Showing results by narrator "GM Hakim" in All Categories

In a distant country, recently imprisoned filmmaker Vasant Rai is offered a chance at freedom. But the choice, he learns, offers itself at a very steep price. Ravi Mangla's The Observant is a sharp-eyed literary thriller about freedom of expression under tyrannical regimes, authority and its adherents, and the demands of survival.

Ray thought magic only existed in books and movies, not in real life! On the first day of seventh grade, 12-year-old Ray Sebastian discovers his home town, Centerville, is the most dangerous place on Earth. Buried in caves underneath the town is a treasure-trove of ancient and powerful artifacts that were kept secret—until now.

Earth’s surface is no longer ours. Humans thought they were safe underground where the invading Arthropods couldn’t reach them. After centuries of occupation, the antiquated subterranean cities have deteriorated and they have exhausted their supplies. Making matters worse, the hostile invaders have destroyed one of the ten remaining cities.

Three college, star football players and friends. One dream. Upon graduating from the University of Alabama, they vow that whoever gets the first head coach job will bring the other two along with them. Thus began their quest to be the winningest partnership of coaches the sport had ever seen. Only one lived to see their dream realized. Their story remained untold. Until now.

Growing up on a Cuba-esque Caribbean island, Casandra, Calia, and Caleb endure life under two tyrannies: that of their parents, and the Island’s authoritarian dictator, Pop-Pop Mustache. Papa was the dictator's former right-hand man. Now, he’s a political pariah and an ugly parody of a tyrant, treating his home as a nation which he rules with an iron fist. As for Mom, his wife and hateful second in command, she rules from the mind. Obsessed with armchair psychoanalysis, she spends her days reading self-help books and seeks to diagnose the kids, and perhaps even herself.

The awful solstice is just a few days away. Ray doesn’t know if he’s ready to be the Shining One, but he’s determined to try. For a kid whose biggest worry used to be trying out for the baseball team, it still seems crazy to be carrying the fate of the world on his shoulders. But now, Ray has new allies–which would be great, except all of them have their own ideas about what he’s supposed to do.