Showing results by author "Jim Smith" in All Categories

February 2012. Somewhere in the North Atlantic. In an increasingly uncertain defence environment, a deadly new arms race has begun. In an attempt to secure her boundaries, Britain has deployed the very latest sub-sea military technology. Beneath and beyond the front line, these are the adventures of the HMS Goliath. A 55,000-tonne M-Class nuclear stealth submarine, prowling 5,000 metres below the surface, manned by idiots.

The original edition of this revered and authorized Queen biography explored every aspect of the legendary group’s career from inception to 1992. Newly revised and updated with cooperation and insight from Brian May and Roger Taylor—and drawing on exclusive interviews with the bandmembers—this book completes the story of the Mercury era and the immediate years after his death.

As far back as Barry can remember, he’s always wanted a sausage dog. They’re like two of his favourite things (sausages and dogs) squidged together! Who cares if they bark the whole time, do poos everywhere, need three walks every day and stop you going to the cinema with your friends? Not Barry. Until he actukeely gets a real-life sausage dog, that is.

When Melvin moves from the city to Donut (a perfectly round island with a hole in the middle), he thinks it's the most rubbish place ever. Then he meets Rhubarb. Rhubarb is obsessed with mysteries and has her own school newspaper to investigate the strange goings on in Donut. (Unfortunately nothing ever happens in Donut so she's never had anything to write about.) But then Melvin notices that the kids at school are acting very strangely. Could it be something to do with the Donut Hole Monsters that everyone is collecting? Also includes Attack of the Haunted Lunchbox.

Barry can’t wait to tell his friends that they’ve been invited on his family caravan holiday to Plonkton. But the weekend by the sea doesn’t turn out to be the keelfest Barry was hoping for. It’s all his best mate Bunky’s fault for going and falling in love. Oh. My. Unkeelness!

There’s a new Loser in town, and Barry’s not happy about it. The only thing that’s keeping him going is a superkeel new drink from Feeko’s Supermarket. But then disaster strikes, and Barry has to turn detective to solve the mystery of the century: the case of the crumpled carton!

It’s Barry’s birthday and his mum and dad have bought him the amazekeel new gaming helmet he wanted—the Shnozinator 9000! It’s the best birthday present ever...until his baby brother breaks it and ruins everything. But Barry has a plan: he’ll just have to become a billionaire inventor and make enough money to buy another one, before his life is comperleeterly over.

Everyone at Barry’s school has gone football crazy, but Barry gets thrown out of the team (the Mogden Maniacs) for being completeerly rubbish. Then it turns out that his best friend, Bunky, is a super striker—so Barry becomes his manager. The cup final match is approaching, and Bunky’s getting carried away with his football fame—can Barry keep his head in the game?

It’s only a few days into the half-term holidays, and Barry's dad has already had enough of him! He’s packing Barry off to Pirate Camp, the same one he used to be sent to every year. Barry’s not impressed—he’s not a baby anymore, so why should he have to go to a camp for kiddywinkles? But horrible things are afoot at Pirate Camp—it’s been taken over by the villainous Morag, and now its future’s in doubt. There’s only one thing to do: Barry and his new friends Sally Bottom and Renard Dupont have to uncover the hidden treasure of Mogden Island....

I've never minded that my name's Barry Loser because my coolness has always cancelled it out, but ever since Darren Darrenofski joined school with his horrible little crocodile face, he's been completely ruining my life about it.

Barry’s mum has become a bit of celebrity, and now he can’t go anywhere without seeing a poster of her eating a chocolate digestive or wiggling her bum in a pair of jeans. It’s so annoy-embarrassing, and everyone at school is making fun of him. But you can’t keep Barry down for long.... With the help of his napkin collection, new girl Nancy Verkenwerken and a snail called Snailypoos, Barry is determined to prove once and for all that he is not a loser.

Barry's class are off on a school trip to see a history of television exhibition, which Barry knows will be comperleeterly rubbish. But then he discovers that Future Ratboy (super-keel superhero TV show) is filmed in the same TV studios! All he has to do is find a way to sneak away and find the set.... Will Barry come up with an amazekeel plan? Will he get to audition for Future Ratboy? Will they get the best seats on the coach?

You know when someone's horrible to you in a dream and you wake up really annoyed with them? That’s what happened to me with my best friend Bunky. Barry has a new problem: Gordon Smugly—who’s got the most perfect name for himself ever in the history of having a name, because he looks like a Gordon and is smug and ugly—has stolen Barry’s best friend. Join Barry as he attempts to get Bunky back, organises a girly-scream voice test and tries to avoid seeing his teacher kissing his gran.

There’s a girl in Barry’s class who’s getting more laughs than him! But luckily, Barry immediately thinks up one of his brilliant and amazekeel plans to make sure he’ll have the final chuckle. All he needs is 30 boxes of Beard Flakes.

When Melvin moves from the city to Donut (a perfectly round island with a hole in the middle), he thinks it's the most rubbish place ever. Then he meets Rhubarb. Rhubarb is OBSESSED with mysteries and has her own school newspaper to investigate the strange goings on in Donut. But then Melvin notices that the kids at school are acting very strangely. Could it be something to do with the Donut Hole Monsters that everyone is collecting? Soon Melvin and Rhubarb are on the trail of a mystery – one that is going to lead them right into the centre of the donut hole.

Melvin, Rhubarb and Yoshi are on the hunt for a new mystery to write about in the Daily Donut newspaper, but little do they know, it's right under their nose … there's something spooky in the sandwiches!

Crusading attorney Anthony Quinn believed his career was over when a criminal threw acid into his face, blinding him. Months later, desperate to regain his sight, Quinn underwent a unique transplant operation which gave him the eyes of a slain lawman. Not only did the procedure work, but it also gave Quinn the ability to see in the dark. Using this fantastic gift, he created the Black Bat, a justice-seeking vigilante able to battle those villains beyond the reach of the law.

Almost everyone is guilty of playing the blame game. It's satisfying and easy to do. If we despise our work, we can blame our manager or even our short-sighted organization for its inability to recognize our genius. If our personal lives are a disaster, we can blame our spouses, partners, the economy, or even our ancestors. We all know on some level that we are pointing our fingers in the wrong direction, but we just can't seem to help ourselves.

PTSD: No Apologies is a powerful anthology of personal stories and poems. Many of the stories were by those whose lives have been affected by PTSD. Collectively, they demonstrate what happens when an individual has been exposed to horrifying situations that stick in the memory...refuse to leave...and are constantly relived, again and again.

Jim Smith was born in 1953 and raised on a small dairy farm in rural Illinois, where he learned the values of hard work and resilience amid challenging family circumstances. Drafted during the Vietnam War era, his life took a pivotal turn that eventually led him to earn a master’s degree from Stanford University and succeed as an entrepreneur in California. A lifelong learner, world traveler, and passionate genealogist, Jim wrote From Fields to Fulfillment to preserve his story for future generations and reflect on a life shaped by struggle, growth, forgiveness, and unexpected good fortune.