We’re the ones who walk into your house, into your emergency, into your life that will never be the same. 

When we walk out, we’re never quite the same either.

In this debut collection of essays, Pace tells of his years as a career paramedic—wandering through the highs and the lows, the saves and the losses, the patients he remembers, and the ones he tries to forget.

In 1997, Pace began his career as an EMT because he wanted to do something exciting. He wanted to help people too. And he thought those two things—excitement and helping people—would exist hand in hand. With a little sprinkle of glory thrown in for good measure.

Twenty-three years and thousands of calls later—as an EMT, then paramedic, working in a helicopter and on the ground—he still hasn’t stumbled onto any glory, and he’s tired of the excitement. But some nights, even now, he finds scraps of humanity—beautiful pieces in the broken-up mosaic of the world.

***

Praise from Kevin Hazzard, author of A Thousand Naked Strangers: A Paramedic’s Wild Ride to the Edge and Back

Hilarious, tragic, and absolutely unforgettable—just like the job itself. Pulse thrums with a kinetic blast, yet chooses all the right moments to slow it down and let us feel the gravity of the situation. And while it’s said the best couples finish each other’s sentences, James and JK write them. I’ve read harrowing and comic stories of life in an ambulance, but never one where the spouse interjects to scoop up lost details or flip the perspective. The effect is magic.

“I’m not going to try it,” I said.

“You’ll like it,” she argued.

“I know I’ll like it,” I said. “That’s why I’m not going to try it.”

“Try it just this once and I’ll never ask you to do it again.”

That WAS a deal. I slipped back into the driver’s seat while Pat corn-rowed two neat lines of the silky white powder on the back of a plastic cassette tape cover.

Fifteen hundred dollars every month, an abusive boyfriend, a molested child, a lost family, hotels for houses, a ruined leg, a gun to my head, a knife to my butt, a jail cell all my own. Black eyes, bruised days, broken hours. Looking back, it seems strange what I gave up to get my roommate off my back.

It only took four seconds.

***

In her debut memoir, Andrade tells of her years with cocaine and crystal methamphetamines—using, then selling—until all she had left of the life she wanted was a chalk outline and a pack of cigarettes. This is the story of her use and recovery, of the people who frustrated and inspired her, of her decision to leave the drug world.

It is the story of her slow, often unsteady walk home.

Impoverished human Pietre doesn’t hesitate to rescue a desperate puppy. Unaware that his actions have both prophetic and legal consequences, the boy takes the dog to his village to nurse it back to health. But when the authorities show up on his front doorstep, Pietre is horrified when his dad is jailed under pain of death.

Werewolf prince Wittendon wants to measure up to the expectations of his father, the king. So when he’s dispatched to deal with an illegal wolf-dog hybrid harbored by a human, the young noble is determined to enforce the law. But when he makes the arrest, the royal shifter is shocked to discover a loving bond missing from his own people.

To save his father, Pietre must partner with the ruling entities who want him and his family dead. And when Wittendon discovers the existence of a secret rebel faction within the kingdom, he’s forced to decide whether he values love over order.

Can a prince and a pauper unite to bring balance to wolves and humanity?

Grey Stone is an enchanting YA epic fantasy novel. If you like admirable characters, imaginative details, and coming-of-age stories, then you’ll adore Jean Knight Pace and Jacob Kennedy’s extraordinary tale.

Despite the perks of living with her rich aunt, Ella’s new life in Napper, Indiana, is pretty much tragically boring.

Until Ella starts hearing strange voices.

As rogue wolves begin to stalk the edges of town and a serial killer with a penchant for silver bullets draws closer, the city of Napper seems to wake up.

Ella, with her new friends, Sam and Sarah, might be able to find out what the strange occurrences mean. Except that they’re all being pulled in different directions by people who love them; and some who don’t. Before they lose their way to the whispers they hear from the past, or the call to a future they’re not sure they want to create, the friends will need to confront who they really are and figure out what’s hiding in the silence of their sleepy little town.