Lee Smith is a "teller of tales for tale tellers to admire and envy . . . [and] a reader’s dream" (Houston Chronicle). A celebrated and bestselling writer with a dozen novels under her name, including Fair and Tender Ladies, Oral History, and The Last Girls, she is just as widely recognized for her exceptional short stories. Here, in Mrs. Darcy and the Blue-Eyed Stranger, Smith collects seven brand-new stories along with seven of her favorites from three earlier collections. The result? A book of dazzling richness. As the New York Times Book Review put it, "In al- most every one of [her stories] there is a moment of vision, or love, or unclothed wonder that transforms something plain into something transcendent."

Discover the hidden ways to raise your organizations’ customer service experiences from ordinary to extraordinary. If you want to know how strong your company’s customer service is, ask your employees to describe what their work entails. Then pay attention to whether they simply list their duties and tasks or if they speak to the true essence of their job--to create delighted customers who will be less price sensitive, have higher repurchase rates, and enthusiastically recommend the company or brand to others. The latter should be every employee’s highest priority, because when it’s not, your customers are merely the recipients of a transaction, not an experience, and transactions do not make for a lasting impression or inspire loyalty. In Delight Your Customers, customer service expert Steve Curtin makes a compelling case that customer service managers need to shift from monitoring service activities to modeling, recognizing, and reinforcing the behaviors that create happy and returning customers. Things such as: Expressing genuine interest Offering sincere compliments Sharing unique knowledge Conveying authentic enthusiasm Providing pleasant surprises Delivering service heroics when needed Simply based on their own personal experiences, everyone knows that great customer service is rare. So why wouldn’t you want to provide a unique, caring, and beneficial experience for all your customers to rave about with others? With the real-world stories, examples, and strategies shared in Delight Your Customers, you can take the customer service experience you offer from ordinary to extraordinary.

Whether you re making a toast at a wedding, trying to break the ice at a party, or just want to make your boss giggle, the Ultimate Book of Jokes is the first and last resource you'll ever need. From road-crossing chickens and classic knock knock jokes to the naughty, nice, and totally soused, no subject goes unmocked in this collection of over 1,500 jokes, packaged in a deluxe embossed board cover with 2-color line art throughout. Scott McNeeley, author of Ultimate Book of Card Games, mined decades worth of jokes to find chuckle-inducing punch lines for joke lovers of all stripes from yo mamma aficionados to naughty limerick connoisseurs.

MAKE WAY FOR THE TANK GIRL OF THE NEW MILLENIUM! After a break of 20 years, artist extraordinaire Jamie Hewlett (GORILLAZ) is leaping back on the Tank Girl wagon, re-teaming with series co-creator Alan Martin to bring you a whole new take on the foul-mouthed, gun toting, swill-swigging hellion! Featuring riotous 100% original content from Hewlett & Martin along with contributions from a host of series stalwarts and newcomers, get your head down, put your hands over your private parts, and prepare for a chaotic collection of strips, pin-ups, and random carnage! "The richness in every story, every illustrated essay, and pinups, are the type you keep with you, and when the mood strikes, you pick up and re-read over and over again." ¨C Comic Bastards "jam-packed with frenetic energy and bizarre violence, a short story collection occasionally stepping into insightful territory" ¨C CG Magazine "...one of the funniest comics around...British humour at it¡¯s best...something really nice to own...an absolutely wonderful book" ¨C Backwards Compatible "like Mad Max crossed with Whizzer and Chips and read out loud on Tiswas by Huffty off The Word...a psychedelic punkish mess - in the nicest possible way...the dirty old beer-stained magic is back...we never needed her more. So welcome back Tank Girl" ¨C The Independent "...goofy humor and epic action with a psychedelic twist...virtually every page is packed with detail without ever feeling dense¡ªinstead, the culminating effect of reading this book cover to cover is of having attended a strange and unforgettable party...A great read for fans of the 1995 cult film curious to check out the character¡¯s continuing adventures, as well as longtime fans" ¨C Library Journal "really fun...really, really cool" ¨C Comic News Insider