Showing results by narrator "Grant Cartwright" in All Categories

Rydian Halt has defeated one of the immortal Alfur, the alien species that has ruled over humanity for generations. With newfound power burning in his veins, for a brief moment, anything seemed possible. Freedom for himself, for his people, for all of Talamh. Until the Haze struck. Now cast into the wildlands of Talamh, Rydian struggles for survival—and his very sanity. Each time he uses his new power, the Haze threatens, tearing at his mind. But without its aid, Rydian won't last a day against the beasts that stalk him.

Rydian Holt is nothing, nobody. Just another human from the streets of Talamh. Or at least, that's what he thinks - until his mother is caught up in a fledgling resistance group. Branded a traitor and sentenced to fight in the arena, now Rydian must face hardened gladiators in single combat. To survive and advance through the ranks, he'll need the help of an enigmatic weapons master - and more than a little luck.

With acuity, humor, and respect for human diversity, The Shortest History of Sex reveals where the many facets of our sexuality—chemical, anatomical, behavioral, social—come from. Chasing down our evolutionary family tree, from the first aquatic creatures to primate societies, David Baker sheds light on our baffling array of passions, impulses, and fetishes, and guides us toward a clear understanding of one of the deepest, most abiding forces of human nature.

Do you get nervous before a presentation? Do you find yourself rambling and losing your point? In Winning the Room, award-winning creative and communications director, thought leader, and author Jonathan Pease (JP) uses road-tested techniques to take you on a fun, yet practical journey to becoming a fearless storyteller people buy from—emotionally and financially.

When Ryan Campbell was six he fell in love with aeroplanes. It was a passion that was to dominate his childhood and it was no surprise when at 15 Ryan became the youngest pilot in Australia. Inspired by his father and grandfather who were also aviators, Ryan sought a challenge and, like adventurers before him, he found one that spoke to him more than the rest. He wanted to fly around the world, solo, in a single-engine aircraft.

When Sleepers, Wake! was released in Australia, it immediately became influential around the world. Now its author, the polymath and former politician Barry Jones, turns his attention to what has happened since - especially to politics, health, and our climate in the digital age - and to the challenges faced by increasingly fragile democracies and public institutions.

Like most of us, Mark Wakely had always put death in the too-hard basket. Around death he was painfully awkward, strangely self-conscious: death-shy. He was curiously distanced from his own parents' deaths. Thirty years later, he went on a journey to confront one of the most intensely personal yet universal experiences: our own mortality. With Mark as our guide, we are introduced to morticians and embalmers, rabbis and doctors, coffin makers and gravediggers.

This tumultuous global story begins with democracy's radical core idea: We can collaborate, as equals, to determine our own lives and futures. John Keane traces how this concept emerged and evolved, from the earliest "assembly democracies" to European-style electoral democracy to our present system of "monitory democracy." Keane calls this media- and communication-driven system "the most complex and vibrant form of democracy yet"—but it is not invulnerable. At this urgent moment, Keane's book mounts a new defense of a precious global ideal.

Sebastian, a young farmhand living in the Australian mallee, is being watched covertly by Val, a fugitive hiding in the forests on the banks of the River Murray. Val has an official document that confirms his death 14 years ago. There is no official document that confirms his particular skill: assassin.

Great ideas, concepts, and initiatives seldom break through the sea of business mediocrity. As a senior international leader with more than 30 years of corporate experience, Hamish Thomson has discovered that true transformation and breakthrough comes from personal insight-derived not from intellect or technical mastery, but from experience and observation of real-life occurrences. It's Not Always Right to Be Right offers unique business and leadership insights, teachable models, and practical advice on what one needs to do differently to achieve desired results.

In House of Matches (2024) the poet fashions and gives life to diverse voices of refugees, immigrants, exiles, as well as victims of war, human trafficking, and pandemic. Collectively, in their stories of struggles, losses, and triumphs, the voices evoke the dramatically intense world of our decade a world compared in the title poem to a house of matches.

Aaron Hodges presents Book 3 in the Alfurian Chronicles.

The cruel Merdrun, the greatest warriors in the void, have invaded Santhenar but their portal failed, leaving them stranded. They're desperately trying to regain contact with the summon stone so they can reopen the portal and begin the slaughter of humanity. Llian, hurled through another portal, sees the summon stone wake and knows the allies have but one chance to destroy the Merdrun—though it will involve an alchemical quest that has always ended in ruin, a mad invasion in untested sky ships with untrained pilots and the most unequal battle in all the Histories.

Chelsea is part of an international team of archaeologists who are making the most of a tenuous cease-fire in the Syrian civil war to excavate and conserve the historic remains of the ancient kingdom of Ebla. The dramatic discovery of a new library of clay tablets inscribed with cuneiform writing brings to the surface international tensions between Syria and Israel. Will the revelations in the ancient tablets be hijacked by vested interests?

Chris Norman's dreams of being a commercial pilot are shattered when he crashes his plane in central Australia. His life hangs in the balance—a balance that is swayed by the intervention of an Aboriginal bushman bent on his own murderous mission. The bushman leaves Chris with a mysterious and incongruous legacy, a Celtic cross made of stone. Partly blinded and in deep grief at no longer being able to fly, Chris finds his way to the Hebridean islands off the west coast of Scotland, where he seeks to unravel the secrets of the Celtic stone.

Elliot is hiding in his world of boats from a past that has wounded him. He is anti-authoritarian, lacking direction and broke. Emma is terrified of life outside the studious, ordered world of Oxford. But circumstances propel her into the dangerous world of international subterfuge. Kai is a Chinese triad gang leader, who is all too familiar with violence. However, he is now questioning his life, and seeking redemption. The three of them meet in Hong Kong, a place where money is king, corruption is rife, and the secret societies of the triads are flourishing.