Showing results by narrator "Ax Norman" in All Categories

Towering aloof and secure, the isolated fortress offers humankind a place to survive and flourish in the barren realm of Icereach. Even the elven Messenger Kerrick Fallabrine has made a home there, living among the humans and teaching them a multitude of skills. But the ogre enemies are always near, and they have developed a powerful weapon, a destructive magic encased within a sphere of solid gold. Its existence forces the humans to confront the threat of extinction that lurks outside their walls.

The tree is decorated, the cookies are baked, and the packages are wrapped, but the biggest celebration this Christmas is Gaby Summerhill's wedding. Since her husband died three years ago, Gaby's four children have drifted apart, each consumed by the turbulence of their own lives. They haven't celebrated Christmas together since their father's death, but when Gaby announces that she's getting married - and that the groom will remain a secret until the wedding day - she may finally be able to bring them home for the holidays. But the wedding isn't Gaby's only surprise....

While the Elven Exiles struggle for survival in the distant kingdom of Khur, the elves remaining in Qualinesti face persecution, enslavement, and extermination. Amid great suffering and unrelieved evil, a rebel leader - masked, anonymous, and with strange powers - appears, determined to cleanse the land of invaders.Meanwhile, Kerianseray, the Lioness, Kagonesti general and wife of Speaker Gilthas, finds herself magically transported from certain death in Khur to equally dire straits in her former homeland.

For most of us, traveling means visiting the most beautiful places on Earth - Paris, the Taj Mahal, the Grand Canyon. It’s rare to book a plane ticket to visit the lifeless moonscape of Canada’s oil sand strip mines, or to seek out the Chinese city of Linfen, legendary as the most polluted in the world. But in Visit Sunny Chernobyl, Andrew Blackwell embraces a different kind of travel, taking a jaunt through the most gruesomely polluted places on Earth.

Thorbardin remains closed against the world as two violent factions of dwarves clash in a brutal civil war. Neither side can prevail, and violence threatens destruction of the entire kingdom. Brandon Bluestone returns home to Kayolin to find himself a wanted fugitive. His nation has changed drastically since his departure. Bolstered by the courage of a beautiful dwarf priestess, he battles an ancient enemy, struggles to right a great wrong, and tries to take the only step that allows for a peaceful and prosperous future for all the dwarves of Krynn.

The remaining free elves of Ansalon have come together at last in the shunned valley of Inath-Wakenti. While the disfigured genius Porthios wants to lead a crusade to free the elves' ancestral homelands, the rightful ruler of the elven nation, Gilthas, dreams of establishing a new homeland in the haunted valley. To do that he will have to solve the riddle of the ancient ruins dotting the landscape, the curse that prevents animals from living in the valley, and deal with swarms of ghosts lurking behind every tree and stone.

Utilizing a series of essays examining the broad philosophical concepts embedded in Rod Serling's series, The Twilight Zone, Philosophy in The Twilight Zone provides a platform for further philosophical discussion.

Ethan Faulkner is a precocious child with a brilliant but troublesome sister, a war vet for a father, and a weary mother trying to manage their family. One night a young woman rings their doorbell, desperate to hide from two men who are pursuing her, when one of the two barges in after her. The struggle leaves both of Ethan's parents dead. Years later, Ethan has a successful teaching career and a budding relationship with a coworker. But he hasn't quite followed through on his promise to his dying father - to take care of his sister. Susannah is not an easy person to keep tabs on....

Marriage and relationships are in crisis. The breakup and divorce rates remain incredibly high, despite all the couples therapy, afternoon talk shows, and other books in the marketplace, many of which describe men as abusive commitment-phobic creeps who'd better change fast or else. But this book is totally different: a whole different way of looking at how to build a successful long-lasting relationship from a man's point of view - men who are happy in their partnerships, who have figured out what works for them in accomplishing the goal of a loving, intimate, lifetime commitment.

Brandon Bluestone has finally cleared his family’s name and rallied the nation of dwarves. Now one great task remains to him: he must open up the greatest of the dwarf nations, Thorbardin, which has been sealed against the outside world by the edict of a mad king. Aided by Gretchan Pax, a mighty priestess, Brandon leads an army to the north gate of Thorbardin. The hill dwarves and mountain dwarves strive to bury longstanding enmity and form an uneasy alliance against the King of Thorbardin and his potent magical minions.

The first book to reveal how thinking like a designer can help solve the greatest challenges we face in business, society, and our daily lives. What can we learn from the ways great designers think-and how can it improve our world? In this highly original book by journalist Warren Berger, in collaboration with celebrated designer Bruce Mau, ten groundbreaking principles of design are shown in action-addressing business, social, and personal challenges and improving the way we think, work, and live.

Shrouded in ice, the stronghold of the ogres has stood for eons as an impregnable bastion of the Icereach. But now Strongwind Whalebone, king of the Highlanders, has been imprisoned in the ogre fortress. Outside its walls, a band of his compatriots plots his rescue. Within the fortress, ogre king Grimwar Bane faces royal treachery and desperate revolt. It is time for the ogre king to decide if the greater threat lies outside Winterheim - or within.

University of Miami football is more than national championships, 30-game winning streaks, and being a pipeline to the NFL. It’s the Gator Flop, defeating Tulane on a fifth down, and playing three games in eight days. It’s converting third and 44 against Notre Dame, Michael Irvin talking smack with Florida State’s Deion Sanders, and Vinny Testaverde being sacked by hamburgers.

Perhaps the 19th century's best book on Wall Street, Fifty Years in Wall Street provides a fascinating look at the financial markets during a period of rapid economic expansion.

Terry Giles has lived a classic-American success story. By 30, he had built one of the largest criminal defense firms in Southern California and had generated tens of millions in revenue working with high-profile clients. By 34, he had left the legal profession and had achieved even greater success as an entrepreneur, seemingly overnight. But as Giles observes in The Fifteen Percent, no one goes through life without facing serious obstacles.

An estimated 32 to 48 million Americans and many more worldwide have IBS, or think they have it. This audiobook presents groundbreaking insights into the cause of IBS that have led to the recognition of and testing for a new disease, allergic contact enteritis, that can help and in many cases cure people who carry a diagnosis of IBS.

As the pace of change accelerates and the volume of information explodes, we're under great pressure to connect just in time with the people and ideas we need to thrive. But we can no longer plan our way to success - there will always be factors beyond our control. This uncertainty, however, cultivates one of today's key drivers of success: serendipity. More than blind luck, serendipity can produce quantifiable results: breakthrough ideas, relationships that matter, effortless cooperation, synchronized market timing, and more.

Are Tea Party supporters merely a group of conservative citizens concerned about government spending? Or are they racists who refuse to accept Barack Obama as their president because he's not white? Change They Can't Believe In offers an alternative argument--that the Tea Party is driven by the reemergence of a reactionary movement in American politics that is fueled by a fear that America has changed for the worse.

Forty million people in the US have tried Internet dating, which means 40 million people have probably gone on some pretty crappy dates. Not a Match: My True Tales of Online Dating Disasters is about one guy who experienced more than his fair share. Brian Donovan, a writer and comedian whose work has appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, NPR, and Chapelle's Show, has been on over 100 Internet dates in a genuine search for love and happiness.

Sam Moses, a motorsports writer for Sports Illustrated, was assigned to go racing and write about what happened. Fast Guys, Rich Guys, and Idiots is a personal odyssey that peers over the cliff of change and into the pit of obsession. From small-time races to glittery grands prix, it lays bare the greed, lust, and desperation of every driver for time behind the wheel and a faster car. It explains the perfectionism behind taking a turn at the limit and describes the intoxicating thrill of stealing down the Daytona backstraight at nearly 200 miles an hour.