Search results for ""Oldcastle Books""

The South has long since cast its spell on our collective imagination. Writers and artists, from Goethe and Poe, to Gauguin, Lawrence and Kerouac, were captivated by it. Landscapes of ice and snow, sand and sea, have lured explorers southwards for centuries, often with fatal consequences. South explores the idea of the South, following in the footsteps of Cook, Scott, John Muir and others as they recount their journeys. From Europe in the seventeenth-century to the American Deep South in the nineteenth; from Borges'' Buenos Aires to the streets of South London today.

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Provides a basic introduction for all individuals and groups wishing to undertake the production of a play. It is aimed at the amateur enthusiast and anyone intending to pursue their interest further and undertake professional training. The author, who has over 30 years of experience in drama, takes the reader through the production of a play step by step, from setting up a drama group to the first night and entire run. The book can be read straight through or consulted as a handy reference work.

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Barry Forshaw is acknowledged as a leading expert on crime fiction from European countries, but his principal area of expertise is in the British crime arena. After the success of earlier entries in the series, Nordic Noir and Euro Noir, he returns to the UK to produce the perfect reader's guide to modern British crime fiction. Every major living British writer is considered, often through a concentration on one or two key books, and exciting new talents are highlighted for the reader. Forshaw's personal acquaintance with writers, editors and publishers is unparalleled, so Brit Noir features interviews with (and quotations from) the writers, editors and publishers themselves.

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Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou.... Oh wait, he's hanging around in the garden again. Will young Romeo and his Juliet ever be able to express their raging hormones? Or will their feuding families make this romance blossom into a poisoned flower? Either way, both their houses are totally plagued!

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Before It Went Rotten takes a trip back to the world before punk. When Anarchy in the UK appeared, London enjoyed one of the most vibrant music scenes in the world. A network of mainly Irish owned pubs and clubs provided music every night, much of it free of charge, whilst working as a testing ground for up and coming talent. This book traces the evolution of what was quickly labelled 'pub-rock': from rock and roll revival acts via late blues bands, country rock, funk, soul and art school bands to the sound that eventually burst on the scene as punk rock in 1976. Specific chapters cover the career of Brinsley Schwarz, the Southend bands and the step by step rise of the Sex Pistols. Among those interviewed are former members of Fumble, Darts, the John Dummer Blues Band, Blue Goose, Legend, Eddie and the Hot Rods, Brinsley Schwarz, Bees Make Honey, Ducks de Luxe, Kokomo, Roogalator, Burlesque, Kilburn and the High Roads, GT Moore and the Reggae Guitars, Clancy, the Fabulous Poodles, the Sex Pistols and Meal Ticket. With acts like Dire Straits, Elvis Costello, Ian Dury and Graham Parker all emerging from this terrain, the reader is asked to consider, what, if anything, would have been different if McLaren's band had never been around. Extensively researched, and drawing on contemporaneous reviews and articles from the music press of the time, Before It Went Rotten bids fair to be the definitive study of an overlooked era.

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It's Derby day at Epsom downs, and the Sheridans are on the scene - Charles to take photographs, Kate to gather information for her latest novel. But the race becomes life-and-death when one of the jockeys doesn't make it to the finish line... Meanwhile, Kate puzzles over the long-ago theft of an actress's jewels. But soon the Sheridans can't help wondering if the two strange events are, somehow, connected.

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Situated at the crossroads of three continents, the Middle East has confounded the ambition of conquerors and peacemakers alike. Christianity, Judaism and Islam all had their genesis in the region but with them came not just civilisation and religion but also some of the great struggles of history. A Short History of the Middle East makes sense of the shifting sands of Middle Eastern History, beginning with the early cultures of the area and moving on to the Roman and Persian Empires; the growth of Christianity; the rise of Islam; the invasions from the east; Genghis Khan's Mongol hordes; the Ottoman Turks and the rise of radicalism in the modern world symbolised by Islamic State.

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The single biggest and most difficult question that exists? From early religions through Greek Philosophy and Western Science, man has attempted to discover the meaning of the Universe and our place within it. In the last twenty year these debates have all been stood on their head by amazing discoveries, big bang theory and ideas about new sub-atomic layers. The nature of Time and Space are truly up for grabs. With a witty and accessible style Osborne leads us on a historical and informative adventure through the philosophies of the universe; including the importance of telescopes, mathematics and relativity theory and ending with contemporary mind-expanding concepts such as the reversibility of time and parallel universes.

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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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The last time Maeve saw her cousin was the night she escaped the cult they were raised in. For the past two decades, Maeve has worked hard to build a normal life in New York City, where she keeps everything - and everyone - at a safe distance. When her cousin Andrea suddenly reappears, Maeve regains the only true friend she's ever had. Soon she's spending more time at Andrea's remote Catskills estate than in her own cramped apartment. Maeve doesn't even mind that her cousin's wealthy work friends clearly disapprove of her single lifestyle. After all, Andrea has made her fortune in the fertility industry - baby fever comes with the territory. What worries Maeve is that the more she immerses herself in Andrea's world, the more her long-buried memories flood to the surface. But confronting the terrors of her childhood may be the only way for Maeve to transcend the nightmare still to come...

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Mallika is a painfully shy young woman growing up in the heart of a lively, 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 the 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.

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Ava Simon designs storage boxes for STÄDA, a slick Brooklyn-based furniture company. She's hard-working, obsessive and heartbroken from a tragedy that killed her girlfriend and upended her life. It's been years since she's let anyone in. But when Ava's new boss - the young and magnetic Mat Putnam - offers Ava a ride home one afternoon, an unlikely relationship blossoms. Ava remembers how rewarding it canbe to open up - and, despite her hesitancy, she starts to fall for him. But what if Mat isn't who he claims to be? The Very Nice Box is a darkly comic and suspenseful novel that will keep you on the edge of your seat until its gripping finale. It's at once a satire of toxic masculinity and a big-hearted account of grief, friendship and trust.

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** SELECTED AS ONE OF COSMOPOLITAN'S HOTTEST NEW BEACH READS FOR SUMMER 2022 ** It's a fine line between admiration and envy. Diana Martin has lived her life in the shadow of her sadistic older brother. She quietly watches the family next door, enthralled by celebrity fashion designer Marianne Taylor and her feted daughter, Aurelle. She wishes she were a 'Taylor girl'. By the summer of 1995, the two girls are at university together, bonded by a mutual desire to escape their wealthy families and personal tragedies and forge new identities. They are closer than lovers, intoxicated by their own bond, falling into the hedonistic seduction of the woods and the water at a remote university that is more summer camp than campus. But when burgeoning artist Diana has a chance at fame, cracks start to appear in their friendship. To what lengths is Diana willing to go to secure her own stardom?

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SHORTLISTED FOR THE CWA DEBUT DAGGER 2018 FOR UNPUBLISHED FIRST NOVEL She hasn't seen her brother in years. Now, he's dead. When Judi Westerholme finds out her estranged brother has been murdered, she assumes it's connected to his long term drug addiction. Returning home, she is shocked to discover he had been clean for years, had a wife - now missing - a child and led a respectable life. But if he had turned his life around, why was he killed in a drug deal shooting? And where is his wife? Desperate to know what really happened, Judi sets out to uncover the truth, even though it means confronting her own traumatic past. But she's not the only one looking for answers... She turned her back on her brother before. Should she trust him now? With a gutsy, unapologetic protagonist, Trust Me, I'm Dead is a gritty and bold crime thriller that explores the sacrifices people will make for their families.

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The animations of Japan's Studio Ghibli are among the most respected in the movie industry. Their films rank alongside the most popular non-English language films ever made, with each new release a guaranteed box office hit. Yet this highly profitable studio has remained fiercely independent, producing a stream of imaginative and individual animations. The studio's founders, Hayao Miyazaki and the late Isao Takahata, have created timeless masterpieces. Their films are distinctly Japanese but the themes are universal: humanity, community and a love for the environment. Studio Ghibli outlines the history of the studio and explores the early output of its founders. It examines all the studio's major works including Laputa: Castle in the Sky, Grave of the Fireflies, My Neighbour Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Only Yesterday, Porco Rosso, Pom Poko, Whisper of the Heart, Princess Mononoke and Howl's Moving Castle, as well as the Oscar-winning Spirited Away. Also included are the more recent animations: Hayao Miyazaki's Oscar-nominated masterpiece The Wind Rises, Isao Takahata's The Tale of Princess Kaguya, Gor? Miyazaki's Earwig and the Witch and Hayao Miyazaki's latest box office success, The Boy and the Heron.

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The social revolution of the Swinging Sixties led to a renaissance of unchecked hair growth, and long hair, especially on men, was worn as a political or countercultural symbol of protest and as an expression of masculinity. No-one who was affected by one of a turbulent decade''s loudest controversies - or anyone who ever wondered what all the fuss was about - will fail to be interested in this personal account of when the ''us and them'' divide between youth and elders was most profound.

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Rural West Cork, Ireland. Two Kids, Joseph and Paul, and their struggling, poet father, Fraser, are battling grief and poverty. When a letter arrives with a summons to Dublin and the promise of publication, it offers a chink of light - the hope of rescue. But Dublin is a long, wet and hungry way from West Cork in the mid-70s, especially when they have no money - just the clothes they stand up in and an old, battered suitcase. So begins an almost anti-roadtrip of flipsides and contradictions - dreams and nightmares, promises and disappointments, generosity and meanness, unconditional love and shocking neglect. In simple, beautiful, lyrical prose, James Yorkston's new novel takes us on that trip, as seen through the eyes of a brave and resourceful but poor and frightened child. It tells of the emptying, paralysing pain of grief and loss, tempered only by the hope of rescue and the redemption of parental love. It also tells of Fraser's love for his children's dead mother, as hidden within the battered suitcase is Fraser's heart-breaking collection of poems - The Book of the Gaels.

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Almost everyone is familiar with Monte Carlo's association with gambling, and its famous Casino. Many may also have come across the Monte Carlo fallacy, so-called after the Casino's roulette wheel ball fell on black 26th times in a row, costing players, who believed that the law of averages made such streaks impossible, millions of dollars. However, the Casino also lends its name to a tool of statistical forecasting, the Monte Carlo simulation, used to model the probability of uncertain outcomes that cannot be easily predicted from mathematical equations. This book provides a detailed account for how aspiring sports bettors can use a Monte Carlo simulation to improve the quality, and hopefully profitability, of their betting, and in doing so unravels the mystery of probability and variance that lies at the heart of all gambling.

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Capital punishment for murder was suspended in Great Britain in 1965, an Act finally made permanent in 1969, but remained as the punishment for treason until as recently as 1998, demonstrating how seriously we take the crime of betraying your country. But even with the threat of the noose hanging over them, many still chose the path of treachery during the cataclysmic events of last century. British Traitors examines the lives and motivations of a number of the perpetrators of this most heinous of crimes, following the footsteps of Fascist traitors such as William Joyce (Lord Haw-Haw) and John Amery to the gallows, investigating what drove men such as Wilfred Macartney and John Herbert King to betray their country during the war to end all wars and delving into the mysterious web of espionage and subterfuge surrounding the Cambridge Spy Ring that spied for the Soviet Union from the nineteen-thirties until the early nineteen-fifties. People commit treason for many reasons - some seek adventure, some seek reward, some are motivated by political philosophy, while others are sucked into it by their own foolishness. British Traitors provides a fascinating look at the lives and impulses of those who chose to betray their country.

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'This debt was not contracted as the price of bread or wine or arms. It was the price of liberty' - Alexander Hamilton Kiah Harmon, a young Virginia lawyer, is just emerging from the most traumatic time of her life when actress Sam van Eyck walks into her office, unannounced, with the case of a lifetime. She asks Kiah to recover a 200-year-old debt from the US Government - a debt that goes right back to the time of Alexander Hamilton. The selfless generosity of Sam's ancestor, Jacob van Eyck, in making a massive loan of gold and supplies at Valley Forge, during the freezing winter of 1777-1778, may well have saved George Washington's army, and the War of Independence, from disaster. But it reduced Jacob to ruin. Despite the government's promises, the debt was never repaid, and this hero of the American Revolution died in poverty, unknown and unrecognised. Two hundred years later, Sam and Kiah embark on a quest to change that. But first, they will have to find the evidence, and overcome a stubborn Government determined to frustrate their every move. Will Sam and Kiah succeed in finally getting Jacob the statue he deserves?

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Wealthy Bohemian artist Rowland Sinclair and his lively companions are sailing homewards to Australia on the RMS Aquitania. The ship embodies luxury and civilised respite from the tensions of the Depression-era; until the murders start... A passenger manifest containing suffragettes, men of God and mystics ought to provide stimulation and safety; instead, a cocktail of flawed people results in danger, death and a cloud of suspicion which envelops Rowland and his entourage - a poet, a fellow painter and a brazen sculptress. Finding himself unwittingly at the centre of a murder investigation, can Rowland put a stop to the heinous crimes before he and his friends become victims themselves? Sulari Gentill expertly weaves real events and personalities into her tension-fuelled murder mysteries which are sure to enthral lovers of deep intrigue and history.

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'You hold in your hand a miracle. A book about a passion, and the hipsters, oddballs and old heads who share it, written by one of their number, albeit a ludicrously erudite one' - Danny Kelly A revival of interest in vinyl music has taken place in recent years - but for many of those from the 'baby boomer' generation, it never went away. Graham Sharpe's vinyl love affair began in the 1960s and since then he has amassed over 3000 LPs and spent countless hours visiting record shops worldwide along with record fairs, car boot sales, online and real life auctions. After leaving his job at William Hill, his retirement dream was to visit every surviving secondhand record shop across the world. Whilst Graham still has a little way to go on his travels, Vinyl Countdown follows his journey to over a hundred shops across the globe including the many characters he has encountered and the adventures he accrued along the way. From Amsterdam and Angus (Scotland), to Bedfordshire and Budapest and Tennessee and Wellington (NZ), always returning to his local record shop Second Scene in Bushey to report on progress. Vinyl Countdown seeks to reawaken the often dormant desire which first promoted the gathering of records, and to confirm the belief of those who still indulge in it, that they happily belong to, and should celebrate the undervalued, misunderstood significant group of music-obsessed vinylholics, who always want - need - to buy... just one more record. Vinyl Countdown is a mesmerising blend of memoir, travel, music and social history that will appeal to anyone who vividly recalls the first LP they bought and any music fan who derives pleasure from the capacity that records have for transporting you back in time.

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Witchcraft has recently been undergoing a huge popular revival, but does modern pagan witchcraft really bear any resemblance to its historical antecedents? The witch in history was a very different creature from her modern counterpart, and this book sets out to explore the historical background to the European witchcraft phenomenon. It examines in detail the growth of the ideological, cultural and legal concepts that eventually led to the carnage of the Witch Craze in the 16th and 17th centuries, which, it is estimated, may have claimed the lives of around 40,000 people. For both Medieval and Reformation scholars alike the Devil and all his works were a very real threat. Their conviction that witches were the servants of Satan led to the formation of perhaps one of the greatest conspiracy theories of all time: a belief that witches were working in league with the Devil in a diabolical plot against all Christendom. Witches were transformed from poor deluded old women who rode out at night with the pagan goddess Diana into devil-worshipping heretics who became the focus of a centuries-long, Europe-wide campaign determined to seek out and destroy this evil wherever it was to be found, regardless of whether any of its victims were actually guilty or not.

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'A sentence to Dartmoor Prison is a sentence to a living hell...' Lord Charles Sheridan and his American wife, Kate, have heard some truly awful things about Britain's most notorious prison. But Dartmoor and its mist-shrouded environs hold special appeal for both Sheridans. Kate hopes to find inspiration for her new Gothic novel, while Charles plans to implement a fingerprinting program at the prison - and arrange a meeting with one of its most infamous inmates, Samuel Spencer. He's convinced that Spencer - a Scotsman who admitted to killing his wife - is, in fact, innocent. What's more, he believes he has the evidence to prove it. But Spencer continues to maintain his own guilt - and, as if to confirm it, he soon stages a daring prison escape. Lord Charles and his acquaintance Arthur Conan Doyle are most perplexed by this odd turn of events. And when a body turns up on the moor, it's up to the two men - and the clever Kate - to discover if the missing convict is connected to this murderous new case...

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A second book in the ROCLIFFE NOTES series, formed from the questions of newer filmmakers. This is a practical compendium for screenwriters and filmmakers in the form of notes and opinions. These provide a step-by-step, common-sense guide, with suggestions on how filmmakers package a film. The book covers everything you need to know to get a low-budget film made, from understanding budgeting and different types of finance, to casting, crewing, scheduling, production and festival strategy. This book explains how to turn your script into a film. It offers a unique insight by providing insider confidences, from established industry players to peers, on how you don't need permission to make films. A revelation for all would-be filmmakers, this is a guide to the nuts and bolts of making a film.

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The Black Death is the name most commonly given to the pandemic of bubonic plague that ravaged the medieval world in the late 1340s. From Central Asia the plague swept through Europe, leaving millions of dead in its wake. Between a quarter and a third of Europe's population died. In England the population fell from nearly six million to just over three million. The Black Death was the greatest demographic disaster in European history. In this Pocket Essential, Sean Martin looks at the origins of the disease and traces its terrible march through Europe from the Italian cities to the far-flung corners of Scandinavia. He describes contemporary responses to the plague and makes clear how helpless was the medicine of the day in the face of it. He examines the renewed persecution of the Jews, blamed by many Christians for the spread of the disease, and highlights the bizarre attempts by such groups as the Flagellants to ward off what they saw as the wrath of God. His book is a vivid and dramatic account of one of the great catastrophes of history.

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The definitive guide to the decade when swinging London was the film capital of the world After The Beatles stormed America, every Hollywood and European production company descended on London to be part of the new swinging scene... and they didn't leave until they'd signed up every able-bodied pop group or singer to appear in one of their films. A unique and carefully researched cultural history of UK film, TV and music in the swinging 60s; a time when no film or TV programme was without a group, singer or fantastic soundtrack - and London was briefly the film capital of the world. Containing individual summaries of over 120 films, covering everything from John Barry to Pink Floyd via Blow Up, the Electric Banana, Serge Gainsbourg, Magical Mystery Tour, David hemmings, Kubrick, Godard, Jodorowsdky and the London cast of Hair. With comprehensive listings of over 500 related features, documentaries, TV programmes and shorts, an unforgettable trip through the swinging 60s.

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Today it is known as Istanbul, the modern city which stands at the crossroads of Europe and Asia. For centuries past, it was Constantinople. But before that, it was Byzantium, and it gave its name to an ancient empire. Ancient Greeks, led by a man named Byzas, founded the city in the seventh century BC. A millennium later, it was revitalised by the Roman emperor Constantine the Great, who played a crucial role in making Christianity the official religion of the Empire. When the Roman Empire in the West collapsed, it was Byzantium that kept the imperial idea alive. For centuries, surrounded by hostile neighbours, Byzantium remained a Christian city at the heart of a Christian empire. As the new religion of Islam expanded, it was Byzantium and the Byzantine Empire that stood on the frontline of the confrontation between two faiths. When, in 1453, the city fell to the Turks and its last emperor died, the world was changed forever. The Byzantine Empire created remarkable art and architecture and a lasting cultural and religious legacy. Giles Morgan provides a concise history of a city which gave its name to an extraordinary civilisation.

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Movie Movements: Films That Changed the World of Cinema is a one-stop guide to the major movements that have shaped our sense of what cinema is and can be. It introduces the reader to definitions of the founding concepts in Film Studies such as authorship and genre, technological impacts and the rise of digital cinema, social influences and notions of the avant-garde, and cinema's emergence as a major art form that reflects and shapes the world. It explores, in concise and clear sections, how major works from the classic French realist La Regle de Jeu to the dazzling animation of Norman McLaren and the memorial documentary of Shoah, were conceived, developed and produced, and eventually received by the public, critics and film history. Offering a concise overview of a vast and compelling subject, it's a book for both the film enthusiast and the Film Studies student.

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It's the early 1990s, and in the Irish village of Crossmore, Lucy feels out of place. Despite her fierce friendships, she's always felt this way, and the conventional path of marriage and motherhood doesn't appeal to her at all. Not even with handsome and doting Martin, her closest childhood friend. Lucy begins to make sense of herself during a long hot summer, when a spark with her school friend Susannah escalates to an all-consuming infatuation, and, very quickly, to a desperate and devastating love. Fearful of rejection from her small and conservative community, Lucy begins living a double life, hiding the most honest parts of herself in stolen moments with Susannah. But with the end of school and the opportunity to leave Crossmore looming, Lucy must choose between two places, two people and two futures, each as terrifying as the other. But only one can offer her real happiness. Sunburn is an astute and tender portrayal of first love, adolescent anxiety and the realities of growing up in a small town where tradition holds people tightly in its grasp.

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Emily has settled in the picturesque village of Ashton Mead, where she lives with her puppy, Poppy. Life is finally going well for Emily. She has a cottage of her own, a job she likes and friends. Then she stumbles on the body of a woman who apparently drowned in the river. The other villagers suspect foul play and are quick to blame Richard, Emily's next-door neighbour and a newcomer to the village. Emily finds it hard to believe her friendly neighbour could be a cold-hearted murderer. When she meets his attractive son, Adam, her feelings become more complicated. Determined to find out the truth behind the death in the village, Emily travels to London to track down the man with whom Richard's wife was having an affair. Unfortunately for Emily, her visit does not go as planned. Instead of helping clear Richard's name, she finds her own life is in danger...

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Innocent lives are at risk. But who is the real enemy...? INNOCENT LIVES ARE AT RISK... BUT WHO IS THE REAL ENEMY? Eli Amiran is Mossad's star spy runner and the man responsible for bringing unparalleled intelligence to the Israeli agency. Now, he's leading an audacious operation in the UK that feeds his ambition but threatens his conscience. The British and the Americans have intel Mossad desperately need. To force MI6 and the CIA into sharing their priceless information, Eli and his maverick colleague Rafi undertake a risky mission to trick their allies: faking a terrorist plot on British soil. But in the world of espionage, the game is treacherous, opaque and deadly... A twisting international spy novel, The Righteous Spy is an intriguing page turner that portrays a clandestine world in which moral transgressions serve higher causes. A must-read for fans of Homeland, Fauda and The Americans, it will also appeal to readers of Charles Cumming and John le Carré.

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Bloody Valentine is the story of the murder of a young woman called Lynette White in the Cardiff docklands (aka Tiger Bay) on Valentine's Day 1988. It's also the story of the miscarriage of justice that came after, when three black men, 'the Cardiff Three', were wrongly convicted of her murder. It's a brutally frank tale of racism and police corruption, terrible misogynist violence and the grim realities of sex work. It's a book that got so close to the bone that the author was sued for libel by the police and received death threats from a variety of minor characters. It's an indelible portrait of life in the underbelly of Thatcher's Britain. This new edition includes an introduction and afterword bringing the extraordinary, unhappy saga up to date.

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The most wanted, the most feared, the most hated, the most powerful job in journalism: being a reviewer means writing about something you love and getting paid for it. So for a lot of people it's the No 1 dream job in the media. Whether your passion is film, music, books, visual arts or the stage, you can get closer to it as a reviewer and establish a career in one of the most influential roles open to a writer. Get the edge on the competition with a book that's a treasure trove of wisdom, experience and downright cunning, passed on by the best critics writing today. A great review will be read by millions, and writing it calls for a high degree of skill. Based on a lifelong passion, packed into a few hundred words and often written in less than an hour, a review makes heavy demands on writer's technique and experience. This book explains how to seize your readers' attention and how to be witty always, fascinating most of the time and bitchy when you need to be. Reviews from classic writers like Pauline Kael or Kenneth Tynan are contrasted with today's hot names including Mark Kermode and Stewart Maconie. We look back at the history of the critic and some of the groundbreaking groups who have shaped our culture, including Dorothy Parker and the Algonquin Round Table, the French New Wave directors who founded Les Cahiers du Cinema and London's celebrated Modern Review, founded by Julie Burchill, Toby Young and Cosmo Landesman.

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Just what is 'independent' cinema? D. K. Holm aims to define a term all too carelessly used both by media commentators and marketers, and distinguish it from categories such as avant-garde, underground, experimental or 'art' films, with which it is often confused. By contrasting studio-era Hollywood with changes in the business since the 1970s, and the rise of companies such as Miramax and New Line, it shows the birth of a commercial environment in which the new independent cinema can emerge. Profiles of specific filmmakers suggest how diverse personalities use independent cinema for individual ends; directors such as James Mangold, who found indie cinema to be a stepping stone to more mainstream movies, Jill Sprecher, who uses its flexibility to explore philosophical ideas, and Guy Maddin, one of the few true independent filmmakers, whose films are beholden to his own unique vision rather than financiers or abstract audience markets.

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Two screenwriters once walked into a Hollywood producer's office and said three words 'Jaws in space.' Those three words won them the contract for the blockbuster movie Alien. The ability to pitch well is essential for all writers, directors and producers in cinema and TV. Strong pitching skills will accelerate your career - not only helping you sell your projects, but also developing them in the first place, focusing on what makes a story work, clarifying character and plot, and working more successfully with industry collaborators. This book takes you from the essentials of what makes a good pitch to advanced skills that will help you in all kinds of pitching situations. Charles Harris gives a clear-sighted view of how pitching works in the industry and a series of very practical techniques for developing a gripping and convincing pitch. Drawing on his experience, he examines the problems that can arise with both mainstream and unconventional projects - from a range of different cultures - and explains how to solve them. He also analyses the process of taking a pitch meeting and shows you how to ensure you perform at your best.

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In this volume, Leni Dipple explores how poetry might be represented in a range of contexts, cutting across cultures and languages. An esoteric collection designed for the serious reader of poetry, Between Rivers forms a simultaneously intricate and epic narrative inspired by the epistolary of Dipple's grandfather and the work of Rainer Maria Rilke. This collection travels across time and continents, seeking its language and its roots, making connections, making sense of the present out of the past. Words are lifted from their origins, held to the light, and replanted in an eclectic and vibrant range of poems, synthesising Dipple's many journeys and charged with a personal vitality.

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