Showing results by narrator "Jon Vertullo" in All Categories

One day, the life of middle-aged Japanese businessman Ryoma Takebayashi came to a rather sudden and disappointing end. Ryoma had never had a blessed life, but after his death, three great gods sought his cooperation and reincarnated him as a child in another world with swords and magic!

Aspiring painter Alden Oakes is invited to join a mysterious art commune in Arkham: the New Colony. When celebrated Spanish surrealist Juan Hugo Balthazarr visits the colony, Alden and the other artists quickly fall under his charismatic spell. Balthazarr throws a string of decadent parties for Arkham’s social elite, conjuring arcane illusions which blur the boundaries between nightmare and reality. Only slowly does Alden come to suspect that Balthazarr’s mock rituals are intended to break through those walls and free what lies beyond. Alden must act, but it might be too late.

As the mate of the Beast Lord, Curran, former mercenary Kate Daniels has more responsibilities than it seems possible to juggle. Not only is she still struggling to keep her investigative business afloat, but she must now deal with the affairs of the Pack, including preparing her people for attack from Roland, a cruel, ancient being with godlike powers.

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.

Mercenary Kate Daniels and her mate, Curran, the Beast Lord, are struggling to solve a heartbreaking crisis. Unable to control their beasts, many of the Pack’s shapeshifting children fail to survive to adulthood. While there is a medicine that can help, the secret to its making is closely guarded by the European packs, and there’s little available in Atlanta.

Generative AI is rewriting the rulebook with its seemingly endless capabilities, from crafting intricate industrial designs, writing computer code, and producing mesmerizing synthetic voices to composing enchanting music and innovating genetic breakthroughs. In Generative AI in Practice, renowned futurist Bernard Marr offers listeners a deep dive into the captivating universe of GenAI. This comprehensive guide introduces you to the basics of this groundbreaking technology and outlines the profound impact that GenAI will have on business and society.

In the swirling sewers beneath Arkham, excavators uncover a crystalline formation that hints at dark events from the city's past. As the discovery makes headlines, so too does a series of bizarre murders. With no leads, the Arkham police are always one step behind. Acting on a hunch, down-on-his-luck former journalist Andy Van Nortwick reunites with adventurer Jake Williams and struggling filmmaker Maude Brion to unearth the truth. The trio know of the supernatural horrors that lurk beyond this world, and the reality haunts them.

Lovers Lula and Brogan Gauge have dealt with magic, monsters, and gods for eighty years. Bound to travel the lonely roads of Route 66, Brogan’s a spirit with no chance of leaving the earthly realm while Lula, neither human nor monster, is only half-alive.

When Gabriel Winter's daughter mysteriously disappears and is presumed dead, the wealthy whiskey baron seeks revenge. Having lived in Colnora during the infamous Year of Fear, he hires the one man he knows can deliver a bloody retribution - the notorious Duster. Ride with Royce and Hadrian as the cynical ex-assassin and idealistic ex-mercenary travel to a mysterious old-world city filled with nobles claiming descent from the imperial aristocracy.

Dina Demille doesn’t run your typical bed and breakfast. Her inn defies laws of physics, her fluffy dog is secretly a monster, and the only paying guest is a former Galactic tyrant with a price on her head. But the inn needs guests to thrive, and guests have been scarce, so when an Arbitrator shows up at Dina's door and asks her to host a peace summit between three warring species, she jumps on the chance.

In 2018 Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene took to social media to share her suspicions that the California wildfires were started by 'space solar generators' which were funded by powerful, mysterious backers. Instantly, thousands of people rallied around her, blaming the fires on "Jewish space lasers" and, ultimately, the Rothschild family. For more than 200 years, the name "Rothschild" has been synonymous with two things: great wealth, and conspiracy theories about what they're "really doing" with it.

No one survived the last battle unscathed. Flint is angry at the world, Jaxon is turning into something I don't recognize, and Hudson has put up a wall I'm not sure I’ll ever break through. Now war is coming, and we're not ready. We're going to need an army to have any hope of winning. But first, there are questions about my ancestors that need answers. Answers that might just reveal who the real monster is among us.

Over the past century, if the wealthiest families had spent a reasonable fraction of their wealth, paid taxes, invested in the stock market, and passed their wealth down to the next generation, there would be tens of thousands of billionaire heirs to generations-old fortunes today. The puzzle of The Missing Billionaires is why you cannot find one such billionaire on any current rich list. There are a number of explanations, but this book is focused on one mistake which is of profound importance to all investors: poor risk decisions, both in investing and spending.

Dragons were dying. All over the world, a curse was taking us out one by one, and nobody knew how to stop it. I watched my mother burn, I watched my little brother fall sick. That's when Robby practically falls into my lap, with his big brown eyes and charming smile and his penchant for being hunted by vampires. After saving him twice from certain death, we soon come to realize that there's a reason he's being hunted. And that reason may be the answer to all our problems, and the start to a whole new set of them.

I was determined to fulfill my best friend's dying wish: see the lost Moriarty paintings in person. With two Moriartys in hand, I tracked down the final painting—and walked straight into a trap. Caleb Forrester, a Marvel detective working a case, was also caught. He was broody, quiet, and the exact distraction I couldn't afford. Caleb's arrival unveiled a centuries-old mystery promising to destroy the world. Cults, stolen paintings, secrets, and a thirst for him I can't deny . . . the mission might be the least dangerous part.

When turmoil hits, executives and investors face notoriously unreliable macroeconomic forecasts, whipsawing data, and contradictory opinions. Are disruptions transient and ephemeral-or permanent and structural? False alarms are costly traps, but so are true structural changes that go undetected. Leaders must also assess the doom-laden public macroeconomic discourse, which habitually presents worst-case scenarios as foregone conclusions.

The highly influential book The Marriage Clinic presented a complete marital therapy program based on John Gottman's much-heralded research on marital success and failure. Since then, Dr. Gottman has collaborated with his wife, clinical psychologist Dr. Julie Gottman, to conduct their well-known Love Lab studies, allowing the pair to design a highly successful couples' workshop and develop their Sound Relationship House theory.

In Generative AI: Navigating the Course to the Artificial General Intelligence Future, Martin Musiol delivers an incisive and one-of-a-kind discussion of the current capabilities, future potential, and inner workings of generative artificial intelligence. In the book, you'll explore the short but eventful history of generative artificial intelligence, what it's achieved so far, and how it's likely to evolve in the future. You'll also get a peek at how emerging technologies are converging to create exciting new possibilities in the GenAI space.

The Millionaire Maker has done it once again! Dan S. Kennedy revisits little-known, profit-proven direct mail strategies that continue to be effective for any business.

The Cyber Risk Handbook is the practitioner's guide to implementing, measuring, and improving the counter-cyber capabilities of the modern enterprise. The first resource of its kind, this book provides authoritative guidance for real-world situations and cross-functional solutions for enterprise-wide improvement.