Search results for ""author weird"

Nao Brown suffers from OCD, but not the hand-washing, overly tidy type that people often refer to jokingly. Nao suffers from violent, morbid obsessions, while her compulsions take the form of unseen mental rituals. Working part-time in a 'designer' vinyl toy shop, while struggling to get her own illustration career off the ground, she's still searching for that elusive love – the perfect love. And in meeting the man of her dreams, she realises… dreams can be quite weird. Nao's meditation practice is an attempt to quieten her mind and open her heart, and it's through this that she comes to understand that things aren't so black and white after all. In fact, they're much more... brown. This new edition contains eight pages of additional material, including previously unseen artwork, which gives an insight into Glyn Dillon’s creative process.

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***LONGLISTED FOR THE DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZE 2016***'KNOWS HOW TO KEEP HER AUDIENCE HOOKED' The Times'A MASTERFUL STORYTELLER' Clare Mackintosh'DARK, WEIRD AND GLORIOUSLY FEMINIST' ElleGeorgian London, in the summer of 1763.At nineteen, Anne Jaccob, the elder daughter of well-to-do parents, meets Fub the butcher's apprentice and is awakened to the possibilities of joy and passion. Anne lives a sheltered life: her home is a miserable place and her parents have already chosen a more suitable husband for her than Fub. But Anne is an unusual young woman and is determined to pursue her own happiness in her own way......even if that means getting a little blood on her hands.'A SHARP EYE AND A SHARPER WIT' Guardian'A SPIRITED, DARK DEBUT' Woman & Home'STRANGE, DARK AND UTTERLY MESMERIC' Hannah Kent*And Janet Ellis's second, darkly compelling novel, How It Was, is out now*

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The ultimate non-technical guide to the fast-developing world of quantum computing Computer technology has improved exponentially over the last 50 years. But the headroom for bigger and better electronic solutions is running out. Our best hope is to engage the power of quantum physics. 'Quantum algorithms' had already been written long before hardware was built. These would enable, for example, a quantum computer to exponentially speed up an information search, or to crack the mathematical trick behind internet security. However, making a quantum computer is incredibly difficult. Despite hundreds of laboratories around the world working on them, we are only just seeing them come close to 'supremacy' where they can outperform a traditional computer. In this approachable introduction, Brian Clegg explains algorithms and their quantum counterparts, explores the physical building blocks and quantum weirdness necessary to make a quantum computer, and uncovers the capabilities of the current generation of machines.

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Bran's Southern California upbringing is anything but traditional. After her mother abandons her and joins a Buddhist colony, Bran is raised by her 'common-law stepfather' on Bourdon Farms - a plant nursery that doubles as a cover for a biker gang. She spends her days tending plants, slogging through high school and imagining what life could be if she had been born to a different family.Then she meets Peter - a charming, troubled college student from the East Coast - who launches his teaching career by initiating her into the world of art. The two begin a seemingly doomed long-distance relationship as Bran searches for meaning in her own surroundings. She knows how to survive, but now she must learn how to live.'Avalon observes beautifully the shifting terrain of teenage intimacy: its intensity and its fragility . . . it's a hilarious, heartbreaking and - of course - extremely weird novel.' Sunday Times

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Ever feel like you are pedalling in the choucroute? Been caught with your beard in the mailbox again? Or maybe you just wish everyone would stop ironing your head?Speaking in Tongues brings the weird, wonderful and surprising nuanced beauty of language to life with over fifty gorgeous watercolour and ink illustrations.Here you will find the perfect romantic expression, such as the Spanish tu eres mi media naranja, or 'you are the love of my life, my soulmate', and the bizarre, including dancing bears and broken pots, feeding donkeys sponge cake, a head full of crickets, and clouds and radishes. All encourage new ways of thinking about the world around us, and breathe magnificent life into the everyday.These phrases from across the world are ageless and endlessly enchanting, passed down through generations. Now they are yours.

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“Mighty strange doings” mark the Pittsburgh of Jacob Bacharach’s audacious and hilarious debut novel, a town where “yeti, UFOs, rumors of orgiastic rites, intimations of the Mayan apocalypse and ‘psycho-temporal distortions’ add that extra zing to the bustling night life” (James Wolcott). On the edge of thirty, and comfortably adrift in life, Peter Morrison finds his personal and professional life taking a turn for the weird as his attempts to transition into adulthood are thwarted by conspiracies both real and imagined. In this madcap coming-of-age novel, where no one quite comes of age, Bacharach brings an “immensely entertaining” and “Vonnegut-like sensibility” (Library Journal ) to the “aptly surreal satire” (Dan Chaon) of hipsters, corporations, and American life in the adolescent years of the twenty-first century. “A disarming, intelligent and seriously funny debut,” The Bend of the World “marks the arrival of Jacob Bacharach as a writer to watch” (Bob Hoover, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette).

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''George McGavin is a rarity.'' Sir David AttenboroughInsects conquered Earth long before we did and will remain long after we''re gone. Outnumbering us in the billions, they are essential to life as we know it, helping to maintain many of the natural processes that we take for granted. Taking a deep dive into the unknown truths of the most successful and enduring animal group the world has ever seen, entomologist and broadcaster George McGavin explores not only the incredible traits that insects have evolved, such as dragonflies that can fly across oceans without rest and beetles that lay their eggs exclusively in corpses, but also the vital lessons that we have learnt from them and how they continue to help us grow as a society. The Hidden World reveals the unseen effects this weird and wonderful population has on our planet, if only we care to look. ''Crawling with detail, glowing with extraordinary facts and rich with humour and per

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The Anthropocene is a proposed geological epoch marking humanity's alteration of the Earth: its rock structure, environments, atmosphere. The Cambridge Companion to Literature and the Anthropocene offers the most comprehensive survey yet of how literature can address the social, cultural, and philosophical questions posed by the Anthropocene. This volume addresses the old and new literary forms - from novels, plays, poetry, and essays to exciting and evolving genres such as 'cli-fi', experimental poetry, interspecies design, gaming, weird, ecotopian and petro-fiction, and 'new' nature writing. Studies range from the United States to India, from Palestine to Scotland, while addressing numerous global signifiers or consequences of the Anthropocene: catastrophe, extinction, 'fossil capital', warming, politics, ethics, interspecies relations, deep time, and Earth. This unique Companion offers a compelling account of how to read literature through the Anthropocene and of how literature might yet help us imagine a better world.

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'You see - no, you do not, but I see - such curious faces: and the people to whom they belong flit about so oddly, often at your elbow when you least expect it, and looking close into your face, as if they were searching for someone - who may be thankful, I think, if they do not find him.' There was an enormous fascination with fairies in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries which popularised depictions of benevolent winged friends and things of fragile beauty. But in wider folklore, the creatures of the fey are of a much more unsettling and otherworldly stock. Taking inspiration from folk tales and medieval legends, writers of weird tales and ghost stories such as Arthur Machen, M R James and Charlotte Riddell proved that fairies, elves, goblins and their ilk were something to be feared and respected as our ancestors did. This new collection of stories pairs strange creatures with frightening encounters to revive the fearsome past of the fairy folk.

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Falling in love is a beautiful thing. The internet, naturally, has taken this beauty and turned it into something deeply, deeply strange. Featuring screenshots from real-life dating conversations, Is This Love or Dopamine? is a hilarious, piercing analysis of the weird-and-not-so-wonderful world of internet dating. @beam_me_up_softboi creator and journalist Iona David explores all the highs, horrors and heartbreaks: from the all-important first DM slide to the inevitable eventual ghosting; from f*ckboys and Tinder anthems to loaded emojis and revenge selfies. Learn what to do if someone uses ‘teehee’ in a sext (run for the hills) or has a photo of themselves holding a massive fish on their profile (run faster). A dedication to all the hours spent lying in bed/sitting on the toilet swiping until thumb cramp sets in, this book will make you laugh, then cry, then delete your dating app profile, then (obviously) re-download it again. Long live the internet!

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Atlas Obscura meets 1001 Facts to Scare the Sh*t Out of You in this serious survey of the most bizarre, creepy, and sometimes hilarious customs from cultures around the world. Every culture handles life differently. From the “blackening of the bride” in Scotland and the custom of not looking babies in the eyes in Kenya, to enlisting geese as part of the police squad in China and the tradition of children eating bread with chocolate sprinkles for breakfast in Amsterdam, there are so many unique behaviors all across the world. In Bizarre World, journey across the globe to understand how various cultures approach everything from grief, beauty standards, food, parenting, death, stress management, happiness, and more. Many customs may seem perfectly sane, while others, not so much. Some are just downright strange, funny, or weird. There’s so much to discover about the people around us and the beliefs they hold. Le

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Come on an amazing journey across the ocean, steering your ship to avoid the legendary monsters in this fun new take on snakes and ladders. Magical and mysterious, the water monsters of myths and legends are notoriously elusive, but watch out when they rear their heads as they could send you right back to the start! The booklet reveals their secrets and includes short retellings of the most fantastical tales. From Nessie the Loch Ness Monster to Te Wheke of New Zealand, welcome to the watery world of myths and legends! A fun and easy-to-play snakes and ladders game for children and families, suitable for age 6+ Features fun facts on all the weird and wonderful sea monsters from around the world: steer your ship around them to avoid going under! Complete with counters shaped liked ocean-exploring ships, this game can be enjoyed by two to six players Includes a booklet full of short retellings of Mythical sea monsters and their fa

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The ultimate collection for fans and new readers alikeCullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt's iconic weird western, The Sixth Gun, is available for the first time in beautiful softcover omnibus editions, boasting an interlocking spine design for the collector's shelf!In the passing shadow of the Civil War, defiant Confederate general Oliander Hume waits to be freed, too evil and warped to die, too mad with bloodlust to surrender his black magic. He hungers for his lost and most precious possession, an ancient weapon of foreboding doom. But the last and most powerful of six magical revolversand the key to unlocking unstoppable powerhas fallen into the hands of an innocent girl, Becky Montcrief. The gunslinger at her side, Drake Sinclair, is no white knight and is himself on the hunt for the six legendary guns . . .This volume collects The Sixth Gun #117 from master storytellers Cullen Bunn (Harrow County, The Empty Man), Brian Hurtt (The Damned, Manor Black), and Tyler Crook (Harr

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Perilous planets, glittery gossip aliens, a snack-obsessed black hole, and more await Quinnelope and friends in the second laugh-out-loud book from comic duo Kayla Coombs and HF Brownfield.As Quinnelope is getting ready for bed one night, she discovers that the moon is mysteriously missing from the sky. Weird . . . BUT it's the perfect opportunity to pull an all-nighter. (Err, an all-dayer actually, since the sun is still up!) Except hours later, there's still no moon . . . this is a DISASTERRrrRrRrrRrrRrRRR!!!! There's only one thing to do: launch a space mission to solve the mystery of the missing moon! Along with her dutiful butler, Bub, and loyal companion, Star, the trio blast off on a cosmic adventure to find the missing moon once and for all.Solving this mystery won't be as easy as they thought, especially when they learn it's not just their moon that's missing, but moons all over the galaxy! Wait, WHAT?!?!?!? Will they be able to find the moons and restore night

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Meet Hap and Leonard, the unlikely detective duo now on screen in the highly praised series starring James Purefoy, Michael K. Williams and Christina Hendricks.If there's one thing Hap Collins and Leonard Pine like, it's trouble - and they especially like getting paid to find it. So when their friend and sometime boss Marvin Harmon asks the boys to look into a cold-case double homicide, they're happy to oblige. It turns out that both victims were set to inherit some serious money, and one of them ran with an honest-to-goodness vampire cult.The more closely Hap and Leonard look over the crime scene photos, the more trouble they see. The image of a red devil's head is painted on a tree. A little research turns up a slew of murders with that same fiendish signature. And if things aren't weird enough, Leonard has taken to wearing a deerstalker cap... Will this be the case that finally sends Hap over the edge?

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Nothing ever happens on the Otter Lake reservation. But when 16-year-old Tiffany discovers her father is renting out her room, she's deeply upset. Sure, their guest is polite and keeps to himself, but he's also a little creepy. Little do Tiffany, her father, or even her astute Granny Ruth suspect the truth. The mysterious Pierre L'Errant is actually a vampire, returning to his tribal home after centuries spent in Europe. But Tiffany has other things on her mind: her new boyfriend is acting weird, disputes with her father are escalating, and her estranged mother is starting a new life with somebody else. Fed up and heartsick, Tiffany threatens drastic measures and flees into the bush. There, in the midnight woods, a chilling encounter with L'Errant changes everything ...for both of them. A mesmerizing blend of Gothic thriller and modern coming-of-age novel, The Night Wanderer is unlike any other vampire story.

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‘An entertaining look at foods of the past.’ – Wall Street Journal Guess what people ate throughout history in this deliciously informative introduction to culinary history In this first book of culinary history for children, readers will discover the fascinating dishes eaten by 10 high-interest historical peoples – from prehistoric humans to children of the future. Whether munching on mud-baked hedgehogs like the ancient Egyptians, or nibbling tacos topped with chillis grown in space like the astronauts of today, readers will be immersed in the diverse, tasty, weird, and wonderful food history of the world. Packed with guess-what challenges, unbelievable facts, and interactive guessing game, 4 real recipes from different eras, and delicious reveals, this fact-filled read-aloud encourages an interest in food (and perhaps a bit of subtle encouragement to taste something new!), and is perfect for history-lovers and food-enthusiasts alike. Ages 6 - 9

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A deluxe edition of original and classic short stories, packed with monsters, vampires and a host of weird creatures. Tales of shadows and voices in the dark from the likes of H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe, Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, Nathaniel Hawthorne and William Hope Hodgson are cast with previously unpublished stories by some of the best writers of horror today. New, contemporary and notable writers featured are: DJ Tyrer, Ed Grabianowski, Andrew J. Wilson, Elise Forier Edie, Frank Roger, Gwendolyn Kiste, David A. Elsensohn, Bill Kte'pi, Justin Coates, James Lecky, Eric Esser, John H. Dromey, Kristopher Triana, Michael Bondies, Michael Paul Gonzalez, Glen Damien Campbell, William R.D. Wood, Rebecca J. Allred, and Lucy Taylor. A dazzling collection of the most gripping tales of horror, vividly told.

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Dan Gutman’s My Weird School meets James Patterson’s House of Robots in the adventures of Geeger, a robot who loses his class pet, in the second story in a fun-to-read Aladdin QUIX chapter book series that’s perfect for emerging readers!Geeger the Robot gets along great with the class pet, Fudge the Hamster—they both spend a lot of their time eating and share a love for mushy bananas. But when Fudge goes missing, some of the kids in Ms. Bork’s class think Geeger might be to blame! Could Geeger have eaten Fudge?! He certainly wouldn’t have done so on purpose. But Geeger has been known to eat things by accident before. With the help of his best friend Tillie, Geeger puts his strengths to use to find Fudge and clear his name!

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Dan Gutman’s My Weird School meets James Patterson’s House of Robots in the adventures of Geeger, a robot who loses his class pet, in the second story in a fun-to-read Aladdin QUIX chapter book series that’s perfect for emerging readers!Geeger the Robot gets along great with the class pet, Fudge the Hamster—they both spend a lot of their time eating and share a love for mushy bananas. But when Fudge goes missing, some of the kids in Ms. Bork’s class think Geeger might be to blame! Could Geeger have eaten Fudge?! He certainly wouldn’t have done so on purpose. But Geeger has been known to eat things by accident before. With the help of his best friend Tillie, Geeger puts his strengths to use to find Fudge and clear his name!

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Two centuries, two children, one house Beth didn’t want to move to Dublin – she misses her old life and her friends back in London. New home and new school is hard enough, but to make matters worse someone keeps messing up her room … At first, Beth blames her annoying brother, Cormac, but when she discovers a boy called Robbie, from the 1950's, is slipping through time and into her room, then things start to get REALLY weird! The two create havoc together, learn about each other’s worlds and manage to help each other when they’re down. But the 1950s and the present day sometimes seem very far apart … Can their friendship stand the test of time? A mischief-maker from the 1950’s – a shy girl from today and a time-slip adventure like no other

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Meet Suee: Twelve years old, wears her hair to the left in a point, favors a black dress, has no friends—and she likes it that way! When Suee transfers to the dull and ordinary Outskirts Elementary, she doesn’t expect to hear a strange voice speaking to her from the darkness of the school’s exhibit room, and she certainly doesn’t expect to see her shadow come to life. Then things start to get really weird: One by one, her classmates at school turn into zombie-like, hollow-eyed Zeroes. While Suee investigates why this is happening, her shadow gains power. Soon, Suee must confront a stunning secret that her shadow has been hiding under her own two feet—something very dark and sinister that could put Suee and her newfound friends at risk!

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Entombed within these pages are twenty-seven accounts of the dead and the bizarre, tales of those who have experienced for themselves the Queen City's supernatural world. Meet a child ghost who died in a horrible auto accident and now haunts current area drivers. Consider the vanishing Monroe family or the disappearing murder suspect in Fourth Ward. Be careful of a knock at the door—it could be a ghost...or someone literally coming back from the dead. Visit a forest where a young spirit girl saves a boy, then haunts him as a man. Drive over the Catawba River Bridge, where you may be lured to jump by the ghosts struggling in the water beneath. Ramble about the Rosedale Plantation to understand its haunted past. Above all, enjoy the mystical, weird, horrifying, and sometimes funny, stories from behind Charlotte’s eternal curtain.

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Hilarious, illustrated school-based antics where everything that happens leads to DRAMA and RUNNING AROUND and even some FAINTING! When a session of extreme dancing leaves Maisie in hospital with a broken leg, things take a turn for the weird! Strange noises in the ward at night, missing cuddly toys and a sandwich trolley that only ever has TUNA sandwiches. Could Maisie's leg be CURSED? If it is, and it DEFINITELY IS, then everything is DOOMED!Laugh-out-loud fun from Blue Peter Award winners Pamela Butchart and Thomas Flintham.Read more of Izzy's adventures!Baby Aliens Got My TeacherThe Spy Who Loved School DinnersMy Headteacher Is a Vampire RatAttack of the Demon Dinner LadiesTo Wee Or Not To Wee!There's a Werewolf In My Tent!The Phantom Lollipop Man!There's a Yeti in the Playground!Icarus Was Ridiculous

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The ultimate book of Blues trivia, The Man City Miscellany is full of weird and wonderful facts. Including: * The only goalkeeper to have scored for City, * The name of Clive Allen’s dog, * The identity of the City player who played with a toothpick in the corner of his mouth, * Who is the ‘Invisible Man’ the City fans sing about?"I rang my secretary and said 'what time do we kick off tonight?' and she said 'every 10 minutes.'" - Alan Ball during his troubled reign of City, 1996"Apparently, decapitation is no longer a capital offence." - Joe Royle reacts to an unpunished tackle on Kevin Horlock, 1998Packed with random Man City facts, stats, lists, tables, anecdotes and quotes, from the club's record scorer to the bizarre name of the club cat, this is the ultimate trivia book for every City fan’s bookshelf.

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Everyone knows about Mary Shelley, creator of Frankenstein; but have you heard of Margaret Cavendish, who wrote a science-fiction epic 150 years earlier? Have you read the psychological hauntings of Violet Paget, who was openly involved in long-term romantic relationships with women in the Victorian era? Or the stories of Gertrude Barrows Bennett, whose writing influenced H.P. Lovecraft? Monster, She Wrote shares the stories of women past and present who invented horror, speculative, and weird fiction and made it great. You ll meet celebrated icons (Ann Radcliffe, V.C. Andrews), forgotten wordsmiths (Eli Coltor, Ruby Jean Jensen), and today s vanguard (Helen Oyeyemi). And each profile includes a curated reading list so you can seek out the spine-chilling tales that interest you the most.

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Dive into the most mysterious waters around the world (if you dare) in Spooky Lakes, an illustrated nonfiction book from TikTok star and educator Geo Rutherford From Geo Rutherford—the creator of the hit series Spooky Lake Month (over 65 million likes!)—comes this thrilling nonfiction book that plumbs the depths of 25 unusual lakes around the world. Backed by extensive research and packed with all-new content—including eerie and eye-popping watercolor illustrations in full color—Spooky Lakes takes readers on an adventure through weird and wild waters. Some of Earth’s strangest—and creepiest—wonders lie deep below the surface... There’s Lake Natron, a Tanzanian lake so briny that its waters can mummify any creature that touches its surface; Lake Maracaibo, a Venezuelan tidal bay where a constantly brewing storm sends an average of 28 lightning bolts per second into t

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Blast off into space with this awesome books from Adam Frost. Be amazed by hilarious, mind-fizzing, weird and wonderful facts about space! Winner of the Sainsbury's Children's Book Awards 2019. Do you know how long it would take you to drive to the sun? Or whether you’d like to go on a space vacation? Be truly amazed by these awesome facts about our planet, our solar system, and our universe! Find out: · How long it would take you to drive to Pluto? · What the weather is like on Neptune? · How many tonnes of litter humans have left on the moon? And did you know that next time you look up to the sky and see a shooting start it could actually be a pair of pants? On the ISS undies are ejected into space, burning up in the Earth's atmosphere! Find out more hilarious, intriguing and ridiculous facts with this awesome book. Ready, set, BLAST OFF!

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In The Miserable Lives of Fabulous Artists, Chris Orr turns his humorous gaze on some of the most famous - and fabulous - artists of the past. With over 30 new works, accompanied by Orr's captions, artists from Edward Hopper to Pablo Picasso find themselves in weird and wonderful situations. Edvard Munch holidays at the seaside, John Constable RA is disturbed at his easel by frolicking nudists and there's an unfortunate incident in Barbara Hepworth's studio... No one can escape Orr's imagination: Walter Sickert is distracted from a spreadeagled model by a fly in his soup, Dame Laura Knight RA is caught shoplifting, and Frida Kahlo enjoys a fry-up. Each image is packed with detail to pore over, and the book concludes with notes from the artist, accompanied by preparatory drawings for the finished work. This new collection, published to coincide with an exhibition of Orr's works at the Royal Academy of Arts, is a charming romp which affectionately pokes fun at well-loved artists.

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Gabriel is being chased by monsters! His friend is one, and so is his uncle, his grandma … even the cat! But who will catch him? A brand new picture book from the award-winning Lucy Cousins.Come on everybody, Gabriel wants to PLAY! You be a monster, and he'll run away...Gabriel is being chased by terrible monsters with sharp pointy teeth, spikes on their back, and smelly feet! But it's all right, they can't catch him ... or can they? Let's play monsters!In this riotously funny new story from the award-winning Lucy Cousins, we follow our brave hero Gabriel as he runs away from a host of fantastically weird and wonderful monsters, played by everyone at home from his grandma to a potted plant. Inspired by Cousins' playtime with her own grandson, Let's Play Monsters is a delightful tale celebrating family and the power of imagination – featuring some truly magnificent monster creations!

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We are ninjas and ninjas are brave! Willa and her best friends love ninjas. They have matching ninja backpacks and ninja t-shirts, and at school they even form a ninja club. But Willa has a secret: she’s a werewolf! Worried that no one will understand, she hides the truth from her friends. Until Val has a sleepover... and it’s on the night of the full moon. Willa is overcome with nerves. When an accident reveals that her friends were hiding secrets too, she realises maybe it’s not so important to be a normal ninja. After all, a paranormal ninja can do so many cool things! Join three remarkable friends as they discover that ALL of us are weird in our own special ways. Lovable and lively illustrations accompany this charming story that explores facing your fears, encouraging readers to celebrate their true selves.

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Based on the hit graphic-novel series from BOOM! Studios, the publisher behind Lumberjanes, Giant Days follows the hilarious and heartfelt misadventures of three university first-years: Daisy, the innocent home-schooled girl; Susan, the sardonic wit; and Esther, the vivacious drama queen. While the girls seem very different, they become fast friends during their first week of university. And it’s a good thing they do, because in the giant adventure that is college, a friend who has your back is key—something Daisy discovers when she gets a little too involved in her extracurricular club, the Yogic Brethren of Zoise. When she starts acting strange and life around campus gets even stranger (missing students, secret handshakes, monogrammed robes everywhere . . .), Esther and Susan decide it’s up to them to investigate the weirdness and save their friend.

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Parasites are masterful works of evolutionary art. The tiny mite Hisliostoma laboratorium, a parasite of Drosophila, launches itself, in an incredible display of evolutionary engineering, like a surface-to-air missile at a fruit fly far above its head. Gravid mussels such as Lampsilis ventricosa undulate excitedly as they release their parasitic larval offspring, conning greedy predators in search of a tasty meal into hosting the parasite. The Art of Being a Parasite is an extensive collection of these and other wonderful and weird stories that illuminate the ecology and evolution of interactions between species. Claude Combes illustrates what it means to be a parasite by considering every stage of its interactions, from invading and reproducing to leaving the host. An accessible and engaging follow-up to Combes's Parasitism: The Ecology and Evolution of Intimate Interactions, this book will be of interest to both scholars and nonspecialists in the fields of biodiversity, natural history, ecology, public health, and evolution.

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The third title in the bestselling and highly illustrated children's books series, soon to be hitting screens everywhere as an animated film and TV show with Nickelodeon and produced by James Corden. A super-accessible and highly-illustrated chapter book series, perfect for readers aged 6+ and fans of Pamela Butchart, DogMan, the Naughtiest Unicorn and Hotel Flamingo. Ever wonder why pigeons always act so weird? It’s because they’re out there chasing the bad guys and saving your butts! What do REAL PIGEONS do? They nest, of course! And when they nest, they nest HARD. Protecting their city from crime is tiring work after all! But the squad can’t rest yet, not with a bone-crunching vulture on the loose, a wild child running amok, and a long-lost family to find! Will the REAL PIGEONS ever find the perfect nest to take the perfect nap?

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A weird western, a gun-toting, cigarillo-chewing fantasy built from hangman’s rope and spent bullets.Wormwood has appeared, and with it a doorway to the afterlife. But what use is a door if you can’t step through it?Hundreds have battled unimaginable odds to reach this place, including the blind shooter Henry Jones; the drunk and liar Roderick Quartershaft; that most holy, yet enigmatic of orders, the Brotherhood of Ruth; the inventor Lord Forset and his daughter Elisabeth; the fragile messiah Soldier Joe and his nurse Hope Lane.Of them all, Elwyn Wallace, a young man who only wanted to travel west for a job, would have happily forgone the experience. But he finds himself abroad in Hell, a nameless, aged gunslinger by his side. He had thought nothing could match the terror of his journey thus far, but time will prove him wrong.On the road to Hell, good intentions don’t mean a damn.

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A 2015 ReLit finalist A 2014 Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize finalist Shortlisted for the 2015 Pat Lowther Memorial Award 'It offers wit, precision of speech, weird connections, odd juxtapositions, jarring images, & a variety of moods in a swirl of sentences that refuse to stay still but argue with each other & with their readers. This School is well worth attending.'--Eclectic Ruckus "Her poetry is a subversion of the dominant paradigms in this country ...one ride that will leave you gripping both sides of the canoe."--Lambda Literary Review At times a call to action and at others an intimate conversation between friends, Jen Currin's sensual and surreal poems speak to the political upheavals and environmental catastrophes of our time. School is an instruction manual for igniting transformation through a collective effort of love and community. Jen Currin's books of poetry include Hagiography and The Inquisition Yours, which won the Audre Lorde Award for Lesbian Poetry and was shortlisted for a Lambda Award.

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This is a lively and thought-provoking book about how to do creativity, unlock your potential, and make a difference. The artists, musicians, and writers we think of as ’very creative’ are just like us, except that they have spent time developing and realising ideas, and have found the confidence to share them with the world. None of this comes naturally. This wide-ranging book offers research, advice, and philosophy to fuel your understanding and passion for creativity. David Gauntlett draws on his own experiences of making music and experimenting with digital media alongside 25 years of researching creativity. Including insights from a diverse array of creators, this book highlights the vitality of the individual creative voice in a world where social media offers a weird mix of inspiration and suffocation, and our struggles for social justice are equally hopeful and upsetting. Creativity shows how vulnerability, experimentation, and courage can enable us to become bold and engaging creators.

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Although Woody Allen is best known for his cult movies, he is also a writer of outstanding wit and skill. Dip into this collection of fifty-two pieces for hilarity, deadpan weirdness, and some extremely outlandish ideas. Do you want to hear about the time Hitler went for a haircut? Or why Woody reveres Socrates? Have you ever wondered what would have happened if the Impressionists had actually been dentists? You can learn much about history – the piece on the invention of sandwiches is eye-opening – or modern life in this laugh-out-loud collection of thoughts, observations, diaries and stories from one of the most original minds and wonderfully comic voices of our time. ‘It’s no secret that Allen’s short stories are just as entertaining and accomplished as his films . . . Allen’s witty stories satirise contemporary society and classic modern literature in a style that is characteristically breathless, off the cuff and brilliant’ Observer

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Chocolate has beguiled us for centuries. From the spiced drinks sipped by the nobility in ancient Mexico to the artisan bars filled with weird and wonderful flavor combinations we devour today, chocolate has always had a magical pull on our senses. Exotic, indulgent, hedonistic and sensual, its power over us somehow exceeds the sum of its parts. This ground-breaking exploration of chocolate, by award-winning writer and lifelong cocoa enthusiast Sue Quinn, will intrigue, inspire, surprise and fascinate you in equal measure. In these pages is a wealth of cultural, historical, and culinary information about the story of chocolate through the ages and across the world, illustrated with vintage packaging, iconic advertisements, and stunning illustrations. Interspersed throughout the book are 80 sweet and savory recipes to tantalize the taste buds, such as Salted Caramel and Lime Chocolate Sauce; Triple Chocolate and Liquorice Cake with Treacle Praline; Spelt, Chocolate and Cranberry Cracker

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Did you know that 32 pigeons have received medals for wartime valor? And a dog named Laika was the very first creature in space? Did you know that there is an island in Japan entirely overrun by bunnies? And -- for a brief time -- rats adorned with ribbons were a popular lap pet in upper-class London?In Andy Warner's Oddball Histories: Pests and Pets, you can find out more than you ever thought possible about creatures both cute and weird, both large and small, while discovering new stories about human history from the perspective of our animal companions.Did you know that bees communicate with each other using special dances? Or that a popular anime called Rascal the Racoon may be largely responsible for Japan's huge raccoon population? Packed with incredible facts and charming stories like these, this is the perfect book for curious readers.

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Adventures with Natural Wondersis an immersive encounter with more than 20 natural phenomena that deserve special mention. Which is the world's largest living feline? Where are the most impressive waterfalls on Earth? What makes the oceans glow in the dark? Climb to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. Follow the trail of a mythical Irish giant. And glide over Cappadocia in a hot-air balloon. From animal oddities to weird weather effects, and tiny grains of sand to towering geographical landforms, experience the breathtaking natural world as never before!The World of Science comics series engages, educates and entertains children, imparting scientific facts, while nurturing the love of Science through dynamic, full-colour comics. All topics covered are in line with the Singapore primary Science syllabus and the Cambridge primary Science curriculum, and also offer beyond-the-syllabus insights designed to stretch inquiring young minds.This book aligns with the following syllabi:

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Species evolve over time to become perfectly adapted to their environments, right?Well, sometimes.Consider that an elephant will not grow a seventh set of teeth, even though wearing down the sixth will condemn it to starvation; that hosts of the European cuckoo seem unable to tell that the overgrown monster in their nest is not their own chick; and that whales are fully aquatic mammals who, millions of years after first abandoning the land, still cannot breathe underwater.This book is about evolution, but not its greatest hits. Instead, it explores everything in the animal kingdom that is self-defeating, ill-made, uneconomical, or downright weird – and explains how natural selection has favoured it. In the grand struggle for survival, some surprising patterns emerge: animals are always slightly out-of-date; inefficiency tends to increase over time; predators usually lose, and parasites usually win. With equal parts humour and scientific insight, Andy Dobson is here to explain the how and why of evolution’s limits and liabilities.

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From the Caldecott Honor–winning creator of Home and Du Iz Tak? comes a gorgeous and quirky tale of an extraordinary room where everything is a half.The half room is full of half things. A half chair, a half cat, even half shoes – all just as nice and weird and friendly as whole things. When half a knock comes on half a door, who in the world could it be? With her trademark touch of magic and whimsy, Caldecott Honor winner Carson Ellis explores halves and wholes in an ingenious and thought-provoking picture book. The lightly rhyming text is soothing yet spirited, revealing the many absurdities and possibilities to be discovered in this irresistibly fanciful home. Ink and gouache illustrations featuring wry detail and velvety textures conjure a dreamlike mood while leaving space for imagining. A celebration of the surreal and the serendipitous, and the beauty of the two together, this brilliant picture book will have readers seeing the joys of halves with whole new eyes.

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Andrea Hoffman is an overeducated, underemployed, and unmotivated recent college graduate—until an unexpected robbery blasts her out of her funk and into a job in the finance world of early-1980s Chicago. At first, it seems like a bad fit. But the world of finance has its own weird charm, and she grows increasingly fascinated by the strange language of trading, the complexity of the stock market, and her colleagues, who navigate it all with a ruthless confidence. Even though she has two strikes against her—Jewish and female—Andrea’s quick wit and strong work ethic propel her into an actual sales job and her career takes off. But this is the Wall Street of the eighties, and along with making a lot more money, Andrea adopts a new, fast life of cocktails, cocaine, and casual sex. Drunk on her achievements, she gradually realizes that at some point, she’s going to have to decide what success really means to her.

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Wakeful Children is a collection of highly imaginative and inventive short stories. The oak sways gently, a shiver shimmers its way from roots to tip. A branch creaks as if in resistance. A small, fresh leaf strains to curl into life, shows promise for an instant, then withers and dies. A sigh, just beyond human hearing, vibrates the night. All else is still. You will be unwittingly taken on a journey to witness the twisted brutality of Joe Gallows, the weird dream-scape of The Sandman, the ice-cold grasp of The Face of the Gale, the elemental horror of an ancient, evil entity in Devil’s Drop. You will visit some of the residents down a darkly troubled street in Absorption; watched over by a beautiful, malignant presence all the while. These and other tales make Wakeful Children an extremely unusual, compelling and refreshingly different read in this genre. One that will leave you thinking of it long after you have turned the last page...

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The weird and wonderful weather of our planet is brought to life in Eye Wonder: Weather. This updated and revised edition is the perfect introduction to the exciting world of weather, from rain, sun, and wind to hurricanes, snow storms, and twisters, and also gives the facts about climate change, how we predict the weather, the differences in clouds, and why we have changing seasons.A precursor to DK's award-winning Eyewitness series, Eye Wonder was specially developed for children aged 5+, featuring astonishing photography exhibiting subjects within their natural setting and offering a whole new level of information through powerful images.Learn about science, history, and the natural world through beautiful photography and lively, age-appropriate text. The Eye Wonder series organizes information in a way that's easy to search, easy to read, and easy to learn.

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'He spoke of a new kind of terre-mauvaise, of strange regions, connected, indeed, with definite geographical limits upon the earth, yet somehow apart from them and beyond them.' A poet comes to a fork in the road where three parallel destinies orbit the same violent fate; a child’s rebellious escapade to the city becomes a nightmare when the portal to return is nowhere to be found; rather than abdicate, Kaiser Wilhelm II leads the High Seas Fleet on a doom-laden final voyage. Delving into the strange imaginings of Arthur Conan Doyle, Joyce Carol Oates, Sarban, Robert Holdstock and many more, this new collection brings together fourteen tales traversing uncanny collateral fates, weird eddies of alternative history, realms of Dark Fantasy and the unsettling otherworlds bordering our own reality.

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Penny Baker is winning at life. Sort of.Her work is demanding, her kids are demanding and her husband seems to be undergoing some weird midlife crisis but she is juggling it all with the added delights of the menopause.But when the charity she works for is thrown into crisis and her mother's dementia advances, the strain starts to show.Can she navigate it all and still somehow keep a smile on her - flushed - face?A witty, relatable story of motherhood, menopause and managing the heck out of it all.Praise for Hot Mother:''A book that looks at what it means to be a middle-aged woman in today''s society. Funny, wise and downright wonderful.'' Nicola GillWarm, witty and entirely relatable.' Jenni KeerHilarious, sharply observed and oh so heartfelt, Peach is a Queen of Momcom.' Pernille HughesA beautifully crafted, intelligent and moving

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