Search results for ""Author Holly"
Goose Lane Editions Guests of Chance
Colleen Curran returns with her latest novel, Guests of Chance, completing the hilarious trilogy that has taken readers through break-ups, make-ups, fierce friendships, a trip to Hollywood and everything in between. Starring Lenore Rutland, an unsophisticated but astute former singing waitress who owns a theme restaurant in Montreal, Guests of Chance is proof that life can be an adventure. The new novel picks up where Curran left off in Overnight Sensation. Without skipping a beat, our heroine finds herself nervously flying away from her beloved Montreal to England, all the while reflecting on her "star turn" at the Oscars. She has left behind her beloved partner Benoît and her collection of unique friends: Madame Ducharme, who is doing time for poisoning six of her fellow jurors when they let a murderer go free; heartbroken Viola, whose lesbian lover has left for Toronto with her much younger, slimmer and more glamorous new love interest; Heidi's fireman brother Daniel, who hasn't told their parents that he's gay; Elspeth and her odious husband; and Madame's spoiled lap dogs, Montcalm and Brioche. Lenore's best friend Heidi, a professor of English, has persuaded Lenore to come to England with her for moral support as she tries to discover whether her handsome pen-pal "boyfriend" is the real deal. Akin to Bridget Jones's Diary and My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Guests of Chance is a laugh-filled romp with two inexperienced thirty-something travellers, enchanting new readers and making those who met Lenore in Something Drastic and Overnight Sensation fall in love with her all over again.
£21.59
WW Norton & Co The Planter of Modern Life: How an Ohio Farm Boy Conquered Literary Paris, Fed the Lost Generation, and Sowed the Seeds of the Organic Food Movement
Louis Bromfield was a World War I ambulance driver, a Paris expat, and a Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist as famous in the 1920s as Hemingway or Fitzgerald. But he cashed in his literary success to finance a wild agrarian dream in his native Ohio. The ideas he planted at his utopian experimental farm, Malabar, would inspire America’s first generation of organic farmers and popularize the tenets of environmentalism years before Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. A lanky Midwestern farm boy dressed up like a Left Bank bohemian, Bromfield stood out in literary Paris for his lavish hospitality and his green thumb. He built a magnificent garden outside the city where he entertained aristocrats, movie stars, flower breeders, and writers of all stripes. Gertrude Stein enjoyed his food, Edith Wharton admired his roses, Ernest Hemingway boiled with jealousy over his critical acclaim. Millions savored his novels, which were turned into Broadway plays and Hollywood blockbusters, yet Bromfield’s greatest passion was the soil. In 1938, Bromfield returned to Ohio to transform 600 badly eroded acres into a thriving cooperative farm, which became a mecca for agricultural pioneers and a country retreat for celebrities like Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall (who were married there in 1945). This sweeping biography unearths a lost icon of American culture, a fascinating, hilarious and unclassifiable character who—between writing and plowing—also dabbled in global politics and high society. Through it all, he fought for an agriculture that would enrich the soil and protect the planet. While Bromfield’s name has faded into obscurity, his mission seems more critical today than ever before.
£14.38
Ebury Publishing The Great British Bake Off: How to turn everyday bakes into showstoppers
The Great British Bake Off is a glorious celebration of Britain's favourite pastime. As the series has shown us, baking is the perfect way to mark an occasion - to celebrate, to congratulate and reward, and to lift spirits. This new book is inspired by the wonderful creations from The Great British Bake Off 'Showstopper Challenge'. Covering a wide range of bakes from large and small cakes, biscuits and cookies, sweet and savoury pastry, puddings, breads and patisserie, this book will show you how to bake beautiful, enticing recipes to wow at every occasion. There are dainty cupcakes for afternoon tea, quick bakes perfect for bake sales, school fairs or coffee with friends, mouthwatering desserts, breads and pastry recipes for lunches and dinner parties, and some really special bakes for birthdays and festive celebrations throughout the year.This recipe book will show you how to make your bake extra special, from exciting finishes using chocolate curls and ribbons and spun sugar to simple ideas for icing, shaping and decorating, so you can bring a touch of magic to any bake.Great British Bake Off also includes the 'Best of the Bake-off' - the finest recipes from the new set of Great British Bake Off amateur bakers, and all of Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood's Technical Challenges from the series.If you learned How to Bake from last year's cook book, Showstoppers will take you to the next level of skill, and combined with a dazzling new design and superb photography, this will be an irresistible gift for yourself or someone else.
£22.50
Penguin Books Ltd Runner
Runner is an outstanding high-concept thriller that grips and entertains like your favourite Hollywood action movie - fans of Lee Child, Simon Toyne and Dan Brown, will love this rollercoaster of a thriller. 'Patrick Lee is a huge talent and Runner is his best book yet - breathless, involving, smart, and completely convincing' LEE CHILD Sam Dryden was done being a hero. But when, acting on instinct, he hides a terrified young girl from a group of well-armed pursuers, his fate is sealed. Eleven-year-old Rachel can't remember much, but she knows she was imprisoned by men trying to kill her. And that she is important to them. In Dryden, though, Rachel has found the perfect protector - an ex-soldier, well versed in secrets and driven to do what's right. But hunted and on the run, it's only as Rachel's memory returns that he begins to realise the scale of the dangers they face. And then only one thing matters: Don't. Get. Caught.___________ 'Pure adrenaline rush . . . an action-packed novel brimming with complex characters as well as genuine heart. Not to be missed' Lisa Gardner 'An amazing, high speed, hi-octane novel than moves faster than most people can read. Rarely is a story both plot driven and character driven, but Runner does this and more' Nelson DeMille 'I'm going to sue Patrick Lee for giving me whiplash: that's how furiously paced this book is. A terrific cast of characters, unrelenting action - strap in and enjoy the ride' Jesse KellermanLONGLISTED FOR THE 2015 CWA IAN FLEMING STEEL DAGGER AWARD FOR BEST THRILLER
£10.99
Penguin Books Ltd Euclid's Window: The Story of Geometry from Parallel Lines to Hyperspace
In Euclid's Window, Leonard Mlondinow takes us on a brilliantly entertaining journey through 3,000 years of genius and geometry, introducing the people who revolutionized the way we see the world around us. Ever since Pythagoras hatched a 'little scheme' to invent a set of rules describing the entire universe, scientists and mathematicians have tried to seek order in the cosmos: Euclid, who in 300BC defined the nature of space; Descartes, a fourteenth-century gambler and idler who invented the graph; Gauss, the fifteen-year-old genius who discovered that space is curved; Einstein, who added time to the equation; and Witten, who ushered in today's weird new world of extra, twisted dimensions. They all show how geometry is the key to understanding the universe. Once you have viewed life through Euclid's Window, it will never be the same again... 'Elegant, attractive and concise ... also very readable. Buy it' Ian Stewart, New Scientist 'This is an exhilarating book ... an important book ... and finally, a lovely book, one that reflects the radiance of its subject' David Berlinski 'Reader-friendly, high-spirited, splendidly lucid and often hilarious' Washington Post 'Mlodinow has a talent for lively and clear exposition ... Pythagoras' proof has lost none of its capacity to astonish and delight' Edward Skidelsky, Daily Telegraph Leonard Mlodinow was a member of the faculty of the Californian Institute of Technology before moving to Hollywood to become a writer for television. He has developed many best selling and award-winning CD-ROMs and is currently Vice President, Emerging Technologies and R&D at Scholastic Inc. He lives in New York City. His other books include The Drunkard's Walk and Subliminal.
£10.99
Universe Publishing All The Buildings in Los Angeles: That I've Drawn So Far
From Griffith Observatory and the Getty Museum to the Hollywood Bowl and Rodeo Drive, All the Buildings in Los Angeles allows readers to experience the sun-kissed pleasures of Los Angeles without having to deal with its famously terrible traffic. James Gulliver Hancock s unique and charming drawings capture the city as it is today, including classic landmarks like Grauman s Chinese Theater and the Capital Records Building, as well as newer favorites like the Broad contemporary art museum and the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Cultural musings, accessible histories, anecdotes, and informative details accompany the illustrations throughout, making this volume truly as practical as it is beautiful. The careful artistry, insider s musings, and approachable read-ability both visually and texturally in this book are sure to appeal to readers of all stripes.
£16.95
Canelo The Case of the Singer and the Showgirl
Murder and scandal in the heat of 1950s Las Vegas: can Lily Jones stop a murder that happened before she was born?Lily Jones can't forget her incredible time-slip adventure back to the Golden Age of Hollywood and the friends she made there - especially a handsome barman by the name of Louis, with whom she felt such a strong connection.Back in 2020, life isn't going so well for her and Lily is idly googling when she is horrified to discover that Evelyn, Louis' ex-girlfriend, is brutally murdered in 1953.She is compelled to go back to the 1950s and try to save Evelyn's life, but this time it isn't just the gilded stars of Tinseltown she will have to contend with, but The Mob as she finds herself in the seedy glamour of Vegas and learns that Evelyn's future depends upon her first solving the murder of a Vegas showgirl.Thankfully she has Louis and his sister, Tilda, to help her, but her own life is in danger as she tries to find the killer an
£9.99
Manchester University Press The War That Won't Die: The Spanish Civil War in Cinema
The war that won’t die charts the changing nature of cinematic depictions of the Spanish Civil War. In 1936, a significant number of artists, filmmakers and writers – from George Orwell and Pablo Picasso to Joris Ivens and Joan Miró – rallied to support the country’s democratically-elected Republican government. The arts have played an important role in shaping popular understandings of the Spanish Civil War and this book examines the specific role cinema has played in this process. The book’s focus is on fictional feature films produced within Spain and beyond its borders between the 1940s and the early years of the twenty-first century – including Hollywood blockbusters, East European films, the work of the avant garde in Paris and films produced under Franco’s censorial dictatorship. The book will appeal to scholars and students of Film, Media and Hispanic Studies, but also to historians and, indeed, anyone interested in why the Spanish Civil War remains such a contested political topic.
£70.18
Manchester University Press Beginning Film Studies
Beginning film studies offers the ideal introduction to this vibrant subject. Written accessibly and with verve, it ranges across the key topics and manifold approaches to film studies. Andrew Dix has thoroughly updated the first edition, and this new volume includes new case studies, overviews of recent developments in the discipline, and up-to-the-minute suggestions for further reading.The book begins by considering some of film's formal features - mise-en-scène, editing and sound - before moving outwards to narrative, genre, authorship, stardom and ideology. Later chapters on film industries and on film consumption - where and how we watch movies - assess the discipline's recent geographical 'turn'.The book references many film cultures, including Hollywood, Bollywood and contemporary Hong Kong. Case studies cover such topics as sound in The Great Gatsby and narrative in Inception. The superhero movie is studied; so too is Jennifer Lawrence. Beginning film studies is also interactive, with readers enabled throughout to reflect critically upon the field.
£12.09
Troubador Publishing Song of Negros: Myths and Culture in the Philippines
The fantastical tales of your culture’s mythology can shape your world in ways that you don’t even realise. Victoria Hoffarth embarks on a journey to seek such myths from the Philippines, explaining the symbolic values as well as the underpinnings of 15 myths, legends, and folktales from the island of Negros, given the collective culture of the Philippines. Through interesting and well written tales, Dr Hoffarth shows how myths are intimately related to history and religion – from Christianity to Islam, from ancient Greece to Hollywood, from pre-Enlightenment Spain to modern, secular Europe. Especially relevant to those interested in commonalities among peoples coming from different cultures, this is a very accessible book with a tone that bridges the gap between academia and popular literature. Entertaining, informative, and insightful, it stimulates our imagination, and encourages us to ask questions. Whether you’re intrigued by the folklore of a culture rarely delved into, or in general curious about the origins and meanings of myths, Song of Negros is a go-to book for you.
£13.99
Big Finish Productions Ltd Doom Coalition
A new full cast adventure for the Eighth Doctor! Following the events of the first two series of Doctor Who - Doom Coalition, the Eighth Doctor (Paul McCann) continues to battle the plans of the insane Eleven, a Time Lord with all his past regenerations living in his head. 3.1 Absent Friends by John Dorney. Earth. The late 20th century. Across the world, the mobile phone is gaining popularity as more and more people decide to join the digital age. But for the residents of a sleepy English town sitting in the shade of a new transmission mast, that ubiquity has a troubling cost. When the TARDIS veers off-course, the Doctor and his companions find themselves in the middle of a mystery. Sometimes the past comes back to haunt you. And sometimes the future does as well. 3.2 The Eighth Piece by Matt Fitton. 15th Century Prague: in the castle dungeons, a prisoner raves about the end of the world. Outside, Liv Chenka seeks out the workshop of a strange Clockmaker to see what he is creating. England, 1538: Lord Thomas Cromwell finds his duties interrupted by otherworldly forces - clockwork soldiers, an unusual nun, and a mysterious scholar calling himself 'the Doctor'.Perhaps the truth can be extracted in the torture chamber of London's Bloody Tower? Rome, 2016: Helen Sinclair has an appointment with an enigmatic Professor, whose greatest work is almost complete. Only the Eighth Piece is missing...3.3 The Doomsday Chronometer by Matt Fitton. While River Song takes Helen on an archaeological expedition like no other, the Doctor finds himself enlisted by an alien Queen to save her people. Trapped and alone, Liv stares death in the face as she meets the enemy who's been dogging the TARDIS travellers' footsteps throughout Earth's history. The Doomsday Chronometer has been protected for five centuries: secret cults and societies jealously guarding its mystery. But what is their real purpose? The Doctor is about to discover the truth...3.4. The Crucible of Souls by John Dorney. The date has been set. The trap has been sprung. A life has been taken and a maniac is on the loose. With the TARDIS crew separated and in terrible trouble, will today be the day the bad guys win? Doctor Who - Doom Coalition is a follow-up to Big Finish's Dark Eyes series - the first of which received the Best Online Drama at the 2014 BBC Drama Awards.British TV and Hollywood star Paul McGann returns to his hugely popular portrayal of the Doctor (as seen on BBC TV in 2013's Night of the Doctor). Hattie Morahan has now appeared opposite two British fictional greats - the Doctor here, and Sherlock Holmes in 2015's film Mr Holmes with Sir Ian McKellen. Nicola Walker was one of the longest serving actresses in BBC's Spooks series, and remains one of the most regarded of current British actresses. CAST: Paul McGann (The Doctor), Nicola Walker (Liv Chenka), Hattie Morahan (Helen Sinclair), Alex Kingston (River Song), Jeremy Clyde (George), Ian Puleston-Davies (Angus Selwyn), Richard Hope (Phillip Cook/Kal), Anna Acton (Kate Drury), John Shrapnel (Thomas Cromwell), Kasia Koleczek (Apolena), Glen McCready (Solvers/Abbot), Emma D'Inverno (Rosalia), Tim McMullan (Octavian), Janie Dee (Risolva), Robert Bathurst (Padrac), John Heffernan (The Imposter) and Nicholas Woodeson (The Clocksmith).
£36.00
Schiffer Publishing Ltd F-14 Tomcat: Grumman's “Top Gun” from Vietnam to the Persian Gulf
It has been said that “bombers make history; fighters make movies.” In the case of the Grumman F-14 Tomcat, both are true. It made history as a fleet defender, reconnaissance platform, and strike fighter. The Tomcat was also featured in such Hollywood classics as Top Gun, The Final Countdown, and Executive Decision, followed by television appearances on JAG. This new illustrated look at the iconic Tomcat features a concise, detailed look at its design and construction, followed by its service in the US Navy from 1975 to 2006. Also covered is a rare look at its use by the Imperial Iranian Air Force, and continued use by the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force. All USN units that flew the Tomcat are featured, including squadron patches, markings, and nose art. Combat operations are discussed, including aerial combat over Libya, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Part of the Legends of Warfare series.
£17.09
Hodder & Stoughton What Have We Here: Portraits of a Life
WHAT HAVE WE HERE? follows Billy Dee Williams from his childhood growing up in Harlem to his days on Broadway and in Hollywood before landing the role in George Lucas' space opera that would win him everlasting fame.Over a 60-year career spanning Broadway, music, movies, and television, Billy's tales and travels include Lawrence Olivier, Marlon Brando, James Baldwin, Henry Fonda, Duke Ellington, Berry Gordy, Diana Ross, Richard Pryor, Sylvester Stallone, Diahann Carroll, and a world of less famous but no less colourful characters.And that's just his life on this planet. As hundreds of millions of Star Wars fans worldwide know, Williams is and always will be Lando Calrissian, the double-dealing, outlandishly handsome rogue from George Lucas' classic Star Wars adventures The Empire Strikes Back and The Return of the Jedi, a role he reprised in 2019's Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
£22.50
Schiffer Publishing Ltd The Best of British Arts & Crafts
More than 100 years after the death of designer William Morris, the Arts and Crafts Movement is enjoying a revival, becoming more popular than it was during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Attracted by its attention to quality and design, admirers–from Hollywood stars to young people furnishing their first home–are appreciate the designs from Morris, De Morgan, Dresser, Tinworth, Marshall, Barlow, Pearson, Bell, and many more. This new book celebrates the very best designs in ceramics, furniture, metalwares, and the fine arts. With over 250 color photographs it is a treasure trove of visual information. Some of the world’s most renowned experts have contributed their scholarship, including Stephen Calloway, Francis King, Andrew Barlow, John Catleugh, Max Donnelly, Mark Golding, Harry Lyons, Barbara Morris, and Peter Rose. Honesty of purpose, fine craftsmanship, and respect for good design are as valued now as when they first became the tenets of Arts & Crafts philosophy in late-Victorian England. This book is a source of inspiration and education for collectors around the world.
£57.59
HarperCollins Publishers Molly’s Game: The Riveting Book that Inspired the Aaron Sorkin Film
A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY AARON SORKIN, AND STARRING JESSICA CHASTAIN, IDRIS ELBA, KEVIN COSTNER AND MICHAEL CERA The true story of the 26-year-old woman behind the most exclusive, high-stakes underground poker game in the world When Molly Bloom was a little girl in a small Colorado town, she dreamed of a life without rules and limits, a life where she didn’t have to measure up to anyone or anything – where she could become whatever she wanted. She ultimately got more than she ever could have bargained for. In Molly’s Game, she takes you through her adventures running an exclusive private poker game catering to Hollywood royalty like Leonardo DiCaprio and Ben Affleck, athletes, billionaires, politicians and financial titans. With rich detail, Molly describes a world of glamour, privilege and secrecy in which she made millions, lived the high life and fearlessly took on the Russian and Italian mobs – until she met theone adversary she could not outsmart: the UnitedStates government.
£10.99
Quercus Publishing Living My Best Life, Hun
'A hilarious must read.' -Jameela Jamil'I loved the chutzpah and the honesty.' - Graham Norton'Funny, frank and inspiring.' - Lenny Henry All her life, London longed to be a badass, an awesome bulletproof star nobody could mess with - someone who takes no shit - and in Living My Best Life, Hun, she lifts the lid on how she went from secretly writing Frasier fan fiction alone in her bedroom to taking Hollywood by storm.It hasn't been an easy journey; from birthday parties gone wrong and dealing with bullies every step of the way, to getting blocked by Foxtons (long story) and being mistaken for the cleaner at a comedy competition (true story), London leaves no stone unturned. It took London some time to find her voice and her people, but now that she has, she's mentally high-fiving her fourteen-year-old self every day.Frank, fearless and funny, Living My Best Life, Hun will inspire you to ditch the self-loathing, start the self-loving and engage with your inner winner.
£20.00
Orion Publishing Co The Great Zoo Of China
'Jurassic Park with dragons' NEIL OLIVER'Completely believable' WASHINGTON POSTGET READY FOR ACTION ON A GIGANTIC SCALEThe Chinese government has been keeping a secret for forty years: they have found a species of animal no one believed even existed.Now the Chinese are ready to unveil their astonishing discovery within the greatest zoo ever constructed. A small group of VIPs and journalists has been brought to the zoo deep within China to see its fabulous creatures for the first time. Among them is Dr Cassandra Jane 'CJ' Cameron, a writer for NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC and an expert on reptiles.The visitors are assured by their Chinese hosts that they will marvel at these beasts, that they are perfectly safe, that nothing can go wrong . . .READERS LOVE THE GREAT ZOO OF CHINA'A thrill-a-minute rollercoaster ride''Reilly delivers every time''Sit back and escape into the world of Matthew Reilly''Reads like a Hollywood blockbuster from start to finish''The master of high octane thrillers''Strap yourself in and enjoy the ride!'
£10.99
Little, Brown Book Group Scar Tissue
In SCAR TISSUE Anthony Kiedis, charismatic and highly articulate frontman of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, recounts his remarkable life story, and the history of the band itself. Raised in the Midwest, he moved to LA aged eleven to live with his father Blackie, purveyor of pills, pot, and cocaine to the Hollywood elite. After a brief child-acting career, Kiedis dropped out of U.C.L.A. and plunged headfirst into the demimonde of the L.A. underground music scene. He formed the band with three schoolfriends - and found his life's purpose. Crisscrossing the country, the Chili Peppers were musical innovators and influenced a whole generation of musicians. But there's a price to pay for both success and excess and in SCAR TISSUE, Kiedis writes candidly of the overdose death of his soul mate and band mate, Hillel Slovak, and his own ongoing struggle with an addiction to drugs.SCAR TISSUE far transcends the typical rock biography, because Anthony Kiedis is anything but a typical rock star. It is instead a compelling story of dedication and debauchery, of intrigue and integrity, of recklessness and redemption.
£10.99
University Press of Mississippi Wes Craven: Interviews
With a career spanning four decades, Wes Craven (1939–2015) bridged independent exploitation cinema and Hollywood big-budget horror. A pioneer of the modern horror cinema, Craven directed such landmark films as The Last House on the Left, The Hills Have Eyes, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Scream—considered not only classics of the genre, but examples of masterful filmmaking. Producing an impressive oeuvre that mixed intellectual concerns and political ideas, Craven utilized high-tension suspense, devastating visual brutality, and dark humor to evoke a unique brand of fear. Moreover, his films draw attention to the horror of American society—Namely racism, classism, and the traumas often associated with family. This collection of twenty-nine interviews—spanning from 1980 until his final interview in 2015—traces Craven’s life and career, from his upbringing in a strict religious family and his life as an academic to his years toiling in exploitation cinema. The volume also chronicles Craven’s ascendancy as an independent director, his work within the studio system, and his eventual triumph in mainstream cinema. Within the interviews gathered here, including three previously unpublished pieces, Craven reflects on failed projects and the challenges of working with studios while offering thoughtful meditations on the dynamics and appeal of horror. Wes Craven: Interviews cements Craven’s legacy as a master of horror who left an indelible mark on the genre by forever altering expectations of—and approaches to—the cinema of fear.
£26.96
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc A Guide to Post-classical Narration: The Future of Film Storytelling
In A Guide to Post-classical Narration, Eleftheria Thanouli expands and substantially develops the innovative theoretical work of her previous publication, Post-classical Cinema: an International Poetics of Film Narration (2009). A Guide to Post-classical Narration: The Future of Film Storytelling presents a concise and comprehensive overview of the creative norms of the post-classical mode of narration. With dozens of cases studies and hundreds of color stills from films across the globe, this book provides the definitive account of post-classical storytelling and its techniques. After surfacing in auteur films in varied production milieus in the 1990s, the post-classical options continued to gain ground throughout the 2000s and 2010s, gradually fertilizing several mainstream productions in Hollywood. From Lars von Trier’s Europa (1991) to Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead (2021) and Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis (2022), the post-classical narration has shown not only impressive resilience but also tremendous creativity in transforming its key formal principles, such as fragmented and multi-thread plotlines, hypermediated realism, parody, graphic frame construction, complex chronology, and intense self-consciousness. Through the meticulous textual analysis of the post-classical works, Eleftheria Thanouli addresses head-on a series of methodological questions in narrative research and brings the tradition of historical poetics back into the limelight. By reinforcing her previous work with numerous new films as well as more nuanced narrative terms and concepts, she not only strengthens her position on post-classical cinema but also establishes the relevance of formalist analysis in the study of film today.
£28.99
Princeton University Press Creatures of Cain: The Hunt for Human Nature in Cold War America
How Cold War America came to attribute human evolutionary success to our species' unique capacity for murderAfter World War II, the question of how to define a universal human nature took on new urgency. Creatures of Cain charts the rise and precipitous fall in Cold War America of a theory that attributed man’s evolutionary success to his unique capacity for murder.Drawing on a wealth of archival materials and in-depth interviews, Erika Lorraine Milam reveals how the scientists who advanced this “killer ape” theory capitalized on an expanding postwar market in intellectual paperbacks and widespread faith in the power of science to solve humanity’s problems, even to answer the most fundamental questions of human identity. The killer ape theory spread quickly from colloquial science publications to late-night television, classrooms, political debates, and Hollywood films. Behind the scenes, however, scientists were sharply divided, their disagreements centering squarely on questions of race and gender. Then, in the 1970s, the theory unraveled altogether when primatologists discovered that chimpanzees also kill members of their own species. While the discovery brought an end to definitions of human exceptionalism delineated by violence, Milam shows how some evolutionists began to argue for a shared chimpanzee-human history of aggression even as other scientists discredited such theories as sloppy popularizations.A wide-ranging account of a compelling episode in American science, Creatures of Cain argues that the legacy of the killer ape persists today in the conviction that science can resolve the essential dilemmas of human nature.
£22.00
Little, Brown Book Group The Red Book
'Destined to be a classic . . . a sharply funny, clear-eyed examination, in the vein of Mary McCarthy's The Group, of the power and burden of privilege, the reality of being a modern woman and the lasting bonds of female friendship.'Vanity FairCan a weekend change your life?Clover, Addison, Mia and Jane were college roommates until their graduation in 1989. Now, twenty years later, their lives are in free fall. Clover, once a securities broker with Lehman Brothers, living the Manhattan dream, is out of a job, newly married and fretting about her chances of having a baby. Addison's marriage to a novelist with writers' block is as stale as her artistic 'career'. Mia's acting ambitions never got off the ground, and she now stays home with her four children, renovating and acquiring faster than her Hollywood director husband can pay the bills. Jane, once the Paris bureau chief for a newspaper, now the victim of budget cuts, has been blindsided by different sorts of loss. The four friends have kept up with one another via the red book, a class report published every five years, in which alumni write brief updates about their lives. But there's the story we tell the world, and then there's the real story, as the classmates arriving at their twentieth reunion with their families, their histories, their dashed dreams and secret longings, will discover over the course of an epoch-ending, score-settling, unforgettable weekend.
£8.09
Yellow Pear Press Badass Advice: Love, Life and Being True to Yourself
Sass, Wise Words, and Advice from Empowering Women"...a book for and about women (no men allowed!). ―Heck of a Bunch BlogBecca Anderson is back with another inspiring book packed with everything you need to know about love, life, and relationships. Enjoy these wise words from powerful women from all over!Wise words from badass and powerful women. Becca Anderson has gathered the wisdom from a chorus of empowering women for this one-of-a-kind advice book. From housewives to Hollywood starlets, from standup comedians to startup entrepreneurs, these powerful women offer unvarnished and unabashed opinions and share their frank and forthright thinking on the wild world of relationships; enjoy these words of wisdom.Read more books for women empowerment! On your journey to self empowerment and personal growth, add books for women that empower you to live a full life now. Girl bosses and boss ladies from every walk of life unleash their cunning wit in this humorous compilation. From Anais Nin, Lily Tomlin, Amy Bloom, Dorothy Allison, Drew Barrymore, Chrissy Teigan and beyond, there's no shortage of sass, sarcasm, or sizzle. Grab your copy today and enjoy the wise words of the powerful women featured in this book! Inside, you’ll find: Many of your favorite empowering women all in one book Quotes, wise words, and daily affirmations for women by powerful women A book of positive affirmations and powerful women giving you advice on love, marriage, dating, and other areas of life If you're looking for books for entrepreneurs or books for women empowerment, or if you're a fan of Badass Affirmations, Collective Wisdom, or Empowered Black Girl, then you’ll love Badass Advice.
£15.17
Ridinghouse John Stezaker: Film Still
An overview of John Stezaker’s film still collages, this book showcases the evolution of the artist’s relationship with a specific material. Leading British collage and appropriation artist John Stezaker began his ongoing series of film still collages in 1979 – the result of a period that marked a crucial change in the direction of the artist’s work, which had previously been centered around a text-based ‘conceptualism’. The series moves with Stezaker’s changing interests, using stills from classic American-period Hitchcock films as raw material before shifting towards the undistinguishable mass of 1940s and early 1950s low-budget studio films. Featuring collages based on a combination of film still excisions and superimpositions, this ongoing series is catalogued comprehensively for the first time in this volume, which brings together Stezaker’s earliest film still collages with his most recent. Full-colour illustrations are accompanied by an essay by David Campany and a conversation between the critic and the artist. John Stezaker (b.1949, Worcester) is one of the leading artists in contemporary photographic collage and appropriation. Employing vintage photographs, old Hollywood film stills, travel postcards and other printed matter, Stezaker creates small-format collages that bear qualities of Surrealism, Dada and found art. Stezaker studied at the Slade School of Art and has taught at the Royal College of Art and Central Saint Martins School of Art, London. In 2012 he was awarded the Deutsche Börse photography prize following a retrospective at the Whitechapel Gallery, London. His work has been exhibited internationally since the 1990s and is held in collections such as the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Arts Council England; and Tate.
£18.00
John Blake Publishing Ltd Jennifer Lawrence: Girl on Fire
Jennifer Lawrence is the reigning queen of lots of things: Hollywood, the awkward award-ceremony-stumble, and hundreds of priceless Buzzfeed pages - to name a few. She announced herself to the world at a young age in The Burning Plain and Winter's Bone, gripping dramas set in America's deprived heartland. Ironic, then, that such a gifted character actress become a household name through two of the biggest fantasy roles in the business: the deadly shapeshifting assassin Mystique from Marvel's X-Men series and the gutsy, warlike heroine of Suzanne Collin's bestselling Hunger Games trilogy, Katniss Everdeen - the Girl on Fire. As Katniss and Mystique, she owns the screen, oozing grace, attitude and menace, re-defining the roles of women in action films as more than ragdolls to be saved by muscle-bound men; this girl doesn't need saving by anyone. But Jennifer couldn't be more different off-screen. Always ready with a smile or a quip about embarrassing everyday struggles, she is loved by millions for being a genuinely relatable personality in an industry of preening posers. And make no mistake: she has had every reason to lose her sunny disposition.She struggled early on in her career with a hurtful 'fat actress' label in spite of her healthy body type, and suffered public heartbreak with the likes of Coldplay's Chris Martin. In 2014, she was to suffer the ultimate indignity of having private photos leaked onto the internet for all to see. A lesser girl might have become spiteful, but Jennifer has always emerged with her head held high. This is the first biography of an Academy Award winner, a star of our screens for years to come and a role model for girls and young women everywhere. In every sense, this really is the story of a Girl on Fire.
£7.99
Penguin Random House Children's UK Bloodlines: Silver Shadows (book 5)
Bloodlines: Silver Shadows is the heart-pounding fifth instalment in the bestselling Bloodlines series by Richelle Mead, set in the world of the international bestseller, Vampire Academy - NOW A MAJOR FILM. Sydney Sage is an Alchemist, one of a group of humans who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the worlds of humans and vampires. They protect vampire secrets - and human lives.In The Fiery Heart, Sydney risked everything to follow her gut, walking a dangerous line to keep her feelings hidden from the Alchemists.Now, in the aftermath of an event that ripped their world apart, Sydney and Adrian struggle to pick up the pieces and find their way back to each other. But first, they have to survive. For Sydney, trapped and surrounded by adversaries, life becomes a daily struggle to hold on to her identity and the memories of those she loves. Meanwhile, Adrian clings to hope in the face of those who tell him Sydney is a lost cause, but the battle proves daunting as old demons and new temptations begin to seize hold of him...Their worst fears now a chilling reality; Sydney and Adrian face their darkest hour. 'Exciting, empowering and un-put-downable.' MTV's Hollywood Crush'We're suckers for it!' - Entertainment WeeklyAlso available in the Bloodlines series:Bloodlines (Book 1)Bloodlines: The Golden Lily (Book 2)Bloodlines: The Indigo Spell (Book 3)Bloodlines: The Fiery Heart (Book 4)Bloodlines: Silver Shadows (Book 5)Discover where the story began in the Vampire Academy series:*NOW A MAJOR FILM*Vampire Academy (Book 1)Vampire Academy: Frostbite (Book 2) Vampire Academy: Shadow Kiss (Book 3)Vampire Academy: Blood Promise (Book 4)Vampire Academy: Spirit Bound (Book 5) Vampire Academy: Last Sacrifice (Book 6)
£9.04
St David's Press The Great Escape: Newport County 2016-17
The Great Escape: Newport County 2016-17 tells the amazing story of how local boy Michael Flynn and his team beat the bookies' odds and confounded their critics to secure their place in the English Football League. On March 4, 2017, Newport County AFC were bottom of League Two and a massive 11 points from safety - with just 12 games left to play - after a 4-0 thrashing at home to closest rivals Leyton Orient. Five days later, experienced manager Graham Westley was sacked with the club seemingly doomed to return to the non-league wilderness where they had spent 25 years before winning promotion in 2013. `The Exiles' looked dead and buried before hometown hero Michael Flynn was appointed caretaker manager and tasked with the `mission impossible' of salvaging their season. Written by South Wales Argus football reporter Andrew Penman and featuring all-new interviews with those at the heart of the story, it is essential reading for all County supporters and Welsh football lovers. A remarkable six wins in the next 11 games saw the Exiles climb out of the bottom two ahead of a final-day showdown with Notts County at Newport's Rodney Parade on May 6. With the match level and relegation rivals Hartlepool United winning, County were destined for the drop with just 90 seconds of the season remaining. But there was one more twist worthy of Hollywood itself as defender Mark O'Brien volleyed in a spectacular 89th-minute winner and Newport's biggest football crowd since 1983 poured onto the pitch to celebrate an incredible end to an incredible story.
£15.17
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Mean Streets
Mean Streets was Martin Scorsese’s third feature film, and the one that confirmed him as a major new talent. On its premiere at the New York Film Festival in 1973, the critic Pauline Kael hailed the film as ‘a true original of our period, a triumph of personal film-making’. The tale of combative friends and small-time crooks is set amid the bars, pool halls, tenements and streets of Manhattan’s Little Italy. Scorsese has said of his childhood neighbourhood, ‘its very texture was interwoven with organised crime’, and this quality would dramatically inform the tone and restless energy of his seminal film. Demetrios Matheou’s insightful study considers Mean Streets’ production history in the context of the New Hollywood period of American cinema, noting also the key roles played by John Cassavetes and Roger Corman. He analyses the importance of Scorsese’s background to the film’s characters and themes, including preoccupations with guilt, redemption and criminal subcultures; the development of the director’s film-making process and signature style; the way in which he both drew upon and invigorated the crime genre; his relationship with emerging stars Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel, and the film’s reception and legacy. Matheou argues that while Taxi Driver (1976) and Raging Bull (1980) are regarded as Scorsese’s greatest films of the period, Mean Streets is the more influential achievement. With it, Scorsese not only paved the way for a new kind of crime movie, not least his own GoodFellas (1990), but also inspired generations of independently-minded film-makers.
£12.99
University of California Press Closely Watched Films: An Introduction to the Art of Narrative Film Technique
How do films work? How do they tell a story? How do they move us and make us think? Through detailed examinations of passages from classic films, Marilyn Fabe supplies the analytic tools and background in film history and theory to enable us to see more in every film we watch. Ranging from D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation to James Cameron's Avatar, and ending with an epilogue on digital media, Closely Watched Films focuses on exemplary works of fourteen film directors whose careers together span the history of the narrative film. Lively and down-to-earth, this concise introduction provides a broad, complete, and yet specific picture of visual narrative techniques that will increase readers' excitement about and knowledge of the possibilities of the film medium. Shot-by-shot analyses of short passages from each film ground theory in concrete examples. Fabe includes original and well-informed discussions of Soviet montage, realism and expressionism in film form, classical and modern sound theory, the classic Hollywood film, Italian neorealism, the French New Wave, auteur theory, modernism and postmodernism in film, political cinema, feminist film theory and practice, and narrative experiments in new digital media. Encompassing the earliest silent films as well as those that exploit the most recent technological innovations, this book gives us the particulars of how film - arguably the most influential of contemporary forms of representation - constitutes our pleasure, influences our thoughts, and informs our daily reality. Updated to include a discussion of 3-D and advanced special effects, this tenth anniversary edition is an essential film studies text for students and professors alike.
£22.50
Pan Macmillan Daddy's Girls: A Compelling Story Of The Bond Between Three Sisters From The Billion Copy Bestseller
In Daddy's Girls, Danielle Steel’s thought-provoking novel, three sisters discover the truth about their past and the importance of their unique bond.Many years have passed since ranch hand JT Tucker took his three small daughters to start a new life, eventually building the largest ranch in California. But success comes at a price, and with no mother in their life, Tucker’s relationship with each of his very different daughters was complicated.Caroline, the youngest, was overlooked by her father. She fled the ranch as early as she could to become a wife and mother, pursuing a career writing children’s books. Gemma, his declared favourite, yearned for Hollywood glamour and became a major TV star. Kate, the eldest, stayed to work on the ranch, forsaking relationships and family for a father who took her for granted.When JT dies suddenly, the paper trail he leaves behind reveals more than the sisters could ever have guessed . . .The truth brings a new reality, helping them to understand who they really are and what they really want.
£9.04
Palazzo Editions Ltd The Coppolas: A Movie Dynasty
This is a big story. The Coppolas are one of the great American filmmaking dynasties, a classic example of an immigrant family who have thrived in America — the parallels with the Corleones of The Godfather are there for all to see, albeit without the organised crime. Centred on two extraordinary filmmaking generations: father and daughter Francis Ford Coppola and Sofia Coppola, each in different ways has defined their times. And of course, their stories are intimately entwined. But the story will encompass so much more than the careers of two directors. There will be subplots extending out across the Coppola clan to include Nicolas Cage, Talia Shire, Roman Coppola, Jack Schwartzman and lesser-known scions like Marc and Christopher Coppola. It is also the case that the respective stories of Francis and Sofia offer a fascinating insight into the changing face of Hollywood and American culture from the seventies until now. It is also a book about America, a land of opportunity and the template on which the Coppolas can forge their art.
£18.00
Yale University Press Music of Exile: The Untold Story of the Composers who Fled Hitler
What happens to a composer when persecution and exile means their true music no longer has an audience? In the 1930s, composers and musicians began to flee Hitler’s Germany to make new lives across the globe. The process of exile was complex: although some of their works were celebrated, these composers had lost their familiar cultures and were forced to navigate xenophobia as well as entirely different creative terrain. Others, far less fortunate, were in a kind of internal exile—composing under a ruthless dictatorship or in concentration camps and ghettos. Michael Haas sensitively records the experiences of this musical diaspora. Torn between cultures and traditions, these composers produced music that synthesized old and new worlds, some becoming core portions of today’s repertoire, some relegated to the desk drawer. Encompassing the musicians interned as enemy aliens in the United Kingdom, the brilliant Hollywood compositions of Erich Wolfgang Korngold, and the Brecht-inspired theater music of Kurt Weill, Haas shows how these musicians shaped the twentieth-century soundscape—and offers a moving record of the incalculable effects of war on culture.
£25.00
Taschen GmbH 100 Movies of the 1980s
From Aliens to Amadeus, get your fill of 1980s nostalgia with this movie bible of all things bold, bizarre, and boisterous. We've diligently compiled a list of the most influential films of the 1980s that's sure to please popcorn gobblers and highbrow chin-strokers alike. Adventurous, excessive, and experimental, ’80s cinema saw moviegoers get their kicks from pictures as wide-ranging as Blade Runner, Gandhi, and Blue Velvet. Science fiction, horror, and action emerged as the defining genres of the decade, with non-human characters like E.T. winning the hearts of millions, and movies such as Ghostbusters and Back to the Future fused comedy and sci-fi to the delight of audiences everywhere. Inside this ’80s encyclopedia each movie masterpiece is profiled with stills, a synopsis, and cast, crew, and technical listings. With high-concept Hollywood blockbusters, early CGI, and brilliant special effects, the 1980s saw the invention of a new reality, a movie-world so convincingly real—no matter how far-fetched—that spectators could not help but immerse themselves in it.
£40.00
BenBella Books A Touch of the Madness: How to Be More Innovative in Work and Life . . . by Being a Little Crazy
Legendary movie producer Larry Kasanoff knows firsthand that massive success requires taking big risks. It means embracing your crazy side: the most unique, boldest, and bravest part of you, and your greatest asset when it comes to creating something truly original. In A Touch of The Madness, Larry uses behind-the-scenes stories of some of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters, including Terminator 2 Judgment Day, Platoon, True Lies, Dirty Dancing, and the Mortal Kombat film series, to show you the three principles that form the foundation of a thriving career in any industry: Create a great idea that will excite your audience Ask as many times (and as many people) as it takes to get a “yes” Play while you work - don’t forget to have fun with it The current of the river of life will always try to pull you towards the middle, towards complacency and mediocrity. Other companies or competitors that don’t give into that current will eclipse you. The best tool you have for swimming against that current of mediocrity is innovation.
£18.89
John Murray Press Einstein in Time and Space: A Life in 99 Particles
DROPOUT. PACIFIST. PHYSICIST. CASANOVA. REFUGEE. REBEL. GENIUS.THINK YOU KNOW EINSTEIN? THINK AGAINHis face is instantly recognisable. His name is shorthand for genius. Today, he's a figurehead as much as a man, symbolic of things larger than himself: of scientific progress, of the human mind, even of the age. But who was Einstein really?The Nobel Prize-winning physicist who discovered relativity, black holes and E = mc2, dined with Charlie Chaplin in Hollywood and was the inspiration for (highly radioactive) element 99, Albert Einstein was also a high school dropout with an FBI file 1,400 pages long.In this book, Samuel Graydon brings history's most famous scientist back to life. From his lost daughter to escaping the Nazis, from his love letters to unlikely inventions, from telling jokes to cheer up his sad parrot Bibo to refusing the Presidency of Israel, through the discoveries and thought experiments that changed science, Einstein in Time and Space tells 99 unforgettable stories of the man who redefined how we view our universe and our place within it.
£18.00
Vintage Publishing Collected Stories
'Disturbing, moving, and funny; these stories help amplify Williams's tragic vision, for like the plays, they underline his preoccupation and insight into the conflicts of the human heart'New York TimesAcclaimed as one of America's most successful playwrights, Tennessee Williams also published four volumes of short stories. In Collected Stories, these volumes are combined with a wealth of unpublished and uncollected work, ranging from his first his story published in `Weird Tales' when William was seventeen, to his later frank homosexual fantasies. Williams was famous for insisting he write every morning. Even during his darkest days, while mourning a lover, or abusing some substance - he would write. The Collected Stories are from every period of his life, and recreate the milieux Williams knew and chronicled so movingly - from his gypsy youth in St. Louis and New Orleans to his days of celebrity in Hollywood and New York.'The two ingredients of Williams's plays - great gab and steamy sex - are both here in the stories' Edmund White, Sunday Times
£12.99
Little, Brown Book Group The Golden Age: Number 7 in series
THE GOLDEN AGE is the final, eponymous novel that brings to an end what Gabriel García Márquez has called 'Gore Vidal's magnificent series of historical novels or novelised histories', NARRATIVES OF EMPIRE. Like a latter day Anthony Trollope, Vidal masterfully balances the personal with the political, the invented with the historical fact. His heroine from Hollywood, Caroline Sanford, reappears in Washington as President Roosevelt schemes to get the USA into the war by provoking the Japanese. In the novel's ten year span America is master of the globe, with Japan and Europe as colony and dependency under her empire. Against this backdrop there is a glittering explosion in the arts (we see the likes of Lowell, Bernstein and Tennessee Williams and witness the opening night of A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE). But by 1950 and the coming of the Korean War, the Golden Age is over. For the reader who wants to be informed as well as vastly entertained about the last two hundred years of American history there could be no better place to start than with Vidal's NARRATIVES.
£14.99
University of Illinois Press Latin American Melodrama: Passion, Pathos, and Entertainment
Like their Hollywood counterparts, Latin American film and TV melodramas have always been popular and highly profitable. The first of its kind, this anthology engages in a serious study of the aesthetics and cultural implications of Latin American melodramas. Written by some of the major figures in Latin American film scholarship, the studies range across seventy years of movies and television within a transnational context, focusing specifically on the period known as the "Golden Age" of melodrama, the impact of classic melodrama on later forms, and more contemporary forms of melodrama. An introductory essay examines current critical and theoretical debates on melodrama and places the essays within the context of Latin American film and media scholarship.Contributors are Luisela Alvaray, Mariana Baltar, Catherine L. Benamou, Marvin D’Lugo, Paula Félix-Didier, Andrés Levinson, Gilberto Perez, Darlene J. Sadlier, Cid Vasconcelos, and Ismail Xavier.
£76.50
Cornerstone City Country Coast: Our House Your Home
Following the bestselling Eat Drink Nap and Morning Noon Night comes the eagerly-awaited third book from celebrated private members' club, Soho House.____________________________________________With 38 locations around the world, there are certain things which are true of every Soho House: the signature dishes, the bespoke interiors, the buzzy crowds of members.Ever wondered how to make Cecconi's' classic Cacio e Pepe, how to give your bedroom that lazy morning at Babington House feel, or what the secret is to throwing a perfect dinner party?Following Eat Drink Nap and Morning Noon Night, City Country Coast captures all of that, sharing signature food and drink recipes, design inspiration, stories and tips on recreating the atmosphere of the Houses at home.The new book opens the doors to some of our newest Houses, as well as the timeless venues our members know and love. From urban locations in West Hollywood, Hong Kong, Rome and Paris, to country escapes in Oxfordshire and Somerset, and coastal havens in Mykonos, Barcelona, Brighton, Saint Vincent & Grenadines and Tel Aviv. ____________________________________________'If you're looking for inspiration for interior design, party hosting or catering, this stylish lifestyle guide is perfect... a fascinating look behind the closed doors of this celebrated private member's club' Sunday Mail, on Eat Drink Nap
£31.50
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC A Cultural History of Hair in the Modern Age
“A thick, tangled and deliciously idiosyncratic history of hair.” Times Literary Supplement Over the last century, there has been a revolution in self-presentation and social attitudes towards hair. Developments in mass manufacturing, advances in chemical science and new understandings of bodies and minds have been embraced by new kinds of hairdressers and their clientele and embodied in styles that reflect shifting ideals of what it is to be and to look modern. The emergence of the ladies hairdressing salon, the rise of the celebrity stylist, the impact of Hollywood, an expanding mass media, and a new synergy between fashions in clothing and hairstyles have rippled out globally. Fashions in hair styles and their representation have taken on new meanings as a way of resisting dominant social structures, experimenting with social taboos, and expressing a modern sense of self. From the 1920s bob to the punk cut, hair has continued to be deeply involved in society’s larger issues. Drawing on a wealth of visual, textual and object sources, and illustrated with 75 images, A Cultural History of Hair in the Modern Age presents essays that explore how politics, science, religion, fashion, beauty, the visual arts, and popular culture have reshaped modern hair and its significance as an agent of social change.
£26.99
Turner Publishing Company Historic Photos of San Francisco Crime
Long after the gold rush had faded into history, San Francisco was still earning its title as the capital of the Wild, Wild West. Beneath its cosmopolitan, urbane veneer, the city at the dawn of the twentieth century still seethed with crime. Raucous crowds still gathered at the Old Barbary Coast dives and dance halls, hangouts for thieves and prostitutes, and by 1906, San Francisco’s elected officials had embarked on a spree of corruption that would eventually result in grand jury indictments, a kidnapping, bombings, and at least one murder.With over 200 high-quality images, Historic Photos of San Francisco Crime sifts through the city’s misdeeds, murder, and mayhem, from the tongs and hatchet men of Old Chinatown to civil disobedience and protests at City Hall in the 1960s. The Preparedness Day Bombing of 1916, the trials of Roscoe "Fatty” Arbuckle for murder of Hollywood starlet Virginia Rappe, the lynching of the Howard Street Gang, the lethal Longshoremen’s strike and street riots of 1934, and the 1946 "Battle of Alcatraz” are just a few of the stops along the route of this riveting tour of San Francisco’s underworld.
£26.99
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC The Terminator
Made on a low budget, The Terminator was one of the most influential films of the 1980s. Combining explosive special effects and an intricate time-travel plot, it set Arnold Schwarzenegger on the road to superstardom and allowed its director, James Cameron, to go on to make some of the most expensive films of all time. The Terminator quickly found a cult following who appreciated its deadpan humour, comic-book violence and elaborate variations on standard science fiction themes. Resolutely populist, accomplished and instantly memorable, The Terminator has dramatically outlived its humble beginnings. Sean French’s insightful study traces the film’s production history, its sources and the extent of its influence. He argues that The Terminator’s visual flair, stylised acting and choreographed violence are so compelling not so much because they offer intellectual rewards but because they traffic in the darker, more visceral pleasures of moviegoing. In his foreword to this new edition, Sean French reflects on Terminator sequels and reboots, suggesting that the original film has more in common with the gritty visions of the New Hollywood than present-day action blockbusters.
£12.99
Pan Macmillan Agent to the Stars
From New York Times bestseller and Hugo Award-winner John Scalzi, Agent to the Stars is a brilliantly witty first-contact story unlike any other.Showbiz is about to go interstellarAs an ambitious young agent, Thomas Stein knows all about the art of the deal, even if his actors aren’t quite A-list material. But he’s about to receive some out-of-this-world clients – literally. The space-faring Yherajk have come to Earth to talk interstellar peace. One problem: they’re also hideous, and smell like rotting fish.For Stein, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to become the hottest name in Hollywood. Or on the planet. Yet it’s one thing to land a client’s blockbuster film role – and quite another to negotiate for an entire alien race. He’ll need every ounce of his charm, wit and wiles. But even with these considerable talents, can he really give the Yherajk the makeover they need to shine on the world’s stage?Praise for John Scalzi:‘John Scalzi is the most entertaining, accessible writer working in SF today’ – Joe Hill‘Scalzi is one of the slickest writers that SF has ever produced’ – Wall Street Journal
£8.99
Faber & Faber Altman on Altman
In Altman on Altman, one of American cinema's most incorrigible mavericks reflects on a brilliant career.Robert Altman served a long apprenticeship in movie-making before his great breakthrough, the Korean War comedy M*A*S*H (1969). It became a huge hit and won the Palme d'Or at Cannes, but also established Altman's inimitable use of sound and image, and his gift for handling a repertory company of actors. The 1970s then became Altman's decade, with a string of masterpieces: McCabe and Mrs Miller, The Long Goodbye, Thieves Like Us, Nashville . . . In the 1980s Altman struggled to fund his work, but he was restored to prominence in 1992 with The Player, an acerbic take on Hollywood. Short Cuts, an inspired adaptation of Raymond Carver, and the Oscar-winning Gosford Park, underscored his comeback.Now he recalls the highs and lows of his career trajectory to David Thompson in this definitive interview book, part of Faber's widely acclaimed Directors on Directors series. 'Hearing in his own words in Altman on Altman just how much of his films occur spontaneously, as a result of last-minute decisions on set, is fascinating . . . For film lovers, this is just about indispensable.' Ben Sloan, Metro London
£15.29
Reaktion Books Animals in Film
From Salvador Dali to Walt Disney, animals have been a constant yet little-considered presence in film. Indeed, it may come as a surprise to learn that animals were a central inspiration to the development of moving pictures themselves. In "Animals in Film", Jonathan Burt points out that the mobility of animals presented technical and conceptual challenges to early film-makers, the solutions of which were an important factor in advancing photographic technology, accelerating the speed of both film and camera. The early filming of animals also marked one of the most significant and far-reaching changes in the history of animal representation, and has largely determined the way animals have been visualized in the twentieth century. Burt looks at the extraordinary relation-ship between animals, cinema and photography (including the pioneering work of Eadweard Muybridge and Jules-Etienne Marey) and the technological developments and challenges posed by the animal as a specific kind of moving object. "Animals in Film" is a shrewd account of the politics of animals in cinema, of how movies and video have developed as weapons for animal rights activists, and of the roles that animals have played in film, from the avant-garde to Hollywood.
£17.41
Brewin Books This is More Than I Can Stand: A Biography of Charlie Hall
"This Is More Than I Can Stand" is a detailed biography of Charlie Hall, a little known man from Birmingham who worked with some of the biggest stars of the silver screen. Charlie was born into a working class family in the Ward End district of Birmingham, in 1899. In 1920 he left England to start a new life in New York. Incredibly, within a few years he had moved to Hollywood, and was appearing in films with some of the greatest silent comedy stars of all time. How did this come about? And why did Charlie find himself working back in a factory in Birmingham in 1938? These and many other questions will be answered in this new book about the life of Charlie Hall. The book contains interviews with family and friends who knew him and remember meeting him when he returned to Birmingham in the late '30s. Plus some of Charlie's personal letters, written at this time, giving a unique insight into his thoughts, his memories and what it was like to work with Laurel and Hardy. From humble beginnings, Charlie experienced the early movie industry, the birth of the talkies, and the advent of television. Not bad for a lad from Ward End.
£16.50
Quercus Publishing The Secret Paris Cinema Club
Alain Bonnard, the owner of a small art cinema in Paris, is a dyed-in-the-wool nostalgic. In his Cinema Paradis there are no buckets of popcorn, no XXL colas, no Hollywood blockbusters. Alain holds firm to his principles of quality - to show films that bring dreams to life, make people fall in love. And Alain would do anything for his clientele - particularly the mysterious woman in the red coat who, for some time now, has turned up every Wednesday and always sits in row seventeen. What could her story be? Finally one evening Alain plucks up courage to invite the unknown beauty to dinner. But just as the most tender of love stories is getting under way, something happens that turns Alain's life upside down, shoving his little cinema unexpectedly into the public eye. So when the woman in the red coat suddenly vanishes from his life, the cinema owner can't help but wonder if it is more than a coincidence. Taking matters into his own hands, Alain sets off in search of the stranger he has come to love - roll the opening credits for a timeless cinematic romance worthy of the Parisian silver screen!
£9.99
Hodder & Stoughton Trust No One: Inside the World of Deepfakes
Deepfake technology can create video evidence of just about anything: Hollywood superstar Margot Robbie in an orgy.Chinese president Xi Jinping declaring nuclear war.Basketball legend Michael Jordan winning the World Cup. The only limit is the imagination. In a time where fake news and disinformation is becoming harder and harder to identify, it is more essential than ever to understand the dark origins of deepfakes. Journalist Michael Grothaus goes down the rabbit hole as he interviews the often morally dubious, yet incredibly skilled creators of this content. It's a journey that opens a window into the communities transforming reality. Challenging, enlightening and terrifying, Trust No One asks the question other people are too scared to: what happens when you can no longer believe your own eyes?'An alarming look at deepfakes' Sunday Times'Michael Grothaus takes a hard look at the growth of deep fakes, examining cases that demonstrate the threats presented by morally dubious creators. From the personal to political, the impact of deep fakes is considered carefully by Grothaus, both on the victims and on society as a whole, creating an essential picture of a growing trend in disinformation' Eliot Higgins, founder of Bellingcat
£18.99