Search results for ""Oldcastle Books Ltd""

Here's looking at you... Cathy Here's looking at you... Cathy Childhood sweethearts turned star-crossed lovers, fuelled by bitter jealousy and dark revenge. She's pretty and posh, he's a moody brooding bastard. Heartbreak, alcoholism and plenty of illegitimate kids - it's a perfect Northern drama.

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Rocliffe Notes is a compendium for screenwriters and filmmakers which brings together tips and opinions from over 140 film and TV industry professionals, and provides a step-by-step, common-sense guide on how writers and writer-directors can best present themselves to the industry. Including insider insights from award-winning industry players, it details their habits, writing processes, daily passions and preoccupations, whilst also looking at the nuts and bolts of the industry, aiming to motivate writers on their own creative journey, maximise networking opportunities and encourage a professional approach to writing. An essential armament in any writer's store, contributors include: Moira Buffini, Danny Huston, David Parfitt, Jack Thorne, Sarah Gavron, John Madden, John Yorke, Nik Powell, Peter Kosminsky, Christine Langan and Asif Kapadia.

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Kamera.co.uk, the self-styled 'intelligent film website' goes offline with the first issue of its new bi-monthly incarnation. Each issue leads with a themed section and also includes an extensive article on a major film-maker, regular columns on film festivals, documentary and short films, and a comprehensive reviews section featuring all the latest books, videos and DVDs...making kamera the essential companion to world cinema today.

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From the unbridled sensuality of silent Italian films, to the neorealist classic Bitter Rice, to the astonishing imagination of Fellini and the more cerebral and fascinating movies of Antonioni, Italy has a filmic legacy unlike that of any other nation. And then there are the popular movies: the lively sword and sandal epics of the peplum era through to the inextricable mix of sexuality and violence in the gialli of such directors as Mario Bava and Dario Argento. All the glory of Italian cinema is celebrated here in comprehensive essays, along with every key film in an easy-to-use reference format. This new and greatly expanded edition takes in major modern hits such as The Great Beauty/La Grande Bellezza. The new generation of Italian film and TV successes, important directors and movements of the past are are all given fresh and incisive evaluations, with every kind of film examined, from arthouse classics to the Spaghetti Westerns of Sergio Leone and co., and the stylish, blood-drenched thrillers and horror films that redefined their respective genres.

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Whoops! Apocalypse... The Horror! The Horror! Kurtz might be the apple of every brutish imperialist's eye, but his God complex is getting wildly out of hand in the depths of the jungle. What on earth will Marlow find when he finally gets downriver? Devil worship? Savages? Heads on sticks? Or just another nutty white man with his knickers in a twist?

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What happens when 'happy ever after' isn't quite so simple? Today's attitudes to love and romance are as varied and diverse as individuals, and audiences want and need more sophisticated, authentic films that show how we live and love now. So what does this mean for the screenwriter developing a romcom? And how do they write heart-warming stories for a genre that is constantly evolving, from bromcom to zomcom to famcom? Writing and Selling Romantic Comedy Screenplays offers a fresh approach to creating narratives for this ever-changing genre. Moving away from rigid and limited definitions that have evolved out of mainstream genre films, the book embraces a working definition that crosses cultural and national boundaries to give screenwriters around the world a truly international perspective on writing comedic love stories. It will be the first screenwriting guide to reflect the diversity of approaches in today's films that deal with the human need for emotional and physical intimacy using humour - the contemporary romantic comedy. Features of the book include: Illuminating, challenging and provocative about the state of the rom-com genre. Why do some films feel so dated, while others are perennially relevant? Explores and defines all subgenres of romcom, such as zomcom, bromedy, soromcom and famcom. Uniquely draws on creativity, screenwriting genre theory and film industry practice. Stimulating creative exercises at the end of every chapter, and 'hot tips' throughout. Adaptable concepts that can be applied to both feature films and short films. Encourages screenwriters to define their own values about love to ensure their voice and message is original - and commercial. Case studies and analyses of produced screenplays, including Dostana, Due Date, I Give it a Year, I love You, Man, Midnight in Paris, Ruby Sparks, Tamara Drewe, Ted and Warm Bodies. Interviews with writers, directors and producers. Genuine international perspective. Indispensible guide for both the student and the professional writer or filmmaker.

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In Easy Money David Spanier studies the psychological motivation of gamblers, those who beat the system and those beaten by it, portraying the personalities and legends of the gambling world of the time. Spanier ranges widely over his subject, considering the motivations of gamesters, stressing the physical sensations they experience, the percentages and chances, heuristic principles, the differences in European and American gambling, and the criminal element in U.S. gaming, but concentrates primarily on the human side of gambling rather than the mathematical or theoretical. While he is comfortable discussing Freud's analysis of the compulsive gambler, his real emphasis is on the individuals: the mathematician who devised a way to beat the house advantage at blackjack; the London man-about-town who ran games for the upper class; the cleric who founded the British Gamblers Anonymous; the physician who established a 'gamblers' hospital' in Brecksville, Ohio. This is an insider's analysis of the thrills, action, and intense emotional involvement that makes up the world of gambling.

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Today, people can watch television shows, feature films, live sporting events, and just about anything they want on their computers, tablets or phones. As the new media marketplace continues to grow, so does demand for original content and opportunities for filmmakers. Online distributors - such as YouTube, Hulu, and Funny or Die - are interested in acquiring web series (episodic digital entertainment, like mini-TV shows) that attract audiences and appeal to advertisers. Web TV Series... How to Make and Market Them provides advice and expertise to help readers create their own original, successful online shows - projects that can be profitable, potentially developed into film or television properties, and help to start a career in the industry. Readers will learn how to develop characters and stories designed for new media platforms, and find tips for planning, shooting, and editing that are tailored specifically to web series production. This book also extensively covers the latest distribution platforms and social media marketing strategies, as well as examples of how to find financial sustainability through advertisers, branded content, and sponsorship partners. Web Series has all of the tools necessary for both aspiring and experienced filmmakers to make the most of this growing new medium.

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The Knights Templar were the most powerful military religious order of the Middle Ages. Formed to protect pilgrims in the Holy Land, they participated in the Crusades and rapidly gained wealth, lands and influence and were answerable to none save the Pope himself. In addition to having a fearful military reputation, they were also Christendom's first bankers, and played a large part in inventing the modern banking system. They were also involved in developments in navigation, architecture, medicine, and engineering, amongst others. Seemingly untouchable for nearly two centuries, the Templars fell from grace spectacularly after the loss of the Holy Land. In 1307, all Templars in France were arrested on charges of heresy, homosexuality, denial of the cross and devil worship. The order was suppressed by the Pope in 1312, and Jacques de Molay, the last Grand Master, was burnt at the stake as a heretic two years later. The myth of the Templars was born and in the ensuing centuries, they have occupied a unique position in European history. Orthodox historians see them as nothing more than soldier-monks whose arrogance was their ultimate undoing, while others see them as occultists of the first order, the founders of Freemasonry, possessors of the Holy Grail and the Turin Shroud. Sean Martin considers both the orthodox and conspiratorial version of events, and includes the latest revelations from the Vatican Secret Archives.

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For more than 2,000 years utopian visionaries have sought to create a blueprint of the ideal society: from Plato to HG Wells, from Cloud cuckoo land to Shangri-La, the utopian impulse has generated a vast body of work, encompassing philosophy and political theory, classical literature and science fiction. And yet these utopian dreams have often turned to nightmare, as utopia gives way to its dark reflection, dystopia. Utopia takes the reader on a journey through these imaginary worlds, charting the progress of utopian ideas from their origins within the classical world, to the rebirth of utopian ideals in the Middle Ages. Later we see the emergence of socialist and feminist ideas; while the twentieth century was to be dominated by expressions of totalitarian oppression. From the novel to the political manifesto, from satire to science fiction, utopias have always reflected the age that gave rise to them, and this guide will explore this historical context, offering both an analysis of the key texts and an account of their political and cultural background. Today, it is claimed that we are witnessing the death of utopia, as increasingly the ideals that give rise to them are undermined or dismissed. These arguments are explored and evaluated here, and contemporary examples of utopian thought used to demonstrate the enduring relevance of the utopian tradition.

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Risk everything, trust no one. Jen Shaw is climbing in the mountains near Alajar, Spain. And it's nothing to do with the fact that an old acquaintance suggested that she meet him there... But when things don't go as planned and her brother calls to voice concerns over the whereabouts of their mother, Morwenna, Jen finds herself travelling to a refugee camp on the south coast of Malta. Free-spirited and unpredictable as ever, Morwenna is working with a small NGO, helping her Libyan friend, Nahla, seek asylum for her family. Jen is instantly out of her depth, surrounded by stories of unimaginable suffering and increasing tensions within the camp. Within hours of Jen's arrival, Nahla is killed in suspicious circumstances, and Jen and Morwenna find themselves responsible for the safety of her daughters. But what if the safest option is to leave on a smuggler's boat?

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Erin McCabe is a New Jersey criminal defense attorney doing her best to live quietly in the wake of a profound personal change - until a newsworthy case puts her whole life at risk... Erin McCabe has been referred the biggest case of her career. Four months ago, the son of a New Jersey state senator was found fatally stabbed in a rundown motel near Atlantic City. Sharise Barnes, a nineteen-year-old transgender sex worker, is in custody, and, based on the evidence against her, there seems little doubt of a guilty verdict. As a transgender woman herself, Erin knows that defending Sharise will blow her own private life wide open and doubtless deepen her estrangement from her family. Yet she feels uniquely qualified to help Sharise and duty-bound to protect her from the possibility of a death sentence. While Erin works with her law partner, former-FBI-agent Duane Swisher, to show Sharise acted in self-defense, the senator begins using the full force of his influence to publicly discredit them and their efforts to mount a defense for Sharise. And behind the scenes, his tactics are even more dangerous. For his son had secrets that could destroy the senator's own political aspirations - secrets worth killing for...

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Jen Shaw has climbed all her life: daring ascents of sheer rock faces, crumbling buildings, cranes - the riskier the better. Both her work and personal life revolved around climbing, and the adrenaline high it gave her. Until she went too far and hurt the people she cares about. So she's given it all up now. Honestly, she has. And she's checked herself into a rehab centre to prove it. Yet, when Jen awakens to find herself drugged and dangling off the local lighthouse during a wild storm less than twenty-four hours after a 'family emergency' takes her home to Cornwall, she needs all her skill to battle her way to safety. Has Jen fallen back into her old risky ways, or is there a more sinister explanation hidden in her hometown? Only when she has navigated her fragmented memories and faced her troubled past will she be able to piece together what happened - and trust herself to fix it...

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The third novel in David Thomson's series inspired by movie genres - an enchanting yet haunting celebration of screwball romantic comedies. In 1985, with the acclaimed Suspects, and then in 1990 with the exhilarating Silver Light, David Thomson delivered unprecedented fictions in which the characters were figures from film noir and the Western. Now a trilogy is completed with Connecticut. Why Connecticut? Because that lovely, liberal state has been set aside as the resting place for every disturbed person in the nation! At first, this seems like an opportunity for meeting up with the merry ghosts of Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, Carole Lombard, William Powell and Margaret Sullavan. We get glimpses of Bringing Up Baby, My Man Godfrey and The Lady Eve. But then the wild comedy darkens as we realize that Connecticut itself is on the edge of a demented and cruel war that challenges all its inmates to keep seeing the comic side of mishap and madness. The trilogy is revealed not just as a set of dazzling stories. But a commentary on how far we have all been steered towards delightful but dangerous fantasies by the movies. Aren't we all screwball now? Is Connecticut safe to visit?

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Eighteen years have passed since ten countries from Central & Eastern Europe joined the European Union and more than three decades since the Berlin Wall was torn down in 1989 - but ignorance about what is popularly still called Eastern Europe is as widespread as ever. Slovenia still gets mixed up with Slovakia, the Slavs remain a mystery in a Europe apparently dominated by Romanic and Germanic nations and a country like the Czech Republic is labelled as Eastern European, although one needs to travel west to get from Vienna to Prague. First published in 2009 under the title What's so eastern about Eastern Europe?, this book is much more than a revised and updated version of the first edition. Its presentation of the political and cultural history of Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, written in an accessible language is now complemented with recent developments in the region. The new edition digs into the reasons behind the illiberal turn in Poland, Hungary and elsewhere, putting the alleged democratic backslide into the wider context of European populism. Leon Marc offers a new and fresh perspective in explaining the roots of populism and social conservatism in the region, which the book sees in a mixture of historical factors, economic conditions, the heavy burden of Communist legacy, as well as a reaction to contemporary social developments in the West. Drawing on a wide range of literature, the book calls for more sensibility to these underlying causes, critical examination of the true European values, and for a coalition of defenders of Humanism and Judeo-Christian tradition as key pillars of its identity, in order to save Europe and its liberal democracy. This updated and expanded edition contains a brand new chapter bringing this book up to date with recent events, including Covid-19 and the Ukrainian conflict.

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Between 1967 and 1970 Italian auteur Giovanni 'Tinto' Brass directed four feature films in London, each starring a woman as the main character. Exploring the political, cultural and sexual ideas of their time, often in a deliberate pop-art style, they contain much priceless footage of now forgotten neighbourhoods, galleries, clubs and events as well as an abundance of contemporary music. Free Your Mind! describes the films, their stars, how they were made, and their influence on the social history, pop culture, cinema, music and TV of the time.

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\'Anyone interested in the challenges of housing policy will want to read this methodical analysis of what went well and what did not over much of the last century\' - LORD HESELTINE For nearly 150 years, living in a house in the country has been what many of us aspire to. This book explores how this idea was imported from the US by Ebenezer Howard, founder of the garden city movement, the impact it has had in the UK and why, on cost and environmental grounds, it\'s time to move on from this approach. House in the Country examines the developments in urban planning and residential architecture from 1815 to the present day and considers the legacy of Howard's garden city movement in twenty-first century Britain. An accessible and informative introduction, House in the Country presents a richly detailed narrative containing much historical, social and cultural commentary as well as interviews with key figures in this field.

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Andrei Tarkovsky is the most celebrated Russian filmmaker since Eisenstein, and one of the most important directors to have emerged during the 1960s and 70s. Although he made only seven features, each one was a major landmark in cinema, the most well-known of them being the mediaeval epic Andrei Rublev - widely regarded as one of the greatest films of all time - and the autobiographical Mirror, set during the Russia of Stalin's purges in the 1930s and the years of stagnation under Brezhnev. Both films landed Tarkovsky in considerable trouble with the authorities, and he gained a reputation for being a tortured - and ultimately martyred - filmmaker. Despite the harshness of the conditions under which he worked, Tarkovsky built up a remarkable body of work. He burst upon the international scene in 1962 with his debut feature Ivan's Childhood, which won the Golden Lion at Venice and immediately established him as a major filmmaker. During the 1970s, he made two classic ventures into science-fiction, Solaris, regarded at the time as being the Soviet reply to Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey and later remade by Steven Soderbergh, and Stalker, which was thought to have predicted the Chernobyl disaster. Harassed at home, Tarkovsky went into exile and made his last two films in the West, where he also published his classic work of film and artistic theory, Sculpting in Time. Since his death in Paris in 1986, his reputation continued - and continues - to grow. Sean Martin considers the whole of Tarkovsky's oeuvre, from the classic student film The Steamroller and the Violin, across the full-length films, to the later stage works and Tarkovsky's writings, paintings and photographs. Martin also seeks to demystify Tarkovsky as a 'difficult' director, whilst also celebrating his radical aesthetic of long takes and tracking shots, which Tarkovsky was to dub 'imprinted' or 'sculpted' time, and to make a case for Tarkovsky's position not just as an important filmmaker, but also as an artist who speaks directly about the most important spiritual issues of our time.

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Looking for a New England covers the period 1975 to 1986, from Slade in Flame to Absolute Beginners. A carefully researched exploration of transgressive films, the career of David Bowie, dystopias, the Joan Collins ouevre, black cinema, the origins and impact of punk music, political films, comedy, how Ireland and Scotland featured on our screens and the rise of Richard Branson and a new, commercial, mainstream. The sequel to Psychedelic Celluloid, it describes over 100 film and TV productions in detail, together with their literary, social and musical influences during a time when profound changes shrank the size of the UK cinema industry.

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The Korean War of 1950-1953 ended in a frustrating stalemate, the echoes of which reverberate to this day. It was the only conflict of the Cold War in which forces of major nations of the two opposing systems - capitalism and communism - confronted each other on the battlefield. And yet, in the sixty years since it was fought it has been strangely neglected, perhaps because no one was able to claim the victor's spoils. The War That Never Ended details the origins, battles, politics and personalities of the Korean War - a war that has never ended, and for which no peace treaty was ever signed.

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When Rowland Sinclair volunteers his services as a pilot to fly the renowned international peace advocate, Egon Kisch, between Freemantle and Melbourne, he is unaware of how hard Australia's new Attorney General will fight to keep the reporter off Australian soil. In this, it seems, the government is not alone, as clandestine right-wing militias target Kisch... A Communist agent is murdered on the steps of Parliament House and Rowland finds himself drawn into a dangerous world of politics and assassination. Once again, he stands against the unthinkable with an artist, a poet and brazen sculptress by his side...

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Wealthy Australian artist Rowland Sinclair enjoys a comfortably bohemian existence which he shares with old allies - a poet, a fellow painter and a brazen sculptress. It's the early 1930s and a great Depression is engulfing the world, spawning misery and discontent. Tensions are mounting as the Far Right makes inroads which threaten national stability. Rowland's comfortable idyll is shattered when a vicious murder exposes a treacherous conspiracy... one which he and his redoubtable colleagues find themselves obliged to investigate. Sulari Gentill expertly weaves real events into her tension-fuelled murder mysteries. Rowland Sinclair and his friends are destined to become long-haul companions for lovers of mystery fiction and world history.

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Are you a lover of crime fiction looking for new discoveries or hoping to rediscover old favourites? Then look no further. There are few contemporary crime fiction guides that cover everything from the golden age to current bestselling writers from America, Britain and all across the world, but the award-winning Barry Forshaw, one of the UK's leading experts in the field, has provided a truly comprehensive survey with definitive coverage in this expanded new edition of the much admired Rough Guide to Crime Fiction. Every major writer is included, along with many other more esoteric choices. Focusing on a key book (or books) by each writer, and with essays on key crime genres, Crime Fiction: A Reader's Guide (with a foreword by Ian Rankin) is designed to be both a crime fan's shopping list and a pithy, opinionated but unstuffy reference tool and history. Most judgements are generous (though not uncritical), and there is a host of entertaining, informed entries on related films and TV.

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From Agatha Christie and Patricia Highsmith to Val McDermid and JK Rowling, After Agatha is an indispensable guide to women's crime writing over the last century and an exploration of why women read crime Spanning the 1930s to present day, After Agatha charts the explosion in women\'s crime writing and examines key developments on both sides of the Atlantic: from the women writers at the helm of the UK Golden Age and their American and Canadian counterparts fighting to be heard, to the 1980s experimental trio, Marcia Muller, Sara Paretsky and Sue Grafton, who created the first female PIs, and the more recent emergence of forensic crime writing and domestic noir thrillers such as Gone Girl and Apple Tree Yard. After Agatha examines the diversification of crime writing and highlights landmark women's novels which featured the marginalised in society as centralised characters. Cline also explores why women readers are drawn to the genre and seek out justice in crime fiction, in a world where violent crimes against women rarely have such resolution. The book includes interviews with dozens of contemporary authors such as Ann Cleeves, Sophie Hannah, Tess Gerritsen and Kathy Reichs and features the work of hundreds of women crime and mystery writers. It is an essential read for crime fiction lovers.

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25% discount offer - use code CE25 at checkout 'If you decide to adapt a classic or much-loved book, your working maxim should be, 'How will it work best as a film?' However faithful it is to the original, if it's not interesting onscreen then you've failed.' - William Boyd in Story and Character: Interviews with British Screenwriters Hollywood. Netflix. Amazon. BBC. Producers and audiences are hungrier than ever for stories, and a lot of those stories begin life as a book - but how exactly do you transfer a story from the page to the screen? Do adaptations use the same creative gears as original screenplays? Does a true story give a project more weight than a fictional one? Is it helpful to have the original author's input on the script? And how much pressure is the screenwriter under, knowing they won't be able to please everyone with the finished product? Alistair Owen puts all these questions and many more to some of the top names in screenwriting, including Hossein Amini (Drive), Jeremy Brock (The Last King of Scotland), Moira Buffini (Jane Eyre), Lucinda Coxon (The Danish Girl), Andrew Davies (War & Peace), Christopher Hampton (Atonement), David Hare (The Hours), Olivia Hetreed (Girl with a Pearl Earring), Nick Hornby (An Education), Deborah Moggach (Pride & Prejudice), David Nicholls (Patrick Melrose) and Sarah Phelps (And Then There Were None). Exploring fiction and nonfiction projects, contemporary and classic books, films and TV series, The Art of Screen Adaptation reveals the challenges and pleasures of reimagining stories for cinema and television, and provides a frank and fascinating masterclass with the writers who have done it - and have the awards and acclaim to show for it.

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London, more than any other city, has a secret history concealed from view. Behind the official façade promoted by the heritage industry, lies a city of esoteric traditions, obscure institutions, and forgotten locations. Occult London rediscovers this history, unearthing the hidden city that lies beneath our own. From the Elizabethan magic of Dr Dee and Simon Forman, to the occult designs of Wren and Hawksmoor; from the Victorian London of Spring-Heeled Jack, to the fin de siècle heyday of Madame Blavatsky and Aleister Crowley. This book describes these practitioners of the occult and their unorthodox beliefs, alongside the myths and legends through which the city has always been perceived. The role of the occult within London's literary history is also outlined, while a gazetteer maps the sites of London's most resonant occult locations. Today we are experiencing a renewal of interest in the occult tradition, and Merlin Coverley examines the roots of this revival, exploring the rise of New Age philosophies and the emergence of psychogeography in shaping a new vision of the city.

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In August of 2007, the debt-fuelled bubble that had created an illusion of prosperity across the western world burst, leading to an international financial crisis of unprecedented scale and duration. Michael Nevin analyses the causes of the crisis in clear and understandable terms, and explains why successive attempts to tackle it by bank bailouts, quantitative easing and other piecemeal responses have failed. He predicts that the Euro cannot survive in its present form, while dollar instability and the inexorable rise in sovereign debt will continue to hamper economic growth worldwide. Unless a radically different approach is taken, an increasingly virulent economic nationalism could threaten the living standards of all of us and lead to a lost generation of young people with no prospect of work. This book sets out an alternative strategy for sustained recovery,including the orderly dismantling of the Euro, the end of the dollar's privileged status as an international reserve currency, and the restoration of sound money, founded on a new international currency that cannot be manipulated by bankers or politicians - The Golden Guinea. Michael Nevin's analysis of the credit crisis draws on his extensive experience of investment banking, project finance and economics, to explain what has gone wrong and why, what needs to be done now and what steps need to be taken to ensure it ever happens again.

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The marriage between the Duke of Marlborough and 17-year-old Consuelo Vanderbilt, the American railroad heiress, was the talk of two nations when it occurred in 1895. By 1903, the Duchess had produced the requisite heir-and-a-spare, and the Duke had taken a lover, the exotic, erotic Gladys Deacon. Kate and Charles are introduced to this uncomfortable menage-a-trois when they come to Blenheim Palace: Kate to work on a book about King Henry II and Fair Rosamund, said to have been poisoned there by Eleanor of Aquitaine, and Charles to follow the trail of a team of jewelry thieves. But the visit takes a disturbing turn when the hosts unwittingly begin to relive the legend...

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She doesn't trust the police. She used to be one of them. Hardened by ten years on the murder squad, DNA analyst Doctor Sian Love has seen it all. So when she finds human remains in the basement of her new home, she knows the drill. Except this time it's different. This time, it's personal... A page-turning cold case investigation, Dead Flowers is an intriguing, multi-layered story perfect for fans of Kate Atkinson's Case Histories and British crime dramas like Line of Duty and Unforgotten.

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Movies have constantly pushed at the boundaries of sexual representation, outraging censors, transgressing taboos and opening up formerly forbidden realms of sensual pleasure. Whether through an exploration of our dreamiest fantasies or our darkest desires, films have expanded our repertoire of erotic images and challenged who we are as sexual beings. The first book to look at truly contemporary erotic cinema, this publication gives in-depth analyses of sex scenes from over 100 films, more than half of them released in the 21st century. Beginning with an overview of how depictions of sex on screen have changed over the last 40 years, with particular attention to censorship controversies, the book is divided into three main parts - erotic genres, themes and acts - and covers sex comedies, body horror, alien sex and erotic animation; gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans films, movies about youth, marriage and infidelity, films dealing with incest, blasphemy and death; on-screen nudity and voyeurism, masturbation, oral and anal sex, the ménage à trois and the orgy, and bestiality, rape and sadomasochism. The films discussed include 9 Songs, American Pie, Bad Education, Black Swan, Brokeback Mountain, Intimacy, Last Tango in Paris, The Reader, The Wayward Cloud, Y Tu Mamá También and many more.

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From the very beginnings of cinema in America the Western has been a central genre. The hazardous lives of the settlers, their conflict with Native Americans ('the Indians'), the lawless frontier towns, outlaws and cattle rustlers, all found their way into the new medium of film. Folk heroes and heroines, such as Jesse and Frank James, Wild Bill Hickok, Wyatt Earp, Calamity Jane and Annie Oakley, were all eagerly seized on by filmmakers. Writers, from the very popular to the very literary, from Zane Grey to Owen Wister and James Fennimore Cooper, were plundered for storylines. The Western became popular worldwide too because it offered escape, adventure, stunning landscapes and romance; also themes that concerned people everywhere including survival, law and order, defence of family, and dreams of a new and better world. David Carter's book, The Western, starts with an introduction to the real American West and its famous historical figures, and traces the development of the genre from popular literature, through the early silent films, the sound era, the Golden Age of classic Westerns, TV and 'spaghetti westerns', to the self-reflexive and revisionist Westerns of recent decades. This book provides a basic work of reference for all the major directors and noteworthy films of the genre. The great Hollywood directors are all here, such as John Ford, Howard Hawks, Raoul Walsh, Michael Curtiz, Sam Peckinpah and Henry Hathaway, and great stars including John Wayne, James Stewart, Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Jane Russell and Clint Eastwood.

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DNA doesn't lie. But what if the truth is dangerous? DNA expert Dr Sian Love has settled into running her own investigative agency and living with her partner, Kris. She's also started seeing a therapist to work through her traumatic past - a big step for Sian. Her life threatens to descend into chaos again when a teenage girl shows up at her office claiming to be Courtney Johnson - a child who went missing from a Brighton beach over fifteen years ago - but refusing to let Sian test her DNA. Wary but intrigued, Sian reluctantly revives the undercover skills she learned during her days as a police officer and begins investigating. But revisiting the past has consequences...

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Catharism was the most successful heresy of the Middle Ages. Flourishing principally in the Languedoc and Italy, the Cathars taught that the world is evil and must be transcended through a simple life of prayer, work, fasting and non-violence. They believed themselves to be the heirs of the true heritage of Christianity going back to apostolic times, and completely rejected the Catholic Church and all its trappings, regarding it as the Church of Satan; Cathar services and ceremonies, by contrast, were held in fields, barns and in people's homes. Finding support from the nobility in the fractious political situation in southern France, the Cathars also found widespread popularity among peasants and artisans. And again unlike the Church, the Cathars respected women, and women played a major role in the movement. Alarmed at the success of Catharism, the Church founded the Inquisition and launched the Albigensian Crusade to exterminate the heresy. While previous Crusades had been directed against Muslims in the Middle East, the Albigensian Crusade was the first Crusade to be directed against fellow Christians, and was also the first European genocide. With the fall of the Cathar fortress of Montsegur in 1244, Catharism was largely obliterated, although the faith survived into the early fourteenth century. Today, the mystique surrounding the Cathars is as strong as ever, and Sean Martin recounts their story and the myths associated with them in this lively and gripping book.

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Newlyweds Charles and Kate Sheridan have moved into Kate's ancestral Georgian home Bishop's Keep, where Kate plans to devote herself to her writing and Charles to the responsibilities of the landed gentry. He agrees to host an automobile exhibition and balloon race at Bishop's Keep attended by Europe's foremost investors and inventors, among them the young Mr. Charles Rolls and Henry Royce. But speed, competition, and money prove to be more explosive than gasoline - and for one automobile builder, more deadly....

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According to Apsley Cherry-Garrard, one of the men who went to Antarctica with Captain Scott, 'Polar exploration is at once the cleanest and most isolated way of having a bad time that has ever been devised.' Despite this there has never been a shortage of volunteers willing to endure the bad times in pursuit of the glory that polar exploration sometimes brings. Nick Rennison's compelling book tells the memorable stories of people who have risked their lives by entering the white wastelands of the Arctic and the Antarctic, from the compelling tales of Scott, Shackleton and Amundsen, to those of lesser known explorers such as Elisha Kent Kane and Douglas Mawson. A Short History of Polar Exploration also looks briefly at the hold that the polar regions have often had on the imaginations of artists and writers in the last two hundred years examining the paintings, films and literature that they have inspired.

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It's one of the most successful - and surprising - of phenomena in the entire crime fiction genre: detectives (and protodetectives) solving crimes in earlier eras. There is now an army of historical sleuths operating from the mean streets of Ancient Rome to the Cold War era of the 1950s. And this astonishingly varied offshoot of the crime genre, as well as keeping bookshop tills ringing, is winning a slew of awards, notably the prestigious CWA Historical Dagger. Barry Forshaw, one of the UK's leading experts on crime fiction, has written a lively, wide-ranging and immensely informed history of the genre. Historical noir began in earnest with Ellis Peters' crime-solving monk Brother Cadfael in the 1970s and Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose in 1980, and has now taken readers to virtually every era and locale in the past. As in Nordic Noir, Euro Noir, Brit Noir and American Noir, Forshaw has produced the perfect reader's guide to a fascinating field; every major writer is considered, often through a concentration on one or two key books, and exciting new talents are highlighted.

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Secret Societies in one form or another have existed throughout the history of human culture. But what is their appeal? What is it that makes so-called respectable people indulge in peculiar ceremonies, dressed in fanciful costumes uttering blood-curdling oaths of loyalty with the threat of death hanging over them should they reveal the inner workings of the cult? Are these organisations simply a way for like-minded followers to get together in a convivial atmosphere for purely social reasons or is there really a dark side to their activities. Are they really trying, as some have suggested, to control world affairs for their own nefarious ends? Are the secret societies' claims that they are in the possession of great knowledge or valuable secrets also true? Are they really trying to engineer history or keep hidden that which may bring about the fall of a religion or a country? In Secret Societies, Nick Harding describes some of the best known organisations along with some of their least known counterparts. He highlights the similarities that all these cults have - they all work to a similar pattern and that basic human psychology plays a far more important role in their continued existence and their enduring appeal than any hidden wisdom, knowledge or world-shattering secret.

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Rejected by the Freemasons? Not bright enough for the Illuminati? Burnt by the Hell Fire Club? No friends in high places to get you into the Bilderberg or the Bohemian Grove? Feeling isolated and powerless? Fear not. There is an answer... Why not start your own secret society to add an air of mystery to your life and instantly alter the way you are perceived by family, friends and society at large. Learn the secrets of how to really influence people in business and politics by creating your own elitist fraternity. Discover the basic requirements for creating a clandestine sister or brotherhood with the ability to control, govern and influence events at the local or global level. Develop your own secret knowledge and hidden agenda while you plot to overthrow the powers that be through revolution and political or religious intrigue. Pierre Plantard and the Priory of Sion failed but you can avoid making the same mistakes they did by understanding what it really takes to maintain and develop a secret society. This book will show you all the requirements needed from choosing regalia to setting up a lodge, from electing a grand master to illustrating basic initiation ceremonies. It will also guide you on how to take historical events, great works of art and famous names to mould them into your desires for global domination. Don\'t feel left out again... Start a secret society and be part of the conspiracy...

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So what's so significant about the Byzantine Empire? It is now recognised as having had a considerable influence on the Renaissance and a significant impact in the shaping modern Europe and modern historians are increasingly acknowledging the role the Byzantine Empire played in the development of both Islam and Christianity, and the relationship between the two. The term 'Byzantine' derives from the ancient Greek city of Byzantium founded in 667 BC by colonists from Megara. It was named in honour of their leader Byzas. It later became better known as Constantinople, that gateway between West and East and played a crucial role in the transmission of Christianity to the West. Constantine is now generally known as the first Christian Emperor, and in recent years interest in him has grown, with his role in the development of Christianity being questioned by Dan Brown, author of The Da Vinci Code, amongst others. A closer examination of this formative period in the history of the church reveals a struggle to gain a coherent and cohesive religious identity. Christianity would emerge as the major religion of the Byzantine Empire in a departure from the pagan worship of the Roman Empire. The Byzantine Empire was often at the centre of profound geopolitical, cultural and religious forces that threatened to pull it apart. When Byzantine forces suffered a terrible defeat at the hands of the Seljuk Turks at the Battle of Manzikert for example, appeals to the West precipitated the First Crusade. In 1204 during the Fourth Crusade, Constantinople was conquered by the Crusader army. The dramatic siege and subsequent fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire is often seen as marking the end of the medieval period. The Byzantine Empire lasted for over a thousand years, created remarkable art and architecture and created a lasting cultural and religious legacy - even its decline and fall was to have ramifications that reached far beyond its borders. The fall of Constantinople which had been a key city on the ancient Silk Road, linking East and West led many to consider the prospect of opening up new lines of trade, sea exploration that would eventually lead to major new discoveries, new routes and new worlds...

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The Holy Grail is a subject that fascinates and intrigues. Through its various guises as magic cauldron, cornucopia, horn of plenty and chalice cup it has remained at the centre of popular culture from antiquity right up to the present day. An object of marvel and mystery it inhabits a place in mythology that has its roots in historical facts. The Grail has been a major inspiration and catalyst for literature and the arts in Western Culture. From Celtic mythology to the flowering of the medieval romances it has in many ways fulfilled its mythical role as a nurturing and regenerative vessel by providing such a rich and seemingly perpetual source of interest to writers and artists. Charting the emergence of the story of the Grail offers a revealing insight into the cultural shift from Celtic paganism to the emergence and domination of Christianity in Western Europe. The influence of Eastern mysticism emerges in the Grail romances as a result of the medieval crusades with its clash of cultures and subsequent cross-pollination of ideas. The Grail has come to symbolise the ultimate achievement in the modern mind and it became an object of fascination for the psychologist Carl Jung and the poet TS Eliot. Wagner, William Blake and the Pre-Raphaelites are just some of the artists to have fallen under its enduring spell.

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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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Barry Forshaw is acknowledged as a leading expert on crime fiction and film. Following his books on Nordic Noir, Brit Noir and Euro Noir he now tackles the largest and, some might argue, most impressive body of crime fiction from a single country, the United States, to produce the perfect reader's guide to modern American crime fiction. The word 'Noir' is used in its loosest sense: every major living American writer is considered (including the giants Harlan Coben, Patricia Cornwell, James Lee Burke, James Ellroy and Sara Paretsky, as well as non-crime writers such as Stephen King who stray into the genre), often through a concentration on one or two key books. Many exciting new talents are highlighted, and Barry Forshaw's knowledge of - and personal acquaintance with - many of the writers, grants valuable insight into this massively popular field. But the crime genre is as much about films and TV as it is about books, and American Noir is a celebration of the former as well as the latter. US television crime drama in particular is enjoying a golden age, and all of the important current series are covered here, as well as key contemporary films.

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Running a Creative Company in the Digital Age helps you navigate the landscape and learn from seasoned professionals, understanding the mistakes they made so you don't have to make them too! Running a Creative Company in the Digital Age helps you navigate the landscape and learn from seasoned professionals, understanding the mistakes they made so you don't have to make them too! In the modern media industry digital content production is cheaper, more democratic and accessible and it's becoming more attractive - and easier - to do things your own way. So what if you want to set up on your own? This book will guide you through the joys and pitfalls of running your own creative company in today's diverse media climate. This is a nuts and bolts guide to company set up, structure, management and content production for digital platforms, TV, festivals, charities, education, brands and businesses. Full of tips for creating innovative business models and platforms, handling tricky people and situations, funding and networking, these pages are your touchstone for making that bold first move into founder/managing director status. Featuring interviews with industry experts including digital agency and production company CEOs, creative entrepreneurs, crowd funding platforms, investors, film makers, media lawyers and accountants.

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Dreaming of escape from his remote village in the Himalayan foothills, Rabindra entreats the gods to send him an English bride. When a saucy English dance troupe arrives on the run from a Bombay crime boss, Rabindra believes that his prayers have been answered. Except that they have no interest in marrying anyone. As the village begins to unravel in the presence of these scandalous foreigners, surprising secrets emerge from the depths of its past. A story of true love, coincidence, causality and sacrifice. In some ways it is a love-poem to a glorious, intriguing and sometimes frustrating culture still alive in the far corners of a great continent, but slowly fading to the onslaught of the technological age.

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Often alchemy is seen as an example of medieval gullibility and the alchemists as a collection of eccentrics and superstitious fools. Sean Martin shows that nothing could be further from the truth. It is important to see the search for the philosopher's stone and the attempts to turn base metal into gold as metaphors for the relation of man to nature and man to God as much as seriously held beliefs. Alchemy had a self-consistent outlook on the natural world and man's place in it. Alchemists like Paracelsus and Albertus Magnus were amongst the greatest minds of their time and the history of alchemy is both the history of a spiritual search and the history of a slowly developing scientific method. Sir Isaac Newton devoted as much time to his alchemical studies as he did to his mathematical ones. This book traces the history of alchemy from ancient times to the 20th century, highlighting the interest of modern thinkers like Jung in the subject, and in the process covers a major, if neglected area of Western thought.

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The First World War, lasting just four years, from 1914 to 1918, was without parallel, the first true global conflict in which all of the earth's great powers participated. A Short History of the First World War tells the story of this cataclysmic event describing the background to war, the international rivalries and conflicts of the previous decades that led to the nations of Europe forming virtual armed camps, the relentless build-up of military and naval hardware that characterized the early years of the 20th century and the great figures that tried to prevent conflict or enthusiastically pushed for it. A Short History of the First World War provides a superb introduction to the events of this epochal conflict.

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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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