Showing results by narrator "A. A. Smith" in All Categories

Despite all the high-tech tools available to salespeople, the most personal method still works best. Storytelling packs the emotional punch to turn routine presentations into productive relationships. It explains products or services in ways that resonate; it connects people and creates momentum. Stories speak to the part of the brain where decisions are made. Paul Smith, author of the acclaimed Lead with a Story, shifts his best-selling formula to the sales arena.

A rare hybrid of vampire and werewolf, Riley Jenson and her twin brother, Rhoan, work for Melbourne's Directorate of Other Races, an organization created to police the supernatural races and protect humans from their depredations. While Rhoan is an exalted guardian, a.k.a. assassin, Riley is merely an office worker, until her brother goes missing on one of his missions. The timing couldn't be worse.

Filled with the power of love and the beauty of nature, Heidi is a lyrical tale about a little girl sent to live in the mountains of the Swiss Alps with her grandfather. A grumpy recluse, her grandfather has isolated himself from his fellow townspeople and his church. In very little time, Heidi warms his heart; and she quickly charms the whole town and makes new friends, including young Peter, the goatherd. But when Heidi is sent away again to care for a young girl her own age, she must grow wise beyond her years.

Just as Fred is settling down in his new abode, he receives word that a favor is being called in, one he promised to a dangerously powerful member of otherworldly royalty. Bracing for danger, adventure, and unknown threats, Fred is instead asked to take on an entirely different role than anticipated. Acting as interim professor at one of the few universities for supernatural entities, Fred will have to navigate a strange environment, eccentric co-workers, and unenthusiastic students. Yet that alone won’t be enough, for this college has more history than the tales in its tomes.

Only a few months ago, my life was simple. I spent most of my time caring for patients in brightly lit hospital wards. Then I’d pick up my son from kindergarten before cooking a meal for my husband. I’d drink in every precious moment with them. Now everything has changed… I don’t recognise the woman I’ve become. I’m a liar. Nurses are supposed to save lives. Instead, I helped to take one. I did it to protect my family. No one can find out what I’ve done because I’d lose everything: my marriage, my gorgeous baby boy – even my life.

"How's your soul?" Instead of a perfunctory "how are you?", Judah Smith asks people this surprising question, because he knows that the health of the soul - the deepest part of ourselves - is overlooked in the busyness of everyday life. But the truth is, all the things people most desire in life - stability, peace, hope, love - are rooted in the health of their souls, and they need an intentional daily journey to manage it well.

After the fall of France in May 1940, the British Expeditionary Force was miraculously evacuated from Dunkirk. Britain now stood alone to face Hitler’s inevitable invasion attempt. For the German Army to be landed across the Channel, Hitler needed mastery of the skies – the RAF would have to be broken – so every day, throughout the summer, German bombers pounded the RAF air bases in the southern counties.

Fallon Foster is Whiskey Springs’ self-proclaimed token lesbian. She isn’t a token any longer. After her year-long affair with best friend Andi Maguire ends, Fallon hopes to earn the trust and win the heart of the town’s newest resident, Riley Main. Ghosts from the past still haunt Fallon and Riley. Informed by loss and betrayal, the pair endeavors to find their way to each other. Along the way, their growing affection and burgeoning relationship will change the lives and the paths of more people than Riley and Fallon could imagine.

And so begins Doug Avery's story of emotional resilience in the face of what at times seemed a hopeless situation. The South Island farmer suffered terribly during eight years of drought. His farm was depleted and so was he, to the point of severe depression. The Resilient Farmer is Doug's powerful example of how to get life back on track. With candour and wisdom, he tells his story of turning desperation into determination, embracing risk, navigating change and, on top of everything, enduring monumental earthquakes.

When Arkham Advertiser reporter Andy van Nortwick receives a mysterious film reel in the mail, with a simple note: "Maude Brion is very much alive!", he steps onto a path which will lead him to the brink of madness. Brion, the famous actress and film director, vanished a year ago on an ill-fated expedition into the Amazon rainforest, delving into the legend of the Spider Queen. Thrilled by the prospect of his big break, Nortwick swings the funds to launch a rescue mission. He gathers a team of explorers and a keen folklorist to bring back Brion and cement his reputation.

Heading off on holiday or a business trip? Looking for a language safety net to get yourself out of sticky situations? Fed up not knowing how to order a drink or a meal? Join Elisabeth Smith and her student Andy for an in-flight Greek lesson as they head off abroad. This course is fast, fun and easy. There’s no grammar or writing practice. Instead it focuses on practical spoken Greek so you can communicate with ease. Learn the 50 most essential words and phrases - just what you need to be understood and enjoy your trip.

This work tells the tale of Harvey S. Firestone, the founder of Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, of his rise to fame and wealth and the ideals behind his success. Firestone's philosophy is that a business that exists without a reason is due for an early death. If you ask yourself why you are in business and can find no answer other than "I want to make money," you will save money by getting out of business and going to work for someone, for you are in business without sufficient reason.

Throughout his entire life, Nate has been considered a cripple and an inconvenience, solely for being born without the precious magic for which the Great Arcane Families were both respected and feared. Being powerless as he was, he couldn’t fight back when choosing to do the right thing was rewarded with even more injustice from old men on even older thrones.

Twenty years ago, a toxic spill in the small southwest Texas town of Exile poisoned residents with permanent rage. The feds' response? Quarantine. Only residents who pass the feds' 4-S test can escape Exile's heavily fortified borders. Heidi Palermo, unwilling medic to her family of bloodthirsty street warriors, has taken the test repeatedly, trying to prove she's smart, strong, sterile, and sane. Three out of four ain't bad, but the feds don't grade on a curve.

They kidnapped her best friend. Now they want to raise a dragon. Can she survive an encounter with a cult and a dragon, or will it end in fire and bloodshed? Amethyst is a half-dwarf jeweler and weaponsmith who just wants to improve sales at her shop in a popular Cardiff arcade. When her best friend gets kidnapped, she teams up with an arrogant elf and gets dragged into a world of cults and dragons. She needs to rescue her friend, avoid dying, and save the day. And sort out her feelings for the elven prince Lorandir.

Tom is a teenager and blends into the background of life. After a row with his dad and facing an unhappy future at the dog food factory, he escapes to the library. Tom unwittingly ends up with a bagful of romance novels and comes under the suspicion of Maggie. Maggie is a pensioner and has been happily alone for 10 years, at least that's what she tells herself. When Tom comes to her rescue, a friendship develops that could change her life.

Having solved the two murders that somehow fell in her path, Beatrice Hyde-Clare is on the lookout for a third. Through a absurd quirk of stupid fate, the shy spinster has fallen in love with the thoroughly unattainable Duke of Kesgrave and is desperate for something, anything, to occupy her mind. A dead body would do nicely.

Max Skinner is a man at the heart of London's financial universe until his employers embark on a little asset-stripping of their own. Himself. Amid the grey London drizzle, there is one potential ray of sunshine: Max's Uncle Harry has left him his estate in his will, an eighteenth-century chateau and vineyard an hour's drive from Avignon.

The last days of the Civil War. With Richmond under siege, Confederate soldier Luke Jensen is assigned the task of smuggling gold out of the city before the Yankees get their hands on it — when he is ambushed and robbed by four deserters, shot in the back, and left for dead. Taken in by a Georgia farmer and his beautiful daughter, Luke is nursed back to health. Though crippled, he hopes to reunite with his long-lost brother Smoke, but a growing romance keeps him on the farm.

On June 4th, 2019, country music singer Granger Smith was enjoying a final evening with his kids before heading to Nashville for the CMT Music Awards and his next tour. While helping his daughter London with her gymnastics, his youngest son fell into their pool. Granger did everything he could to get to him, but he was too late. River drowned, and Granger's world shattered.