Showing results by narrator "Collins" in All Categories

Why does everything have to be so complicated? How's a guy supposed to run a spacetime shelter, save everybody, and still loot everything that isn't nailed down? And, most importantly, will Sergey ever make it to Berlin? There's only one way to find out!

Michael Ruhlman, author of best-selling books about professional cooking and chefs and best-selling cookbooks with such chefs as Thomas Keller, Eric Ripert, and Michael Symon, turns his reporter's eye and engaging style on himself to answer the question "how on earth did I get here?" In an unlikely and unplanned series of chance connections, and work often motivated primarily by fear of poverty, he managed to carve a unique place for himself in the increasingly obsessive world of restaurants, chefs, and writers.

Strange Candy”, a story by Robert McCammon, was originally published in 2012 on robertmccammon.com.

Bud is back, and he's finally in the Keerah war! It is thought that back in the far past, the Dragon Host pillaged the galaxy. But something must have happened for them to lose everything they were. Now they have a champion. Someone who knew he had to bring back two genocide populations of dragon kin. A mage who leveled up in power by doing so. The Imperium learned a hard lesson, and is moving forward. And Bud isn't as angry now. The Keerah war goes on, and the dragons need training. But it seems there's one important thing needed to establish a true Dragon Host.

Never underestimate the capacity of a plant to learn something new from a dinosaur. Bud is getting a crash course in how to fight a war all on his own. At the same time, the needs of his homeworld and the Imperium distract him from the goal of finding where the Rawtenuga entered the core galaxy from. Being Thorn's heir has both positive and negative aspects to it, and as the war with the Rawtenuga keeps getting bigger, so do the demands from the civilian side of his life.

Here, for the first time, is a collection of short speeches by the charismatic doctor and social activist Paul Farmer. One of the most passionate and influential voices for global health equity and social justice, Farmer encourages young people to tackle the greatest challenges of our times. Engaging, often humorous, and always inspiring, these speeches bring to light the brilliance and force of Farmer's vision in a single, accessible volume.

Most people would say being stranded in the villa of Spanish shipping magnate Miguel García Arquero on the beautiful isle of Ibiza wasn't such a bad deal. But Hudson Barber isn't one of them. To him, being stuck without a passport in a foreign country far from home is a nightmare, made worse by the fact that the person who did the stranding was his flighty twin brother.

Mutt has never cared all that much about his clan, the M'Baku, which has ruled their homeland of Imakandi ever since its founding after Ragnarök. In truth, he's been too busy hunting and fighting, content to let political matters handle themselves. But his carefree attitude changes when he and the other members of Pandemonium discover a faction within the nation that threatens all who dwell there. Now, one of Mutt's clan must endure the Proving, a set of trials that will determine whether they're fit to lead—and keep the throne in the family.

Centuries in the past, mankind fought a seemingly unbeatable adversary from sector to sector across the Spiral Arm until the war ground to a standstill and the Enemy withdrew. Believing that they had won, the citizens of the galaxy rebuilt. The Inner Worlds, which had escaped the worst of the war's ravages, became even more insular, while the Rim worlds adopted a free and easy way with law and order. Now, hundreds of years after their withdrawal, the Enemy is back - and this time they'll be satisfied with nothing less than the extinction of the galaxy.

A complicated war is about to get a lot more complicated. And Bud's brought it on himself. There's no end in sight to either the Rawtenuga or Trixone wars. And the search for the dinosaur home world is proving just how big the galaxy is, especially where it's not properly mapped. The enemy keep popping up in too many places, and as fast as the sensor network expands, they seem to have expanded faster.

Billy Collins, former United States poet laureate, and Garrison Keillor, host of A Prairie Home Companion, return to the Y to read favorite poems from their new anthologies 180 More: Extraordinary Poems for Every Day (Mr. Collins) and Good Poems for Hard Times (Mr. Keillor).

A dark and disturbing new story from the master of the crime genre. A famous writer asks a box man to open an old safe that comes with the mansion he's just bought. It's not as easy a job as he's used to, but with money being tight and a child on the way, it'll pay to persevere - unless, of course, this is actually the job that will change things and haunt him for ever. Read by David W. Collins.

Is there going to be a war? War is surely upon us! Or maybe it isn't? There are strange events unfolding around the small principality of Liechtenstein. It seems to have its fair share of enemies, and there has been an invasion, but war hasn't been declared . . .That's politics for you, however. It has its own laws. But for Theodore the Babylonian, this can mean only one thing. It's time to speed up my own development, mobilize all my forces, and show my enemies that they shouldn't have attacked the country that I've come to call home. My new home . . .

Conventional leadership coaching approaches focus primarily on personal change, exploring the qualities that define successful leaders. But to truly play transformative and visionary roles within their organizations, C-suite and other senior leaders must accurately gauge their own strengths and weaknesses, and learn to identify and address the "shadow side" of their personality traits. This book offers a unique model for strategic leadership by encouraging leaders to think carefully about their personal leadership styles.

All or nothing. Life or death. There is no third option. Neither the ancients, nor outside forces, nor Chaos itself can find any other way to preserve the integrity of the world other than to destroy Archduke Maximilian Valevsky. They send him on a mission that can only be completed under one condition—Maximilian must die. And if he doesn't fulfill this mission, everyone he holds dear will perish in his stead.

Rick Martin loved music, and the music loved him. He could pick up a tune so quickly that it didn't matter to the Cotton Club boss that he was underage,or to the guys in the band that he was just a white kid. He started out in the slums of LA with nothing, and he ended up on top of the game in the speakeasies and nightclubs of New York. But while talent and drive are all you need to make it in music, they aren't enough to make it through a life.

In the glitzy underground world of illegal auctions, fast cars, and stolen magical artifacts, John "Dom" Domenici knows he's out of his depth. But he needs the job at Kempthorne & Co. So when his boss, Alexander Kempthorne, wants him on a special case to track down an illegal artifact dealer, Dom can't say no. It shouldn't matter that the billionaire is sexy as sin, and it really shouldn't matter that there's an American agent stalking Dom, an agent who knows more than he should about Dom's case.

Diplomacy is the bane of Bud's life these days.

As riots rage across the Human Federation space, what he'd been told on Sanctuary accelerates. Everyone wants his help.

The consequences of losing your temper for a moment grow with your power.

But is this a good thing or bad? Only time will tell, but suddenly everything seems to be happening at once.

‘Help me.' When a young woman rushes into Sam Capra's San Francisco bar and whispers these desperate words, Sam feels compelled to help. A moment later she is attacked by two killers. With Sam's aid, she manages to overpower the men, saving his life in the process before vanishing into the night. On discovering that one of the attackers is no mere thug, but, shockingly, one of the most powerful investors in America, Sam searches for the beguiling young woman who asked for help and unearths a deadly network run by some of the most powerful and influential people in the world...

In the world of Alterra, forged from the ruins of Ragnarök and a nearly forgotten Earth, magic is everywhere. Despite this, half-elf Kiru and his mother live a quiet existence in a remote village where nothing ever happens. Nothing, that is, until the day Kiru gets into a fight with a rich lordling who breaks his spine.