Most Popular Books by Jeffrey Ford

Explores how even small changes in the way we talk with one another can produce extraordinarily positive outcomes. Describes how to get maximum results from four types of conversations we use every day Research-based and practical, with sample dialogues and personal stories that show how to put the four conversations into practice Talk is powerful. Engaging in the right conversation at the right time is key to both personal and organizational success. And it isn''t just difficult'' conversations that matter. The Four Conversations clearly demonstrates it is the everyday dialogue we have with one another that is critical. Armed with a solid body of research and their own first-hand observations, Jeffrey and Laurie Ford identify four types of conversations that every one of us must use to get things done; initiative conversations to introduce something new; understanding conversations to help people relate to new ideas or processes; performance conversations to request specific actions and results; and closure conversations to complete work and give people a sense of accomplishment . They identify the specific elements that make each of these conversations successful and show how they can be put together in different ways to achieve different objectives. The Four Conversations demonstrates how to use the right conversation at the right time - planning and starting each one well, and finishing every conversation effectively - to produce the results we want and the improved productivity our organizations need. And through dozens of personal stories and sample dialogues, the authors illustrate how real people in real situations have used the four conversations, either alone or in combination, to more effectively combat common workplace problems and lay the foundations for enduring success; stronger relationships, better buy-in, and a greater feeling of personal and professional achievement for everyone.

En 1960, una pequeña comunidad de Long Island se ve afectada por extraños sucesos. Tras las huellas de estos se encuentran un joven y su hermano mayor, Jim, que pasan los últimos días del verano sumergidos en un ambiente asfixiante, con un padre pluriempleado y una madre alcohólica.Un merodeador anda suelto por las calles y un hombre observa amenazador a los dos jóvenes desde un coche frente a su casa. Pero cuando un chico del pueblo desaparece sin dejar rastro, ambos tienen claro que el culpable es el señor White. La sorpresa llega cuando descubren que Mary, la hermana pequeña de los chicos, mueve de manera misteriosa figuritas en una maqueta del pueblo, mostrando sucesos antes de que ocurran.

El retratista Piero Piambo, la gran sensación de Nueva York en 1893, siente menguar sus ambiciones artísticas, pese a in-mortalizar a todos los nuevos ricos de la ciudad en sus óleos. Pero entonces recibe un lucrativo encargo distinto a los demás. Su cliente es una tal señora Charbuque; el único problema es que Piambo no podrá verla, sino que tendrá que sentarse delante de un elegante biombo y su modelo le contará todo sobre su vida, dándole pistas por las que él debe adivinar su apariencia. Mientras se esfuerza lo indecible para capturar en el óleo el rostro de una mujer a la que no ha visto jamás, una serie de asesinatos tienen lugar en la ciudad. Y al tiempo que la relación de Piambo con la señora Charbuque va com-plicándose, este sospecha cada vez más que esos terribles acontecimientos, su encargo imposible y su extraña «benefactora» están íntimamente relacionados.

The acclaimed author of the World Fantasy Award-winning New York Times Notable novel, The Physiognomy, returns us now to a shadow purgatory of strange dreams and striking moral ambiguities. Once Cley held a position of respect and fear in Master Drachton Below''scruel autocracy. As physiognomist, Cley practiced a sanctioned, twisted science that condemned men and women to death for the size of their foreheads or thrust of their chins. Yet Cley emerged from the ruins of the Well-Built City a better man, dedicated to healing the physical ills of the simpler agrarian society he has chosen to join. Below''s great evil, however, has never abated''and he was not destroyed when his dark social experiment exploded. For his own senseless reasons, he has unleashed a plague of sleep upon Cley''s friends and neighbors''a disease that, ironically, has felled the Master as well. And the only antidote lies in a terrible place the former physiognomist fears to enter but knows he must: in the surreal house of a madman''s dreams, imagination, and remembrances; in the intricate palace of memories Drachton Below has scrupulously constructed in the stygian depths of his mind.

Diego, un joven inmigrante mexicano, es acogido por el as del timo Thomas Schell. Juntos capean con comodidad el tem-poral de la Gran Depresión estafando a los neoyorquinos pudientes mediante sesiones de espiritismo. Hasta que un acontecimiento imposible lo cambia todo. En una de sus sesiones Schell ve la imagen de una niña en una puerta de cristal, que suplica en silencio la ayuda del estafador. A pesar de saber que sus poderes paranormales son una farsa, Schell ofrece sus servicios para ayudar a encontrar a la niña perdida, arrastrando a Diego con él hacia el interior de un complejo laberinto de mortales secretos y terribles experiencias.

Découvrez une nouvelle facette de l''horreur et du fantastique moderne dans ce texte issu de l''anthologie Ténèbres 2016. Retrouvez l''intégralité des 19 nouvelles de fantastique et d''horreur sélectionnées par Benoît Domis dans Ténèbres 2016, la revue phare du fantastique moderne. Disponible chez Bragelonne en numérique, en coédition avec Dreampress.

Strane cose succedono in una tranquilla cittadina di Long Island. È solo l''inizio di una scia di delitti e avvenimenti misteriosi. Due ragazzini decidono di indagare, guidati dalle premonizioni della sorella più piccola. Ma una volta scoperta l''identità del killer, i tre si ritrovano nel suo mirino e quello che era iniziato come un gioco si trasforma in un incubo destinato a segnare la loro infanzia.

Dark Moon Books and editor Eric J. Guignard present this introduction to the work of Jeffrey Ford, #4 in a series of scholarly primers exploring modern masters of literary dark short fiction. With commentary by Michael Arnzen, PhD, and beautifully illustrated by artist Michelle Prebich, discover the vast and fantastic writing of Jeffrey Ford.

Anamasobie est une petite ville étrange où des créatures mi-hommes, mi-machines travaillent à l''extraction de la spire bleue, un dangereux combustible dont la poussière les paralyse peu à peu. Cley, qui a le pouvoir de connaître le caractère et les actions futures d''un individu à la simple lecture de son visage, y est chargé de retrouver l''auteur d''un crime invraisemblable - sur l''autel de l''église a été volé le fruit sacré censé apporter la clef du paradis terrestre... A sa grande surprise, il découvre que le coupable n''est autre qu''Arla, la jeune femme qui enquête à ses côtés, et dont il est tombé profondément amoureux. Après l''avoir emprisonnée et tenté de changer son caractère en modifiant son visage par la chirurgie, il s''apprête à fuir la ville, conscient de s''exposer aux terribles représailles de ses omnipotents commanditaires. Mais pour sauver deux vies, peut-on mettre en péril toute une population ? Ce roman déroutant n''est pas sans rappeler les ambiances oppressantes de Kafka ou l''univers paranoïaque de 1984, de George Orwell.

A fable, a nightmare, a vision, a mystery -- superbly rich imaginative fiction at its best. New York, 1893, and society portrait painter Piero Piambo feels his artistic ambition waning, even while he immortalizes the city''s nouveaux riches in oil paints. But then he receives a bizarre and lucrative commission, to paint the mysterious Mrs Charbuque. The catch is that he is not allowed to see her, and so Piambo sits before a screen as his sitter tells him of her life, dreams, and fears -- clues from which he must divine her visage. As he works, a series of murders plagues the city -- deaths that at first seem accidental. And, as Piambo''s masterpiece takes shape, his relationship with Mrs Charbuque grows ever more tangled...while her deranged husband becomes hellbent on some inexplicable vengeance.

Arnaquer des riches crédules en organisant chez eux des séances de spiritisme est une chose, être soi-même la victime d''une sorte d''hallucination inexplicable en est une autre. Schell, illusionniste de talent, bien placé pour être le plus sceptique des hommes, a pourtant bien vu dans le reflet d''une baie vitrée l''image d''une fillette disparue. Fantôme ? Hallucination ? Mauvaise farce ? Dans l''Amérique en crise puritaine et hypocrite de la prohibition et alors qu''en Europe les thèses nazies donnent de la voix, Schell, accompagné d''un immigré mexicain de dix-sept ans et d''un ancien hercule de foire, refuse de trancher et décide de retrouver l''enfant. Pouvait-il imaginer qu''il allait, par sa curiosité, heurter de plein fouet un monde obscur et terrifiant ?...