Search results for ""Author Weird"

Discover the weird and wacky history of the kingdom of Benin!Did the kings of Benin really keep pet leopards? Did spirits live in the African rainforest? And did bicycles REALLY destroy the Benin kingdom? A Question of History: The Kingdom of Benin answers all these questions and much more.With an engaging question and answer format, this series draws young readers into the fascinating, sometimes gruesome, world of famous peoples and civilisations through history. Each spread opens with a simple question, opening up an exploration of an aspect of the life of a people or civilisation and busting some popular myths along the way!The lively lay-out is supported by annotated photos and cartoons, making history fun and accessible for readers aged 8+.Other titles in the series: What happened to mummies' brains? And other questions about the Ancient EgyptiansDid the kings of Benin really keep pet leopards? And other questions about the kingdom of BeninDid the Celts really use hair gel? And other questions about the Stone Age, Iron Age and Bronze AgeWhy did the ancient Greeks use elephants in battle? And other questions about the ancient GreeksWhy did the Maya stick needles in their tongues? And other questions about the MayaDid the Romans really eat flamingos? And other questions about the RomansWhy did the Shang write on turtles? And other questions about the Shang Dynasty Did the Vikings really wear horns on their helmets? And other questions about the Vikings

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Most publishers keep a "slushpile" - the stack of unsolicited manuscripts which contains a large percentage of preposterous or frightening book proposals, which might just conceal that one jewel of a bestseller or classic novel lying near the bottom. Authors discovered via the slush pile include Roddy Doyle, J. K. Rowling and Philip Roth. Stephenie Meyer sent 15 query letters about her teenage-vampire saga and got nearly 10 rejection letters; one even arrived after she signed with an agent and received a three-book deal from Little, Brown. Kathryn Stockett's The Help was turned down 60 times over 3½ years before becoming a best seller. Sadly though, these are the exceptions...Written by a reader with over a decade of slush pile experience, Something Nasty in the Slushpile takes a tour through the 'do's and 'don't's of book proposal, including many examples of hilarious, misguided and plain weird approaches. The contents include:Offputing greetings:Dear honourable reader, dear potential agent, friend and colleague, dear colleagues etc. Famous first lines:After ten books of criticism, I am turning my attention to a subject close to my heart, the illustrated story of my own life ... I don't really need to explain ... it would make this letter too longFirstly may I apologise for not getting this to you sooner after our conversation last week, however an unexpected funeral cropped up.Someone is killing literary agents ...I would have e-mailed you, but I am not allowed access to such facilities as I have just been sectioned. I should be out soon. Barmy USPs:It's like a British male version of Eat, Pray, Love. But less shrill and more believable. There are echoes of Paul Theroux and parallels with The Alchemist and SiddharthaMy book is just about me, just an ordinary 'Jo Bloggs' chipping away relentlessly at the big roadblocks put in my way ...I want 10,000 people to be reading my book at the same time all over the world. I want the light to go on for them, the penny to drop and the wheel of change to start turning ...One person can make a difference and I want that person to be me. How not to respond to constructive criticism:Dear so-called publisher...I have shown my manuscript to my spiritual guide and he agrees that you are utterly wrong...

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Take a deep dive into the world of wild, weird, and wonderful sea creatures! Get up close to some of extraordinary creatures that live in the abyss, the little-explored world thousands of feet beneath the ocean surface. A gulper eel with an inflatable mouth, a barreleye fish with a transparent head, a goblin shark with an extendable jaw, a vampire squid that can turn itself inside out, and a sea worm that drops "bombs", are just a few of the incredible creatures you’ll encounter. Filled with facts and bright, bold, scientifically accurate illustrations, The Magnificent Book of Creatures of the Abyss takes young readers on a deep dive of adventure and exploration! EXPLORE THE ABYSS: The abyss, or deepest parts of the oceans, is home to some of the weirdest, wildest, and most unique creatures on the planet. 36 INCREDIBLE CREATURES: Kids can learn about dozens of deep-sea dwellers, from the gulper eel with an inflatable mouth to the barreleye fish with a transparent head. BEAUTIFULLY ILLUSTRATED: Gorgeous, detailed, and scientifically accurate images bring some of the most incredible deep-sea creatures to life. FASCINATING FACTS: Includes hundreds of fascinating facts in an easy-to-read format that will enthral animal lovers of all ages. CREATURES OF THE ABYSS WORLD MAP: A full-page map shows where each creature lurks in the deep. COLLECT THE SERIES: More beautifully illustrated compendiums for all ages include The Magnificent Book of Cats, The Magnificent Book of Horses, The Magnificent Book of Dangerous Animals, and The Magnificent Book of Sharks.

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An actual wagon train to space? Gunslinging cowpokes riding in rickety rocketships? What isn’t possible when you mix science fiction and Westerns? The final frontier ain’t so final in these 12 tales of space exploration and adventure: each a timeless yarn told around the warm glow of a nuclear reactor just before it goes supernova. There’s a story for everyone who’s ever dreamed of traveling the stars. From the lone stranger who flies into town to help a widow and her daughter to the alien rancher trying to pose as human, they are familiar, yet with completely new twists. Take the pair of mercenaries who sign on to stop a mining camp insurrection only to discover they might be on the wrong side of evolution, or the prospector who finds the strike of a lifetime but ends up stranded on a barren moon without hope of rescue. And if that’s not enough to catch your fancy, then how about a cloned Doc Holliday making his way in a future where both sickness and gambling are ancient history? Assembled inside are the biggest names in science fiction, taking you to the farthest reaches of the galaxy like they’ve never done before. Elizabeth Moon, Alan Dean Foster, Jane Lindskold, and Wil McCarthy are some of the exciting yarn-spinners inside. So get ready to hit the hyper-thrusters as you set course for adventure, mystery, romance, and two-lasergun slinging action! Featuring Elizabeth Moon, Alan Dean Foster, Jane Lindskold, Wil McCarthy, Gini Koch, Martin Shoemaker, Cat Rambo with J.R. Martin, Alastair Mayer, Alex Shvartsman, Patrick Swenson, and Michael L. Haspil. Edited by David Boop (Straight Outta Tombstone). About Straight Outta Dodge City: “A dark, diverting anthology of 14 original tales, the third in a series. . . . By tossing weird fiction concepts into western settings, these tales give rise to unusual what-ifs. . . . [T]he ever-enjoyable Joe R. Lansdale is on hand with 'The Hoodoo Man and the Midnight Train,' an energetic tale of a mystical gunfighter, and Harry Turtledove presents the delightful 'Junior & Me,' set in an alternate world in which evolution favored reptiles rather than mammals, and the ornery galoot narrating the yarn is actually a highly evolved dinosaur. The result is an amusing . . . bunch of stories.”—Publishers Weekly About Straight Outta Tombstone: “The authors were having fun. Even when they are not playing the stories for laughs, they are taking an opportunity to . . . tell a story with a fresh twist, and expand out of their expected boundaries.”—The Galveston County Daily News

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Here is a mothership full of entertaining, informative tales that shed a revealing light on the UFO phenomenon—from inexplicable cattle mutilations and modern astronauts who have seen UFOs to close encounters of the third and fourth kind!It’s all here: What NASA currently has to say about UFOs. The latest on Roswell, and the 1947 crash that has never been explained The weirdest (and most convincing) alien abductions—and the medical procedures performed on abductees The most commonly-seen UFO shapes A who's who of UFOlogy—including presidents that have seen UFOs UFOs and the Bible 20 years of Project Blue Book mysteries—NASA’s official UFO investigation Weirdness galore—Men in Black, crop circles, Bigfoot, the face on Mars, Hollow Earth Theory, alien ancestry, and more! The Big Book of UFO Facts, Figures & Truth is at once a valuable reference and an engrossing guide for all those fascinated with unexplained phenomenon. Turning to any page at random, readers are sure to find new facts and information, as well as dozens of rare, irrefutable photos.In addition, readers will learn how they can access a special website which includes actual video evidence of UFOs. This just may be the most comprehensive UFO guide available.“It is incredibly arrogant on the part of mankind to believe that in a universe unimaginably vast, humans are the only life form in existence. Perhaps the chapters that follow will mitigate this foolhardy—and ultimately dangerous—terran narcissism. The galaxy—and beyond—is not only mankind’s playground anymore … and the skies await us. Godspeed.”

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For fans of Julia Armfield's Our Wives Under the Sea ‘Absolutely stunning . . . Full of longing, mystery, fear and hope. I loved this book to pieces!’ – Frances Cha, author of If I Had Your Face Ro is stuck. She’s just entered her thirties, she’s estranged from her mother, and her boyfriend has just left her to join a mission to Mars.Her days are spent dragging herself to her menial job at an aquarium, and her nights are spent drinking sharktinis (mountain dew and copious amounts of gin, plus a hint of jalapeno). With her best friend pulling away to focus on her upcoming wedding, Ro’s only companion is Dolores, a giant Pacific octopus who also happens to be Ro’s last remaining link to her father, a marine biologist who disappeared while on an expedition when Ro was a teenager.When Dolores is sold to a wealthy investor intent on moving her to a private aquarium, Ro finds herself on the precipice of self-destruction. Wading through memories of her youth, Ro has one last chance to come to terms with her childhood trauma, recommit to those around her, and find her place in an ever-changing world.‘Utterly original‘ – Bryan Washington, author of Memorial‘Sea Change stole my big weirdo heart‘ - Jean Kyoung Frazier, author of Pizza Girl

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The second book in the Kids Under the Stairs series is now available in paperback! Ben Y's just about had it with school. Every corner she turns, she's being called "Benita," getting Dress Coded by Mr. Mann for some supposedly inappropriate item of clothing, or running into the ineffable, inescapable, indefinable Ace - who makes her feel weird, weirdly seen, and strangely at peace, all at once. Even her best buds - Ben B, Jordan J, and Javier; the kids under the stairs - all seem far too content following the rules and making their school newspaper under the attentive direction of their beloved teacher, Ms. J. And home's no better. Last year, Ben Y's older brother died, and the family is still very much learning how to cope - if by coping you mean coming home to cry at lunch, or secretly building a friendship bracelet empire, or obsessively visiting a chatroom to talk to Benicio's ghost. But when Benicio suddenly starts typing back, Ben Y must act - fast, hard, and now. What happens when those actions collide, buried family feelings are exposed, and Ben Y's own deepest secrets become impossible to hide? With a lovable cast of characters and full of raw emotion, this heartwarming, laugh-out-loud novel-in-verse tells an honest, authentic story about friendship, family, and personal identity that celebrates different types of intelligence and shows how every kid deserves to become their own "divergent" self.

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A gothic novella offering a stepping-stone between German Romanticism and the then-nascent Expressionism In an isolated castle on the outskirts of a city in the Albanian mountains, the wildly ugly painter of blasphemies, Samalio Pardulus, executes works too monstrous to bear viewing, and espouses a philosophy that posits a grotesque world which reflects the ravings of a dead, grotesque god. Told through the horrified account of Messer Giacomo (a mediocre artist at once repulsed and fascinated by the events unfolding around him), Samalio Pardulus describes the simultaneous descent and ascent of the titular antihero into a passionate perversion of Catholicism in which love and madness become one, as a dark, incestuous incubus settles into a doomed family. When it was first published in 1908, Otto Julius Bierbaum’s gothic novella—the first of his Sonderbare Geschichten (“Weird Stories”)—offered a Gnostic stepping-stone between German Romanticism and the nascent Expressionism that had not yet taken root. It presents the grotesque not just as a way of life, but as a godly path to a higher vision, even when it appears to be but a manifestation of evil. This first English edition includes the full set of illustrations by Alfred Kubin from the book’s 1911 German edition. Otto Julius Bierbaum (1865–1910) was a German novelist, poet, journalist and editor. His 1897 novel Stilpe inspired the first cabaret venue in Berlin a few years later; his last novel, the 1909 Yankeedoodlefahrt, produced a German proverb still in use today: “Humor is when you laugh anyway.”

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A laugh-out-loud 'best of' selection of TommyInnit's most weird and wonderful quotes - plus much more - carefully selected to BLOW YOUR MIND by him and best friend Wilbur Soot.'Nah, I think I'd be a pretty bad shark''What if God was just legs?' 'We're really just chilling, fellas'Born sometime in the early 2000s, TommyInnit's first job was a YouTuber. No, really, we're not joking, the very first job he had was a YouTuber. For the last three years, he's been mouthing off on the internet to anyone who will listen. So far, that's over 40 million followers. Will there ever be an end to TommyInnit's rampant flurry of success? Probably.And Wilbur Soot has been right by his side. Wilbur first started his career as a young man staring at the wall until he also became a YouTuber. He also discovered a little activity some may call 'singing'.In The Quote Book, TommyInnit covers a wealth of topics from cars-that-grow-teeth to slime people, and from things that be crazy to octopi. Curated and edited by Wilbur Soot, TommyInnit is about to change your life one word at a time. Unless, dear reader, you read two words at a time, like he does.Featuring: A day in the life Inside TommyInnit's brain What TommyInnit would do if he was God Life advice from Wilbur Love poetry and history lessons, TommyInnit style Wilbur's attempts to reason with TommyInnit

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Despite our clever linguistic abilities, humans are spectacularly ill-equipped to comprehend what’s happening in the universe. Our senses and intuition routinely mislead us. The Complete Guide to Absolutely Everything (Abridged) tells the story of how we came to suppress our monkey minds and perceive the true nature of reality. Written with wit and humor, this brief book tells the story of science—tales of fumbles and missteps, errors and egos, hard work, accidents, and some really bad decisions—all of which have created the sum total of human knowledge. Geneticist Adam Rutherford and mathematician Hannah Fry guide readers through time and space, through our bodies and brains, showing how emotions shape our view of reality, how our minds tell us lies, and why a mostly bald and curious ape decided to begin poking at the fabric of the universe. Rutherford and Fry shine as science sleuths, wrestling with some truly head-scratching questions: Where did time come from? Do we have free will? Does my dog love me? Hilarious sidebars present memorable scientific oddities: for example, hypnotized snails, human-sized ants, and the average time it takes most animals to evacuate their bladders. (A surprisingly consistent twenty-one seconds, if you must know.) Both rigorous and playful, The Complete Guide to Absolutely Everything (Abridged) is a celebration of the weirdness of the cosmos, the strangeness of humans, and the joys and follies of scientific discovery.

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ONE BOY. UNTOLD ENEMIES. A WHOLE WORLD TO SAVE.?IT'S GOING TO BE A LOOONG THREE DAYS.Eleven years ago, a shattered band of ancient monster hunters captured an unimaginable evil and Phineas T. Pimiscule rescued his nephew, Sky, from the wreckage of that great battle. For eleven years, Sky Weathers has studied traps, puzzles, science, and the secret lore of the Hunters of Legend believing it all a game. For eleven years, Sky and his family have hidden from dark enemies while, unbeknownst to Sky, his uncle Phineas sacrificed everything to protect them.For eleven years, Sky Weathers has known nothing of that day.But on the eve of Sky's twelfth birthday and his family's long-awaited return to the town of Exile, everything changes. Phineas has disappeared, and Sky finds himself forced to confront the mysterious secrets he's denied for so long: why did his family leave Exile on that day so long ago? What, exactly, has Phineas been preparing him for? And, the biggest mystery of all, who is Sky really and why does everyone want to kill him?!Featuring an action-packed plot that covers the gamut of every monster you've never heard of (not to mention weird powers and weapons made out of garbage), Return to Exile is brimming with boy and girl appeal and is a gem for reluctant young readers. And, with a diverse assortment of well-aged monster hunters in the cast, this series will be a hit with adults young and old as well.

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After the mass extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, mammals became the dominant terrestrial life form on our planet. Roaming the earth were spectacular beasts such as saber-toothed cats, giant mastodonts, immense ground sloths, and gigantic giraffe-like rhinoceroses. Here is the ultimate illustrated field guide to the lost world of these weird and wonderful prehistoric creatures. A woolly mammoth probably won't come thundering through your vegetable garden any time soon. But if one did, this would be the book to keep on your windowsill next to the binoculars. It covers all the main groups of fossil mammals, discussing taxonomy and evolutionary history, and providing concise accounts of the better-known genera and species as well as an up-to-date family tree for each group. No other book presents such a wealth of new information about these animals--what they looked like, how they behaved, and how they were interrelated. In addition, this unique guide is stunningly illustrated throughout with full-color reconstructions of these beasts--many never before depicted--along with photographs of amazing fossils from around the world. * Provides an up-to-date guidebook to hundreds of extinct species, from saber-toothed cats to giant mammoths * Features a wealth of color illustrations, including new reconstructions of many animals never before depicted* Demonstrates evolution in action--such as how whales evolved from hoofed mammals and how giraffes evolved from creatures with short necks* Explains how mass extinctions and climate change affected mammals, including why some mammals grew so huge

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Learn about everything in the animal kingdom with this book of extraordinary figures and number-based facts for children aged 9-12!Put the fun back into learning and take children on a number-crunching journey around the animal kingdom. From colossal mammals to tiny insects and everything in between, learn all about your favorite animals with more than 1,000 weird and wonderful numbers.Our World in Numbers: Animals will have you impressing your family and friends like never before with mind-blowing facts and stats on a vast range of different animal species. Children aged 9-12 will number-crunch their way around the animal kingdom, discovering everything from the age of the world’s oldest animal and which bird has the most feathers, to which snake has the longest fangs and how long a tiger sleeps in a day.This animal book of fantastic figures offers:- More than 1,000 astonishing animal facts for children aged 9-12.- Different topics divided by 5 chapters, invertebrates, fish, amphibians and reptile, birds and mammals.- Eye-catching double page features, including vibrant photographs and graphics for every topic.- Fun and surprising information on more than 80 topics to engage children in the world around them.This data-packed adventure through the animal world is filled with everything you’ve ever wanted to know about your favourite animals, with full-page photographs and fun, colorful images, wacky animal fact-bites and funky figures to become an animal expert!

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Runner-up for the 2015 Science Fiction and Technoculture Studies Book Prize The fantasy of a male creator constructing his perfect woman dates back to the Greek myth of Pygmalion and Galatea. Yet as technology has advanced over the past century, the figure of the lifelike manmade woman has become nearly ubiquitous, popping up in everything from Bride of Frankenstein to Weird Science to The Stepford Wives. Now Julie Wosk takes us on a fascinating tour through this bevy of artificial women, revealing the array of cultural fantasies and fears they embody. My Fair Ladies considers how female automatons have been represented as objects of desire in fiction and how “living dolls” have been manufactured as real-world fetish objects. But it also examines the many works in which the “perfect” woman turns out to be artificial—a robot or doll—and thus becomes a source of uncanny horror. Finally, Wosk introduces us to a variety of female artists, writers, and filmmakers—from Cindy Sherman to Shelley Jackson to Zoe Kazan—who have cleverly crafted their own images of simulated women. Anything but dry, My Fair Ladies draws upon Wosk’s own experiences as a young female Playboy copywriter and as a child of the “feminine mystique” era to show how images of the artificial woman have loomed large over real women’s lives. Lavishly illustrated with film stills, artwork, and vintage advertisements, this book offers a fresh look at familiar myths about gender, technology, and artistic creation.

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"T Fleischmann's Syzygy, Beauty shimmers with confidence as it tours the surreal chaos of gender, art, and desire. Its declarative sentences—seductive, abject, caustic, moving, informative, and utterly inventive—herald a new world, one in which we are blessedly 'here with outfits like strings of light and no future.' I hail its weirdness, its 'armpit frankess,' its indelible portrait of occulted relation, and above all, its impeccable music."—Maggie Nelson Construction becomes quiet, the saw buzz and the bang little white wisps that stop at my edges. We'll get used to most anything, at least enough to keep going. The will of the wisp. I want to poke a hole in my words so that people notice you are not here. Comfortable divots you could fill some day, if you wanted to. My mother sighs, my friends sigh. "You're so sad," they say. I'm not, I'm really not. I'm just trying to breathe fully. The shadow of the mountain turns with the day, encroaching. When it settles on me I put the hammer down and walk to where it is still warm. In Syzygy, Beauty, T Fleischmann builds an essay of prose blocks, weaving together observations on art, the narrator's construction of a house, and a direct address to a lover. Playing with scale and repetition, we are kept off-center, and therefore always looking, as the speaker leads us through an intimate relationship that is complicated and deepened by multiple partners, gender transitions, and itinerancy.

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Fat Vinny, the most repulsive eighth-grader in the history of Tomah, is in love. He has chosen as the apple of his eye the wrongest girl he could possibly pursue. Worse than that, he has decided to involve in his sexual awakening the only kid on earth whom he can call “friend.” Fat Vinny’s weird romance, accompanied by disgusting poetry, drags our hero, seventh-grade Benjamin, into a world of sex where he doesn’t want to go. He has enough troubles already. Father Finucan is furious about the “incident” at eight o’clock Mass. Sister Mary Ann is plotting his destruction. He’s learning “The Facts of Life” from Wes and Wally, who only know about it from dirty jokes. His “best friend” Koscal is a pain in the ass. And his big sister Peg keeps yelling at him to stay away from Fat Vinny. But every time he thinks he’s free, Vinny reels him back in… to the peeping Tom incident and the lost sneaker… to the two break-ins at the priests’ house… to the mad chase from the library… all the way to the high-speed climax in old man Geisendorff’s stolen Thunderbird. A sampling of the provocative and often hilarious essays, sketches and screeds David Benjamin has written weekly for decades. Throughout, David Benjamin embodies a dictum that irreverent essayists, from Voltaire and Twain to Dave Barry and Gail Collins, have faithfully embraced: Nothing is sacred.

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In T L Swan’s steamy third installment of the Miles High Club, Kate’s hot new pen pal is a welcome distraction from her horrible boss. But nobody is as distracting as Elliot Miles…and he knows it. My favorite hobby is infuriating Elliot Miles. Just the sight of my boss’s handsome face triggers my sarcasm. God knows how he earns his Casanova reputation—if a million women want him with his personality, what the heck am I doing wrong? Disgusted with my love life, I join a dating app under a fake name. I start chatting to a man named Edgar. He’s not my type and lives on the other side of the world, but we hit off a friendship, laugh and confide in each other. But lately things are getting weird at work. Elliot’s being…attentive. His eyes linger a little longer than they should, and there’s a heat behind them that I haven’t felt before. And then, in the shock of all shocks, he tells me that my vulnerability is appealing. But when was I vulnerable? Horror dawns…Has my boss been reading my emails to Edgar? Damn it, why did I use my work email? Oh no, does he know what I really think of him? I’d rather die than ever admit it. Or, even worse: is it possible that the man I loathe in real life is the man I’m falling for online?

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Goodbye Salad Days tells the story of Kevin, a regular hamster in a familiar quarter-life crisis. Kevin's got his own hamster-sized home, hamster-sized furniture, and the soul-crushing societal expectation to do adulthood right. Both adorable and painfully relatable, this book is sure to hit a soft spot in any reader trying to make the best of growing up and facing adulthood. • Features 25 scenarios with short captions • Filled with full color photographs of Kevin in handmade dioramas • At once perfectly weird and very relatable, making it a great gift Life for Kevin means enduring the grind of work responsibilities, an aching body, and mounting pressure from his parents to start a family, among other things. This sweet and funny book is a great gift or self-purchase for anyone hitting their quarter-life crisis and in need of some relatable laughs. • This hilarious and cute book is for anyone who has experienced (or is about to experience) these moments of loss and despair, and need a good laugh or a pick-me-up • Also a great gift for anyone who loves hamsters—especially funny photos of them • Traer Scott is a celebrated animal photographer with work featured in National Geographic and and Life. She lives in Providence, Rhode Island. • Add it to the shelf with books like Henri, le Chat Noir: The Existential Musings of an Angst-Filled Cat by William Braden, The Secret Life of Squirrels by Nancy Rose, and Awkward Family Pet Photos by Mike Bender and Doug Chernack.

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Fantasy art, that colorful blend of myth, muscle and sexy maidens, took off in 1923 with the launch of Weird Tales magazine, was reinvigorated in the 1960s with The Lord of the Rings, Conan the Barbarian paperbacks with Frank Frazetta covers, and the late ’60s emergence of fantasy psychedelia. It went big in the ’70s with the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, the brilliant French magazine Métal Hurlant, and the first Star Wars film. The number of active artists peaked in that decade, but a new generation of fans discovered the genre through fantasy trading card games in the ’90s, leading to a massive interest in the art form today. Frank Frazetta’s oil paintings—when they infrequently come to market—have sold for more than $ 5 million in recent years. Fans line up at Comic-Cons to meet Boris Vallejo, Rodney Matthews, Greg Hildebrandt, Michael Whelan, and Philippe Druillet, and memorialize dead icons HR Giger, Jeffrey Catherine Jones, and Frazetta. Imagine how eagerly they’ll welcome TASCHEN’s History of Fantasy Art, including all the artists listed above and more. This monster-sized tome features original paintings, contextualized by preparatory sketches, sculptures, calendars, magazines, and paperback books for an immersive dive into this dynamic, fanciful genre. Insightful bios go beyond Wikipedia to give a more accurate and eye-opening look into the life of each artist. Complete with tipped-in chapter openers, this collection will reign as the most exquisite and informative guide to this popular subject for years to come.

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Who will be brave enough to make friends with the boy named Queen? Sara Cassidy’s acclaimed novel, A Boy Named Queen, is now available in paperback! Evelyn is both aghast and fascinated when a new boy comes to grade five and tells everyone his name is Queen. Queen wears shiny gym shorts and wants to organize a chess/environment club. His father plays weird loud music and has tattoos. How will the class react? How will Evelyn? Evelyn is an only child with a strict routine and an even stricter mother. And yet in her quiet way she notices things. She notices the way bullies don’t seem to faze Queen. The way he seems to live by his own rules. When it turns out that they take the same route home from school, Evelyn and Queen become friends, even if she finds Queen irritating at times. Why doesn’t he just shut up and stop attracting so much attention to himself. Yet Queen is the most interesting person she has ever met. So when she receives a last-minute invitation to his birthday party, she knows she must somehow persuade her mother to let her go, even if Queen’s world upends everything her mother considers appropriate. Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.3 Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character's thoughts, words, or actions).

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'Literary, erudite, poignant and touching' Mail on Sunday'Stafford has a historical X-ray vision which allows her to look through the surface of a given landscape and describe what lies beneath . . . Miraculous' ScotsmanA village waits at the bottom of a reservoir. A monkey puzzle tree bristles in a suburban garden. A skein of wild geese fly over a rusty rail viaduct. The vast inland sea that awed John Clare has become fields.Chapter by fascinating chapter, alive with literary, local, and her own family history, Fiona Stafford reveals the forces, both natural and human, which transform places. Swooping along coastlines, through forests and across fens, following in the footsteps of Burns and Keats, Celia Fiennes and Charles Dickens, William and Dorothy Wordsworth, Noel Coward and Compton Mackenzie, join her, time-travelling deep into the stories of our Isles.From red squirrels to brick vistas, from botanical gardens to hot springs, the landscapes of Britain are full of delights and surprises. Chance discoveries of rare species, shipwrecks and unlikely ruins, curious trees and startling towers, weird caves and disused airfields, or even just baffling placenames offer ways into unexpected histories and hidden lives. The clues to the past are all round us - Time and Tide will help you find them.'Shot through with tender delights and unexpected revelations' RICHARD HOLMES'Wonderful . . . A fascinating compendium of people and places and how they endlessly interact to change each other' PHILIP MARSDEN

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A seasoned comedian's love letter to America's food curiosities—the regional cuisines, the culinary oddities, the weird and the wonderful "Mark DeCarlo is a [modern-day] Groucho Marx." —PEOPLE Whether it be fish ice cream, kudzu tempura, or even sausage, Mark DeCarlo always wonders, "Who the hell thought to eat this stuff the first time?" We find out in this hilarious celebration of the genesis of America's most creative and idiosyncratic food traditions, and the people who keep these food traditions alive. Join the master comedian on his journey across the United States to visit these people and their foods in their natural habitats—places like the French Quarter of New Orleans, lush Maui resorts, and the Annual Road Kill Cook-off Festival in West Virginia. From the obvious and beloved (Buffalo wings, Boston clam chowder, hush puppies, and strawberry shortcake) to the bizarre and, well, beloved by some (Rocky Mountain oysters, fried rattlesnake, scrapple, and deep fried Twinkies), DeCarlo takes readers on a rollicking tour of the people and places behind America's greatest food inventions. Each chapter features the story behind a particular food (moosehead soup, anyone?) and the people who love it. Signature recipes, snapshot photos from the road, along with "Road Rules" on how to discover the real America all spice up the travelogue. It's a love letter to America's culinary curiosities, providing armchair travelers with a tour of the wackiest and kitschiest food festivals, delicacies, and people this country has to offer. FROM THE AUTHOR'S FOREWORDConsider the oyster. Unopened, dirty, and habitually covered with muddy, green crap. If you didn't know that it was hollow and contained a tasty glob of salty protein, would you ever guess that this rock was edible? Well . . . somebody did. Deep in the recesses of time, some caveman or beach-dwelling ape not only discovered that oysters aren't rocks . . . but that they're tasty—as long as you've got Tabasco and a date for the night. But for every 'oyster,' success story, there are thousands of casualties that will forever remain unknown. History is written by the survivors. A Fork on the Road celebrates those survivors and their progeny: It's about the kinds of people who will spend 30% of their yearly salary building a BBQ Trailer with a homemade logo painted in flames on the side just to win a $50 contest 500 miles from home. It's about the third generation pie maker who is as dull as a hammer until the conversation comes around to "cracker" versus "pastry" shells. It's about the millions of people around the country who call themselves 'foodies'—as if the rest of us exist simply on air and water. . . .

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________________Meeting a baby is like meeting someone from the internet: you got used to calling them by a weird nickname and now you need to call them by their real name; they look nothing like their photo; it's hard to believe they're real until they are actually there ...The hilarious and poignant cartoons of illustrator Twisteddoodles bring a smile to the faces of parents every single day. Her drawings brilliantly capture the unique experience of motherhood and the huge range of emotions that it brings.In this warm and witty book, Maria writes candidly about what becoming a mother has meant for her. Interspersing her words with brilliant cartoons, she delivers a marvellously entertaining snapshot of life as a modern-day parent. Her sharp observations cover everything from the sleep-deprived early days of having newborn twins, to the reality of being a working mum; from just getting out of the house to slowly getting your social life back.Upbeat and humorous, this is a wonderful book for parents and parents-to-be.'It’s hilarious … captures the reality of motherhood and the huge range of emotions that it brings' Ireland AM'Part comic, part how-to guide and part memoir, with no end of warmth and charm … For all its companionable joviality, the book is a delicate balance of lightness, ticklish candidness and forthright honesty; something that’s sure to appeal to a readership of parents and nonparents alike' Irish Times Magazine'A very honest look at pregnancy and the early days of parenting … I think it’s wonderful' Alison Curtis, Today FM'Filled with hilarious cartoons and sharp conversations, it is an excellent snapshot of modern parenthood' Irish Country Magazine

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Trapped in the DarkWhen the heroes seek an expert to translate an ancient, eldritch tablet, a sinister cult strikes from out of the shadows, intent on destroying the relic and all who know of its existence. After facing off against these zealots and deciphering the tablet, the heroes learn of another deep-sun locale called Ezorod-and the evil elder entity that has focused its attention there. The heroes quickly discover that the tablet is both a map and a key to Ezorod, allowing them to enter and explore this weird and lightless oubliette. There they will encounter ghastly creatures and uncover sophisticated technology that could advance sun-diving by light-years. But even if the PCs manage to escape the deadly solar dungeon, they'll be forced to wonder about the malevolent being they have unleashed upon the galaxy-even as they receive a mysterious message heralding a future confrontation!This volume of Starfinder Adventure Path continues the Dawn of Flame Adventure Path and includes:• “The Blind City,” a Starfinder adventure for 7th-level characters, by Ron Lundeen.• A peek into several cults of the galaxy, along with a cult hunter character theme, by Lyz Liddell.• A catalog of strange gear from across known space, including bizarre artifacts, by Leo Glass.• An archive of fiery threats-some of which burn both the body and the soul-from cruel dimensional shamblers to the mischievous magmins, by David Gregoire, Violet Hargrave, and Ron Lundeen.• Deck plans and statistics for an efreeti warship and a survey of a world in the Vast that shines its own light into the void, both by Ron Lundeen.

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Runner-up for the 2015 Science Fiction and Technoculture Studies Book Prize The fantasy of a male creator constructing his perfect woman dates back to the Greek myth of Pygmalion and Galatea. Yet as technology has advanced over the past century, the figure of the lifelike manmade woman has become nearly ubiquitous, popping up in everything from Bride of Frankenstein to Weird Science to The Stepford Wives. Now Julie Wosk takes us on a fascinating tour through this bevy of artificial women, revealing the array of cultural fantasies and fears they embody. My Fair Ladies considers how female automatons have been represented as objects of desire in fiction and how “living dolls” have been manufactured as real-world fetish objects. But it also examines the many works in which the “perfect” woman turns out to be artificial—a robot or doll—and thus becomes a source of uncanny horror. Finally, Wosk introduces us to a variety of female artists, writers, and filmmakers—from Cindy Sherman to Shelley Jackson to Zoe Kazan—who have cleverly crafted their own images of simulated women. Anything but dry, My Fair Ladies draws upon Wosk’s own experiences as a young female Playboy copywriter and as a child of the “feminine mystique” era to show how images of the artificial woman have loomed large over real women’s lives. Lavishly illustrated with film stills, artwork, and vintage advertisements, this book offers a fresh look at familiar myths about gender, technology, and artistic creation.

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An actual wagon train to space? Gunslinging cowpokes riding in rickety rocket ships? What isn’t possible when you mix science fiction and Westerns? The final frontier ain’t so final in these 12 tales of space exploration and adventure: each a timeless yarn told around the warm glow of a nuclear reactor just before it goes supernova. There’s a story for everyone who’s ever dreamed of traveling the stars. From the lone stranger who flies into town to help a widow and her daughter to the alien rancher trying to pose as human, they are familiar, yet with completely new twists. Take the pair of mercenaries who sign on to stop a mining camp insurrection only to discover they might be on the wrong side of evolution, or the prospector who finds the strike of a lifetime but ends up stranded on a barren moon without hope of rescue. And if that’s not enough to catch your fancy, then how about a cloned Doc Holliday making his way in a future where both sickness and gambling are ancient history? Assembled inside are the biggest names in science fiction, taking you to the farthest reaches of the galaxy like they’ve never done before. Elizabeth Moon, Alan Dean Foster, Jane Lindskold, and Wil McCarthy are some of the exciting yarn-spinners inside. So get ready to hit the hyper-thrusters as you set course for adventure, mystery, romance, and two-lasergun slinging action! Featuring Elizabeth Moon, Alan Dean Foster, Jane Lindskold, Wil McCarthy, Gini Koch, Martin Shoemaker, Cat Rambo with J.R. Martin, Alastair Mayer, Alex Shvartsman, Patrick Swenson, and Michael F. Haspil. Edited by David Boop (Straight Outta Tombstone). About Straight Outta Dodge City: “A dark, diverting anthology of 14 original tales, the third in a series. . . . By tossing weird fiction concepts into western settings, these tales give rise to unusual what-ifs. . . . [T]he ever-enjoyable Joe R. Lansdale is on hand with 'The Hoodoo Man and the Midnight Train,' an energetic tale of a mystical gunfighter, and Harry Turtledove presents the delightful 'Junior & Me,' set in an alternate world in which evolution favored reptiles rather than mammals, and the ornery galoot narrating the yarn is actually a highly evolved dinosaur. The result is an amusing . . . bunch of stories.”—Publishers Weekly About Straight Outta Tombstone: “The authors were having fun. Even when they are not playing the stories for laughs, they are taking an opportunity to . . . tell a story with a fresh twist, and expand out of their expected boundaries.”—The Galveston County Daily News

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Welcome to the weird and wonderful world of "Bumble", the legendary SkySports cricket commentator who's one ball short of an over and delivers madcap moments galore in this ebullient, endearing and hilarious new book. David "Bumble" Lloyd is a legend in our living rooms, a genuine "good bloke" all cricket fans feel they know inside out because of his infectious, larger-than-life personality and that distinctive Lancashire burr. Bumble has become the one constant for passionate English fans in cricket's rapidly changing landscape. He has earned cult status as a commentator and pundit, with viewers loving his unerring dedication to the game's great fables. The World According to Bumble: Start the Car revels in the quirkier and humorous side of cricket, while offering behind-the-scenes action of Lloyd's years spent following cricket around the globe, from Accrington to Lahore. Bumble waxes lyrical on everything from the genius of Shane Warne to the merits of Lancashire’s premier pies … and the delights of finishing the day with a couple of pints and a curry. Enjoy the camaraderie that exists among the SkySports team - including former England captains Sir Ian Botham, Michael Atherton, Nasser Hussain and David Gower - and laugh out loud at the stories and anecdotes which have forged Bumble's character. Whether he is holding up play to retrieve lost balls from the top of sight-screens, or enacting mock pitch reports from car parks, Bumble is capable of stealing the limelight at all times.

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Strange things are happening to the black bears of the Upper Peninsula. Grady Service is stumped until a Korean-born professor is murdered by cyanide-laced figs that contain two freeze-dried bear gall bladders. Sexy and suspenseful, Chasing a Blond Moon also introduces a new twist in Grady’s personal life: he meets a son he never knew he had. Once again, Grady Service, the hard-boiled conservation officer of this superb series set in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, has a weird case on his hands. Strange things are happening to the black bear population. Grady Service can’t pin the phenomenon on anyone or anything until a Korean-born professor from Michigan Tech is murdered by cyanide-laced figs—and two freeze-dried bear gall bladders are found among the figs. Service is certain that poachers are at work, killing bears to fuel the Asian market for traditional medicines. The animal-parts market is highly organized, and its practitioners are ruthless and dangerous. Grady’s nemesis, Michigan’s governor, has cut budgets so severely that there are not enough conservation officers to cover the state. Service finds himself filling in for colleagues, chasing illusive poachers who leave little evidence, and wrestling with the usual cast of eccentric and entertaining characters. And there is a new twist in Grady’s personal life: he meets a sixteen-year-old son he never knew he had.Sexy, suspenseful, and full of action, perfect dialogue, and unforgettable characters, Chasing a Blond Moon confirms Heywood as one of the finest of his day.

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From “weird, scary, ingenious” (The New York Times) stand-up comedian Maria Bamford, a brutally honest and hilariously frenetic memoir about show business, mental health, and the comfort of rigid belief systems—from Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People, to Suzuki violin training, to Richard Simmons, to 12-step programs.Maria Bamford is a comedian’s comedian (an outsider among outsiders) and has forever fought to find a place to belong. From struggling with an eating disorder as a child of the 1980s, to navigating a career in the arts (and medical debt and psychiatric institutionalization), she has tried just about every method possible to not only be a part of the world, but to want to be a part of it. In Bamford’s signature voice, Sure, I’ll Join Your Cult, brings us on a quest to participate in something. With sincerity and transparency, she recounts every anonymous fellowship she has joined (including but not limited to: Debtors Anonymous, Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous, and Overeaters Anonymous), every hypomanic episode (from worrying about selling out under capitalism to enforcing union rules on her Netflix TV show set to protect her health), and every easy 1-to-3-step recipe for fudge in between. Singular and inimitable, Bamford’s memoir explores what it means to keep going, and to be a member of society (or any group she’s invited to) despite not being very good at it. In turn, she hopes to transform isolating experiences into comedy that will make you feel less alone (without turning into a cult following).

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Would you like to be your own boss? To spend your days doing pretty much what you like - and get paid ten times as much as you used to for sitting at a laptop for someone who doesn't care about you? There's no doubt that being a financial trader is one of the best ways to achieve this. Robbie Burns - aka The Naked Trader - knows this from experience. Twenty-two years ago he took the leap. Since then he has traded his way in stocks and shares from a few grand to over GBP3m ($5m). Along the way, he recorded a lot of his trades. He also steadily built up an arsenal of effective trading strategies: ideas that make money. Repeatedly. With no technical nonsense, no complicated equations or weird theories, just common sense and logic - which turns out not to be so common in the markets... This all-new book brings them together in one place for the first time, and shows them in action, in a compelling follow-up to his bestselling Naked Trader books. Learn how to trade the news, dash for cash, go against the crowd, play dumb to make smart money, tame black swans, score by structuring your portfolio like a football team, perfect the art of the entry, become brilliant at bouncebacks, set stop-losses like a pro... and tons more! With Robbie's trademark humour and unrivalled honesty, this book will help you kickstart your trading career, or revive it after running into difficulties - and set you on the way to freedom and financial security.

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'I'm completely hooked. Adams is a skilled and engaging writer' Alex MarwoodTHREE GENERATIONS OF SECRETSSocial worker Kit Goddard is convinced that Sandbeach Child Services have let an injured seventeen-year-old boy down, just like they'd done to her brother ten years earlier. Since the referral came in, it had been passed between departments, her own manager Georgia and colleague Tim brushing it off as a low risk, low priority case. But Kit can't shake the feeling that something isn't quite right. Scanning the referral, she notices that the house seventeen-year-old Dylan Meredith lives in with his 'weird' mother had been described as decrepit. The anonymous caller said he was injured, frightened and afraid to tell the truth. As Kit begins to look deeper into the history of the family, she learns that Dylan's grandmother had been an inpatient at Penlan psychiatric hospital and had died there in 2012. But as her colleague Tim had stressed, this was not a case for psychiatric services. In a bid to trace the anonymous caller for more information, Kit sets off to the small coastal town of Rock. Only to be confronted with the sense of strangeness that surrounds the Meredith family and the rumours that have troubled this small community for years. An intense psychological thriller, The Last House shows that the darkest secrets are hidden within the walls. But no matter how big you build them the truth will always find a way of breaking out.

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Recommended by the New York Times and NBC News, and called one of the Best Books of the Year by Buzzfeed! The New York Times directs readers to Retablos if you want to know "what's life really like on the Mexican border." "Solis grew up just a mile from the Rio Grande in El Paso, Texas, and he tells stories about his childhood and coming of age, including his parents migration to the United States from Mexico, his first encounter with racism and finding a Mexican migrant girl hiding in the cotton fields."—Concepción de León, New York Times Seminal moments, rites of passage, crystalline vignettes—a memoir about growing up brown at the U.S./Mexico border. More praise for Octavio Solis's Retablos: "This is American and Mexican literature a stone's throw from the always hustling El Paso border."—Gary Soto, author of The Elements of San Joaquin "We inhabit a border world rich in characters, lush with details, playful and poignant, a border that refutes the stereotypes and divisions smaller minds create. Solis reminds us that sometimes the most profound truths are best told with crafted fictions--and he is a master at it."—Julia Alvarez, author of How the García Girls Lost Their Accents " … it's hard not to consider the border itself as a representation of a 'terrible rift,' a split between homes, communities, identities, generations. While reading this generous and eye-opening account, it's easy to see how, for the country at large, the rift has only deepened.”—Arianna Rebolini, Buzzfeed Best Books of Fall 2018 "Landing somewhere between Neil Gaiman and Juan Rulfo, Solis secularizes the mythological by turning men and women into saintly figures—like their criada [maid], Consuelo, and a white priest who shows his family empathy—and monsters: border agents who take his friends away and school bullies."—Michael Adam Carroll, The Millions "There has never been a border book like Retablos, a collection of smoldering epiphanies suffering the baptizing waters of recall. . . ."—Roberto Ontiveros, San Antonio Current "The book is rendered in tight, stand-alone recollections rich with poetry and honesty. . . . If retablos are offerings, then Solis' book is a gift of memory, not always pleasant, but always true."—Beatriz Terrazas, Dallas Morning News "The experience of reading his tightly contained memories in succession is a bit like drawing old coins up from a wishing well. Filtered through veils of distance and time, these scenes and reflections are wonderful and weird flashes of childhood, adolescence and early adulthood in the life of this particular Mexican American boy."-- Sophie Haigney, San Francisco Chronicle "Octavio Solis' Retablos recounts a 'beautiful, messy' youth on the border. Though its title evokes Mexican folk art, Retablos is closer in effect to that of French pointillism. Its small dabs of vivid color produce a brilliant cumulative effect."—Steven G. Kellman, The Texas Observer "In this debut memoir, playwright Solis delivers top-notch vignettes of his youth with riveting imagery and empathy, recounting--and embellishing, he says--memories of growing up brown in El Paso, Tex. . . . These brilliantly told stories of missteps and redemption are a treat."--Publishers Weekly ". . .what struck me most about each chapter was Solis's ability to plant a specific image in your mind. With every retablo, you can see in ferocious detail exactly what the author wants you to see, like a special kind of telepathy. I found myself wanting to paint them."—Caitlyn Reynolds, The Los Angeles Review of Books "In all, a beautiful, evocative, and timely expression of border culture for every collection."--Sara Martinez, Booklist "In this coming-of-age memoir, a playwright illuminates the culture of the El Paso border as he perceived it when he was young. . . . An intriguing work that transcends category, drawing from facts but reading like fiction."--Kirkus Reviews

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Are you a curious kid? Then let’s get hands-on! The best-selling team behind Hands-On Science present 50 more fun DIY science activities that you can share with your friends and family. With clear step-by-step instructions and engaging illustrations, as well as real-world examples of science, technology, engineering and maths, these new hands-on activities use easy-to-find, everyday materials to help you discover the answers to amazing science!The activities in More Hands-On Science cover motion, light, sound, growth and survival, sustainability, solids and gases, chemical reactions, engineering, tech and patterns. Each activity uses a simple list of materials and you’ll be blown away by interesting experiments, reactions, inventions and coding. It’s jam-packed with fast facts, and there are quiz questions to test your knowledge!Discover even more about the weird and wonderful world of science by making: a mini greenhouse, reverse drums, spinning soakers, jelly lenses, rainbow torches, a superhero name generator and much more.Ideal for children aged 7-14, teachers notes are available to download for free on the CSIRO Publishing website. Fun hands-on activities with clear step-by-step instructions and illustrations that use materials from around the home. Activities assessed with safety and sustainability in mind, exploring current, relevant concepts across science, technology, engineering and maths. Written by CSIRO’s Double Helix magazine team who have a long-standing reputation for delivering expertly written, fascinating and fun science material for young people.

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Poet, novelist, playwright, and chess enthusiast, Raymond Roussel (1877-1933) was one of the French belle poque's most compelling literary figures. During his lifetime, Roussel's work was vociferously championed by the surrealists, but never achieved the widespread acclaim for which he yearned. New Impressions of Africa is undoubtedly Roussel's most extraordinary work. Since its publication in 1932, this weird and wonderful poem has slowly gained cult status, and its admirers have included Salvador Dali--who dubbed it the most "ungraspably poetic" work of the era--Andr Breton, Jean Cocteau, Marcel Duchamp, Michel Foucault, Kenneth Koch, and John Ashbery. Roussel began writing New Impressions of Africa in 1915 while serving in the French Army during the First World War and it took him seventeen years to complete. "It is hard to believe the immense amount of time composition of this kind of verse requires," he later commented. Mysterious, unnerving, hilarious, haunting, both rigorously logical and dizzyingly sublime, it is truly one of the hidden masterpieces of twentieth-century modernism. This bilingual edition of New Impressions of Africa presents the original French text and the English poet Mark Ford's lucid, idiomatic translation on facing pages. It also includes an introduction outlining the poem's peculiar structure and evolution, notes explaining its literary and historical references, and the fifty-nine illustrations anonymously commissioned by Roussel, via a detective agency, from Henri-A. Zo.

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Being one half of a BFF heart necklace is serious business-and in the Picture Perfect series, each story tackles a tough friendship challenge. Through the ups and downs of life in middle school, through braces and boy bands, family feuds and fashion disasters, your best bud is there. But what happens when friendship suddenly gets complicated? Tween readers will adore these sweet, accessible stories about the power of friendship. Bailey Broadwell and her best friend, Olivia, are going to have the greatest year ever in middle school! Bailey has it totally figured out. All they need to do is follow her foolproof list of ways to make sixth grade epic. But Bailey's plan doesn't include her aunt and cousin Hannah unexpectedly moving to town. Though Bailey hasn't seen Hannah since they were little, she sets out right away to make her cousin feel welcome. And right from the start, Hannah and Bailey seem to enjoy similar things. Only, it's a little strange how Hannah likes everything that Bailey does. And it's weird when Hannah starts joining all the clubs that Bailey's in. Soon, she starts dressing like Bailey. And agreeing with everything Bailey says! Bailey tries not to let Hannah's copycat behavior bother her, until it seems like Olivia and the rest of Bailey's friends like Hannah more than her. How can Bailey have the best school year ever if Hannah is taking over her life?

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Do you want a simple and practical method to counter Black's kingside fianchetto defences after 1 d4? A line that takes the initiative from a very early stage and creates difficult practical problems? If so, then The Harry Attack (1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 h4!) is for you. At first this looks like some sort of joke or, at the very least, a weird outlandish line. Aren't we all taught to focus on development and control of the centre in the early stages? What's 3 h4 got to do with that? Perhaps surprisingly, this is a very difficult line for Black to counter effectively. This applies not just in practical play but also theoretically, where it is far from straightforward for Black even to find a route to equality. And when Black gets it wrong they are often on the receiving end of a very unpleasant miniature. You may be thinking that surely the best chess engines can show how to counter this line? No! One of the unexpected features of leading engine play is their enthusiasm for shoving the h-pawn up the board and they fully concur that 3 h4! is a very decent move for White. Many leading players have taken the hint and 3 h4 is frequently seen at elite level. Richard Palliser and Simon Williams (the GingerGM) provide a thorough guide to this fascinating line. They show how to adapt when Black chooses a King's Indian set-up, a Grunfeld set-up, a Benoni set-up or even plays in Benko style. The Harry Attack is easy to learn and is perfect for unsettling players steeped in the theory of their favourite Indian defences.

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Join Supertato and the gang for more hilarious supermarket silliness in the bestselling, blockbuster series from picture book superstars, Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet! It’s fright-time in the supermarket, and the veggies are seriously spooked! Strange shapes, weird noises and eerie shuffling – whatever can be behind these ghostly goings-on? Join Supertato and the gang to find out in this unmissable adventure!The perfect book to calm bedtime fears and snuggle up with all year round​.READERS LOVE SUPERTATO 'A modern classic.' Amazon reviewer 'My granddaughter (aged 5) loves the stories about Supertato and his friends.' Amazon reviewer 'Great story for the little ones!' Amazon reviewer 'A light-hearted, funny, and enjoyable read for little ones who enjoy superhero and good vs. evil stories!' Amazon reviewer 'This book has become a firm favourite in our house.' Amazon reviewerOther titles in the Supertato series by Sue Hendra & Paul Linnet:Supertato Supertato: Veggies Assemble Supertato: Run, Veggies, Run! Supertato: Evil Pea Rules Supertato: Veggies in the Valley of Doom Supertato: Carnival Catastro-pea! Supertato: Bubbly Troubly! Supertato: Night of the Living Veg Supertato: The Great Eggscape! Supertato: Presents Jack and the Beanstalk Supertato: Mean Green Time MachineAlso by Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet:Barry the Fish with Fingers Norman the Slug with the Silly Shell No-Bot the Robot with No Bottom I Spy Island I Spy Island: Book vs. Shark

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*Shortlisted for the Sainsbury's Book Award* This is a thrill-ride of an adventure, with illustrations by Ben Mantle bringing Boot's world to life. Fans of Toy Story and Charlie Changes into a Chicken will love this hilarious, warm-hearted story about a small robot on a big adventure: full of fun, friendship ... and Boot's quest to find out why humans are so leaky and weird. 'Fast, funny and furious. These are definitely my favourite robots.' Eoin ColferWhen toy robot, Boot, wakes up at a scrapyard, it has no idea how it got there and why it isn't with its owner, Beth. It only has two and a half glitchy memories, but it knows it was loved, which means something important to humans. Boot soon realises its emotions make it different to other robots, who just function and don't think. Boot is scared but tries to be brave, which is hard when its screen keeps showing a wobbly, worried face. Luckily Boot meets Noke and Red - other 'advanced' robots who have learned to survive in secret.With new friends by its side, Boot is determined to find Beth and the gang set off on a dangerous adventure. Everything Boot thought it knew about the world is changing, and things aren't as simple as it remembers . . .Illustrated throughout in glorious black and white by the award-winning Ben Mantle, this is an unforgettable tale of resilience and hope. It will take you by surprise and make you think about the world around you. Read more of Boot's adventures in The Rusty Rescue and The Creaky Creatures!

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Discover what Little Platypus gets up to and explore his world, in this fun and informative title from the Really Wild Families series. Little Platypus has a small, but happy family! Little Platypus lives with his brother and Mummy, and they only come out at night! Little Platypus is super excited to introduce us to his family and explore their riverside home together by moonlight.Beautiful and bright illustrations will make this informative book a hit with children of all ages! This charming celebration of platypus' will show children just how amazing nature is and is a reminder that it is up to us to care for the planet and its weird and wonderful creatures. Learn about one of nature's most fascinating creatures: What a platypus looks like from its webbed feet to its duck-like bill How a female platypus lays eggs How they hunt and survive in the wild How they use their super sixth sense of electroreception Why they are so unusual, and so fascinating! This adorable story is followed by a fun factivity section packed with craft projects, case studies and a quiz section at the back of the book, so you can put everything you have learnt about Little Platypus and their family to the test. In this Really Wild Families series, based on the everyday adventures of wild animals, discover what the littlest members of the family get up to! Through their eyes we will explore their habitats, family dynamics and how they play, grow and survive as a family.

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Maybe you've been speaking English all your life, or maybe you learned it later on. But whether you use it just well enough to get your daily business done, or you're an expert with a red pen who never omits a comma or misplaces a modifier, you must have noticed that there are some things about this language that are just weird. Perhaps you're reading a book and stop to puzzle over absurd spelling rules (Why are there so many ways to say '-gh'?), or you hear someone talking and get stuck on an expression (Why do we say "How dare you" but not "How try you"?), or your kid quizzes you on homework (Why is it "eleven and twelve" instead of "oneteen and twoteen"?). Suddenly you ask yourself, "Wait, why do we do it this way?" You think about it, try to explain it, and keep running into walls. It doesn't conform to logic. It doesn't work the way you'd expect it to. There doesn't seem to be any rule at all. There might not be a logical explanation, but there will be an explanation, and this book is here to help. In Highly Irregular, Arika Okrent answers these questions and many more. Along the way she tells the story of the many influences--from invading French armies to stubborn Flemish printers--that made our language the way it is today. Both an entertaining send-up of linguistic oddities and a deeply researched history of English, Highly Irregular is essential reading for anyone who has paused to wonder about our marvelous mess of a language.

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'Wonderful and mad' Roddy Doyle'Sparks with tender charm and humour . . . Fresh, bleakly funny' Sunday Times'Tender, laugh-out-loud funny and deeply moving' Louise O'Neill'GAS and beautiful and truthful and touching' Marian Keyes, author of Grown Ups'A novel for anyone who's ever felt lost in the world' John Boyne, author of The Heart's Invisible Furies'Sharp, clever and affecting' The Independent'Beautifully written . . . emotionally intelligent and thought-provoking' Daily Mail'Astonishing' Stacey Halls, author of The FamiliarsDebbie's brain isn't perfect. Debbie's thoughts aren't unique. Debbie's dreams are all too real.Debbie White lives on a dairy farm with her mother, Maeve, and her uncle, Billy. Billy sleeps out in a caravan in the garden with a bottle of whiskey and the stars overhead for company. Maeve spends her days recording her dreams, which she believes to be prophecies.This world is Debbie's normal, but she is about to step into life as a student at Trinity College Dublin. As she navigates between sophisticated new friends and the family bubble, things begin to unravel. Maeve's eccentricity tilts into something darker, while Billy's drinking gets worse. Debbie struggles to cope with the weirdest, most difficult parts of herself and her small life. But if the Whites are mad, they are also fiercely loving, and each other's true place of safety.Startling, fresh and utterly unique, Snowflake is a story of messy families, messier friendships and how new chapters often mean starting right back at the beginning.A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK AT BEDTIME PICK

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With Something Is Killing the Children and The Department of Truth, James Tynion IV has changed the face of horror in modern comics now get ready for his most ambitious story yet, alongside his Detective Comics partner Alvaro Martinez Bueno! Eisner Award Winner 2022 - Best New Series. Eisner Award Winner 2023 - Best Writer, James Tynion IV. Eisner Award Winner 2023 - Best Coloring, Jordie Bellaire. Eisner Award Nominee 2023 - Best Continuing Series. Eisner Award Nominee 2023 - Best Penciller/Inker, Alvaro Martinez Bueno. Everyone who was invited to the house knows Walter well, they know him a little, anyway. Some met him in childhood; some met him months ago. And Walter s always been a little off. But after the hardest year of their lives, nobody was going to turn down Walter s invitation to an astonishingly beautiful house in the woods, overlooking an enormous sylvan lake. It s beautiful, it s opulent, it s private so a week of putting up with Walter s weird little schemes and nicknames in exchange for the vacation of a lifetime? Why not? All of them were at that moment in their lives when they could feel themselves pulling away from their other friends; wouldn t a chance to reconnect be nice? In The Nice House on the Lake, the overriding anxieties of the 21st century get a terrifying new face and it might just be the face of the person you once trusted most. Collects The Nice House on the Lake #1-12.

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The Best American Magazine Writing 2021 presents outstanding journalism and commentary that reckon with urgent topics, including COVID-19 and entrenched racial inequality. In “The Plague Year,” Lawrence Wright details how responses to the pandemic went astray (New Yorker). Lizzie Presser reports on “The Black American Amputation Epidemic” (ProPublica). In powerful essays, the novelist Jesmyn Ward processes her grief over her husband’s death against the backdrop of the pandemic and antiracist uprisings (Vanity Fair), and the poet Elizabeth Alexander considers “The Trayvon Generation” (New Yorker). Aymann Ismail delves into how “The Store That Called the Cops on George Floyd” dealt with the repercussions of the fatal call (Slate). Mitchell S. Jackson scrutinizes the murder of Ahmaud Arbery and how running fails Black America (Runner’s World).The anthology features remarkable reporting, such as explorations of the cases of children who disappeared into the depths of the U.S. immigration system for years (Reveal) and Oakland’s efforts to rethink its approach to gun violence (Mother Jones). It includes selections from a Public Books special issue that investigate what 2020’s overlapping crises reveal about the future of cities. Excerpts from Marie Claire’s guide to online privacy examine topics from algorithmic bias to cyberstalking to employees’ rights. Aisha Sabatini Sloan’s perceptive Paris Review columns explore her family history in Detroit and the toll of a brutal past and present. Sam Anderson reflects on a unique pop figure in “The Weirdly Enduring Appeal of Weird Al Yankovic” (New York Times Magazine). The collection concludes with Susan Choi’s striking short story “The Whale Mother” (Harper’s Magazine).

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Learn about everything in the animal kingdom with this book of extraordinary figures and number-based facts for children aged 9-12!Put the fun back into learning and take children on a number-crunching journey around the animal kingdom. From colossal mammals to tiny insects and everything in between, learn all about your favourite animals with more than 1,000 weird and wonderful numbers.Our World in Numbers: Animals will have you impressing your family and friends like never before with mind-blowing facts and stats on a vast range of different animal species. Children aged 9-12 will number-crunch their way around the animal kingdom, discovering everything from the age of the world's oldest animal and which bird has the most feathers, to which snake has the longest fangs and how long a tiger sleeps in a day.This animal book of fantastic figures offers:- More than 1,000 astonishing animal facts for children aged 9-12.- Different topics divided by 5 chapters, invertebrates, fish, amphibians and reptile, birds and mammals.- Eye-catching double page features, including vibrant photographs and graphics for every topic.- Fun and surprising information on more than 80 topics to engage children in the world around them.This data-packed adventure through the animal world is filled with everything you've ever wanted to know about your favourite animals, with full-page photographs and fun, colourful images, wacky animal fact-bites and funky figures to become an animal expert!

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Explore all the wonders of the ocean in one pocket-sized reference guide!From colossal whales to microscopic plankton, our vast oceans are teeming with a wide range of weird and wonderful plants and animals. This beautifully illustrated reference guide is perfect for budding explorers aged 9-12 to discover the secrets of this underwater kingdom! In this go-to reference guide, you'll find:- A clear, informative introduction to oceans - what they are, what creatures they hold, how they affect climate, and how humans are changing them - Divided into chapters based on habitats, from the coastline to the ocean floor - Presents information in bite-sized chunks for both avid and reluctant readers, supported by artworks that explain difficult concepts in a simple wayWith nearly 97% of the planet's water held in the oceans, there is an incredible variety of creatures that call the ocean home. This mini-encyclopedia explores all the different marine habitats from tidal pools, salt marshes, coral reefs and ocean floor ridges to name a few. Curious kids interested in the seven seas will also learn about how oceans are formed, what causes tsunamis and typhoons and how tidal waves are used to generate electricity. This beautifully illustrated reference guide is also the perfect introduction to ocean conservation. Young readers can explore the ways marine experts are working to ensure the survival of our oceans in the wake of global warming. Amazing photography paired with simple information makes Pocket Eyewitness Ocean perfect for all budding explorers!

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Sometimes your foundation crumbles. Sometimes you realize there wasn't a foundation to begin with. Maybe your relationship ended in a breakup or divorce, or you lost your job, or a loved one died. Whatever crisis showed up to screw with you, it brought everything else crashing down, and suddenly life became confusing, disorienting, out of control. A total shit show. You. Need. Help.Therein lies the problem: Traditional self-help guides just aren't for you. You're an individualist, an iconoclast, a follow-your-own-drumbeat kind of person. The typical sunshine-and-rainbows, 'live your best life!' books in the 'personal growth' aisle aren't going to speak to your worldview--you need an embrace-your-weirdness vision for growth and rebuilding. Enter Ariel Meadow Stallings, who has experienced a few life catastrophes of her own and emerged from them with newfound clarity and strength. In From Sh!tshow to Afterglow, she offers a lifeline of support and outside-the-box thinking for times of crisis and confusion, sharing plenty of tactical tips for getting your shit together. Along the way, she never lets readers forget that sometimes a life has to be taken apart before it can be put back together better than ever.Without sugar-coating how deeply it sucks to have your world shattered, From Sh!tshow to Afterglow gives readers a reassuring plan for putting the pieces back together and emerging stronger than ever.

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How do you fit in and stand out when you feel different to everyone around you? "I loved Frankie's story and could really identify with her character. This is such an amazing graphic novel that represents neurodiversity really realistically." Libby Scott Winner of The Week Junior Book Awards' Children's Illustrated Book of the Year 2023. "Aoife Dooley captures Frankie's autistic experience with great care, humour and love." Lizzie Huxley-Jones "A fun and relatable read about awkwardness, self-acceptance, family and friendship." Sarah McIntyre "Unique and often funny ... I cheered Frankie on through her journey." Sue Cheung Frankie knows she's not like anyone else in her class: she's different, but she can't quite figure out why. Is it the new freckle on her nose, or the fact she's small for her age? Or that she has to go to the hospital sometimes? Everyone else seems to think she's weird too, and they make fun of her at school. Frankie's dad left when she was a baby - maybe he was different too? It would explain why she always feels like an alien. So she and her best-friend Sam, embark on a mission to track him down. A graphic novel offering a unique perspective on Autism, told with humour and heart. Brought to life with glorious colour artwork in a distinctive blue and orange palette. Also seek out the sequel, Frankie's World: Finding My Voice

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An urgent volume of essays engages the Gothic to advance important perspectives on our geological era What can the Gothic teach us about our current geological era? More than just spooky, moonlit castles and morbid graveyards, the Gothic represents a vibrant, emergent perspective on the Anthropocene. In this volume, more than a dozen scholars move beyond longstanding perspectives on the Anthropocene—such as science fiction and apocalyptic narratives—to show that the Gothic offers a unique (and dark) interpretation of events like climate change, diminished ecosystems, and mass extinction.Embracing pop cultural phenomena like True Detective, Jaws, and Twin Peaks, as well as topics from the New Weird and prehistoric shark fiction to ruin porn and the “monstroscene,” Dark Scenes from Damaged Earth demonstrates the continuing vitality of the Gothic while opening important new paths of inquiry. These essays map a genealogy of the Gothic while providing fresh perspectives on the ongoing climate chaos, the North/South divide, issues of racialization, dark ecology, questions surrounding environmental justice, and much more.Contributors: Fred Botting, Kingston U; Timothy Clark, U of Durham; Rebecca Duncan, Linnaeus U; Michael Fuchs, U of Oldenburg, Germany; Esthie Hugo, U of Warwick; Dawn Keetley, Lehigh U; Laura R. Kremmel, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology; Timothy Morton, Rice U; Barry Murnane, U of Oxford; Jennifer Schell, U of Alaska Fairbanks; Lisa M. Vetere, Monmouth U; Sara Wasson, Lancaster U; Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock, Central Michigan U.

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