saving her.

To save their parents, they will have to travel to unknown worlds. Too bad the natives on each world all seem to want them dead. Zachary and Jenna Lane are a brother and sister pair who would much rather tease and trick each other than work together. But when their parents vanish before their eyes through a mysterious shimmering portal, the two kids join forces and venture through a series of fantastic worlds in an effort to rescue them.

Mal lives on the fringes of high school. Angry. Misunderstood. Yet loving the world - or, at least, an idea of the world. Then he meets Hooper. Who says he's from another planet. And may be going home very soon.

A remarkable coming-of-age story with special appeal to dog lovers. This was supposed to be a simple summer for Billy - one more lazy expanse of time before college began. He'd fill the hours playing with Jimmy - his canine best buddy - going camping and doing all the things he promised Jimmy they'd do before Billy left. But that was before the accident that shook the entire town. It was before the summer job that turned into something so much more than a way to get a paycheck. And it was before Vicki.

In a single night, Ani's life was torn to shreds - and Ben struggles with the weight of trying to fix the unfixable in this heartbreaking and edgy debut novel. Ben could date anyone he wants, but he has eyes only for the new girl - sarcastic, free-spirited Ani. Luckily for Ben, Ani wants him, too. She's everything Ben could ever imagine. Everything he could ever want. But that all changes after the party. The one Ben misses. The one Ani goes to alone. Now Ani isn't the girl she used to be, and Ben can't sort out the truth from the lies.

I left everything I knew behind. But it was worth it. He was worth it. No one thought an ordinary girl like me would last two minutes living with the Amish, not even me. There are a lot more rules and a lot less freedom, and I miss my family and the life I once had. Worst of all, Noah and I aren't even allowed to see each other. Not until I've proven myself. If I can find a way to make it work, we'll be Noah and Rose together forever. But not everybody believes this is where I belong.

With short, fast-paced, alternating point-of-view chapters, The Death Code starts several weeks after The Murder Complex ends. Zephyr keeps the secret about Meadow close - that if she dies, The Murder Complex will be destroyed, too. Meadow, desperate to find her brother, father, and little sister, is determined to fight fearlessly to the end; even if it means sacrificing herself and her friends, new and old.

The fantastical story of a lonely 11-year-old whose parrot takes him on a magical mystery tour of a planet where sleeping is against the law. Chester Dumbello's mom interprets people's dreams. One day a white, one-eyed parrot flies into the Dream Caf. Chester's mom says that the day something rhymes with orange, they can keep the parrot. Since nothing does, she comes up with the name Lornge, and the parrot becomes the newest member of the Dumbello family.

Homesick 10-year-old Stanley Sweetsong doesn't think he'll ever be good enough to join the Betters, the school's most exclusive club. What he needs is a pal - someone to help him hatch a plan to outsmart these snobs. So Shoebag uses his secret formula to transform himself back into Stu Bagg. Suddenly, Stanley has a new roommate who inspires him to come up with a better, even more elite club: the Butters.

Lucian "Lucky" Spark leads a double life. By day, he trains to become one of the Establishment elite. At night, he sabotages his oppressors from within, seeking to avenge the murder of his love, Digory Tycho, and rescue his imprisoned brother. But when he embarks on a risky plot to assassinate members of the Establishment hierarchy, Lucky is thrust into the war between the Establishment and the rebellion, where the lines between friend and foe are blurred beyond recognition.

Close your eyes and feel your enemy's weakness. Mind over body. Mind over body. Mind over body. Breathe. In. Out. In. Out. Now survive. Welcome to the Murder Complex. You cannot see us. You cannot feel us. But we are here. And we control your every move.

The one thing thirteen-year-old Margaret O'Malley is sure of is that her father is innocent. So when the unthinkable happens and he's sentenced to death by the cruel Judge Biggs, Margaret is desperate to save him. She'll do whatever it takes, even if it means using her family's secret - and forbidden - ability to travel through time. Margaret's only hope is to stop the chain of events that turned Lucas Biggs into a corrupt and jaded man.

After surviving the crazy events of his first weeks in New York City, nine-year-old Otis Dooda is starting out at a brand-new school. He would love to make a good impression, but life in Tidwell Towers is never that easy.

With his disgusting seatmate, the possible impending alien invasion, and the introduction of his new nemesis, Sid Frackas "The Greatest LEGO Genius Who Ever Lived" (a title Otis thought was his!), things are getting downright dangerous!

Meet Otis Dooda. Yes, that’s his name. Go on and have a good laugh. He’s heard it all before. He’s been called things like Otis Poopy Stink and Otis Toilet Twinkie. That’s right, yuck it up and get it out of your system. We’ll wait. All right then. This is the story of Otis and the Dooda family (including their rat named Smoochie) moving to New York City, and the incredibly strange, but true, things that happened to them. It all started with Otis getting cursed by a guy in a potted plant in their apartment building lobby, and then meeting a bunch of their neighbors, including a farting pony named Peaches who was disguised as a dog.

Max’s village is absolutely normal in every single way and on every single day—except Wednesday. Most of the townsfolk shutter their windows and lock their doors to hide away from the many peculiar things that happen—things like cats getting stuck in the vacuum cleaner and birthday cakes meeting fiery and horrific ends. But Max is too curious for that, and so, breaking every rule in the village, he searches out the cause of all the Wednesday weirdness.

Life hasn't been great for Jeff Hicks. After years at his beloved St. Catherine's, he's forced to spend eighth grade in the public middle school, which he hates. He's no longer speaking to his former best friend, Tom Bender, because of "that burned girl" Jessica Feeney. But worst of all, his family is changing, and it's not for the better. When his mom comes home announcing that she's lost her job, Jeff begins to worry about things far beyond his years.