Showing results by narrator "Francis Greenslade" in All Categories

During his wanderings and work over the last 30 years as a Buddhist monk, Ajahn Brahm has gathered many poignant, funny and profound stories. While traditional Buddhist philosophy is at the heart of this collection, these thoughtful stories are written like playful parables, which are used to launch into a deeper exploration of subjects such as mindfulness, suffering, forgiveness, hope, wisdom, and unconditional love.

Sprocket's lost his memory; Amy's lost her dad. So now the two of them are on a quest that will take them to the weirdest nudist colony in the world - a hidden community whose dangerous experiments are keeping the nudists alive artificially. Now that their secret is out, are Amy and Sprocket's lives in peril?

Nerlin and Mordonna Flood have seven children, most of which were not created in the traditional way. These kids were made in the cellar, using incredible mystical powers, some very shiny Jamie Oliver saucepans and a small chemistry set. The next-door neighbors should've known better than to rob a family of witches and wizards, but they did, and they're about to find out what the Floods do to bad neighbors.

Every day five of the Flood children travel halfway round the world to Quicklime College, the ultimate school for witches and wizards. There's no time for any of that silly flying-around-on-broomsticks at Quicklime. Sports day is coming up, and there's a big problem to consider. Orkward Warlock, the vilest boy in the school, hates the big happy Flood family, and, together with his sidekick The Toad, he's plotting to kill the Floods on sports day.

Richard Derrington is 28 and single. More single than he'd like to be. More single than he'd expected to be, and not coping well. Since Anna trashed him six months ago he's been trying to find his way again. He's doing his job badly, he's playing tennis badly, his renovating attempts haven't got past the veranda, and he's wondering when things are going to change. Zigzag Street covers six weeks of Richard's life in Brisbane's Red Hill. Six weeks of rumination, chaos, poor judgement, interpersonal clumsiness...and, eventually, hope.

This is the life story of Father Bob Maguire - a rare behind-the-scenes look at the much-loved 'people's priest'. The enigmatic champion of the down-and-out was shaped by a lonely childhood in poor circumstances, an early priesthood that collided with the upheaval of Vatican II and working with the army during the Vietnam War. This is a lively portrait of the man behind the resilient social activist and popular media performer who refuses to be defeated by enforced retirement from the parish over which he presided for nearly 40 years.

Book 3 in The Floods series, featuring the Floods family on the run! Travel back in time to far away Transylvania Waters and find out what happened when a lowly drain cleaner called Nerlin Flood fell in love with the royal princess Mordonna. Can the two escape from an explosively angry King Quatorze, the nastiest spies in the land, and the prospect of life down the toilet? Why does their eldest child, Valla, drink blood?

Reptile spun the wheel and expertly changed gear. We screeched round a corner. I was flung back against the seat. Desperately I hung on to the howling baby. 'When your father finds out what you've done', I yelled at the blond boy, 'you're in for it.' I stared at them trying to take it in. I was being kidnapped at high speed in a military vehicle by a bunch of little brats.... Uncovering deadly secret after deadly secret, Amy and Sprocket are lured deeper into a mystery that gets more exciting with every minute.

Amy and Sprocket are on a mission - to find her dad and his mum, rescue the baby from the Brats and uncover exactly what is going on inside the mysterious nudist colony. But the truth is even more terrifying than anything they imagined. Uncovering deadly secret after deadly secret, Amy and Sprocket are lured deeper into a mystery that gets more exciting with every minute.

Awake and asleep, Tom has increasingly different lives. Awake he is a climber, scaling the cliffs by Tower Rock, and asleep, he finds himself in a vivid dream-world where he is the carrier, responsible for a strange and beautiful child, and forever in search of the elusive Sleeper. Tom can no longer dismiss his night journeys as just dreams once his sleeping and waking lives start to merge. The real-life versions of characters in Tom's dream-world start to fall into inexplicable, deathlike comas, and Tom realises that his two lives are heading towards an inevitable collision.

A few months ago, Dan had to make a choice. Go to Geneva with his parents for a year, board at school, or move into a house with his 22-year-old bass-playing aunt, Jacq, and her friend, Naomi. He picked Jacq's place.

Now he's doing his last year at school and trying not to spin out, trying to master calculus, and trying to pick up a few skills for surviving in the adult world. Problem is, he falls for Naomi, and things become much more confusing.

Much work-based training is a waste of time and money because the majority of people are neither emotionally ready nor practically inclined to apply their learning to the way they behave. Power Up Your Mind offers a new model of learning which will revolutionise the way you learn and perform.

Stephen's bra is starting to slip. His pantyhose are sagging. His knickers keep falling down. Oh, the shame of it. He stole a gizmo, and now it's paying him back. Another crazy yarn from Australia's master of madness.

Cal and Ricky both stare at the one-eyed seagull. "You wanted food," Ricky whispers. "There it is." "A seagull? You'd eat a seagull?" "I'd eat anythng," says Ricky. "Anything." When Ricky and Cal wag school they bite off more than they can chew.

The youngest child in the Flood family, Betty, is a pretty little girl, who looks quite normal - unlike some of her brothers and sisters. She goes to the normal primary school down the road and she even has a normal best friend, Ffiona Hulbert. But Betty is not normal - she is a witch. When Bridie McTort, the school bully, starts throwing her weight around, Betty knows exactly what to do.

For three thousand years, the world's most dangerous treasure has been lost. Now the code that reveals its hiding place is about to be broken.... Sam Grant is a disgraced ex-SOE soldier and an adventurer by trade. But he has a secret: six years ago, a dying archaeologist entrusted him with his life's work - transcripts of mysterious writing found in a hidden cave on Crete. Deciphered, it could lead to one of the greatest prizes in history. But the treasure is as dangerous as it is valuable. The CIA wants it; so does the KGB.

Jack did something awful with an ice cream: now it's his turn to get licked. The girl sucks Jack's eye. Her tongue is huge and spongy and dribbly. The tip of it goes up one nostril.

Here's a comic story of modern love and life when you're 20-something, single, and male. It is the mess Jon Marshall makes of his life when it stops making sense – a comedy of fallibility and misjudgements.

The dog sniffs Jimmy's legs. Jimmy sniffs the dog's legs. The dog sniffs Jimmy's bottom. Jimmy sniffs... aaargh. Horrible, horrible, horrible. It's a dog?s life for Jimmy when the Gizmo gets really gross. A third Gizmo yarn from Australia's master of madness.

All aboard the Scomo Express as our hero pulls back the lid on the life and times of one of history's great leaders and humbly serves up a steaming meat pie of everyman wisdom for the hungering masses. These are the unofficial chronicles of Scotty's first 18 months in his new role as head honcho of the largest marketing firm in the country - the Australian federal government - as it unfolded, completely devoid of any self-aggrandisement, doublespeak, sleight of hand or other dirty shenanigans played by the Opposition.