Showing results by narrator "Michael Kirby" in All Categories

The world believes Kris Kringle—ex-mercenary turned Guardian of Christmas—is on a killing spree. A man of violence with a white beard and red coat, wielding Workshop technology to protect children's joy, now stands accused of slaughtering innocents. A twisted mirror image armed with bleeding-edge tech and ancient claws claims the title of Krampus Christmas's forgotten enforcer is stalking the shadows wearing his colors.

Kris Kringle isn't your typical Santa. As guardian of the North Pole and its magical Workshop, he's traded milk and cookies for tactical gear and armor-piercing rounds. When his greatest nemesis unleashes a new batch of demonic Krampus soldiers, Kris must race against time to prevent an attack that could devastate an EU summit and ruin Christmas.

Author Michael Quetting shares the hilarious and moving true story of how he became a father to seven rambunctious goslings - and the surprising things he learned along the way. Starting right at the beginning, with the eggs, his journey takes him from the incubator all the way to the airstrip, where he must attempt to teach the geese to fly as part of an ambitious scientific research initiative for the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, which tracks animal migrations around the world.

Ollie and Moritz are two teenagers who will never meet. Each of them lives with a life-affecting illness. Contact with electricity sends Ollie into debilitating seizures while Moritz has a heart defect and is kept alive by an electronic pacemaker. If they did meet, Ollie would seize, but turning off the pacemaker would kill Moritz. Through an exchange of letters, the two boys develop a strong bond of friendship that becomes a lifeline during dark times.

For decades, performance management has been seen as an annual chore by managers and HR alike. But this process is changing, and there are ways to make it more effective for your organization and more useful for employees. If you read (or listen to) nothing else on performance management in your organization, listen to these ten articles. We've combed through hundreds of Harvard Business Review articles and selected the most important ones to help you assess performance more accurately, have more effective feedback conversations, and encourage the growth of your employees.

From his fortified Workshop at the North Pole, special forces veteran turned magical warrior Kris Kringle should be focusing on Christmas preparations. Instead, he's haunted by his failure to eliminate Krampus—a demon-masked killer with advanced tactical gear who matches him blow for blow.

Dava Sobel’s thoughtful play brings to life the story of Nicolaus Copernicus, the Renaissance astronomer, and mathematician who proposed the heliocentric model of the universe in which the Sun stands at the center. Plagued by self-doubt and threatened by religious censure, Copernicus resisted the publication of his work until just before his death in 1543. The play follows Copernicus in those final years as he works to complete his research with the help of Georg Rheticus, a young disciple from Wittenberg, Germany.

A multicultural nexus, Toronto hosts Indian, Portuguese, African, Italian, and Chinese communities that provide fertile backdrops for Toronto Noir's corrosive exposés. Features brand-new stories by RM Vaughan, Nathan Sellyn, Ibi Kaslik, Peter Robinson, Heather Birrell, Sean Dixon, Raywat Deonandad, Christine Murray, Gail Bowen, Emily Schultz, Andrew Pyper, Kim Moritsugu, Mark Sinnet, George Elliott Clarke, Pasha Malla, and Michael Redhill.

The annals of movie history are full of lost treasures – spectacular scripts from world-renowned writers that could have been classics, had they only been made. Now, for the first time, some of these forgotten gems have been brought to life, fully realised as vivid, cinematic radio productions. Scripted by major 20th Century writers, they star a host of A-list actors and feature richly evocative, atmospheric soundtracks.

Anastasia Romanov and her younger brother Alexei escape their family’s execution when a bullet strikes Anastasia’s garnet necklace, transporting them to a parallel universe. This alternate Russia is a second chance. Anastasia wants to save her family, Alexei wants the throne, and they plan to travel the infinite multiverse to find a world in which both are possible. When Alexi is mistaken for the tsarevich of this dimension, he is brought to the Winter Palace, where he eagerly starts impersonating his doppelganger, playing the role that was stolen from him in his own world.

Hell wants him. Heaven has called him. And Earth needs him. Bullied, alone, and broken, he was ready to give up. Turns out, the guardian angels have other plans for Alan Price. The battle that has waged in the supernatural realm has come to Earth and fallen angels are making their move against their heavenly counterparts. Now, Alan is caught up in a world of; myth, ancient gods, bloodthirsty demons, and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and he must choose a side.

In this poignant new series, Patricia Johns introduces an Amish family striving to reclaim the promise of love, marriage, and community after a shocking change in circumstance. Her sensitive storytelling and realistically flawed, yet endearing characters bring depth and heart to this tender story about faith and second chances, as a young man and woman.

The Apocalypse is approaching. The Horsemen must be chosen. Alan thought all his questions were answered. He was wrong. Alan’s fate goes far deeper than anyone could ever imagine. The people Alan trusts are still holding something from him. But a voice promising answers is calling. It’s only when Alan realizes that he is to play a part in an ancient tradition of life and death that his true purpose is revealed.

When Cora Holman’s mother dies, she assumes the inevitable: that her mother overdosed on the painkillers she’d been taking for years. So she’s shocked to learn that her mother and a neighbor both died of a brain aneurysm the same night. When Cora and other neighborhood teens become ill with a mysterious flu, and government-type strangers arrive in her small town, they all fear the unthinkable - a terrorist attack. Meanwhile, a world away in Pakistan, a 16-year-old computer genius named Shahzad is working as a virtual spy....

With her preacher father in prison for fraud, Elizabeth Yoder's life in the community of Bountiful has been painfully uprooted. Mindful of wearing out her welcome with her family, she jumps at the chance to stay with elderly Bridget Lantz while the woman's daughter is away. Elizabeth has secret plans to leave for another Amish community where she might get a fresh start, but here with Bridget, she feels comfortable - until Bridget's strapping grandson, Solomon, returns from eight years with the English and inspires feelings that shake Elizabeth's resolution....

Vampires crave dragon's blood. I'm the only guy who can deliver the goods. My name is Fynn Drake. When vampires attacked my city, they killed hundreds, including my wife and precious daughter. But the vampires spared me. Why me and not the others? Because they deem my dragon expertise useful. I'm their slave. Their henchman. Their broker. Dragon's blood heals vampires from lethal injuries and even allows them to walk in daylight. It makes these monsters almost invincible.

Are you an expectant father? This book is about what comes after the birth. It’s about how to raise your children. It’s about how to teach them how to think. This book teaches you the deeper level algorithms that will give your kids a compounding advantage throughout their lives.

Monster hunter Grim has been promised a cure for the disease that he's infected with—a disease that will cause him to change into one of the very creatures that he hunts. That promise comes in the form of a television celebrity who has his own agenda—record Grim's healing process for his audience, an audience that gets to vote for Grim's outcome every step of the way.

The short works of Dostoevsky exist in the very large shadow of his astonishing longer novels, but they too are among literature's most revered works and offer keys to understanding the themes in his longer works. Contained in this volume are the short stories "White Nights", "A Disgraceful Affair", and "The Dream of the Ridiculous Man", three of Dostoevsky's most troubling, moving, and poignant works.

Master and Commander follows the action, the warriors, and the warships of the Moon in 2142. As the Earth is being devastated by a viral pandemic, the Moon has become a sanctuary for humanity. The plague is only one of the many enemies. However, the new Lunar nation states have chosen sides to continue the ancient battle between Western and Islamic culture. While fighting for survival, great lunar warships rage against each other individual battles and sweeping fleet actions reminiscent of Horatio Nelson of the late 18th century.