Sound Design, Dialogue Editing

Sound Design, Dialogue Editing

Written by: Brandon Novak & Joe Frantz
Narrated by: Brandon Novak

“Skate, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll!”—Kat Von D, LA Ink

“Entertaining, shocking, crazy, unimaginable.”—Bam Margera

Skateboarder and Jackass star Brandon Novak comes clean about his crazy rise to fame, tailspin into addiction, and other death-defying stunts on the road to recovery...

At seven, Brandon was a skateboard prodigy. By the time he was fourteen, he was living the dream. Discovered by skate legends Bucky Lasek and Tony Hawk. Touring the U.S. with the elite Powell-Peralta team. Signing autographs and appearing in films and magazines. Brandon had it all. Then he got hooked on heroin.

Soon the up-and-coming star was living a down-and-out life in a garage, begging for change, and hustling to score his next fix. He stole from his family and friends. He pushed the fantasy that everything was okay, that he was going to rehab, getting help, and getting better. But it was all a lie.

This is the story of an addict—a dreamseller who stopped believing the lies he was selling and started believing in himself. With the help of his celebrity buddy Bam Margera of Jackass fame, Brandon joined the cast of MTV’s Viva La Bam and made an honest reach for sobriety. The road was hard, and he had some falls. But like any great skateboarder, Brandon Novak was always determined to get up again . . .

Written by: Joe Frantz & Brandon Novak
Narrated by: Brandon Novak

The Streets of Baltimore by Brandon Novak is a memoir that goes back to Brandon’s roots. As a Baltimore native, this story starts at the beginning, when things first began to go downhill for the skateboard prodigy. The book opens with his expulsion from high school and follows the high school dropout’s life of addiction and his eventual rise to stardom on MTV’s show Viva La Bam.

The Streets of Baltimore is an honest depiction of Brandon’s time as a down and out addict hustling to survive and stay high in Charm City. It recounts the crack houses, dope dens, drug-tortured love triangles, and run-ins with cops that made regular appearances in Brandon’s life during his struggle with addiction.

Although Brandon’s heroin addiction was consuming him, his childhood friend and Jackass alumnus Bam Margera helped him rise to MTV fame. The junkie was now living a life of fame, fortune, and prestige, but it was all a lie.

From the outside, Brandon Novak looked like he had it all, but behind the scenes, he had never been so broken down. His addiction hadn’t gotten any better and his mental health was on the decline. The young T.V. star struggled with thoughts of killing himself even though, from an outsider’s perspective, he appeared to have “made it.” In reality, his fast rise to fame was quickly followed by a self-destructive, downward spiral.

Eventually, after becoming homeless, several overdoses, and more than a few inpatient treatment programs, Brandon Novak was able to get sober. The Streets of Baltimore is his story of the many ups and downs along the way as a struggling heroin addict hustling on the streets of Baltimore. His book offers hope to those struggling with addiction themselves and who believe they may never be able to escape this disease. If Brandon Novak was able to get sober, you can too.

Written & Narrated by: Anna Goldfarb

From the “Friendship Explainer,” a definitive step-by-step guide to understanding the fundamental mechanics of friendship

Modern friendships can be painfully ambiguous. But they don’t have to be. Journalist Anna Goldfarb has your back. “It’s understandable if your friendships are floundering. You’re up against historically new forces that we, as a culture, have no precedent for navigating,” she says. With Modern Friendship, Anna shares a manual for understanding what is pushing our friendships to the brink and provides actionable advice for forming authentic, enduring connections today.

It’s never been easier to shed friendships, which is precisely why we need a new approach to keeping them strong. Anna argues that we need to update our approach to friendships in a way that accounts for the hyper-fluid society we live in. The key to forming a lasting bond is what Anna calls “Wholehearted Friendship”―proven strategies to enhance enthusiastic connection.

Blending keen insights, cutting-edge social research, and intuitive practical tools, she invites you to explore:

• Why modern friendships are so ambiguous―and how to get clarity
• How desire influences friend selection, why friendships fail, and how to hone your friendship intuition
• Mattering to others―establishing boundaries, being flexible, having fun, and setting up your friendships for success
• Tools for the tough times―exercises, prompts, scripts, and advice on keeping friendships active even when life gets hectic
• Practicing Wholehearted Friendship―how to be caring, curious, appreciative, and supportive to a friend in any situation
• Trying a 14-day Friendship Cleanse―two weeks of actionable advice to clarify your wishes in friendship and strengthen your connections, both old and new

Grasping the mechanics of friendships will liberate you from the prison of self-doubt. “Your friendships are precious. They’re vital. They matter. So let’s understand, cultivate, and harness their incredible power,” says Anna. With Modern Friendship, you’ll discover how to be a more self-assured and empowered friend to the most meaningful people in your life. Let Anna show you how.

Written & Narrated By: Andy Crouch

A deeply reflective primer on creating meaningful connections, rebuilding abundant communities, and living in a way that engages our full humanity in an age of unprecedented anxiety and loneliness—from the author of The Tech-Wise Family

“Andy Crouch shows the path to reclaiming a life that restores the heart of what it means to thrive.”—Arthur C. Brooks, #1 New York Times bestselling author of From Strength to Strength

Our greatest need is to be recognized—to be seen, loved, and embedded in rich relationships with those around us. But for the last century, we’ve displaced that need with the ease of technology. We’ve dreamed of mastery without relationship (what the premodern world called magic) and abundance without dependence (what Jesus called Mammon). Yet even before a pandemic disrupted that quest, we felt threatened and strangely out of place: lonely, anxious, bored amid endless options, oddly disconnected amid infinite connections.

Written & Narrated by: Dr Sarita T. Lyons

NATIONAL BESTSELLER Reignite your purpose in Christ, restore your dignity, heal your pain, transform your rest, and learn how to flourish in today’s secular world as a Black Christian woman—from Bible teacher, speaker, and psychotherapist Dr. Sarita Lyons.

“Masterfully intertwines the narratives of Scripture with the lived experiences of Black women, addressing with great wisdom the challenges we face.”—Lisa Fields, CEO of Jude 3 Project and author of When Faith Disappoints

Black women are the hidden figures in the church. Despite at times being rendered invisible, uninvited, and unprotected in a racist and sexist world, they are valued image-bearers and influential instruments in God’s redemptive plan.

Church Girl invites you, as a Black woman, on a journey from the garden to the present day. Your unique story as a Black woman lies within the grand narrative of Scripture, and the message of the gospel is the light, lens, and love you need to help you see and live as God intends.

Church Girl helps answer some of your most internal pressing questions:

How do I understand my identity in light of Scripture?
How should I think about my purpose?
How can I thrive despite the opposition from racism and sexism?
How are Black women hurt in the church and how can I heal?
Why am I always exhausted from working and where can I find real peace and rest?
How can I flourish in a secular world and live out my faith with conviction and integrity?

With compassion and wisdom, Dr. Sarita Lyons invites Black women to tackle the unique issues they face in the church with prophetic boldness, priestly compassion, a church leader’s wisdom, a counselor's insight, and a sister's relatability and love.

Written & Narrated by: Kermit Roosevelt III

Our idea of the Founders’ America and its values is not true. We are not the heirs of the Founders, but we can be the heirs of Reconstruction and its vision for equality.

There’s a common story we tell about America: that our fundamental values as a country were stated in the Declaration of Independence, fought for in the Revolution, and made law in the Constitution. But, with the country increasingly divided, this story isn’t working for us anymore—what’s more, it’s not even true.

As Kermit Roosevelt argues in this eye-opening reinterpretation of the American story, our fundamental values, particularly equality, are not part of the vision of the Founders. Instead, they were stated in Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and were the hope of Reconstruction, when it was possible to envision the emergence of the nation committed to liberty and equality.

We face a dilemma these days. We want to be honest about our history and the racism and oppression that Americans have both inflicted and endured. But we want to be proud of our country, too. In The Nation That Never Was, Roosevelt shows how we can do both those things by realizing we’re not the country we thought we were.

Reconstruction, Roosevelt argues, was not a fulfillment of the ideals of the Founding but rather a repudiation: we modern Americans are not the heirs of the Founders but of the people who overthrew and destroyed that political order. This alternate understanding of American identity opens the door to a new understanding of ourselves and our story, and ultimately to a better America.

America today is not the Founders’ America, but it can be Lincoln’s America. Roosevelt offers a powerful and inspirational rethinking of our country’s history and uncovers a shared past that we can be proud to claim and use as a foundation to work toward a country that fully embodies equality for all.

Written by: David Stabler
Narrated by: Amanda Damron

How did a peanut farmer from a small town in Georgia become the 39th President of the United States? Find out in this addition to the #1 New York Times best-selling Who Was? series!

Everyone was rather surprised when small-town farmer Jimmy Carter first announced that he’d be running for president in 1976. When Jimmy told his mother, she replied, “President of what?” But this former naval officer and governor of Georgia was ready for the role.

Jimmy Carter went on to become one of America’s most beloved political figures thanks to his honesty, strong faith, and compassion. Today, Jimmy Carter is remembered for his dedication to helping Americans through his extensive work as a philanthropist. He and his wife, Rosalynn, volunteered with Habitat for Humanity, building houses for the less fortunate and inspiring others to a life of service.

Who Was Jimmy Carter? details the entire life of Jimmy Carter, beginning with his 1924 birth in Plains, Georgia. Listeners will learn about his life as a peanut farmer, a Sunday school teacher, a president, a Nobel Prize winner, and more.

Written & Narrated by: Mindie Barnett

Softness is a superpower so many mistakenly suppress, but flaunting femininity at work and in life will lead you to higher peaks and bring in more allegiant masculinity every time.

In a world of “Me Too,” women are struggling with the notion of softness and empathy while living up to the strong-suiter persona in order to win at work. Compassion and femininity are superpowers, and toughness and fear will never earn trust and loyalty in the workplace or in life. While many women fight to put on their best “bitch face,” they should simply slip on a smile instead.

In her book, Mindie Barnett explores her own experiences working for the “devil” in that famous book of Prada and how she constructed her company on the complete opposite premise than leading with fear. Instead, she embraces her femininity and steers her team with a sense of warmth and compassion without losing her competitive edge. Learn how to create camaraderie with your competition, inspire your team to soar, and rock a haute shade of lipstick while doing it.