Showing results by narrator "Steve West" in All Categories

Richard McGregor's Asia's Reckoning is a compelling account of the widening geopolitical cracks in a region that has flourished under an American security umbrella for more than half a century. The toxic rivalry between China and Japan, two Asian giants consumed with endless history wars and ruled by entrenched political dynasties, is threatening to upend the peace underwritten by Pax Americana since World War II.

Russia is on the brink of great change. Pasha's coronation approaches, and Vika is now the Imperial Enchanter, but the role she once coveted may be more difficult - and dangerous - than she ever expected. Pasha is grappling with his own problems - his legitimacy is in doubt, the girl he loves loathes him, and he believes his best friend is dead.

Improv performers look like creative geniuses, coming up with brilliant comedy on the spur of the moment. But they rely on some simple rules and techniques - ones which anyone can learn, and which can help us offstage to think creatively, collaborate with others and communicate with impact. Improvise! will show you how to handle whatever comes your way at work - from giving confident presentations and handling difficult conversations to coming up with great ideas and persuading others to make them happen.

Due to horrible physical deformities, he spent much of his life as a fairground freak. He was hounded, persecuted, and starving, until his fortune changed and he was rescued, housed, and fed by the distinguished surgeon, Frederick Treves. The subject of several books, a Broadway hit, and a film, Joseph Merrick has become part of popular mythology. Here, in this fully revised edition containing much fresh information, are the true and un-romanticized facts of his life.

Aaliya Saleh lives alone in her Beirut apartment, surrounded by stockpiles of books. Godless, fatherless, childless, and divorced, Aaliya is her family’s unnecessary appendage. Every year, she translates a new favorite book into Arabic, then stows it away. The thirty-seven books that Aaliya has translated over her lifetime have never been readby anyone.

Stockholm, 1968. A thousand American deserters and draft resisters are arriving to escape the war in Vietnam. They’re young, they’re radical, and they want to start a revolution. Some of them even want to take the fight to America. The Swedes treat them like pop stars - but the CIA is determined to stop all that.

Master of the universe Harry Rose is head of the Rose Corporation, number 18 on the Forbes rich list, and recently married to wife number six. But in 2018, his perfect world is about to come crashing to the ground. His business is in the spotlight - and not in a good way - and his love life is under scrutiny. Because behind a glittering curtain of lavish parties, gorgeous homes, and a media empire is a tale worthy of any tabloid. And Harry has a lot to account for.

Explore the dark under-belly of Eberron with it's version of the private detective - The Inquisitives! A series of grisly murders has shaken the small city of Aruldusk. Both the Church and the Crown send in agents to investigate. But when the body count continues to rise, these rival factions will have to learn to work together to track down the killers - even if it means hunting through the highest reaches of power.

Trapped aboard the Undying's ancient spaceship and reeling from the truth they've uncovered, Mia and Jules are desperate to warn their home about what's coming. After a perilous escape, they crash-land on Earth's surface - but Jules and Mia can hardly fathom their new predicament: No one believes them. Because the threat against Earth is hiding in plain sight. A mounting global crisis is taking shape, starting with a mysterious illness that seems to reduce its victims to a regressed state.

She wakes up, goes to work. Watches the clock and checks her phone. But underneath this monotony there's something else going on: Something under her skin. Charting the feedback loop of memory, the senses, and modern distractions with wit and precision, our narrator becomes increasingly anxious as the day moves on: Is she overusing the heart emoji? Can drinking eight glasses of water a day really fix everything? Why is the etiquette of the women's bathroom be so fraught? How does she define rape? And why can't she stop scratching?

Three university scientists are found dead in a gruesome murder-suicide, and the only suspect in the case, Victor Lazar, is quickly captured. When the spate of violent suicides follows him to prison he is moved to solitary confinement, reserved for the highest-risk inmates. And then his assigned psychologist inexplicably takes his own life. Alex Madison, a former forensic psychologist turned private therapist, is brought in to interview Victor. He suspects that Victor is controlling his victims, somehow coaxing them into a suggestive trance.

In this thrilling next instalment, the secret society of Alexandrians is unmasked. Its newest recruits realize the institute is capable of raw world-changing power. It’s also headed by a man with plans to change life as we know it—and these are already under way. But the cost of this knowledge is as high as the price of power, and each initiate must choose which faction to follow. Yet as events gather momentum and dangers multiply, which of their alliances will hold? Can friendships hold true and are enemies quite what they seem?

The giant characters of history - from Mozart to Michelangelo, Shakespeare to Einstein, Henry VIII to Hitler, Catherine the Great to Margaret Thatcher, Jesus Christ to Genghis Khan - lived lives of astonishing drama and adventure, debauchery and slaughter, but they also formed our world and will shape our future. In this eclectic and surprising collection of short and entertaining life stories, Simon Sebag Montefiore introduces his choice of kings, empresses, sultans and conquerors as well as prophets, explorers, artists, actresses, courtesans and psychopaths.

The competition has come to a disastrous end, and Daron Demarco’s fall from grace is now front-page news. But little matters to him beyond Kallia, the contestant he fell for who is now lost to this world and in the hands of a dangerous magician. Daron is willing to do whatever it takes to find her. Even if it means embarking on a dark and treacherous journey, risking more than just his life, with no promise of return.

A bloody war between demons and the Vatican has waged for more than a century, with two elite soldiers now at its center: Selene Alleva, a high-ranking exorcist running from a dark family legacy, and orphan Jules Lacroix, recruited by the Vatican and unrivalled on the battlefield. When their paths cross over a series of unprecedented demon attacks, the distrust--and unwelcome attraction--they have for each other is immediate. But to get to the bottom of the breaches they strike an uneasy alliance to avoid suspicion.

King Arthur’s Knights were brave like Sir Lancelot the Great. They were smart like Sir Givret the Short. But they didn’t always act quite as...gallantly as a true knight should. Even King Arthur’s nephew, known at that time as Sir Gawain the Undefeated, was too full of himself to accept a token of thanks from a rescued princess! Someone, like a giant Green Knight, needed to teach Sir Gawain that courtesy and friendship are just as important as strength and courage. Come ride along on this exciting year-long quest of Sir Gawain the Undefeated-but-who-may-learn-a-lesson-along-the-way.

Once upon a time, a man who believed in fairy tales married a beautiful, mysterious woman named Indigo Maxwell-Casteñada. He was a scholar of myths. She was heiress to a fortune. They exchanged gifts and stories and believed they would live happily ever after—and in exchange for her love, Indigo extracted a promise: that her bridegroom would never pry into her past. But when Indigo learns that her estranged aunt is dying and the couple is forced to return to her childhood home, the House of Dreams, the bridegroom soon finds himself unable to resist.

London, 1667: In the wake of the Great Fire, a new city has emerged from the flames. The King has reopened the capital’s theatres, and the royal court is hell-bent on debauched entertainment. But amid the raucous festivities, an actress shows up dead, dressed in the clothes of a missing girl. It’s a time of great change for thief taker Charlie Tuesday too: his old flame, Maria, is on the cusp of marrying someone else. But when she is abducted on the way to her wedding, Charlie realises her disappearance is linked to the murder.

A rare glimpse into heaven, hell, and previous lives - Dr. Rajiv Parti's near-death experience brought him on a journey through the afterworld, leading to a spiritual awakening that transformed his career, his lifestyle, and even his fundamental beliefs. Before his near-death experience, Dr. Rajiv Parti was a wealthy man of science with a successful career as the Chief of Anesthesiology at the Bakersfield Heart Hospital in California. Dr. Parti was the last man to believe in heaven or hell - that is, until he saw them with his own eyes.

The Great Fire has reduced London to smoldering embers. From the ashes, thief taker Charlie Tuesday is drawn to investigate a string of strange murders. Mutilated corpses are washing up at Deptford, each marked with a dire astrological prediction. But only London's best crime-solver realizes the killer's deadly offerings will soon unleash a devastating force on England.