Brilliant young Hollywood director Bobby Albertson is delighted when he finally meets the woman of his dreams, only to discover that beautiful Kathy Miller is really an alien on the run from some nasty intergalactic enemies.Ket turned to the man nearest her, a heavy-set, tattooed biker-type, and said, "Gentlemen, please. Let us take care of our friend."The biker put a hand on Ket's shoulder. "That's where you're wrong, Blondie. We'll take care of your friend. And maybe you t...

A young drunk and an old ex-drunk console each other on the city bus. An aging woman recounts the story of her sixty-year marriage as she goes to her deathbed. A distraught young man remembers his dead friends and calls on their spirits for the strength to go on living. Seasonal workers, washed-up athletes, lovers, brothers, friends, and enemies all fight for their identities and their sanity as the modern world seeks to tear them to pieces. In these ten stories, J. D. Austin explores the ...

**The Last Huck stands out as one of the most impressive debut novels of this decade. --Joseph D. Haske, author of North Dixie Highway**Jakob, Niklas and Peter Kinnunen grew up playing together on their family's berry farm on the Keweenaw Peninsula in Michigan's U.P. The three of them inherit the land when their beloved uncle passes away, but Jakob goes to prison and Peter, who goes broke during the 2008 financial crash, calls Niklas and suggests they sell the land for fa...

The bicycle has been described as the most perfect of human inventions and its ability to inspire cannot be underrated after all, Einstein claimed that the theory of relativity came to him whilst cycling. And so bicycling and philosophy create the perfect tandem; both teach us to confront realities about the world and ourselves, and to pursue lofty ideals. Investigating the connections between the intellectual and physical sides of cycling, this book rides over important philosophical terr...

In Theology and the Marvel Universe, fourteen contributors examine theological themes and ideas in the comic books, television shows, and films that make up the grand narrative of the Marvel Universe. Engaging in dialogue with theological thinkers such as Willie James Jennings, Franz Rosenzweig, Søren Kierkegaard, René Girard, Kelly Brown Douglas, and many others, the chapters explore a wide variety of topics, including violence, sacrifice, colonialism, Israeli-Palestinian relations, virtu...

Transitions: Legal Change, Legal Meanings illustrates the various intersections, crises, and shifts that continually occur within the law, and how these moments of change interact with and comment on contemporary society.Together the essays in this volume investigate the transformation of US law during moments of political change and explore what we can learn about law by examining its role and its use in times of transition. Whether by an abrupt shift in regime or an orde...

The new world order as it stood after the apparent end of the Cold War and the collapse of the USSR was greeted with enthusiasm and optimism almost everywhere, but especially in the West. Less than a quarter century later that optimism has faded dramatically, with the rise of populism, nationalism, religious extremism and civil discord disrupting political and social norms around the world. This book reveals the extent to which events that began as internal political crises in Europe, the ...

The Anthropology of Religious Conversion paints a picture of conversion far more complex than its customary image in anthropology and religious studies. Conversion is very seldom simply a sudden moment of insight or inspiration; it is a change both of individual consciousness and of social belonging, of mental attitude and of physical experience, whose unfolding depends both on its cultural setting and on the distinct individuals who undergo it. The book explores religious conversion in a ...

Ultraviolet-B radiation (UV-B) has profound effects on plant growth and development, and exposure varies with ozone depletion and across geographic regions, with ecosystem and agricultural consequences. This book deals with large-scale impacts but also how UV-B affects plants at the molecular level is also fascinating, and the UV-B photoreceptor has only recently been characterised. While UV-B radiation can be damaging, it also has a more positive role in plant photomorphogenesis. Conseque...

100 Masterpieces of Murder Mystery & Detective Fiction maps the extraordinary breadth of crime writing from Gothic terror and sensation fiction to the classical puzzle, espionage thriller, psychological suspense tale, and hard-edged urban narrative. Its hundred selections place locked rooms, poisoned inheritances, disappearances, criminal investigations, and uncanny intrusions in conversation with one another. The volume's range illuminates how murder mystery became a capacious literary fo...

100 Mystery Classics of World Literature maps the extraordinary breadth of mystery writing, from Gothic menace and sensation fiction to detective puzzles, espionage, psychological suspense, adventure, and tales of the uncanny. Its hundred selections place celebrated investigations beside narratives of crime, disguise, inheritance, urban danger, and moral ambiguity. The volume's range reveals mystery not as a narrow formula but as a capacious literary mode, encompassing the locked-room prob...

WWE Superstar Stone Cold Steve Austin shares an unvarnished take on his life and his days as a wrestler from growing up in small town Texas to his long-awaited return to the world of professional wrestling.He's wrestled under many names, but to the fans he is and will always be Stone Cold Steve Austin™.His quick wit and colorful use of language combined with his everyman character captured the hearts of fans worldwide and rewrote the dynamics of professiona...