Showing results by narrator "Brian Holden" in All Categories

On a humid summer day in Alabama, a mayor’s wife turns up brutally murdered under a railroad bridge. Standing next to her body is fourteen-year-old Mason Hill, the autistic son of former Miss USA Genevieve Hill. The locals are quick to level their verdict on young Mason: he did it. The town detective calls in local autism expert Casey Walker to consult on the case. At first, Casey tries to keep an open mind. But the more time she spends with Genevieve, the more her unease grows, and she suspects that Genevieve is doing more than just protecting her son.

Since his wife, Michelle, left seven years ago, Jeffy Coltrane has worked to maintain a normal life for himself and his 11-year-old daughter, Amity, in Suavidad Beach. It’s a quiet life, until a local eccentric known as Spooky Ed shows up on their doorstep. Ed entrusts Jeffy with hiding a strange and dangerous object - something he calls “the key to everything” - and tells Jeffy that he must never use the device. But after a visit from a group of ominous men, Jeffy and Amity find themselves accidentally activating the key and discovering an extraordinary truth.

Dive into the ghostly world of the supernatural with America's leading paranormal investigator. Featuring expert advice on picking a haunted location, setting up cameras, and dealing with unwieldy ghosts, this book shows how today's investigators use the tools of modern science to study a wide range of paranormal activity.    

This book will inspire you to: control the negotiation before you enter the room; persuade others to do what you want - for their own reasons; manage emotions on both sides of the table; understand the rules of negotiating across cultures; set the stage for a healthy relationship long after the ink has dried; and identify what you can live with and when to walk away.

Become a digital-first organization. If you read (or listen) to nothing else on leading digital transformation, listen to these 10 articles. We've combed through hundreds of Harvard Business Review articles and selected the most important ones to help revitalize your offerings and processes, stay ahead of disruptors and technology shifts, and manage the necessary cultural change.  

When my best friend Josie asked me to cover for her new job, I didn't hesitate. I'm nice like that. The plan: Meet the rich client. Take notes of their measurements and fashion tastes. Then hand over to Josie. Job done. But Josie didn't tell me the client is six-foot-four Hollywood hunk, Blaze Hopkins. My ultimate onscreen crush. I can't stop my face glowing red as I wrap the tape measure around his hot body. When he asks me questions, I reply with squeaks and giggles. Total fangirl move.

Companies have no idea if collaboration benefits corporate performance, individual productivity, or employee well-being. Collaboration, that seemingly Good Thing all companies encourage, is creating an epidemic of overload and burnout. It crushes our vitality and well-being, prevents us from being innovative, and blocks our companies from being the most successful organizations they could be. 

Two dozen tales of future shock and twisted history from an undisputed king of cyberpunk science fiction, including Nebula Award finalists “Sunken Garden” and “Dori Bangs.” 

The kingdom has warred with the Vard long enough. Having gone with the Servant of the Vard, Ashan hopes to end that violence. First, he must find himself—even if it means coming to understand the strange Vard magic. When he finds an ancient and dangerous threat unlike anything he's ever encountered that once spread throughout the Vard lands, he begins to understand his enemy. As Ashan discovers the threat might still be active, he learns the truth behind the Vard actions and their hatred of dragons. What can he do if the threat has already spread to his people?

Middle school is hard. Solving cases for the FBI is even harder. Doing both at the same time - well, that's just crazy. But that doesn't stop Florian Bates! Get to know the only kid on the FBI director's speed dial - and several international criminals' most wanted lists - in this adventurous series that School Library Journal says combines "elements of Alex Rider, James Bond, and Sherlock Holmes". 

When a tween boy (Codename: Furious Popcorn) picks up what he thinks is a cookbook and finds a diabolical parenting manual, his world turns upside down. The Ultimate Guide to Hacking Your Kids was written by an organization called F.A.R.T. (Families Against Rotten Teens), a secret society of grizzled parents whose origins date back to antiquity.

Life on the farm at the edge of the kingdom is anything but routine for Ashan. The plains around Berestal suffer from severe storms, making travel to the city difficult, with the threat of an attack from the people of Vard always looming. He long ago abandoned dreams of serving as a dragon rider, caring for his injured father and brother, but everything is about to change.

Ezra wakes one day to find his sister gone. No note, no sign, nothing but an email address hidden somewhere only he would find it. Escaping their toxic home life, Bea finds herself alone in a new city - without friends, without a real plan - chasing someone who might not even want to be found. As things unravel at home for Ezra, Bea confronts secrets about their past that will forever change the way they think about their family. Separated by distance but connected by love, this brother and sister must learn to trust themselves before they can find a way back to each other.

Ashan has saved his homeland, but the threat from the king—along with Ashan's mentor—remains. The price for saving Berestal was high. His once recovered brother is now debilitated again, while his sister struggles to connect to Affelah, leaving Ashan to wonder what path he should take. When the king threatens the Wilds, Ashan must discover the truth of a land long ignored, as it might be the key to stopping the king and the spread of the dangerous power of the murtar. 

The work of Stanley Kubrick amounts to a sustained reflection on the male condition: past, present, and future. The persistent theme of his filmmaking is less violence or sex than it is the pressurized exertion of masculinity in unusual or extreme circumstances, where it may be taxed or exaggerated to various effects, tragic and comic—or metamorphosed, distorted, and even undone.

The house on Old Mill Road has stood in an open field for longer than Jesse Wells has been alive, its crooked windows and jutting turret tormenting the kids of Warsaw, Michigan the way only a haunted house knows how. Everyone imagines that something terrible lurks within the house’s abandoned rooms - especially Jesse and his two closest friends, Casey and Reed. But when Reed chooses the house as a backdrop for his own suicide, childhood ghost stories are transformed into a nightmare that sends Jesse into a downward spiral of grief.  

Ashan has returned to the Vard lands, becoming what his people claim him to be: a traitor. Now that he's connected to the power of Affellah, the king will stop at nothing to bring him back. That includes attacking Ashan's home and those he cares about. Once again, he must leave the Vard lands before he can fully understand the power of Affellah. Saving his people has already meant betrayal. Can he still find a way to be their Servant?

In Living Like You Mean It, author Ronald J. Frederick does a brilliant job of describing why people are so afraid of their emotions and how this fear creates a variety of problems in their lives. While the problems are different, the underlying issue is often the same. At the core of their distress is what Dr. Frederick refers to as feelings phobia. Whether it's the experience of love, joy, anger, sadness, or surprise, our inborn ability to be a fully feeling person has been hijacked by fear - and it's fear that's keeping us from a better life.

After stopping two attacks on the kingdom, Ashan yearns to master his connection to the dragons and finally serve as a dragon mage. He has connected to a cycle of dragons, but he's still only a student and doesn't understand what it truly means to be a dragon mage.

Josephine Barnes wrote every day to her beloved fiancé battling in the trenches of the Great War. Devastated when he’s killed in action, she vows never to marry and buries her grief in the construction of the town’s first library. But she’s left breathless when she receives a request from a gracious gentleman to visit and return the letters containing her declarations of desire. Philip Baker survived the war, but returned home burdened with a secret. Though he knows it’s wrong, he can’t stop reading the beautiful sentiments left among his slain comrade’s possessions.