Showing results by publisher "Spoken Word Inc." in All Categories

Somewhere in a Town You Never Knew Existed Somewhere is a book that speaks directly to society's "elephants in the living room" through kooky hooliganism and satire. Five year-old Bonanza's mother tells her to "keep digging" as she buries her dolls, and ultimately, herself. The dead poet Robert Lowell reappears as a high school student. Meanwhile, at a butterfly farm, the protagonist dishes up some unconventional environmental justice.

Robin Russell Gaiser is a certified music practitioner (CMP), a trained specialist who provides therapeutic music to the ill, the elderly, and the dying in hospital, nursing homes, and hospice settings; her music offers respite for them, their families, and friends from the pain, fear, and confusion that frequently accompany the complicated process of dying.

Archer is a semi-celebrated novelist and sex-toy heir. His best friend, John, is as earnest as Archer is feckless. John's girlfriend, Sara, envies Archer's writing career. And Sara's roommate, Lucas, wishes he'd never lost his girlfriend to the man. Money, friendship, and resentment unspool in the conversations we have as we're coming of age and coming to grips.

This audiobook serves as a companion to the print and eBook versions, where unbelievably detailed, close-up images of 20 common North American animals bring young readers eye-to-eye with wildlife found in their own backyards. Photographed against white backgrounds, the incredible creatures' colors, shapes, textures, and seeming personalities shine. Entertaining and educational narratives accompany the animals, highlighting fascinating natural history information.

Many questions and stories circulate about cancer. Are you telling yourself you are a victim of cancer? Are you worried the cancer will come back? Are you stuck in the role of being sick? Christine Egan made a conscious choice to tell a different story. The Healthy Girl's Guide to Breast Cancer is part memoir and part guide revealing the all-too-true story of cancer in this country with a healthy twist.

Your culture is your number-one competitive advantage. But here's the rub: Inspiring cultures don't happen by accident. You can't buy, borrow, or fake a great culture. You need to be deliberate about building a truly inspiring culture. That's where The Humor Advantage comes in.

Every now and again, one comes across an audiobook that opens the heart and lets the soul sing. Such an audiobook is a window on the wonder and joy, the beauty and the depths of the world around us. Such an audiobook leads us from one jeweled insight to another, like the Genie giving Aladdin a tour of the treasure cave. Once found, such an audiobook joins a precious few in a privileged place on one's bookshelf, to be taken down, re-listened and savored over and over. Soul Medicine by Dr. Judith Boice is exactly such an audiobook.

In the midst of Occupy, Barbara Andersen begins spamming people indiscriminately with ukulele covers of sentimental songs. A series of inappropriate intimacies ensues, including an erotically charged correspondence and then collaboration with an extraordinarily gifted and troubled musician living in Germany.

Vievee Francis's poems engage many of the same concerns as her poetic predecessors - faith in a secular age, the city and nature, aging, and beauty. Words certainly do not fail as Francis sets off into the wild world promised in the title. The wild here is not chaotic but rather free and finely attuned to its surroundings. The listener who joins her will emerge sensitized and changed by the enduring power of her work.

Intelligent influence is defined as "a learned competency that leads to extraordinary results driven by effective human interaction". This groundbreaking publication provides fascinating stories that prove that the strategic use of positive influence is the foundation of individual and organizational effectiveness in any endeavor that involves human interaction.

If you don't know Melville's letters to Hawthorne, you don't know Melville. These letters are full of passion, humor, doubt, and spiritual yearning, and offer an intimate view of Melville's personality. Lyrical and effusive, they are literary works in themselves. This correspondence has been out of print for decades, and even when it was in print it appeared in scholarly volumes of Melville's complete correspondence, aimed at the academy.

The very short stories of Diane Williams have been aptly called "folk tales that hammer like a nail gun," and these 40 new ones are sharper than ever. They are unsettling, yes, frequently revelatory, and, more often than not, downright funny. Not a single moment here is what you might expect. The heart of the drama beats in the language of American short fiction's grand master, whose originality, precision, and power bring the familiar into startling and enchanted relief.

Why are most slogans and taglines ineffective? Because they're just words and a mind cannot understand words. A mind can only understand sounds. Why do most Americans remember the battlecry of the French Revolution ("Liberté, égalité, fraternité") when they cannot remember the battlecry of the American Revolution?

Desmond Fairweather, a young musician whose creative efforts are hampered by fears he may possess destructive magical powers, is swept up in a world of mystery and intrigue as he helps his tabloid writer friend Jake Brenner, who is on the hunt for a big supernatural story.

"I drink, I hurt myself and the people around me, and then I write." Brett is in Central America, away from her husband, when she begins a love affair with his friend, Eduard. Tragedy and comedy are properly joined at the hip in this loosely autobiographical book about infidelity, drinking, and the postponing of repercussions under the sun. Though coming undone is something we all try to avoid, Martin reminds us that going off the rails is sometimes a part of the ride.

In this high-altitude adventure tale, a fictional student is moved to Sin City, Las Vegas. Forty minutes away from her new hometown is rock climbing mecca, Red Rock Canyon. There, a mix of eccentric characters meets every weekend to do battle with the vertical sandstone cliffs. Thrown into their mix, our student begins applying the brilliantly simple lessons she learns from her mentors and uncovers a way to get what she wants out of life...and love what she gets.

Lee Casey plays guitar in a noise band called Ottermeat, about to leave NJ, to try and make it in Los Angeles. For now, he's squatting in a collapsing house, working as a stone mason, driving a jacked up pickup truck that he crashes into everything. As a close friend ODs in his sleep, Lee falls into a three-way relationship with two college girls, June Doom and K Neon. F-250 is a novel equal parts about growing up and being torn apart.

Lose your best friend because you finally Came Out. Spend days driving aimlessly because there's nothing to do. Serve your rapist breakfast because you need your job. Fall asleep to gunshots and sirens because that's the only sense of home you've ever known. Hold hands with ghosts. Your life is in pieces, but you can't be broken. Wipe off the blood. Tired of being told who to be, what to wear, how to act and who to f-k. Break the rules and learn fast how to never get caught. All you need is nothing, but you're happy with your car, guitar and camera.

Reverend Maloney isn't the world's greatest spiritual advisor. He drinks gin out of his coffee cup and has sex dreams about the Holy Ghost. His best friend Eli isn't perfect either, but he's a chess genius, so Maloney sees an opportunity in traveling around the country so Eli can win major chess tournament after chess tournament (while Maloney pockets Eli's winnings).

Leigh Novak left behind a faithless husband to begin a new life with her young son, Jeremy, as a family doctor in a small Northern California town. But Hartwood held a bitter welcome for them both and a secret only the children knew.