When trainer Frank "Black Machine" Whaley of View Point, Texas, dies of a heart attack in 1946, Elegant Raines, an eighteen-year-old black prizefighter, must find a new trainer. Raines calls on Leemore "Pee-Pot" Manners, a boxing trainer who lives in Longwood, West Virginia. Any honest man would say Pee-Pot knows more about boxing than anyone alive-whether that man is black or white.

Raines's goal is to become the heavyweight champion of the world. Under Pee-Pot's tutelage Raines wins not only the middleweight championship, but the light heavyweight championship, marking him as one of the greatest fighters of his time.

During his quest for the title, Raines falls in love with Gem Loving, a pastor's daughter whose father, Pastor Embry O. Loving, maintains a dim view of fighters. Gem must fight for Raines in ways her father will condemn.

"A Bigger Prize" tells a fictional story of the boxing world in the 1940s and what the sport meant to both blacks and whites of the time. It considers the question of whether Elegant Raines's "bigger prize" is the world's heavyweight championship-or something outside the ring more violent than boxing and its reward.

Fifty-two-year-old Maurice "Teardrop" Williams is a world famous blues man-singer, guitarist, and songwriter. But since Maureen, his wife of thirty years, died seven months ago, Teardrop has lost the joy he once found in performing music on the road with his band, the Tearmakers. With his light-blue guitar called Lillian, he returns home to Walker City, Iowa.

Finding it difficult and lonely to stay in the home he once shared with Maureen, he moves in with his daughter, Arlene, and his seven-year-old grandson, Jamal. Teardrop is devoted to Maureen's memory and counts on Arlene's and Jamal's companionship and support. It isn't until three years later, when twenty-five-year-old freelance journalist Ursula Jenkins arrives from New York City to interview Teardrop for an assignment, that his world begins to change.

Ursula comes away from the interview discovering things about herself she had not bargained for, including an attraction to this once-famous musician. As the relationship deepens, Arlene feels she must continue to protect her mother's place in her father's heart and tries to do what she can to put an end to Teardrop's and Ursula's partnership. The couple faces issues of age, family and loss, and only time will tell whether love really can conquer all things.

It is June 1925, the dawning of a new, spectacular riverboat season, and Noble Prince s Red-Hot Rhythm Band is set to play hot jazz on the Mississippi Walter Von Bulow, the owner of the Morning Queen, has recently discovered Lucinda Lucky Martinson. Lucky s a talented young jazz singer. Von Bulow hires her in the year 1925, to sing in Prince s band. But she s in New Orleans for other reasons: Lucky Martinson s on a personal quest to reconcile her past. Lucky s left Harlem and her boyfriend Tolliver Williams a fellow jazz musician Lucky s in love with. She s put her personal and professional life at risk in traveling to New Orleans, Louisiana to unbury truths and lies. Lucky s sucked further into New Orleans s network of mystery and intrigue once she uncovers these family secrets in a historical city where voodoo and superstition co-exist, and can destroy the people you love. Noble Prince nurtures Lucky s singing ambitions, but Victor Malreaux a young, dynamic trumpet player in the Prince band nurtures her soul. Victor falls in love with Lucky. But Victor Malreaux as well as Noble Prince are in for a rude awakening from Lucky Martinson; each for different reasons.

Sixty-eight-year-old Della Ballad has a bad heart, but she still has a healthy outlook on life. She's been suffering with heart disease for the last seven years; she has no intention of letting it beat her. Della plans to fight has hard as she can.

But heart disease isn't the only battle taking place. Since childhood, Della's daughter, Margaret, and Della's niece, Darlene Winston, have been fighting for Della's love. The illness has only made the situation worse. Their rivalry has permeated the Ballad family, and Della's greatest fear is that it will destroy them when she dies. Both Margaret and Darlene will have to abide by the directives in Della's last will and testament, a will the women believe will finally confirm whom Della loved more.

Della's Deed examines the complex relationships found in a family structure and shows how resentment and jealousy can break a family apart, only to find common threads in reuniting for the better.

Sometimes, fate just has it out for you. Shirley Cox has beaten the odds to create a successful career in the insurance industry. She and her fifteen-year-old son, Trumain, are living a comfortable life filled with promise. Shirley is proud of her son-a bright, hardworking, and ambitious young man who has earned his place on the honor roll. But in a heartbeat, everything changes. Shirley loses her job, and the family is forced to move to Clifton Heights, a crime-ridden, drug-infested part of town, where neither belongs. Trumain, struggling to find his way in this new world, begins to make decisions that worry his mother. When he befriends a star athlete named Lark, a boy who is banking on his brawn as his ticket to a new life, Shirley is concerned. The friendship eventually leads Trumain to make life-threatening decisions about the relationship with Lark. Incapable of controlling his temper, Lark is thrown off the basketball team for fighting, and the new best friends must depend on one another for support. Unable to rise above the conditions in his environment, Lark becomes a part of the drug culture he hates. Meanwhile, Trumain fights for his friend and is soon tested in order to survive conditions they both feel powerless to control. Hard Ground examines the impossible choices people make to survive and how friendship can be the most powerful weapon against despair and fate.

Largely isolated from the world for more than four decades, Myanmar has made a remarkable return to the global stage following a political transformation that represents a watershed moment in the country's history. Now, for the first time ever, the rich culture, stunning landscapes and diverse peoples of the country are presented in a unique visual time capsule. Here is the new Myanmar as seen over a single week by a team of thirty famous photographers from eleven different countries. Their mission? To capture the life and spirit of Myanmar from every angle in every corner of the country.

Sometimes, fate just has it out for you. Shirley Cox has beaten the odds to create a successful career in the insurance industry. She and her fifteen-year-old son, Trumain, are living a comfortable life filled with promise. Shirley is proud of her son-a bright, hardworking, and ambitious young man who has earned his place on the honor roll. But in a heartbeat, everything changes. Shirley loses her job, and the family is forced to move to Clifton Heights, a crime-ridden, drug-infested part of town, where neither belongs. Trumain, struggling to find his way in this new world, begins to make decisions that worry his mother. When he befriends a star athlete named Lark, a boy who is banking on his brawn as his ticket to a new life, Shirley is concerned. The friendship eventually leads Trumain to make life-threatening decisions about the relationship with Lark. Incapable of controlling his temper, Lark is thrown off the basketball team for fighting, and the new best friends must depend on one another for support. Unable to rise above the conditions in his environment, Lark becomes a part of the drug culture he hates. Meanwhile, Trumain fights for his friend and is soon tested in order to survive conditions they both feel powerless to control. Hard Ground examines the impossible choices people make to survive and how friendship can be the most powerful weapon against despair and fate.

When trainer Frank "Black Machine" Whaley of View Point, Texas, dies of a heart attack in 1946, Elegant Raines, an eighteen-year-old black prizefighter, must find a new trainer. Raines calls on Leemore "Pee-Pot" Manners, a boxing trainer who lives in Longwood, West Virginia. Any honest man would say Pee-Pot knows more about boxing than anyone alive-whether that man is black or white.

Raines's goal is to become the heavyweight champion of the world. Under Pee-Pot's tutelage Raines wins not only the middleweight championship, but the light heavyweight championship, marking him as one of the greatest fighters of his time.

During his quest for the title, Raines falls in love with Gem Loving, a pastor's daughter whose father, Pastor Embry O. Loving, maintains a dim view of fighters. Gem must fight for Raines in ways her father will condemn.

"A Bigger Prize" tells a fictional story of the boxing world in the 1940s and what the sport meant to both blacks and whites of the time. It considers the question of whether Elegant Raines's "bigger prize" is the world's heavyweight championship-or something outside the ring more violent than boxing and its reward.

Fifty-two-year-old Maurice "Teardrop" Williams is a world famous blues man-singer, guitarist, and songwriter. But since Maureen, his wife of thirty years, died seven months ago, Teardrop has lost the joy he once found in performing music on the road with his band, the Tearmakers. With his light-blue guitar called Lillian, he returns home to Walker City, Iowa.

Finding it difficult and lonely to stay in the home he once shared with Maureen, he moves in with his daughter, Arlene, and his seven-year-old grandson, Jamal. Teardrop is devoted to Maureen's memory and counts on Arlene's and Jamal's companionship and support. It isn't until three years later, when twenty-five-year-old freelance journalist Ursula Jenkins arrives from New York City to interview Teardrop for an assignment, that his world begins to change.

Ursula comes away from the interview discovering things about herself she had not bargained for, including an attraction to this once-famous musician. As the relationship deepens, Arlene feels she must continue to protect her mother's place in her father's heart and tries to do what she can to put an end to Teardrop's and Ursula's partnership. The couple faces issues of age, family and loss, and only time will tell whether love really can conquer all things.