The beautiful county of Shropshire is one of the most visited of English counties. Here is a collection of strange tales and local legends from the county.
In places, Shropshire has traditional patchwork fields and hedgerows; in others, small villages and market towns with black and white half-timbered buildings. But it also has places that are still wild – hills where heather and bracken cling to the rocks while peewits call overhead and strange rock formations jut to the sky, casting their shadows over the countryside below. The thirty stories in this new collection have grown out of the county's diverse landscapes: tales of the strange and macabre; memories of magic and other worlds; proud recollections of folk history; stories to make you smile, sigh and shiver. Moulded by the land, weather and generations of tongues wagging, these traditional tales are full of Shropshire wit and wisdom, and will be enjoyed time and again.
The beautiful county of Yorkshire is one of the most visited of English counties. Here is a collection of strange tales and local legends from the county.
Illustrated throughout, discover the folklore, myths, legends, customs and traditions from Staffordshire that will both enlighten and entertain readers.
If you're looking to build your deal-making chops, there is no better school than the world of professional sports. Few authors are as qualified to guide you through that rough-and-tumble terrain as Ken Shropshire. From the Fortune 500 to the NFL, from Don King to big city mayors, Ken has negotiated major sports deals across the country and around the world. He's also one of today's most sought-after negotiating coaches, with clients ranging from the National Collegiate Athletic Association to IBM. In Negotiate Like the Pros, Ken tells the stories behind some of the most sensational sports deals of all time and extracts powerful lessons from them on the skills you need to master to become a top-notch dealmaker. You'll learn how to: Prepare and Set Agendas: Peter Ueberroth's negotiation with Fidel Castro during the Soviet boycott of the '84 Olympics Know Your Negotiating Style and Play to Your Strengths: Why NFL coach Bill Walsh stresses sticking with your style Set Goals: the $60 million deal Daiuske “Dice-K” Matsuzaka cut with the Boston Red Sox in 2006 Leverage: from the astonishing three-way negotiation between Muhammed Ali, George Foreman and the President of Zaire that Don King used to pull off “The Rumble in the Jungle” Build Relationships: Yao Ming's move from China and David Beckham's $250 million deal with the Los Angeles Galaxy You also get a wealth of insider tips, tricks, and skill-building tools to help you develop a highly-effective, systematic approach to deal making. Whether you're a fanatic who sees the world through sports-colored glasses, or a casual observer who wants to learn from some of the toughest, shrewdest dealmakers in any industry, this book will teach you how to Negotiate Like the Pros.
A Grim Almanac of Shropshire is a day-by-day catalogue of 366 macabre moments from the county's past. Featured here are such diverse tales as mining disasters, suicides, miscarriages of justice, axe murders, executions and tragic accidents, including the Meadow Pit Mining Tragedy of 1810, when four men suffocated from sulphur fumes after the pit caught fire, and the mysterious disappearance of a Lancaster bomber - and its crew - over Shropshire more than sixty years ago. Generously illustrated, this chronicle is an entertaining and readable record of Shropshire's grim past. Read on... if you dare!
The Dragon Bard is the first in a two book series about a young bard named Dalen. In the beginning, Dalen is the typical young man, looking to become a master bard to gain fame and fortune. He inherits a set of "dragon treaties" from his former master, and decides to achieve his goals by telling the histories of the dragons from their point of view. At first the quest seems to be fairly straightforward, although he quickly finds that nearly all of his preconceived ideas about dragons are wrong. Looking at things from the point of view of an ancient intelligent race causes Dalen to reassess his goals and values. As his quest progresses, he learns that the "treaties" are much more than they seem. Guided by forces far beyond his control, he becomes enmeshed in a centuries-old conflict between the forces of good and an ancient spreading evil, and learns that the things he had thought were important pale alongside the truly important values of honor, humility, faith, courage, and self-sacrifice.
“A funny, revealing, Ball Four–like romp through mid-seventies baseball” from the longtime sports columnist and author of The Last Real Season (Booklist). You think your team is bad? In this “disastrously hilarious” work on one of the most tortured franchises in baseball, one reporter discovers that nine innings can feel like an eternity (USA Today). In early 1973, gonzo sportswriter Mike Shropshire agreed to cover the Texas Rangers for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, not realizing that the Rangers were arguably the worst team in baseball history. Seasons in Hell is a riotous, candid, irreverent behind-the-scenes account in the tradition of The Bronx Zoo and Ball Four, following the Texas Rangers from Whitey Herzog’s reign in 1973 through Billy Martin’s tumultuous tenure. Offering wonderful perspectives on dozens of unique (and likely never-to-be-seen-again) baseball personalities, Seasons in Hell recounts some of the most extreme characters ever to play the game and brings to life the no-holds-barred culture of major league baseball in the mid-seventies. “The single funniest sports book I have ever read.”—Don Imus “The locker-room shenanigans of a lousy team of the 1970s.”—Publishers Weekly