Search results for ""Oldcastle Books Ltd""

NEW EDITION A sports agent. In its simplest form, a sports agent is an individual or company who represents a sportsperson. They try to get them a better contract, a better endorsement, a better sponsorship, a better deal. Nothing wrong with that, is there? Or is there? The problem, inevitably, is money. So much money now sloshing around in professional sport today. And human greed - which can lead to conflicts of interest...So How to be a Sports Agent is a practical and down-to-earth book that reveals the secrets behind the art of being not just a good sports agent, but a good, honest sports agent. It includes: Analysis of what it is to be an agent and how to ensure a watertight legal contract between the agent and his client. The regulation of agents in various sports, and how to comply. The difference between a good agent and a bad agent. Creation of playing contracts, particularly in regard to soccer, cricket and rugby and covers the most common pitfalls. Marketing, merchandising, licensing and sponsorship deals. How to negotiate them and how to draft them. The art of negotiation, and the balance between on and off pitch activities. The role of the lawyer as agent and adviser. Keeping the clients happy, getting new clients and keeping the clients happy when you have new clients.

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In his most innovative and technically challenging film, The Birds, Alfred Hitchcock follows the success of Psycho with a modernist, avant garde horror-thriller, which has spawned many imitators and triggered the cycle for disaster and man versus nature films. Now to mark The Birds 50th anniversary in 2013 and the digitally restored Blu-Ray release, The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds is the first book-length treatment on the production of this modernist masterpiece. Featuring new interviews with stars Rod Taylor, Tippi Hedren and Veronica Cartwright, as well as sketches and storyboards from Hitchcock's A-List technical team, Robert Boyle, Albert Whitlock and Harold Michelson, the book charts every aspect of the film's production all set against the tumultuous backdrop of the 1962 Cuban missile crisis and JFK's presidency. Using unpublished material from the Alfred Hitchcock Collection, Evan Hunter files, Peggy Robertson papers and Robert Boyle's artwork, this book will be the ultimate guide to Hitchcock's most ambitious film. The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds analyses the film's modernist underpinnings, from art director Robert Boyle's initial sketches influenced by Munch's The Scream, to the groundbreaking electronic score by pioneering German composers Remi Gassmann and Oskar Sala. The entire production process is analysed in detail, illustrated with rare behind the scenes production stills and storyboards. There is also a timeline detailing the film's production to its release at MOMA in New York, and the 1963 Cannes Film Festival.

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Africa. The cradle of civilisation. From the dawn of human time in prehistoric Africa right through to the so-called 'Arab Spring' of 2011, Gordon Kerr offers a comprehensive introduction to the sprawling history of this enormous continent. He begins with the origins of the human race and the development of stone age technology, through ancient and medieval times and the significance of the Arab presence, the Muslim states and the trans-Saharan trade. Kerr continues with the rise and fall of nation states and kingdoms prior to the arrival of Europeans , Ghana, the Kingdoms of the Forest and Savanna, Yoruba, Oyo, Benin, Asante, Luba, Lunda, Lozi and many others, on to the beginning of the slave trade, and the European conquest and colonization of sub-Saharan Africa, the 'Scramble for Africa'. Finally moving onto the often bitter struggles for independence from that period of colonization and exploitation, Kerr concludes with an assessment of Africa in the 21st century.

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During his long and extraordinary life, Winston Churchill was a central figure in almost all of the tumultuous events of the first half of the twentieth century. He was a soldier, writer and politician and, after the Second World War, he became one of the world's greatest statesmen. But his reputation rests on his role as a war leader and, in particular, on the period between May 1940 and July 1941, when Britain stood alone against Nazi Germany. Since his death in 1965, a few dissenting voices have cast him as, amongst other things, an opportunist and war-monger. But, as flawed as he undoubtedly was, most modern historians and politicians still hold him in the highest regard. In order to gain a better understanding of this remarkable man, this book looks at some of the key moments in Churchill's life, including his role in the British Army's last cavalry charge in the Battle of Omdurman and his escape from a prisoner of war camp during the Boer War. It then focuses on those momentous times when Churchill's courage and force of character almost single-handedly dragged Britain back from the brink of defeat in the Second World War and onwards towards an eventual Allied victory, making him, in the eyes of many people, one of the greatest of all Great Britons...

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Not all who confess are guilty... The death of millionaire businessman Charles Parsons seems like a straightforward suicide. There's no sign of forced entry or struggle in his lavish New Jersey mansion - just a single gunshot wound from his own weapon. But days later, a different story emerges. Computer techs pick up a voice recording that incriminates Parsons's adoptive daughter, Ann, who duly confesses and pleads guilty. After the case is brought to her attention by an unlikely source, Erin McCabe and her law partner, Duane Swisher, soon realise that pieces of Ann's story don't fit together. Ann clearly knows more than she's willing to share, even if it means a life sentence. Who is she protecting, and why? As their investigation deepens, Erin and Swish find themselves caught in a web of human exploitation, unchecked greed, and murder - before learning the horrifying truth...

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Doors open at 7. The sacrifice is at 9. The dress code is, as usual, black tie. It's the winter solstice in a Philadelphia that has been eroded by extreme weather, economic collapse, and disease-carrying mosquitoes. The Saturnalia carnival is about to begin, an evening on which reality is suspended, and troubles forgotten. For tarot reader Nina, Saturnalia is simply a cruel reminder of the night that changed everything for her - the night she walked away from the elite Saturn Club, with its genteel debauchery, arcane pecking order, and winking interest in alchemy and the occult. But when she gets a chance call from Max, her last remaining friend from the Saturn Club, Nina will put on a dress of blackest black and attend the Club's wild solstice masquerade, the biggest party of the year, on a mysterious errand she can't refuse. Before the night is over, she will become the custodian of a horrifying secret - and prey to a mysterious hunter.

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Mallika is a painfully shy young woman growing up in the heart of a close-knit, sometimes stifling New Delhi colony. Though she is surrounded by love, her life is complicated by secrets that she, her mother and her aunt work hard to keep. After suffering a trauma aged nineteen, Mallika loses three days of her memory and slowly spirals into a deep depression. She must find a way out of this abyss, back to herself and those she cares about. But she must also hide her mental illness from her community. In a narrative that unfolds elliptically from the perspectives of Mallika and the seven people closest to her, the astonishing story of these characters' lives emerges. For Mallika's family, childhood friends and the two men she loves are also hiding truths. As each gives voice to contending with their own struggles, secrets and silences shatter. As irreverent and funny as it is serious and anguished, Fear and Lovely is a tender, character-driven story of love, longing, terror and healing that will keep you turning pages, and won't let you go.

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Ruby Mills is ruthlessly ambitious, strikingly beautiful - and one of the Forty Thieves' most talented members. Harriet Littlemore is an aspiring journalist from a 'good' family, engaged to a rising star of the Tory party - but she wants a successful career of her own. After witnessing Ruby fleeing the scene of a robbery, Harriet develops a fascination with the young thief that extends beyond journalistic interest, one which Ruby can use to her advantage. But both the Forties and London society have strict rules - and the fallout from Ruby and Harriet's unlikely acquaintance may be more than either woman is prepared for. The Dazzle of the Light tells a compulsive, cinematic story, fraught with envy and desire, about class, morality and the cost of being an independent woman in 1920.

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Telling a story is simple, right? You take a 'hero' and send them on a 'journey'. There's a beginning, middle and an end. But what if your story doesn't fit into that basic structure? In Beyond the Hero's Journey, BAFTA award-winning screenwriter Anthony Mullins champions one of the most powerful, yet most misunderstood, tools in a writer's toolkit - character arcs. Looking at celebrated films from around the world - including Moonlight, Lady Bird, The Social Network, The Godfather, A Fantastic Woman, Mulholland Drive, Shoplifters, Amour, Inside Llewyn Davis, Call Me By Your Name, Midsommar and The Father - he shows how character arcs not only create the 'emotional shape' of a story, but also offer writers of all levels an incredible variety of narratives that go far beyond the traditional, three-act Hero's Journey. For every writer who has ever felt frustrated by the neat confines of 'how to' guides, the book will teach you how to excel in telling more complex, original and authentic stories, and how to share your own distinctive voice with the world.

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From 1865 to 1950, the multi-faceted world of the American West, its rich, colorful characters, and its many faces - historical, mythic, and cinematic - are captured in the story of a reclusive, elderly photographer and her friend, a writer of Western comic books. Two characters dominate the novel's foreground: a Georgia O'Keeffe-like figure, photographer Susan Garth, shrewd, cantankerous, reclusive, and still self-reliant at 80, and her longtime friend Bark Blaylock, a western writer/filmmaker who may be Wyatt Earp's son. A subplot involves James Averill, a wealthy Easterner who sees his philandering as a frontiersman's quest for knowledge. As the time frame shuttles between 1950 and the late 1800s, we meet Susan's father, a gentlemanly cattle rancher who reads Thomas Hardy, and serves as a springboard to the Old West of Bat Masterson, Geronimo and Billy the Kid. The cast includes Willa Cather, Montgomery Clift, Charles Ives, Judge Roy Bean and numerous characters smuggled in from such movies as The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and McCabe and Mrs. Miller. Silver Light artfully juxtaposes the brimming frontier of legend against a construct of the West as a constricted wilderness of the soul.

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People have been gambling, in one form or another, for as long as history itself. Why? Money, entertainment, escape and a desire to win are all traditional explanations. Arguably, however, these are secondary considerations to a higher order purpose: a craving for control. Gambling offers a means of gaining authority over the unknown, granting us a sense of control over uncertainty. Almost always that sense is illusory - gambling, including betting and investing, is essentially random - yet for many it is nonetheless profoundly rewarding. This book attempts to explore the reasons why. Along the way, it examines: The science of probability and uncertainty Why gambling is often condemned The difference between expectation and utility The irrationality of human beings Evolutionary perspectives on gambling Luck and skill Market efficiency and the wisdom of crowds Why winners take all Cheating Why the process matters more than the outcome

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Few fictional characters have proven to be as enduringly popular as the legendary Count Dracula. First published in 1897, Bram Stoker's gothic masterpiece thrilled and disturbed Victorian society with its dark and compelling themes of violence, lust, cruelty and death. For many, the elegant but threatening figure of Dracula has come to epitomise the concept of the vampire. It is thought that Stoker took the name Dracula from the real-life historical figure of Vlad the Impaler, a medieval Romanian prince with a dark and sinister reputation. However, Stoker was also influenced by European literary creations such as The Vampyre, written in 1819 by John Polidori, the personal physician of Lord Byron. Polidori based his central character on the personality of the infamous poet and in doing so did much to crystalise the modern concept of the vampire as a sophisticated and sensual aristocrat. It is arguably within the medium of film, however, that the figure of Dracula has achieved its greatest fame within popular culture. In Dracula: The Origins and Influence of the Legendary Vampire Count, author Giles Morgan examines the roots of the vampire myth and the creation of Bram Stoker's masterpiece of horror.

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This no-nonsense guide to one of our most enduring mysteries presents a short history of the strangest encounters, looks carefully at explanations from the blunt to the truly bizarre, offers insights into the strongest evidence that we are being visited by beings from another world and sources the best sceptical arguments that it can all be explained rationally. Concise, balanced and - occasionally - hilarious this is a story that has as much to tell you about the human race as it does about aliens.

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Having conquered the world's taste buds and established itself as a staple in our daily lives, coffee has mirrored the moods and movements of society for centuries - yet, how much do we know about its history? In his riveting new book, A Short History of Coffee, Gordon Kerr investigates the fascinating history behind the global obsession with coffee, from its Ethiopian origins, the legends, myths, geographical locations and somewhat eccentric characters that have helped make it the staple that it is today. Proliferating in high streets, towns and cities across Europe, coffee has become increasingly popular in recent years, and has succeeded in creating new and exciting hubs of commerce, news and debate, where deals could be done and revolution could be incited. Yet, despite coffee's very modern role, its origins stretch back to the days of intrepid travellers and merchants, who told tales of this new and exotic beverage that uplifted and enlivened the drinker. Following the growth in popularity through to the 21st century explosion of coffee shop culture, A Short History of Coffee lifts the Vegware lid on both the business of coffee, as well as the pleasures that it brings its drinkers. Gordon Kerr masterfully balances an exploration of the history of this iconic beverage, whilst also delving into the frothy brew of business, politics, and money that accompanies it.

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The legendary Georges Simenon was the most successful and influential writer of crime fiction in a language other than English; André Gide called him 'the greatest French novelist of our times'. Celebrated crime fiction expert Barry Forshaw's informed and lively study draws together Simenon's extraordinary life and his work on both page and screen. By the time of Simenon's death in 1989, his French detective Maigret had become an institution, rivalled only by Sherlock Holmes. The pipe-smoking Inspector of Police is a quietly spoken observer of human nature who uses the techniques of psychology on those he encounters (both the guilty and the innocent) - with no rush to moral condemnation. Simenon's non-Maigret standalone books are among the most commanding in the genre, and, as a trenchant picture of French society, his concise novels collectively offer up a fascinating analysis. And his influence on an army of later crime writers is incalculable. Alongside his own considerable insights, Barry Forshaw has interviewed people who worked either with Simenon or on his books: publishers, editors, translators, and other specialist writers. He has created a literary prism through which to appreciate one of the most distinctive achievements in the whole of crime fiction.

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A recently-discovered, long-lost novel and short stories from the 90s featuring private eye Nick Sharman Follow Sharman as he patrols his seedily glamorous South London beat, with its cast of villains, eccentrics, misfits and losers. A magnet for trouble, even when he is on holiday in the country, he has a habit of inadvertently ending up on the wrong side of the law and at the wrong end of a shotgun. In this high-risk world, people are seldom what they seem and nothing can be taken for granted.

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Shanghai in 1935 is a 20th century Babylon, an expatriate playground where fortunes are made and lost, where East and West collide, and the stakes include life itself. Into this cultural melting pot, Rowland Sinclair arrives from Sydney to represent his brother at international wool negotiations. The black sheep of the family, Rowland is under strict instructions to commit to nothing - but a brutal murder makes that impossible. As suspicion falls on him, Rowland enters a desperate bid to find answers in a city ruled by taipans and tycoons, where politics and vice are entwined with commerce, and where the only people he can truly trust are his long-term friends, an artist, a poet and a free-spirited sculptresss.

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A recently-discovered, long-lost novel and short stories from the 90s featuring private eye Nick Sharman Follow Sharman as he patrols his seedily glamorous South London beat, with its cast of villains, eccentrics, misfits and losers. A magnet for trouble, even when he is on holiday in the country, he has a habit of inadvertently ending up on the wrong side of the law and at the wrong end of a shotgun. In this high-risk world, people are seldom what they seem and nothing can be taken for granted.

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When Rowland Sinclair is invited to take his yellow Mercedes onto the Marouba Speedway, popularly known as the Killer Track, he agrees without caution or reserve. But then people start to die... The body of a journalist covering the race is found in a House of Horrors, an English blueblood with Blackshirt affiliations is killed on the race track... and it seems that someone has Rowland in their sights... With danger presenting at every turn, and the brakes long since disengaged, Rowland Sinclair hurtles towards disaster with an artist, a poet and brazen sculptress along for the ride.

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After narrowly escaping the terror of Nazi Germany, Rowland Sinclair and his companions land in London, believing they are safe ... but they are wrong. A bizzare murder plunges the hapless Australian into a queer world of British aristocracy, fascist Blackshirts, illicit love, scandal and spies. A world where gentlemen are not always what they are dressed up to be ...

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Crowdfunding is a major source of funding for independent films and over $250 million has been raised for films just on Kickstarter alone. This book will guide you through every stage of planning, creating and running your film crowdfunding campaign. This book is based on extensive data research and interviews which include: Data research on over 50,000 film crowdfunding campaigns Interviews with over 50 filmmakers who have run crowdfunding campaigns Interviews with some of the top people at major crowdfunding platforms and services

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The enormously puzzling TV series The Prisoner has developed a rapt cult following, and has often been described as 'surreal' or 'Kafkaesque.' Alex Cox watched all the episodes of The Prisoner on their first broadcast, at the ripe old age of thirteen. In I Am (Not) a Number, Cox believes he provides the answers to all the questions which have engrossed and confounded viewers including: Who is Number 6? Who runs The Village? Who - or what - is Number 1? According to Cox, the key to understanding The Prisoner is to view the series in the order in which the episodes were made - and not in the re-arranged order of the UK or US television screenings. In this book he provides an innovative and controversial 'explanation' for what is perhaps the best, the most original, and certainly the most perplexing, TV series of all time.

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We're living in a time of unprecedented diversity in produced media content, with more characters appearing who are Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME), Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT), disabled, or from other religions or classes. What's more, these characters are appearing more and more in genre pieces, accessible to the mainstream, instead of being hidden away in so-called 'worthier' pieces, as in the past. How to Write Diverse Characters discusses issues of all identities with specific reference to characterisation, not only in movies and TV, but also novel writing. It explores: How character role function really works What is the difference between stereotype and archetype? Why 'trope' does not mean what Twitter and Tumblr think it means How the burden of casting affects both box office and audience perception Why diversity is not about agendas, buzzwords or being 'politically correct' What authenticity truly means and why research is so important Why variety is key in ensuring true diversity in characterisation Writers have to catch up. Knowing not only what makes a 'good' diverse character doesn't always cut it; they need to know what publishers, producers and filmmakers and other creatives are looking for - and why. This book gives writers the tools to create three dimensional, authentic characters... Who just happen to be diverse.

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Charles and Kate are summoned to Scotland on a mysterious errand for the Crown. Upon their arrival, they discover they will be staying at Glamis Castle, the most historic castle in Scotland, a place haunted by shadows and dark secrets. They learn that Prince Eddy, who had been heir to the throne until his supposed death in 1892, is still alive, ten years later. Only now the prince has gone missing - on the very morning that the body of one of his servants was found, her throat slashed. Now, Charles and his clever Kate must find Eddy and clear him from suspicion of murder, while keeping his true identity a secret.

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Lord and Lady Sheridan (Charles is now Baron of Somersworth) have taken a house for a few quiet weeks in the late summer of 1897, in the sea-coast village of Rottingdean. Long known as Smugglers' Village, the hamlet sits on a labyrinth of ancient tunnels. When the body of a coast guard is pulled out of the Channel, Kate and Charles suspect that the town is still plying the illicit trades of its past. With the help of Rudyard Kipling (who is just beginning his novel Kim), they discover that something is rotten in Rottingdean...

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Kathryn Ardleigh is becoming accustomed to the high-society circles of her husband, Lord Charles Sheridan. She has found a kindred spirit in Jennie Jerome Churchill, an American who married the second son of the Duke of Marlborough. But Jennie faces a serious scandal that threatens the political future of her 23-year-old son Winston. She is being blackmailed by someone who claims to have proof that Winston's father was the notorious Jack the Ripper...

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In Death at Bishop's Keep, Kathryn Ardleigh captured the interest of amateur detective Sir Charles Sheridan as they solved their first case together. Now the death of a local constable and the disappearance of a child have Kate and Charles once again on the trail of deadly greed and criminal mischief. They team up with the shy, uncertain (but tactful and deeply perceptive) Miss Beatrix Potter to discover who killed the constable in Mr McGregor's garden and kidnapped the constable's daughter. Helping with this urgent task or blundering clumsily into the way are Miss Potter's animal companions, Mrs Tiggywinkle and Jemima Puddleduck, as well as the beastly Mr Tod and Mr Brock.

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The first title in The Victorian Mysteries series, sure to delight fans of Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie Kathryn Ardleigh is everything the Victorian English gentlewoman is not: outspoken, free-thinking, Irish-American, and a writer of penny-dreadfuls, sensational tales of adventure, romance, and crime-and-detection. When she takes possession of Bishop's Keep, the Ardleigh estate in Essex England that she has inherited, she shocks the household and captures the attention of amateur detective Sir Charles Sheridan. Sir Charles is interested in the developing forensic sciences: toxicology, ballistics, fingerprints, X-ray, and crime scene photography. Soon there is something to interest both Kate and Sir Charles: a recently-dead body just uncovered at a nearby archaeological dig. The investigation provides the perfect research background for Kate's next novel. But the inquisitive writer may be digging too deep-especially when the trail leads her into a secret occult society known as the Order of the Golden Dawn.

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East End landlady Mrs Drabdump is alarmed when she cannot rouse her lodger Arthur Constant. She summons the assistance of her neighbour, retired Scotland Yard detective George Grodman. He breaks down the door to Constant's room, only to find the man lying dead on his bed, with a deep cut to his throat. No-one, it seems, could have got in or out of the locked room and there is no sign of the murder weapon. Who was the killer and how will he be identified? A man is condemned to death for the seemingly impossible crime but Grodman is unconvinced that he is guilty. With its sardonic style and vivid, Dickensian characters, Zangwill's short novel remains a cleverly plotted and ingenious murder mystery which will still appeal to readers today.

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The First in the Mr & Mrs Darcy Mystery Series When Caroline Bingley marries a rich, charismatic American, her future should be secure. But strange incidents soon follow: nocturnal wanderings, spooked horses, carriage accidents, an apparent suicide attempt. Soon the whole Bingley family seems to be the target of a sinister plot, with only their friends the Darcys recognizing the danger. A jilted lover, an estranged business partner, a financially desperate in-law, an eccentric supernaturalist - who is behind these events? Perhaps it is Caroline herself, who appears to be slowly sinking into madness... Pride and Prescience is the first novel in a series of romantic mysteries featuring Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice as reluctant sleuths who become embroiled in intrigues surrounding their friends and family. The newlywed Darcys' courtship hasn't ended, and their adventures have just begun...

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Every award-winning short film begins life with a clever idea, a good story and a screenplay. Patrick Nash analyses the process of writing short film screenplays and gives advice on: Story and structure Ideas generation Plot and pace Screenplay format Dos and don'ts Eliciting emotion Dialogue and subtext Character design Protagonists and antagonists Character motivation and goals Conflict, obstacles and stakes Clichés and Stereotypes Beginnings, middles and ends Hooking the viewer Screenplay competitions Loglines, outlines and synopses Rewriting and length Practicalities and budgets The book also includes a number of award-winning scripts and interviews, advice and contributions from their award-winning screenwriters and a discussion of the benefits to writers of writing short screenplays.

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Jersey fishing captain, Jean Cotterell is rescued by a French frigate - The Hortense - off the Grand Banks of Nova Scotia in May 1794. His fishing vessel has foundered and he is the sole survivor. The Hortense is part of Republican Admiral Jan Van Stabel's great fleet of over 100 ships bringing corn to France. Lord Howe's Channel Fleet is off Brest, hoping to intercept them. Life on The Hortense is like France under the Terror; chaotic, ungovernable, obsessed with savage, radical political theories. Separated from the French fleet in the Western Approaches she is intercepted by two British frigates and battle is joined... The Antigallican is the first in a series of novels set at the end of the 18th century at sea, in Britain, in the Channel Islands and in Revolutionary France. In Jean Cotterell we find a character that bears comparison with Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe, in a narrative that will delight fans of Patrick O'Brian.

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The world of Freemasonry exerts a powerful influence on the modern imagination. In an age when perceived notions of history are being increasingly questioned and re-examined it is perhaps inevitable that secretive societies such as the Freemasons find themselves at the centre of considerable speculation and conjecture. To some they represent a powerful and shadowy elite who have manipulated world history throughout the ages, whilst to others they are an altogether more mundane and benign fraternal organisation. Giles Morgan begins by exploring the obscure and uncertain origins of Freemasonry. It has been variously argued that it derives from the practices of medieval stonemasons, that it dates to events surrounding the construction of the Temple of Solomon and that it is connected to ancient Mystery Cults. One of the major and often disputed claims made for Freemasonry is that it is directly attributable to the Knights Templar, generating a wealth of best-selling publications such as 'The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail' and more recently Dan Brown's 'The Da Vinci Code', linking Freemasonry to a supposed secret order known as the Priory of Sion who are the guardians of the true nature of the Holy Grail. Freemasonry today is a worldwide phenomenon that accepts membership from a diverse ethnic and religious range of backgrounds. Entry to Freemasonry requires a belief in a Supreme Being although it insists it does not constitute a religion in itself. The rituals and practices of Freemasonry have been viewed as variously obscure, pointless, baffling, sinister and frightening. An intensely stratified and hierarchical structure underpins most Masonic orders whose activities are focussed within meeting points usually termed as Lodges. Giles Morgan examines its historical significance (George Washington and Benjamin Franklin were both Masons) and its position and role in contemporary society.

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Robin Hood is England's greatest folk hero. Everyone knows the story of the outlaw who robbed from the rich and gave to the poor. Nick Rennison's highly entertaining book begins with the search for the historical Robin. Was there ever a real Robin Hood? Rennison looks at the candidates who have been proposed over the years, from petty thieves to Knights Templar, before moving on to examine the many ways in which Robin Hood has been portrayed in literature and on the screen. He began as the hero of dozens of late medieval ballads. He appeared in plays by contemporaries of Shakespeare. In the Romantic era Robin was reinvented by Walter Scott as a Saxon champion in the struggle against the Normans. During the nineteenth century, he emerged as a hero in children's literature. More recently he has been portrayed as everything from proto-socialist man of the people to anarchist thug. In the cinema he put in an appearance as early as 1908 and Douglas Fairbanks and then Errol Flynn turned him into the typical hero of Hollywood swashbucklers. In the last twenty years, Kevin Costner and Russell Crowe have provided their own very different interpretations of the character. On the small screen, Robin has been the hero of half-a-dozen TV shows from the 1950s series starring Richard Greene, which used many writers blacklisted by Hollywood, via the well-remembered Robin of Sherwood in the 1980s to the recent BBC series. As the twenty-first century nears the end of its second decade, Robin Hood is still very much with us. He is the subject of graphic novels and computer games and films, including the new Lionsgate release in November 2018.

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From popular fiction such as The Hobbit and Game of Thrones to the universality of the English language, the continuing influence of the Anglo-Saxons can be found throughout the world. But who were the Anglo-Saxons and where did they come from? A Short History of the Anglo-Saxons traces the fascinating 600 year history of the Anglo-Saxons, starting from the early European migrants in 410 A.D. and stretching through until the dramatic end at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. As well as their many victories, the Anglo-Saxons faced numerous attacks on the prosperity and the successes of its people, facing off challenges from the Danish and the Vikings, before meeting defeat at the hand of William the Conqueror. Remnants of these people can still be seen in modern day with hoards of Anglo-Saxon gold and silverwork being discovered throughout the country and popular fiction taking inspiration from this thrilling era. A Short History of the Anglo-Saxons provides an indispensable introduction to everything you need to know about the Anglo-Saxon period.

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The Triumphs of Eugene Valmont (1906) is a collection of lively, enjoyable stories about a French detective resident in London. Whether dealing with a gang of anarchists in 'The Siamese Twin of a Bomb-Thrower' or flirting with the supernatural in 'The Ghost with the Club-Foot', the resourceful M. Valmont rarely loses his sang-froid and self-confidence. He may not always catch the criminal but his sense of style and Poirot-like conceit remain intact.

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Reputedly the best poker playewr in the world when at his height, Amarillo Slim reveals here that to win consistently requires not only a mind that can count cards, read hands and evaluate the complex laws of probability, but also an ability to analyse every aspect of human nature. In this book 'Slim' reveals valuable poker playing secrets and recouns some of the great hands and great games that he has played. In the process he explains the strategies and tactics of the poker game and passes on invaluable advice about judging your opponents correctly. Read this book and you will improve your poker. You'll learn how to bet, when to bluff, when to drop, and when to pick up your chips and head for home.

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From the vengeful ghosts of J-horror to the walking dead in 28 Days Later and World War Z, from the creepiness of Spain's haunted houses to the graphic gore of the New French Extremism, horror is everywhere in the twenty-first century. This lively and illuminating book explores over 100 contemporary horror films, providing insightful and provocative readings of what they mean while including numerous quotes from their creators. Some of these films, including The Babadook, The Green Inferno, It Follows, The Neon Demon, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and The Witch are so recent that this will be one of the first times they are discussed in book form. The book is divided into three main sections: 'nightmares', 'nations' and 'innovations'. 'Nightmares' looks at new manifestations of traditional fears, including creepy dolls, haunted houses and demonic possession as well as vampires, werewolves, witches and zombies; and also considers more contemporary anxieties such as dread of home invasion and homophobia. 'Nations' explores fright films from around the world, including Australia, Canada, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, India, Japan, Norway, Russia, Serbia, Spain and Sweden as well as the UK and the US. 'Innovations' focuses on the latest trends in terror from 3D to found-footage films, from Twilight teen romance to torture porn, and from body horror and eco-horror to techno-horror. Parodies, remakes and American adaptations of Asian horror are also discussed.

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How do we know if we can beat the bookmaker? That's easy: just look at our bank balance. But how do we know if we've not just been lucky? More specifically, how do we know that someone who says he can do it, and who is selling his 'expertise', can keep doing it again and again, through talent, skill and hard work? This book examines the techniques available to answer that question, to identify those qualities and to help the punter find value for money in an industry that appears to be largely built on trust and the influence of chance; to uncover the truth about sports tipsters and ultimately how to find the best tipsters - the 'Black Cats'.

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Few people manage to make money from gambling; fewer still make a living from it. Written for hardened and novice sports bettors alike, Joseph Buchdahl's Fixed Odds Sports Betting examines, through various numerical techniques, how fixed odds punters may learn to beat the bookmaker, protect profits through a sensible approach to risk management, and turn high-risk gambling into a form of low-risk investment. Fixed Odds Sports Betting investigates: Markets in fixed odds sports betting The bookmaker's overround Value betting Ratings systems for sports prediction Profitability and risk Singles versus accumulators Staking plans and money management The favourite-longshot bias Sports advisory services Betting records and their significance testing

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Aimed at screenwriters, producers, development executives and educators interested in the crime genre, this book provides an invaluable basis for crafting a film story that considers both audience and market expectations without compromising originality. A brief historical overview of the crime genre is presented for context along with an analysis of various crime sub-genres and their key conventions, including: police, detective, film noir, gangster, heist, prison and serial killer. Karen Lee Street focuses on the creative use of these conventions and offers strategies for focusing theme and improving characterisation, story design, structure and dialogue. Paradigms, story patterns and writing exercises are provided to assist the script development process and strategies for revision are discussed along with key questions to consider before approaching creative or financial partners.

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The President and the Provocateur explores the parallel lives of John F. Kennedy, born into wealth and celebrity, destined for glory and a violent death, and of Lee Harvey Oswald, born into poverty and obscurity, murdered in police custody and convicted - without a lawyer or a trial - of the killing of JFK. 50 years after both men were murdered, Alex Cox provides a chronological account of their lives' strange intersections, their shared interests, and the increasing body of evidence which suggests that Lee Harvey Oswald was working for some branch of the government - most likely the FBI or IRS - as an infiltrator of subversive groups, and agent provocateur. The President and the Provocateur draws on five decades of accumulated evidence that Oswald was an intelligence agent and agent provocateur. Far from being an active Communist, Oswald was mainly interested in infiltrating right-wing groups (including the White Russian community of Fort Worth, the National States Rights Party, the Minutemen, and the Cuban Alpha 66 terrorist organization in Dallas and New Orleans). From this perspective his alleged purchasing of guns by mail may be the actions of someone attempting to build a case against right-wing gun-runners and their suppliers - something the IRS and Senator Christopher Dodd's Subcommittee were also doing, at exactly the same time. The possibility that Oswald was sent as a spy to Russia has been raised before, but this is the first book to detail Oswald's continued pattern of intelligence-gathering and infiltration of political groups on his return to the USA.

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Script Readers play a crucial role in the film industry, often responsible for determining whether a script is even looked at by a producer or development executive; yet those accountable for reading can be on the first rung of the industry ladder and have had little or no training for the task. This user-friendly 'how-to' guide written by one of the UK's leading script analysis specialists, lays bare the process of analysing film scripts. This is invaluable to anyone looking to work as a script reader, anyone who wants to work in development with writers, and for screenwriters themselves who are seeking guidance on how the industry might respond to their work. An essential reference tool, the book includes information on: How to write a brilliant script report Storytelling and screen genres Treatments and other short documents Writing clear and detailed analysis of the craft of storytelling for film Best practice in reading and reporting on scripts It also includes a full Resource Section listing useful print and online publications, organisations and associations.

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Gnosticism - derived from the Greek word gnosis, to know - is the name given to various religious schools that proliferated in the first centuries after Christ and, at one time, it almost became the dominant form of Christianity. Yet some Gnostic beliefs derive from the older Mystery traditions of Greece and Rome, and the various Gnostic schools came to be branded as heretical by the emerging Christian church. Indeed, although some Gnostic beliefs are close to mainstream Christianity Gnosticism also held that the world is imperfect as it was created by an evil god who was constantly at war with the true, good God; that Christ and Satan were brothers; that reincarnation exists; and that women were the equal of men As a result, the Gnostics held the Feminine Aspect of God - whom they addressed as Sophia, or Wisdom - in very high regard. They also stressed that we each have a spark of the Divine inside us which, when recognised and developed, will ultimately liberate us from the prison of the material world. Although largely stamped out by the Church by the sixth century, Gnosticism survived underground through groups such as the Bogomils and the Cathars, and influenced the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, the psychologist Carl Jung, the Existentialists, the New Age movement and writers as diverse as William Blake, W.B. Yeats, Albert Camus and Philip K. Dick. In this book, Sean Martin recounts the long and diverse history of Gnosticism, and argues for its continued relevance today.

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Who is Holmes? The world's most famous detective? A drug addict with a heart as cold as ice? A millstone around the neck of his creator? He's all of these things and much, much more. Sherlock Holmes was the brainchild of Portsmouth GP Arthur Conan Doyle. A writer of historical romantic fiction, Doyle became unhappy that the detective's enormous success eclipsed his more serious offerings. But after attempting to wipe him out at the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland, Doyle was faced with a vociferous backlash from the general public and eventually he had no choice but to bring his sleuth back from the grave to face more puzzling mysteries. While not strictly speaking 'canonical', Holmes' deerstalker, curved pipe and cries of 'Elementary, my dear Watson!' have been immortalised in countless stage, film, television and radio productions. An iconic fictional creation, inseparable from his partner-in-crime Dr John Watson, Sherlock Holmes has charmed and fascinated millions of people around the world since his first appearance over a century ago. He is one of English literature's finest creations.

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The publication of The Origin of Species in 1859 was the culmination of more than twenty years of work by Charles Darwin and the ideas he presented in it would lead to a fundamental change in the way we think about life on earth. Evolution, as it came to be known, described how the extraordinary variety of life could develop and adapt by natural means rather than being entirely the creation of a supreme being. It was controversial at the time and now, as the bicentenary of Darwin's birth approaches in 2009, it remains the subject of bitter argument, with the opposing sides of the debate, the supporters of Darwinian evolution like Richard Dawkins and the proponents of intelligent design, as polarised as they have ever been. The theory, as revolutionary as it was, did not come out of thin air, but developed within the context of the scientific and philosophical thinking of the period. In order to arrive at a better understanding of the current debate, this book looks at key moments in Darwin's life and at the relevant aspects of the intellectual climate of the time which, taken together, would lead him towards the theory. It goes on to consider how evolution has developed, how its opponents have responded and how the arguments between scientific rationalism and religious faith are much the same now as they were in Darwin's day.

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A witty and indispensable guide to assist readers on their path to true love. With sections on: Men Seeking Women, Women Seeking Men, Men Seeking Men, Women Seeking Women - and then there's the Casual Encounters. Includes everything anyone needs to know about blogging, snogging, dogging; the 10 golden rules of dating etiquette; handy tips on composing the perfect Lonelyheart.

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Two sisters. One fire. A secret that won't burn out. The Grayson sisters are trouble. Everyone in their small town knows it. But no-one can know of the secret that binds them together. Hattie is the light. Penny is the darkness. Together, they have balance. But one night the balance is toppled. A match is struck. A fire is started. A cruel husband is killed. The potential for a new life flickers in the fire's embers, but resentment, guilt, and jealousy suffocate like smoke. Their lives have been engulfed in flames - will they ever be able to put them out?

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