Showing results by narrator "Derek Shoales" in All Categories

Korri Fontenot left family behind on Earth a century ago to fight in a war that broke her body and her mind. Now, her great-granddaughter, Jackie, has followed in her footsteps. First as a Marine and then as a mercenary outlaw, Jackie has made the mistake of breaking into a secret corporate lab and stealing an ancient alien artifact. Dark forces want the artifact back.

Johnson provides an eminently practical framework for understanding how a business model actually works. Identifying its four fundamental building blocks, he lays out a structured and repeatable process for reinventing an existing business model or creating a new one and then incubating and scaling it into a profitable and thriving enterprise. In a new chapter on digital transformation, he shows how serial transformers like Amazon leverage business model innovation so successfully.

Cornelius Scipio and Jace Kasia were passionate about their missions, but on a collision course. Unfortunately, one would have to lose for the other to accomplish his goal. As a staff officer, Tribune Cornelius Scipio had experienced more combat and defeat than men twice his age. Now, as a youth of twenty-years-old, this veteran thirsted for a command of his own.

In the world of Eternal Night, Johnathan Masters is at the top of his game. He’s worked hard to build up his influence, trading favors and playing politics. But when a Blood from another city arrives on the scene and attempts to cut into his business by increasing his own status, Johnathan is forced to defend his turf. Maybe he’ll play nice. But then again, sometimes a bit of tough love sends the right message.

Influencers have always deployed the power of hype to get what they want. But never in history have people been so susceptible to propaganda and persuasion as they are now. Hype truly runs our world. Imagine if you could generate and leverage hype for positive purposes - like legitimate business success, helping people, or effecting positive change in your community. Michael F. Schein teaches you how.

When Peter finds himself on a strange planet, drafted into a war by alien abductors, his only goal is to be one of the few to survive the war and return home to Earth. Peter is one of thousands who get abducted every year, as payment to the aliens. The aliens have given humans portal travel, healing serums, and other advanced alien technology. The quality of life has improved, but everything has a price.

The greatest heroes of the Commonwealth are gathered in the breach for one last fight. The Transformation Virus rages through human space like a wildfire, changing ordinary men and women into psionic demi-gods, bent on destruction and conquest. The government has fallen, the military is helpless, and the fate of humanity rests in the hands of a collection of unlikely saviors.

The disappearance of a wealthy Brazilian industrialist’s daughter, Lara, causes Thiago to hire the world's most elite information-gathering unit, the R-Group, to quietly locate and return her. Is the heiress in trouble and gone forever or merely hiding in plain sight to escape her destiny? The award-winning Breakfield and Burkey story draws you into a techno-thriller that focuses on overcoming opportunistic cyber-crime in the high-stakes world of information brokering in today’s 21st century.

ICABOD is destroyed, and key members of the R-Group are declared renegades, with Quip thrown in jail. In the new digital world, there is no tolerance for privately owned supercomputers. Globally, computers are hunted and destroyed for the greater good by the new cyber police CESPOOL. The information this group receives is manipulated by subversive hidden machine learning devices, the MAG running on the dark net.

While intensely attentive to its own tradition, Japanese literature has also embraced the outside world, particularly the influence of China. Beyond this, Japan boasts a powerful literary culture, made up of cultivated reading publics, both aristocratic and bourgeois, literary salons, specialized presses, authoritative judges of talent who cultivated and celebrated particular writers and styles, and a canon consisting of classics. This Very Short Introduction traces the rich history of Japanese literature from its beginnings over a millennium ago to the present day.

Orphan Jace Kasia might have found a home in the green hills and golden valleys of the Insubri. But several things prevented him from relishing his new life. He didn't know his name, he couldn't recollect his training, and he lived like a dog on a farm outside a border town. Although the Carthaginian General had departed for Africa, the defensive profile of the Legions needed to contain Hannibal continued to linger like a bad odor. Like other nations forced into agreements, the tribes sought to break treaties and unharness from the tack and yoke of Rome.

Two years after the end of the Psi War, Caleb Mitchell is Emperor in all but name, leading his armies on a crusade to cleanse the colony worlds and Earth itself of the last of the psionic madmen known as the Changed. But the citizens of the Commonwealth weren't the only ones devastated by the war; the criminal cartels in the Pirate Worlds are in chaos, their trade cut off, their resources running out. A young warlord named Amos Dobrev rises up to unite the cartels into a union they call the Syndicate.

In the not-too-distant future, Earth is besieged by aliens. However, the mysterious Dan Moroboshi comes to the defense of humanity, transforming into his true form—the towering Ultraseven—when the planet is endangered. Alongside his allies, the six elite soldiers of the Terrestrial Defense Force, Ultraseven will give everything he has to stop the myriad of foes who are prepared to bring ruin and destruction to the people of Earth.

SQL Essentials for Dummies is your quick reference to all the core concepts of SQL—a valuable common standard language used in relational databases. This useful guide is straightforward—with no excess review, wordy explanations, or fluff—so you get what you need, fast. Great for a brush-up on the basics or as an everyday desk reference, this book is one you can rely on.

The invasion of Terrinoth has begun. Brutal Uthuk Y'llan hordes swarm across the land, ravaging everything in their path. A great champion has arisen in the Darklands: Beastmaster Th'Uk Tar, bent on destroying the wild and mystical Bloodwood as his first step in conquering the great forests of the Aymhelin and annihilating the elves who call it home. If the Amyhelin burns, so will Terrinoth. Trapped between his army and the forest are a misfit band of elven, orcish, catfolk, and human refugees.

A reluctant trio are forced to investigate a mystery city, but in doing so find themselves fighting a demonic atrocity. When three separate adventurers are hired to investigate the recent sealing of Thelgrim, the great Dunwarr dwarf city, all three have misgivings. One is a wanted criminal and the other two have no wish to work together - but when the money is this good, it's hard to refuse. As the three head to Thelgrim by secret path, none of them know what awaits them. Terrinoth is in upheaval: New threats are rising, and this one comes from the dark.

The once-glorious Barony of Kell is a ruin of its former self, assailed by banditry and famine; its noble Baron Frederic is caught between saving his people and defending his borders. Yet worse is to come...for a new Darkness is rising. Sadistic warrior-priestess Ne'Krul, spying an opportunity to wreak bloody vengeance on behalf of her demonic masters, leads her Uthuk warband into a brutal invasion.

When businesses try to "do AI", they place an abstract solution before problems and customers without fully considering whether it is wise, whether the hype is true, or how AI will impact their organization in the long term. Often absent is sound reasoning for why they should go down this path in the first place. Doing AI explores AI for what it actually is - and what it is not - and the problems it can truly solve.

Transforming Project Management takes you beyond envisioning a great strategy and into the realm of implementing it - with skill, care, and expertise. Petersen explains how to break down a strategic plan into key objectives and project portfolios to make sense of all the project "parts" - then successfully lead the execution of the plan.

Beneath the storm clouds of a deadly war, three men are poised to unlock the secrets to redeem the world. The setting is Poland 1939, Germans are marching toward Warsaw running their armor, and devastating swarms of armed soldiers, along with their cavalry. Fighting against the Nazi military machine is a death wish realized all too clearly. Three young men are tasked with finding and extracting the German military communications device, Baby, that is kept under heavy guard. Polish patriots die to aid the three in getting the information and then fleeing with the prize.