Download or read book Coming of Age Three Dark Novellas written by Douglas Clegg and published by Alkemara Press. This book was released on 2019-11-04 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Coming of age can mean murder...or monsters. 400 pages of a triple-feature of suspense and supernatural thrills, containing Purity, The Words, and The Attraction. Three short novels all packed into one cool book – NY Times bestselling and Bram Stoker Award-winning author Douglas Clegg's most frightening and fascinating chillers of suspense, horror and...coming of age. * * * In Purity, the darkest force is love. From award-winning author Douglas Clegg comes a twisting, dark psychological thriller of dangerous obsession. "Purity is a gripping, shocking story of love, turning 18 and murder." -Doubleshot Reviews "Douglas Clegg turns the screws dexterously in this sleek, multifaceted suspense story...in a vacation paradise saturated in alcohol, entitlement and hypocrisy..." - Publisher's Weekly. "Clegg writes gut-wrenchingly beautiful horror, painful adolescence, abuse, sociopathic alienation, and coming home - are all at play here, as are characters who play each other and themselves...for keeps."- Chizine. * * * In The Words, two boys discover a secret world of monsters...When teenager Mark befriends outsider Dash, he believes his new friend to be an outcast rebel. But a dark mystery unfolds as Dash leads Mark into dangerous games and rituals involving stories of the occult and a strange drug that allows Dash to see into another world—a world of absolute darkness and terror. "Douglas Clegg's The Words is a real stunner ...Using the novella form to its utmost..."—Somebody Dies Blog Reviews * * * "A terrifying quick punch of horror."* The Attraction is a drive-in movie-style horror chiller of roadside terror, 200 pages in print! The signs along the desert highway read Come See the Mystery! But some mysteries should remain buried forever -- like the terrifying creature at the back of the Brakedown Palace Gas & Sundries Emporium. "...A vivid story that will separate the timid from their sleep and the bold from their complacency whenever they next visit a sideshow or museum mummy display!"—Midwest Book Review. *"Clegg takes the idea of a cheapjack tourist hustle for a decrepit gas station in middle-of-nowhere Arizona and turns it into a terrifying quick punch of horror…"—Alternate Reality Web Zine Reviews. "I couldn't put this book down. It grabbed me on the first page and wouldn't let go. I ended up reading most of the night away...The story moves at an incredible rate and never lags."—Horror World Reviews.

Download or read book Purity written by Douglas Clegg and published by . This book was released on 2000-06-01 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Owen Rites, the son of the groundskeeper for the Montgomery estate, has become obsessed with Jenna Montgomery.

Download or read book House of Blades written by Will Wight and published by . This book was released on 2013-07 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Simon can only watch, helpless, as his family is killed and his friends captured by enemy Travelers-men and women who can summon mystical powers from otherworldly Territories. To top it off, another young man from Simon's village discovers that he's a savior prophesied to destroy evil and save the realm.Prophecy has nothing to say about Simon. He has no special powers, no magical weapons, and no guarantee that he'll survive. But he sets off anyway, alone, to gain the power he needs to oppose the Travelers and topple their ruthless Overlord. It may not be his destiny, but Simon's determined to rescue his fellow villagers from certain death.Because who cares about prophecy, really?

Download or read book The Attraction written by Douglas Clegg and published by Alkemara Press. This book was released on 2019-11-03 with total page 131 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Road Trip Horror, Creature Feature★★★★★“A terrifying quick punch of horror.”★★★★★ "Grabbed me on the first page and wouldn’t let go.” What's the “unspeakable horror” the desert billboards advertise? And why is it locked up in a glass coffin? From the twisted imagination of Douglas Clegg comes this short novel (200 pages) of first loves, first trips, and first horrors. Some Mysteries Should Remain Buried...Five college students hit the road to travel cross-country, away from college pressures. Seeking fun and adventure, they pull over to a roadside gas station after they see signs along the desert highway that read Come See the Mystery! “…A vivid story that will separate the timid from their sleep and the bold from their complacency whenever they next visit a sideshow or museum mummy display!”—Midwest Book Review. “A terrifying quick punch of horror.”—Alternate Reality Webzine Reviews. “I couldn’t put this book down. It grabbed me on the first page and wouldn’t let go.”—Horror World Reviews.

Download or read book The Hour Before Dark written by Douglas Clegg and published by Alkemara Press. This book was released on 2014-11-04 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Never play the Dark Game...It will take you over...it will come alive... From New York Times bestselling author Douglas Clegg comes this riveting supernatural thriller of dangerous secrets within a haunted family. After one of the most vicious killings of recent years, Nemo Raglan must return to the New England island he thought he'd escaped for good . . . and the shadowy home called Hawthorn. "Douglas Clegg has become the new star in horror fiction, and The Hour Before Dark is his best and most exciting novel to date. This is pure imagination, and it is wearing speed skates." - Peter Straub, New York Times bestselling author of Ghost Story and, with Stephen King, The Talisman. *"...An eerie psychological tale of supernatural horror that builds suspense gradually as the characters slowly peel back the layers of their past and face the terrors of their shared childhood. Clegg approaches horror with a stark and vital simplicity that is utterly convincing. Fans of Stephen King and Dean Koontz will appreciate this atmospheric gem." -- Library Journal. "I was compelled to keep turning the pages as fear...raised my pulse to racing level from cover to cover." -- DarkEcho. Here Comes a Candle to Light You To Bed... As Nemo unravels the mysteries of his past and a terrible night of childhood, he witnesses something unimaginable...and sees the true face of evil...while Burnley Island comes to know the unspeakable horror that grows in darkness. From the Publishers Weekly Starred Review: "Suspenseful and relentlessly spooky, told in economical prose yet peopled by characters as fully realized as one’s own blood kin, this is at once the most artful and most mainstream tale yet from one of horror’s brightest lights." "... A dark,psychologically astute novel that pushes beyond the horror genre and into raw suspense...THE HOUR BEFORE DARK is a powerful and deeply engaging novel of disturbance and redemption...highly recommended to any reader who enjoys Stephen King, Dean Koontz, or Pat Conroy." - The BookReporter. "In his finest novel to date, Clegg establishes himself firmly as one of the leading authors in the horror genre...Hold onto your chair; The Hour Before Dark is a powerhouse of a read." - Cemetery Dance Magazine. A gripping read that is refreshingly character-driven, yet still produces a palpable sense of dread." -- Fangoria Books by Douglas Clegg The Children’s Hour Goat Dance Purity Dark of the Eye The Words Wild Things Nightmare House Bad Karma Red Angel Night Cage Mischief The Infinite The Abandoned The Necromancer Isis The Hour Before Dark You Come When I Call You Naomi The Nightmare Chronicles The Machinery of Night Breeder The Attraction Praise for Douglas Clegg's Fiction "Douglas Clegg knows exactly what scares us, and he knows just how to twist those fears into hair-raising chills..." - Tess Gerritsen, New York Times bestselling author of the Rizzoli & Isles series. "Clegg is the best horror writer of the post-Stephen King generation." — Bentley Little, author of The Policy "Clegg delivers!" — John Saul, bestselling author of Faces of Fear and The Devil's Labyrinth. "Clegg is one of the best!" — Richard Laymon "Douglas Clegg is a weaver of nightmares!" — Robert R. McCammon author of The Queen of Bedlam and Speaks The Nightbird.

Download or read book Night Cage written by Douglas Clegg and published by Alkemara Press. This book was released on 2014-11-07 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beneath the hospital for the criminally insane, there's an older asylum...full of night cages... In Book 3 of the Criminally Insane Series, New York Times bestselling author Douglas Clegg blends psychological action-suspense with a twist of psychic horror as he unlocks the dangerous corridors of the Darden State Hospital for Criminal Justice in southern California for the most terrifying mother-son murder team in history. "Bloody Mary" Chilmark is certifiable -- just ask her doctor. The Darden State Hospital is home to the most dangerous psychopathic killers in the country. But Bloody Mary got out, and raised her baby away from that bad environment. She kept him in a cage...where he began to see dead people, all the time. Especially the ghosts of those he's killed... What a mother she turned out to be -- raising her son, "Doc" with her traditional family values, which often involved surgery -- because her son just has a knack for cutting people open. But Doc's been arrested, processed and held at Darden State -- and is considered one of the most dangerous of the hospital's inmates. When wildfires burn out of control in Southern California, authorities face the overwhelming task of relocating hundreds of Darden's patients to other prison hospitals before the raging inferno descend In the frenzy, "Bloody Mary" finds her opportunity to free her son. It's up to Trey Campbell and officer Jane Laymon to hunt for the mother-son duo in the dark underworld maze of the old asylum beneath the hospital. The Criminally Insane Series: Book #1, Bad Karma Book #2, Red Angel Book #3, Night Cage Author Note: Night Cage was originally published under the author's pen name, Andrew Harper. Books by Douglas Clegg Afterlife Goat Dance Purity Dark of the Eye The Words Wild Things The Children's Hour The Criminally Insane Series: Bad Karma Red Angel Night Cage The Harrow Series: Nightmare House Mischief The Infinite The Abandoned The Hour Before Dark You Come When I Call You Naomi The Nightmare Chronicles The Machinery of Night Isis The Necromancer With more to come… Praise for Douglas Clegg's fiction "Clegg is the best horror writer of the post-Stephen King generation." -- Bentley Little, author of The Policy "Clegg delivers!" -- John Saul, bestselling author of Faces of Fear and The Devil's Labyrinth. "Douglas Clegg has become the new star in horror fiction." -- Peter Straub author of Lost Boy, Lost Girl and the New York Times Bestseller Black House (with Stephen King) "Clegg's stories can chill the spine so effectively that the reader should keep paramedics on standby." -- Dean Koontz "Clegg is one of the best!" -- Richard Laymon "Douglas Clegg is a weaver of nightmares!" -- Robert R. McCammon author of The Queen of Bedlam and Speaks The Nightbird.

Download or read book Goat Dance written by Douglas Clegg and published by Alkemara Press. This book was released on 1989-11-07 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From New York Times bestselling author Douglas Clegg comes a novel of heart-pounding suspense and supernatural horror. What secrets lie within the ancient place known as the Goat Dance? In winter, in the mountains, a darkness envelopes a town...a house on the edge of a lake holds the key to its horrifying secret. A Haunted Lake... Seven-year-old Teddy Amory should have died that winter's day on Clear Lake, when she fell through the ice while skating with her older brother, Jake. But something got inside her that day . . . something terrifying... A Town in Shadows... Nightmarish forces lurk in the mountains of Virginia, and darkness has begun to spread like a shroud over the living. Those long-dead return in nightmares. Does someone – or something -- control these horrifying visions from within the mysterious halls of the Marlowe-Houston House on the edge of Clear Lake? Now a young man named Coffey returns to Pontefract, Virginia, to find the woman he lost – and a town must face its terrifying past as a possessed child threatens to unleash an unspeakable horror. A terrifying chiller of a horror novel from a master of the fiction of nightmares. "Douglas Clegg is a weaver of nightmares...Goat Dance is a dark, mesmerizing delight." - Robert R. McCammon, author of Swan Song. "Clegg's stories can chill the spine so effectively that the reader should keep paramedics on standby."-- Dean Koontz. "Douglas Clegg knows exactly what scares us, and he knows just how to twist those fears into hair-raising chills..." - Tess Gerritsen, New York Times bestselling author of the Rizzoli & Isles series. Books by Douglas Clegg Afterlife The Hour Before Dark Breeder The Children's Hour Nightmare House Mischief Bad Karma Red Angel Night Cage The Necromancer Purity Dark of the Eye The Words Wild Things Praise for Douglas Clegg's Fiction "Clegg is the best horror writer of the post-Stephen King generation." -- Bentley Little, author of The Policy "Clegg delivers!"-- John Saul, bestselling author of Faces of Fear and The Devil's Labyrinth. "A master of the genre. Absolutely thrilling! Douglas Clegg is the future of dark fantasy."-- Sherrilyn Kenyon, New York Times bestselling author of the Dark-Hunters. "Douglas Clegg has become the new star in horror fiction." -- Peter Straub, author of the New York Times Bestseller Black House (with Stephen King) "Clegg is one of the best!" -- Richard Laymon

Download or read book Afterlife written by Douglas Clegg and published by Alkemara Press. This book was released on 2014-11-03 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In New York Times bestselling author Douglas Clegg's page-turning blend of psychic thriller and gothic mystery, a brutal murder ignites a series of dark, erotic, paranormal invasions. Who has returned from the afterlife? Julie Hutchinson believes someone's breaking into her house while she's asleep...while she's dreaming. A shadow presence comes in the night -- to her bedroom. Is it a psychic attack? A ghost? Or something even more terrifying? For fans of Dean Koontz, Stephen King and Gillian Flynn "Douglas Clegg's stories can chill the spine so effectively that the reader should keep paramedics on standby."— Dean Koontz, New York Times bestselling author of Watchers, Intensity and Odd Thomas. Afterlife is a full-length novel, in its hardcover form it was 356 pages. Don't miss other chilling bestsellers from Douglas Clegg, including The Children's Hour and The Hour Before Dark! "Clegg is the best horror writer of the post-Stephen King generation." -- Bentley Little, USA Today bestselling author of The Haunted and The Mailman. From the Publisher's Weekly Starred Review "Stoker-winner Clegg (The Hour Before Dark) has an uncanny ability to frighten readers by chronicling everyday characters' perilous descents into their own private hells. Julie Hutchinson mentally unravels after the brutal and mysterious murder...The book's final sentence is guaranteed to unnerve readers.." "Douglas Clegg knows exactly what scares us, and he knows just how to twist those fears into hair-raising chills..." - Tess Gerritsen, New York Times bestselling author of the Rizzoli & Isles series. Books by Douglas Clegg Afterlife Goat Dance Purity Dark of the Eye The Words Wild Things The Children's Hour The Criminally Insane Series: Bad Karma Red Angel Night Cage The Harrow Series: Nightmare House Mischief The Infinite The Abandoned The Hour Before Dark You Come When I Call You Naomi The Nightmare Chronicles The Machinery of Night Isis The Necromancer Praise for Douglas Clegg's fiction "Clegg is the best horror writer of the post-Stephen King generation." -- Bentley Little, USA Today bestselling author of The Haunted and The Mailman. "Douglas Clegg is a weaver of nightmares!" -- Robert R. McCammon, New York Times bestseller author of Swan Song and Stinger. "Clegg delivers!" -- John Saul, New York Times bestselling author of Faces of Fear and The Devil's Labyrinth. "Douglas Clegg has become the new star in horror fiction." -- Peter Straub, New York Times bestselling author of Ghost Story, and The Talisman and Black House (with Stephen King.) tags: horror, thriller, psychic, horror fiction, suspense, murder, crime, remote viewing, undead, ghost, haunting, erotic, nightmare, ghost

Download or read book There Will Come a Darkness written by Katy Rose Pool and published by Henry Holt and Company (BYR). This book was released on 2019-09-03 with total page 496 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Leigh Bardugo's Six of Crows meets Kristin Cashore's Graceling, with a dash of Winter is Coming, in this showstopping debut YA fantasy--and recipient of FOUR starred reviews! A Morris Award Finalist for best debut young adult novel! A Kirkus Best Book of the Year! A Tor.com Best YA SFF/Horror Book of the Year! "One of the most stunning debuts of the year." —Seventeen The Age of Darkness approaches. Five lives stand in its way. Who will stop it . . . or unleash it? For generations, the Seven Prophets guided humanity. Using their visions of the future, they ended wars and united nations—until the day, one hundred years ago, when the Prophets disappeared. All they left behind was one final, secret prophecy, foretelling an Age of Darkness and the birth of a new Prophet who could be the world’s salvation . . . or the cause of its destruction. With chaos on the horizon, five souls are set on a collision course: A prince exiled from his kingdom. A ruthless killer known as the Pale Hand. A once-faithful leader torn between his duty and his heart. A reckless gambler with the power to find anything or anyone. And a dying girl on the verge of giving up. One of them—or all of them—could break the world. Will they be savior or destroyer? Perfect for fans of Throne of Glass, Children of Blood and Bone, and An Ember in the Ashes. Praise for There Will Come a Darkness “A can’t miss debut from an exciting new talent.” –Kiersten White, New York Times bestselling author of Slayer “Even in a world filled with graces and prophets, the real magic of There Will Come a Darkness is in how Pool has crafted her heroes—messy, flawed, and so beguilingly human. I dare you not to fall madly in love with all of them.” —Laura Sebastian, New York Times bestselling author of Ash Princess * "A well-crafted, surprising, and gripping start to a new trilogy." —Kirkus Reviews, STARRED review

Download or read book Mystery Walk written by Robert McCammon and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2011-10-18 with total page 609 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An “impressive” tale of psychic power, Native American mysticism, and an ancient evil in Alabama, from the New York Times–bestselling author of Swan Song (Associated Press). Born and raised in rural Alabama, Billy Creekmore was destined to be a psychic. His mother, a Choctaw Indian schooled in her tribe’s ancient mysticism, understands the permeable barrier between life and death—and can cross it. She taught the power to Billy and now he helps the dead rest in peace. Wayne Falconer, son of one of the most fervent tent evangelists in the South, travels the country serving his father’s healing ministry. Using his unique powers to cure the flock, Little Wayne is on his way to becoming one of the popular and successful miracle workers in the country. He helps the living survive. Billy and Wayne share more than a gift. They share a dream—and a common enemy. They are on separate journeys, mystery walks that will lead them toward a crossroad where the evil of their dreams has taken shape. One of them will reject the dark. The other will be consumed by it. But neither imagined just how monstrous and far-reaching the dark was, or that mankind’s fate would rest in their hands during an epic showdown of good versus evil. From the author of Gone South, Boy’s Life, and the Matthew Corbett series, a master of suspense who has won the World Fantasy and Bram Stoker Awards, Mystery Walk offers “creepy, subtle touches throughout [and] splendid Southern-town atmosphere” (Kirkus Reviews).

Download or read book The Star Side of Bird Hill written by Naomi Jackson and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2016-08-23 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Two sisters are suddenly sent from their home in Brooklyn to Barbados to live with their grandmother, in Naomi Jackson’s stunning debut novel This lyrical novel of community, betrayal, and love centers on an unforgettable matriarchal family in Barbados. Two sisters, ages ten and sixteen, are exiled from Brooklyn to Bird Hill in Barbados after their mother can no longer care for them. The young Phaedra and her older sister, Dionne, live for the summer of 1989 with their grandmother Hyacinth, a midwife and practitioner of the local spiritual practice of obeah. Dionne spends the summer in search of love, testing her grandmother’s limits, and wanting to go home. Phaedra explores Bird Hill, where her family has lived for generations, accompanies her grandmother in her role as a midwife, and investigates their mother’s mysterious life. This tautly paced coming-of-age story builds to a crisis when the father they barely know comes to Bird Hill to reclaim his daughters, and both Phaedra and Dionne must choose between the Brooklyn they once knew and loved or the Barbados of their family. Naomi Jackson’s Barbados and her characters are singular, especially the wise Hyacinth and the heartbreaking young Phaedra, who is coming into her own as a young woman amid the tumult of her family. Praise for The Star Side of Bird Hill: “Once in a while, you’ll stumble onto a book like this, one so poetic in its descriptions and so alive with lovable, frustrating, painfully real characters, that your emotional response to it becomes almost physical. . . . The dual coming-of-age story alone could melt the sternest of hearts, but Jackson’s exquisite prose is a marvel too. . . . A gem of a book.” —Entertainment Weekly (A)

Download or read book The Fluency of Light written by Aisha Sabatini Sloan and published by University of Iowa Press. This book was released on 2013-03-15 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In these intertwined essays on art, music, and identity, Aisha Sabatini Sloan, the daughter of African American and Italian American parents, examines the experience of her mixed-race identity. Embracing the far-ranging stimuli of her media-obsessed upbringing, she grasps at news clippings, visual fragments, and lyrics from past and present in order to weave together a world of sense. Art in all forms guides the author toward understanding concepts like blackness, jazz, mortality, riots, space, time, self, and other without falling prey to the myth that all things must exist within a system of binaries. Recalling her awkward attempts at coolness during her childhood, Sabatini Sloan evokes Thelonious Monk’s stage persona as a metaphor for blackness. Through the conceptual art of Adrian Piper, the author is able to understand what is so quietly menacing about the sharp, clean lines of an art gallery where she works as an assistant. The result is a compelling meditation on identity and representation.

Download or read book On Girlhood 15 Stories from the Well Read Black Girl Library written by Glory Edim and published by Liveright Publishing. This book was released on 2021-10-26 with total page 211 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An NPR Best Book of the Year Proudly introducing the Well-Read Black Girl Library Series, On Girlhood is a lovingly curated anthology celebrating short fiction from such luminaries as Rita Dove, Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, and more. Featuring stories by: Jamaica Kincaid, Toni Morrison, Dorothy West, Rita Dove, Camille Acker, Toni Cade Bambara, Amina Gautier, Alexia Arthurs, Dana Johnson, Alice Walker, Gwendolyn Brooks, Edwidge Danticat, Shay Youngblood, Paule Marshall, and Zora Neale Hurston. “When you look over your own library, who do you see?” asks Well-Read Black Girl founder Glory Edim in this lovingly curated anthology. Bringing together an array of “unforgettable, and resonant coming-of-age stories” (Nicole Dennis-Benn), Edim continues her life’s work to brighten and enrich American reading lives through the work of both canonical and contemporary Black authors—from Jamaica Kincaid and Toni Morrison to Dana Johnson and Alexia Arthurs. Divided into four themes—Innocence, Belonging, Love, and Self-Discovery—On Girlhood features fierce young protagonists who contend with trials that shape who they are and what they will become. At times heartbreaking and hilarious, the stories within push past flat stereotypes and powerfully convey the beauty of Black girlhood, resulting in an indispensable compendium for every home library. “A compelling anthology that . . . results in a literary master class.” —Keishel Williams, Washington Post “A beautiful and comforting patchwork quilt of stories from our literary contemporaries and foremothers.” —Ibi Zoboi, New York Times best-selling coauthor of Punching the Air

Download or read book If He Had Been with Me written by Laura Nowlin and published by Sourcebooks, Inc.. This book was released on 2013-04-02 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If he had been with me everything would have been different... I wasn't with Finn on that August night. But I should've been. It was raining, of course. And he and Sylvie were arguing as he drove down the slick road. No one ever says what they were arguing about. Other people think it's not important. They do not know there is another story. The story that lurks between the facts. What they do not know—the cause of the argument—is crucial. So let me tell you...

Download or read book The Words written by Douglas Clegg and published by Alkemara Press. This book was released on 2014-11-06 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Douglas Clegg comes a short novel of friendship, terror, and the supernatural. When teenager Mark befriends outsider Dash, he believes his new friend to be an outcast rebel. But a dark mystery unfolds as Dash leads Mark into dangerous games and rituals involving stories of the occult and a strange drug that allows Dash to see into another world -- a world of absolute darkness and terror. “Your flesh will remember the words even if your mind forgets." A tale of teen alienation at the crossroads of darkness and absolute brotherhood, The Words will get under your skin...and stay with you long after the lights go out. Length: approx. 100 pages in print. "Clegg's stories can chill the spine so effectively that the reader should keep paramedics on standby." -- Dean Koontz "Clegg delivers!" -- John Saul "Douglas Clegg is one of the best!"-- Richard Laymon "Clegg is the best horror writer of the post-Stephen King generation!" -- Bentley Little

Download or read book Twisted Where Hope Grows Book 3 Coming Of Age Romance written by Third Cousins and published by Speedy Publishing LLC. This book was released on 2017-02-15 with total page 106 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jason has lost everything. He finally has the college to himself. There isn't anybody from his past to ruin the character he’s created for himself anymore. It’s just him. The funeral is only a few days away. He blames himself. He can hardly see through the darkness of the guilt he’s feeling. Then there’s Lisa. Lisa is the light in the darkness. Lisa is the way back to the daylight. Lisa is the girl that he’s always been looking for and he can't believe it’s taken him so long to realize that.

Download or read book Coming of Age in the Other America written by Stefanie DeLuca and published by Russell Sage Foundation. This book was released on 2016-04-19 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recent research on inequality and poverty has shown that those born into low-income families, especially African Americans, still have difficulty entering the middle class, in part because of the disadvantages they experience living in more dangerous neighborhoods, going to inferior public schools, and persistent racial inequality. Coming of Age in the Other America shows that despite overwhelming odds, some disadvantaged urban youth do achieve upward mobility. Drawing from ten years of fieldwork with parents and children who resided in Baltimore public housing, sociologists Stefanie DeLuca, Susan Clampet-Lundquist, and Kathryn Edin highlight the remarkable resiliency of some of the youth who hailed from the nation’s poorest neighborhoods and show how the right public policies might help break the cycle of disadvantage. Coming of Age in the Other America illuminates the profound effects of neighborhoods on impoverished families. The authors conducted in-depth interviews and fieldwork with 150 young adults, and found that those who had been able to move to better neighborhoods—either as part of the Moving to Opportunity program or by other means—achieved much higher rates of high school completion and college enrollment than their parents. About half the youth surveyed reported being motivated by an “identity project”—or a strong passion such as music, art, or a dream job—to finish school and build a career. Yet the authors also found troubling evidence that some of the most promising young adults often fell short of their goals and remained mired in poverty. Factors such as neighborhood violence and family trauma put these youth on expedited paths to adulthood, forcing them to shorten or end their schooling and find jobs much earlier than their middle-class counterparts. Weak labor markets and subpar postsecondary educational institutions, including exploitative for-profit trade schools and under-funded community colleges, saddle some young adults with debt and trap them in low-wage jobs. A third of the youth surveyed—particularly those who had not developed identity projects—were neither employed nor in school. To address these barriers to success, the authors recommend initiatives that help transform poor neighborhoods and provide institutional support for the identity projects that motivate youth to stay in school. They propose increased regulation of for-profit schools and increased college resources for low-income high school students. Coming of Age in the Other America presents a sensitive, nuanced account of how a generation of ambitious but underprivileged young Baltimoreans has struggled to succeed. It both challenges long-held myths about inner-city youth and shows how the process of “social reproduction”—where children end up stuck in the same place as their parents—is far from inevitable.