Showing results by author "Paul Stephens" in All Categories

As a scientist, Sherlock Holmes would have certainly been familiar with the famous dictum attributed to Aristotle: Nature abhors a vacuum. In that same vein, fans of the Great Detective must look at 1885 and 1886 and see a somewhat similar void. Conan Doyle set no cases during those years; in fact, if you believe Doyle, Holmes and Watson remained inactive for a period of some 30 months.

The final stress test bleeds into its second day. Driven to desperation by the Integrity Knights’ coordinated assault, the Dark Army reveals the ace up their sleeve! Critter, who has been observing the battle from the Ocean Turtle, has successfully created a gateway into the Underworld and masked it as an invitation to “an open beta test for a new, unannounced VRMMO." This digital invite bolsters the ranks of the Dark Army by the tens of thousands!

Fifty-thousand troops led by Gabriel Miller, aka Emperor Vecta, the God of Darkness prepare to invade the human lands defended by Bercouli and his army of five thousand. Kirito, still out of commission, is left in the care of Ronie and Tiese.

The second day of the final stress test rages on. Lisbeth, Silica, and Asuna push through the pain as they hold out against the Dark Army. But their efforts fall short as Kirito is captured by PoH, the former leader of Laughing Coffin! With PoH’s twisted heart set on subjecting Kirito to the culmination of several years’ vengeance, he prepares to end him once and for all. But when hope seems lost, a voice cries out in Kirito’s heart. The voice of the person he lived with, laughed with, and fought with for years. The voice of his best friend.

It's a rainy day in Seattle, and on the third floor of First Guarantee Financial, people have stopped believing they can make a difference. To new manager Mary Jane Ramirez, the challenge of bringing life back to her unenthusiastic and unmotivated team seems impossible, until she discovers an incredibly successful workplace down the street where the employees are so alive and passionate that people stop just to watch them work!

The phenomenal international best seller Fish! told the story of a fictional company that transformed itself by applying lessons learned from Seattle's Pike Place Fish market. Now, with Fish! Tales, listeners can learn how people in real-life businesses boosted morale and improved results by implementing these same principles. Here are specific and tested techniques that can be put to use right away in any kind of business or organization, even at home.

Linked up and logged into the deadly VMMORPG Sword Art Online in both the real and virtual worlds, Kirito is stuck in a hell of one man's making and, like everyone else, unable to escape until the game is beaten. But while some players are crippled by fear and others throw themselves into completing the game, still others relax into everyday life in the face of their cruel predicament and live to the best of their ability...laughing, crying, but always enjoying the game.

It was the street your mother warned you about - even if you lived in San Francisco. Long associated with skid row, saloons, freak shows, violence, and vice, the Bowery often showed the worst New York City had to offer. Yet there were times when it showed its best as well.

The Doctor ventures into alternative dimensions in these four exciting novelisations of TV stories.

In the year 2022, gamers rejoice as Sword Art Online - a VRMMORPG (virtual reality massively multiplayer online role-playing game) like no other - debuts, allowing players to take full advantage of the ultimate in gaming technology: NerveGear, a system that allows users to completely immerse themselves in a wholly realistic gaming experience. But when the game goes live, the elation of the players quickly turns to horror as they discover that, for all its amazing features, SAO is missing one of the most basic functions of any MMORPG - a logout button.

For all we know, or think we know, about Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, what we don't know is far, far greater. In one of the duo's most exciting cases, The Adventure of the Speckled Band, we know when Helen Stoner arrives "in a considerable state of excitement" at the door of 221B Baker Street, seeking the assistance of Holmes and Watson: "It was early in April in the year '83..." But what happened during the rest of 1883? Or all of 1884?

Sherlock Holmes —the name immediately brings to mind an image of the great detective sitting in his rooms in 221B Baker street, his fingers steepled before his hawkish nose, his sharp grey eyes focused on the client who has brought a little puzzle for him to solve. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said when one reads the names of the other literary detectives of the time period, sometimes referred to as the rivals of Sherlock Holmes.

Milton H. Erickson, the father of modern clinical hypnosis. When I trained it was so frustrating having to consult so many books in order to get a comprehensive sense of his work. After 60 years of clinical experience, I decided to write a book that contained his basic principles, presenting them in both linear and non-linear style—the way he worked, no jargon, in plain English.

Tormented girls writhing in agony, stern judges meting out harsh verdicts, 19 bodies swinging on Gallows Hill. The stark immediacy of what happened in 1692 has obscured the complex web of human passion which climaxed in the Salem witch trials. From rich and varied sources - many neglected and unknown - Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum give us a picture of the people and events more intricate and more fascinating than any other in the massive literature. It is a story of powerful and deeply divided families and of a community determined to establish an independent identity.

Kirito and Sinon's battle with Death Gun is over, but mere weeks later, something strange is afoot in the next-generation VRMMO ALfheim Online. A new duelist with a custom sword skill is defeating all comers—including Kirito! But when Asuna goes to face this duelist, she receives something she never expected: An invitation to an exclusive guild! But what is their aim? The Mother's Rosary arc begins!

After a brief respite, Kirito and Eugeo set off again to climb Central Cathedral--but the powerful Integrity Knights are not about to let them reach the top. Meanwhile, Kirito has learned the dark history of the Underworld and the true stakes of the battle they're fighting, and every step toward Alice brings him closer to an impossible decision...

The saga of Sword Art Online continues with three side stories set during the Aincrad and Alfheim eras. The game of death took its toll on every player in a different way—when one turns up dead on the fifty-seventh floor, the game's afoot, and it's up to Asuna and Kirito to crack the case. There's also the story of how Kirito got his Excalibur sword in Alfheim (with a little help from his friends). And when the game of death first began, Kirito learned a difficult lesson—one he would never forget.

Two years into Kirito and Eugeo's quest to reach the Central Cathedral, the pair have finally become elite disciples at the North Centoria Imperial Swordcraft Academy. Now all that's left to do is train for the next tournament, build their relationships with their trainee pages, and do so without violating the Taboo Index. But just because this peaceful world is governed by law and order doesn't mean evil can't fester below the surface...and when it comes time to choose between the rules and what's right, Kirito and Eugeo discover the darker secrets of the Underworld.

In an effort to discover the truth behind Death Gun, Kirito has entered the Bullet of Bullets tournament in Gun Gale Online. Both he and Sinon the sniper girl have made it to the finals, and the reality of what they discover is stranger than anything they could've prepared for. As Sinon is forced to face her own past, lives are on the line once again, and Kirito struggles to connect Death Gun to events in the original SAO game--but can Death Gun's bizarre rampage be stopped in time?

Kirito has escaped Sword Art Online, the forbidden VRMMORPG of death, and returned to reality. He heads off to find his game partner and lover, Asuna Yuuki. But Asuna never made it back from the nightmare.