Fantasy
This compelling volume brings together personal essays and memoir by a diverse group of gifted authors united by their poor or working-class origins. The contributors include Dorothy Allison, Joy Castro, Lisa D. Chavez, Mary Childers, Sandra Cisneros, Judith Ortiz Cofer, Teresa de la Caridad Doval, Maureen Gibbon, Dwonna Goldstone, Joy Harjo, Lorraine M. Lopez, Karen Salyer McElmurray, Amelia Montes, Bich Minh Nguyen, Judy Owens, Lynn Pruett, Heather Sellers, and Angela Threatt.
Musical understanding has evolved dramatically in recent years, principally through a heightened appreciation of musical meaning in its social, cultural, and philosophical dimensions. This collection of essays by leading scholars addresses an aspect of meaning that has not yet received its due: the relation of meaning in this broad humanistic sense to the shaping of fundamental values. The volume examines the open and active circle between the values and valuations placed on music by both individuals and societies, and the discovery, through music, of what and how to value.
The first of its kind, this book brings together a collection of 15 do-it-yourself parties and games designed to allow monster movie fanatics to step inside some of their favorite horror, science fiction, and dark comedy films. Each game is themed after a specific monster film from the classics to those of modern day. With card games, murder mysteries, haunted house games, and detective quests included, there is enough variety to suit any monstrous mood. Each game can be played by all ages with supplies ranging from simple index cards to fake blood and body parts.
What is love? Popular culture bombards us with notions of the intoxicating capacities of love or of beguiling women who can bewitch or heal, to the point that it is easy to believe that such images are timeless and universal. Not so, argues Laine Doggett in "Love Cures". Aspects of love that are expressed in pop music - such as 'love is a drug', 'sexual healing', and 'love potion number nine' - trace deep roots to Old French romance of the high Middle Ages. A young woman heals a poisoned knight. A mother prepares a love potion for a daughter who will marry a stranger in a faraway land.
"Sequels", the most popular and long-lasting guide to novels in series, returns with greatly expanded series listings. Mysteries continue to be a mainstay, with fantasy, science fiction, and romance listings, plus non - genre fiction selections from authors such as Edward Abbey and Lawrence Durrell.The authors have carefully sifted through a growing group of series to select those most likely to be available in a medium-sized public library, weeding out esoteric, obscure, and less popular series.
Arguably, film blurs the line between myth and reality better than any other artistic medium. Using movies to explore the unconscious realms of society in order to reach a better understanding of what drives it, this book examines filmmakers and films that center around schizophrenic themes of alienation, paranoia, breakdown, fantasy, dreams, dementia, violence, and that address - as entertainment - the schizophrenic experience. The loss of individual identity as reflected in the films is investigated, as well as the shamanistic potential inherent in the broader theme.
The author best known for his fictional cross-dressing serial killer Norman Bates in "Psycho" has seen little critical review of his work. These 12 essays examine Robert Bloch's novels, short stories and life, as well as the themes and issues explored in his influential canon. Bloch's fascination with killers, man's inhumanity to man, the dichotomy of tragedy and comedy, and his contributions to screen adaptations of his work are here covered by leading scholars of fantastic literature.
Science fiction is often considered the genre of ideas and imagination, which would seem to make it ideal for juveniles and young adults; however, the ideas are often dispensed by adults. This book considers the development of science fiction for children and teens between 1950 and 2010, exploring why it differs from science fiction aimed at adults. In a broader sense, this critical examination of 400 texts sheds light on changing attitudes toward children and teenagers, toward science education, and toward the authors' expectations and sociological views of their audience.
What makes a person Jewish? Why do some people feel they have physically inherited the memories of their ancestors? Is there any way to think about race without reducing it to racism or to physical differences? These questions are at the heart of "Racial Fever: Freud and the Jewish Question". In his final book, "Moses and Monotheism", Freud hinted at the complexities of Jewishness and insisted that Moses was really an Egyptian.
"Alice beyond Wonderland" explores the ubiquitous power of Lewis Carroll's imagined world. Including work by some of the most prominent contemporary scholars in the field of Lewis Carroll studies, all introduced by Karoline Leach's edgy foreword, "Alice beyond Wonderland" considers the literary, imaginative, and cultural influences of Carroll's nineteenth-century story on the high-tech, postindustrial cultural space of the twenty-first century.
Meet the changing needs of the contemporary reader with this current and comprehensive new readers' advisory resource. A Few Good Books will help you build a solid foundation in the theory and practice of readers' advisory and learn how exciting new Library 2.0 technologies, including tags, clouds, e-books virtual RA, and other digital formats will enhance your programs. A uniquely helpful section on RA for readers with disabilities, patrons who are non-native speakers of English, and adult new readers will enable your RA for under-served populations.