Teenage Memoir

Three years ago, John Schwartz, a national correspondent for the New York Times, got the call that every parent hopes never to receive: His 13-year-old son, Joe, was in the hospital following a suicide attempt. Mustering the courage to come out to his classmates, Joe had delivered a tirade about homophobic and sexist attitudes that was greeted with unease and confusion by his fellow students. Hours later, he took an overdose of pills.

Most of us think of bowling as a "sport" in quotation marks, and bowling alleys are places with disco balls, matching shirts, and funny shoes. But in the 1960s, New York City was the center of "action bowling", a form of high-stakes gambling in which bowlers - often teenagers - faced off for thousands of dollars every night. When money like that is changing hands, you can bet the pressure is on (and the balls are rigged), and losses come with dire consequences.

As a teen mom turned doctor, Dr. A certainly had the odds stacked against her. Raised in the crime-ridden streets of Detroit, her family was turned upside down at age 13 when her parents divorced and her mother was shot by a hitman—and survived! Three years after, Dr. A became a teen mom, young and pregnant while still in high school. Despite it all, she went on to earn three degrees and six figures before the age of 30, all while raising her son and working full time! Using secrets that fostered career management for life, she didn’t just beat the odds, she crushed them!

Investigators and Central Florida residents were horrified when 16-year-old vampire cult leader Rod Ferrell was arrested and charged with bludgeoning a cult member's parents. When they realized the slain couple's 15-year-old daughter was missing, they feared she was a victim, too. Detectives and journalists swarming over three states soon uncovered a web of blood-drinking occult rituals, illicit sex, wildly dysfunctional families, and spiritual warfare.

When it comes to things that grip us with fear, the mind usually looks to the supernatural experiences that know no explanation. The truth is, yet again, stranger and more sinister than fiction. For the true monsters do not reside in the recesses of our minds, but in the shadows of dimly lit sidewalks, blind corners, and even - most menacingly - in the eyes of the seemingly innocent.