Torn between infatuation, lust, denial and playing wifey, the only thing Mo knows for sure is that she's been through hell, survived nine years, three miscarriages, numerous flings, heated arguments and a few knock-down drag-out fights only to realize she is further deep in love and more confused than ever. Come join national best-selling author Keisha Ervin as she spins a classic tale about loving someone so much you lose yourself, only to find in the end that what you thought was real love was just a game.

    By chance she meets Richmond Virginia's notorious drug kingpin, Des. Immediately they develop an astronomical love, which separates her from her family and friends. But when Des is sentenced to life in prison, Yarni will learn being A Hustler's Wife isn't easy with her sole provider behind bars.

    It is about the power of reading, the price of betrayal, and the possibility of redemption; and an exploration of the power of fathers over sons—their love, their sacrifices, their lies.A sweeping story of family, love, and friendship told against the devastating backdrop of the history of Afghanistan over the last thirty years, The Kite Runner is an unusual and powerful novel that has become a beloved, one-of-a-kind classic.--khaledhosseini.com

    Kaia didn't choose the streets. The streets chose her. Tossed from a broken home, Kaia is forced to learn the hard way just how grimy street life can be. Shedding her innocence, Kaia, overnight it seems, goes from being an often overlooked, stepped upon and crushed little girl, to a woman. She endures all of the drama that is thrown her way, sometimes catching it and sometimes being knocked flat on her ass. To aid in softening the blow is Aaron. Even street fairy tales have a Prince. Experiencing seclusion and imprisonment while locked down in street dreams and the illusion called love, is Aaron a Savior or Satin? With enemies in disguise, Kaia fights for survival and freedom, but surviving the streets could mean suffocating the freedom of her mind. Like a captured black butterfly, Kaia struggles to emerge and triumph, but victory ain't always sweet; as a matter of fact, sometimes it's bitter to the end.

    Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics:    New introductions commissioned from today's top writers and scholars    Biographies of the authors    Chronologies of contemporary historical, biographical, and cultural events    Footnotes and endnotes    Selective discussions of imitations, parodies, poems, books, plays, paintings, operas, statuary, and films inspired by the work    Comments by other famous authors    Study questions to challenge the reader's viewpoints and expectations    Bibliographies for further reading    Indices & Glossaries, when appropriateAll editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. Barnes & Noble Classics pulls together a constellation of influences—biographical, historical, and literary—to enrich each reader's understanding of these enduring works. Oscar Wilde’s legendary wit dazzles in The Importance of Being Earnest, one of the greatest and most popular works of drama to emerge from Victorian England. A light-hearted satire of the absurdity of all forms and conventions, this comic masterpiece features an unforgettable cast of characters who, as critic Max Beerbohm observed, “speak a kind of beautiful nonsense—the language of high comedy, twisted into fantasy.” This collection also includes Oscar Wilde’s most famous comedies, Lady Windermere’s Fan, A Woman of No Importance, and An Ideal Husband, as well as his poetic tragedy Salomé—all written between 1891 and 1895, Wilde’s most creative period. George Bernard Shaw said of Oscar Wilde that he is “our most thorough playwright. He plays with everything: with wit, with philosophy, with drama, with actors and audience, with the whole theater.”

     APF stands for Alpha Phi Fuckem, a sorority dedicated to sexual freedom and the fulfillment of its members. Zane's APF stories have appeared in her earlier collections, including The Sex Chronicles: Shattering the Myth, and are favorites among her readers. Many readers have written to Zane and asked to join the sorority or to launch a new chapter in their region. APF is fantasy, but the enthusiasm of Zane's fans is real. So now, with The Sisters of APF, she's offering readers what they want, a book-length story chronicling the adventures -- and recruitment process -- of the fearlessly sexy women of APF. Mary Ann is the daughter of a chicken farmer from South Dakota. She has never been more than fifty miles from home and has led a sheltered life. By the time she goes off to college in Washington, D.C., she has been intimate with only one man -- her high school sweetheart. The resident manager of Mary Ann's dormitory, Patricia, befriends the country bumpkin. She finds Mary Ann amusing, but also senses something intriguing about her, hidden under the surface. After Mary Ann becomes smitten with Trevor, the campus playboy, Patricia is determined to show Mary Ann how not to be a victim, but rather how to outdo the players and heartbreakers. She indoctrinates Mary Ann into the ranks of the sexiest secret society ever: the sisters of APF.

    But her sentence was commuted, and she was transported to Australia, one of the first convicts to arrive there.How Mary escaped the harsh existence of the colony and found true love, and how she was captured and taken back to London in chains, only to be released after a trial where she was defended by no less than James Boswell, is one of the most gripping and moving stories of human endeavour (based on an amazing true story) you will ever read

    The central couple's biggest challenge is timing: He works days; she works nights. Instead of growing together, they're rapidly drifting apart, coexisting on stolen phone calls from work, punctuated by occasional bedroom encounters that leave them both feeling even emptier and more alone. When she finds out about his affair-and starts her own-the delicate fabric of their marriage is torn irrevocably asunder. Or is it? In Dickey's expert hands, what begins as a seemingly unforgivable betrayal segues into the sexy and searing story of a man and a woman at a pivotal turning point in their relationship. Only time will tell whether they'll let it all go...or can hold on to the love that drew them together in the first place.

    It is a simple tale of a father’s love for his daughter and the transfer of that love to another little girl. It is a love that transcends the borders of race, religion and language.Kabuliwala which literally means “The Kabuli Man” (better known in English as “The Fruitseller from Kabul”), is a story about the ancient and romantic friendship between India and Kabul city.

    His tricks and turns have a purpose. They are bridges over a deep pit of sympathy and sorrow, illuminated by a tragic vision of stunted and frustrated lives.' Fintan O'Toole, Irish TimesMartin McDonagh's searingly brilliant new play premi�res at the National Theatre, London in November 2003.

    Determined to restore Manet Hall to its former splendor, Declan begins the daunting renovation room by room, relying on his own labor and skills. But the days spent in total isolation in the empty house take a toll. He is seeing visions of days from a century past, and experiencing sensations of terror and nearly unbearable grief - sensations not his own, but those of a stranger. Only the companionship of the alluring Angelina Simone can distract him from the mysterious happenings in the house, but Angelina too has her own surprising connection to Manet Hall - a connection that will help Declan uncover a secret that's been buried for a hundred years. Chesapeake Blue (James Daniels, J.C. Howe, and Jill Sovis): Seth Quinn is finally home. Now a grown man returning from Europe as a successful painter, Seth is settling down on Maryland's Eastern Shore, surrounded once again by Cam, Ethan, and Phillip, their wives and children, all the blessed chaos of the extended Quinn clan. Still, a lot has changed in St. Christopher since he's been gone - and the most intriguing change of all is the presence of Dru Whitcomb Banks. Dru's past has made her sensitive to deception - and slow to trust. And Seth's past has made him a target of blackmail - as a secret he's kept hidden for years threatens to explode, destroying his new life and his new love... Birthright (Bernadette Quigley, Laura Grafton, Matthew Christilaw): On a hot July afternoon, a worker at an Antietam Creek construction site drives the blade of his backhoe into a layer of soil ? and strikes a 5,000-year-old human skull. As an archaeologist, Callie Dunbrook knows a lot about the past. But her own past is about to be called into question. Recruited for her expertise on the Antietam Creek dig, she encounters danger ? as a cloud of death and misfortune hangs over the project, and rumors fly that the site is cursed. She finds a passion that feels equally dangerous, as she joins forces in her work with her irritating, but irresistible, ex-husband, Jake. And when a strange woman approaches her, claiming to know a secret about Callie's privileged Boston childhood, some startling and unsettling questions are raised about her very identity.

    . . . It was no ordinary murder. Though the torture and abuse that killed him were real, Andy Gage's death wasn't. Only his soul actually died, and when it died, it broke in pieces. Then the pieces became souls in their own right, coinheritors of Andy Gage's life. . . .While Andy deals with the outside world, more than a hundred other souls share an imaginary house inside Andy's head, struggling to maintain an orderly coexistence: Aaron, the father figure; Adam, the mischievous teenager; Jake, the frightened little boy; Aunt Sam, the artist; Seferis, the defender; and Gideon, who wants to get rid of Andy and the others and run things on his own.Andy's new coworker, Penny Driver, is also a multiple personality, a fact that Penny is only partially aware of. When several of Penny's other souls ask Andy for help, Andy reluctantly agrees, setting in motion a chain of events that threatens to destroy the stability of the house. Now Andy and Penny must work together to uncover a terrible secret that Andy has been keeping . . . from himself.

    This is a witty and insightful tale of two sisters looking for happiness, and finding real love, stupid mistakes and hard-earned lessons, before getting back on track with each other.

    Needing college credit to graduate on time, he kept a journal of everything he saw and heard and thus was able to document in unprecedented detail how a musical is actually created. Now, more than thirty years later, he has fashioned an extraordinary chronicle. Follies was created by Stephen Sondheim, Hal Prince, Michael Bennett, and James Goldman - giants in the evolution of the Broadway musical and geniuses at the top of their game. Everything Was Possible takes the reader on a roller-coaster ride, from the uncertainties of casting to drama-filled rehearsals, from the care and feeding of one-time movie and television stars to the pressures of a Boston tryout to the exhilaration of opening night on Broadway. Foreword by long-time NY critic Frank Rich.

    Nestled in his lavishing home in Chesterfield, Missouri, he captures women with his wealth, charm, nine-plus inches of goodness and amazingly good looks. Although his bed is never empty, his heart is. He feels nothing for the women who love him dearly and continues his search for the perfect one. When Scorpio Valentino, an attractive, seductive and charming woman saunters into his view, she offers Jaylin a life of altering changes. Her intention is to make his life a living hell, however, Jaylin is not about to take the fall. Surprisingly, soon, love presents itself. Not for the women in Jaylin's life, but he experiences love through becoming a father to Scorpio's five-year-old daughter, Mackenzie. She's his guardian angel and is there for Jaylin through the tough times he's bound to face.

    Complacency had managed to set in again. . . A decent job, warm home, food on the table, and a body to curl up next to at night; he'd made the mistake of getting comfortable. Comfort fooled him into thinking it was all good when it wasn't. Damn nightmares had a way of reminding him of that."Ever since he was fifteen, John King has been on the run from the ghosts of his past, always drifting, never settling down in one place or with one woman, though more than one has certainly made the offer of forever-after. But every time his memories of life back in Texas start to haunt him too deeply into the night, John realizes that it's time to move on. That is, until he rolls into Denver, Colorado, grooving to Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It on," and meets Connie Rodgers, a woman who grew up on the mean streets and has the pain and the battle scars to prove it. And yet, she inspires him to think "If indeed there were a home for the perfect kiss, it would be on her lips." John is reluctant to admit that here is a woman who just may understand his very soul, even if she does have some baggage of her own. But both must face their pasts if they ever hope to be free to live and love.Filled with completely unforgettable characters, One Day I Saw a Black King is a stunningly powerful story that explores the power of the past over the present, the search for love and belonging and the healing gift of an extraordinary love.

    Be prepared. But how could she be prepared for the news that she has an inoperable brain tumor? April’s life will never be the same. Then she meets handsome Mark Gianni. Mark has cystic fibrosis, but he also has a passion for life . . . and for April. When he asks April to marry him, she’s happier than she’s ever been.April thought she and Mark would be together forever. But since Mark’s death, April has never felt more alone. Then Brandon Benedict comes into her life. Brandon is lonely and angry—he and April have a lot in common. But April cannot tell Brandon about her illness. When April’s medical problems suddenly return, she must decide what to tell Brandon. Can the love she’s felt before help her now?

    She doesn't have a clue what it will do to her heart...and soul.From the Christy-award-winning author of The List, The Trial, and The Sacrifice comes this twisting tale of tough decisions, mixed motives, and mysterious, healing grace.Baxter Richardson survived a fall from a cliff while hiding in the mountains. Whether he'll make it through the next few weeks is unclear. His survival depends on the machines that help him breathe. On the haunted, unstable wife who wants to pull the plug and hide her secrets. On the doting father who wants him alive for reasons of love and money. On the conflicting legal documents that send the fight to court. And, on the music and prayers of an extraordinarily gifted pianist.

    Dying too young on her wedding day, Eurydice must journey to the underworld, where she reunites with her father and struggles to remember her lost love. With contemporary characters, ingenious plot twists, and breathtaking visual effects, the play is a fresh look at a timeless love story.

    Now the acclaimed author of SHAKESPEARE: HIS WORK AND HIS WORLD presents the Bard's best-loved play — perhaps of all time — in a beautiful picture book for children. Michael Rosen retells ROMEO AND JULIET scene by scene in a simple, lively style that incorporates the most celebrated passages in their original form, while a border on each spread offers act and scene references and a glossary of difficult words. Exquisite illustrations by Jane Ray complete the production, making this an edition to enthrall the eye as well as the ear.

    In the small town of Conners, Georgia, Darcy has just started high school, her older sister Adel goes to weekend dances at the local Army base, and their mother tends her beautiful garden–the biggest and best in town. But Darcy’s world is soon changed forever when her mother goes to Atlanta for tests. The diagnosis is not good–breast cancer. There is so much Darcy wants to talk to her mother about: the war and what happened to the soldiers who were there; the feelings she is having for the new (and troubled) boy in school. But she can’t. So she finds solace in her mother’s garden. There she can help the flowers her mother planted bloom.From the Hardcover edition.

    He ought to be the most terrible one because he presides over destruction, whereas Brahma and Vishnu are associated with creation and preservation respectively. Yet Shiva is as much loved by mortals as Vishnu is. He inspires fear in the hearts of the wicked, love and affection in the hearts and the pious. From his snowy abode on Mount Kailasa, Lord Shiva travelled for and wide, answering the prayers of his devotee. But he was often in disguise to ensure that his favours went only to the deserving. And so it was that he battled with the dauntless Pandava Arjuna, cast his net into the sea as he mingled with humble fisherfolk, and emerged from the sand to kick aside even the mighty Yama, God of death.

    She thought she was about to lose her job but instead the business's new owner, Mr Wyndham, wants to keep her on. Lorna's mother, though, is horrified by the news and finally confesses that Lorna was the result of an affair with Oliver Wyndham, whose family cast her out when Oliver died and the pregnancy was revealed. Shocked to the core to learn that the man she has always thought to be her beloved father simply adopted her at birth, Lorna resolves to find out everything she can about the past and especially about the tragic death of Oliver Wyndham. Working with the Wyndhams, she soon begins to stir up old secrets and the truth starts to emerge. But Lorna hasn't reckoned with falling in love with a member of the family she should hate...

    Saadat Hasan Manto's stories are vivid, dangerous and troubling and they slice into the everyday world to reveal its sombre, dark heart. These stories were written from the mid 30s on, many under the shadow of Partition. No Indian writer since has quite managed to capture the underbelly of Indian life with as much sympathy and colour. In a new translation that for the first time captures the richness of Manto's prose and its combination of high emotion and taut narrative, this is a classic collection from the master of the Indian short story.

    Out of desperation, he contacts the inventor of the process, Dr. Howard Mierzwiak (Tom Wilkinson), to have Clementine removed from his own memory. But as Joel's memories progressively disappear, he begins to rediscover their earlier passion. From deep within the recesses of his brain, Joel attempts to escape the procedure.As Dr. Mierzwiak and his crew chase him through the maze of his memories, it's clear that Joel just can't get her out of his head.The movie stars Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Kirsten Dunst,Tom Wilkinson, Elijah Wood, and Mark Ruffalo.In the acclaimed Newmarket Shooting Script® format, the book includes an introduction by director Michel Gondry (Human Nature), a facsimile of the script, a Q&A with Kaufman, a selection of black-and-white movie stills with commentary, and the complete cast and crew credits.

    That's why everyone calls her the Drama Queen. She doesn't go looking for drama, it just happens to her. Take for instance, her love life. Kayla's not satisfied with just one man. She has two-one she's in love with and another whom she's pregnant by. A ready-made formula for disaster, but will Kayla see it before everything blows up in her face? Her track records says no, but her friends and family can only hope. Drama Queen is a hilariously funny and fast-paced novel that offers king-size drama and entertainment. Urban Books, a new line of books focusing on the drama and grit of inner-city life, featuring edgy, and exciting new voices-writers who tell it like it is.

    At eleven, Pip Mackenzie's young life has already been touched by tragedy; nine months before, a terrible accident plunged her mother Ophelie into inconsolable grief. But on this chilly July afternoon, Pip meets artist Matt Bowles, who offers to teach the girl to draw--and can't help but notice her beautiful, lonely mother.Matt Bowles senses something magical about Pip, who reminds him of his own daughter at that age, before a bitter divorce tore his family apart and swept his children halfway across the world. At first, Ophelie is thrown off-balance by her daughter's new companion--until she realizes how much joy he is bringing into their lives. As Matt confronts unfinished business from his past, and Ophelie is struck by a stunning betrayal, out of the darkness that has shadowed them both comes an unexpected gift of hope.

    Now, two years later, it is time for her to come to terms with marriage, career, family, parenthood, and Kevin's horrific rampage in a series of startlingly direct correspondences with her estranged husband, Franklin. Uneasy with the sacrifices and social demotion of motherhood from the start, Eva fears that her alarming dislike for her own son may be responsible for driving him so nihilistically off the rails.

    Theatergoers who have followed August Wilson’s career will find in Gem a touchstone for everything else he has written.”—Ben Brantley, The New York Times“Wilson’s juiciest material. The play holds the stage and its characters hammer home, strongly, the notion of newfound freedom.”—Michael Phillips, Chicago TribuneGem of the Ocean is the play that begins it all. Set in 1904 Pittsburgh, it is chronologically the first work in August Wilson’s decade-by-decade cycle dramatizing the African American experience during the 20th century—an unprecedented series that includes the Pulitzer Prize–winning plays Fences and The Piano Lesson. Aunt Esther, the drama’s 287-year-old fiery matriarch, welcomes into her Hill District home Solly Two Kings, who was born into slavery and scouted for the Union Army, and Citizen Barlow, a young man from Alabama searching for a new life. Gem of the Ocean recently played across the country and on Broadway, with Phylicia Rashad as Aunt Esther.Earlier in 2005, on the completion of the final work of his ten play cycle-surely the most ambitious American dramatic project undertaken in our history-August Wilson disclosed his bout with cancer, an illness of unusual ferocity that would eventually claim his life on October 2. Fittingly the Broadway theatre where his last play will be produced in 2006 has been renamed the August Wilson Theater in his honor. His legacy will animate the theatre and stir the human heart for decades to come.

    On the eve of the Great War, Millicent King begins to keep her journal and vividly records the dramas of everyday life in a family touched by war, tragedy, and money troubles. From bohemian London to Rome in the 1920s her story moves on to social work and the build-up to another war, in which she drives ambulances through the bombed streets of London.Here is twentieth-century woman in close-up coping with the tragedies and upheavals of women's lives from WWI to Greenham Common and beyond. A triumph of resolution and evocation, this is a beautifully observed story of an ordinary woman's life - a narrative where every word rings true.

    Modernized spelling, extensive notes, and a helpful introduction make the text immediately accessible to the modern reader.

    In How to Stop Acting, Guskin reveals the insights and techniques that have worked wonders for beginners as well as stars. Instead of yet another "method," Guskin offers a strategy based on a radically simple and refreshing idea: that the actor's work is not to "create a character" but rather to be continually, personally responsive to the text, wherever his impulse takes him, from first read-through to final performance. From this credo derives an entirely new perspective on auditioning and the challenge of developing a role and keeping it fresh, even over hundreds of performances. Drawing on examples from his clients' work and his own, Guskin presents acting as a constantly evolving exploration rather than as a progression toward a fixed goal. He also offers sound and original advice on adapting to the particular demands of television and film, playing difficult emotional scenes, tackling the Shakespearean and other great roles, and more. His book will find an eager and appreciative audience among novices and established actors alike.

    When thunder and lightning strike on the morning of Zoe Clark's wedding, her seemingly perfect world is turned upside-down as she loses her fiance to a pregnant girlfriend she never knew he had. With her engagement shattered, all her life's plans seem over. Unemployed, sinking deeply into depression, and wrongly blaming God for her troubles, Zoe seriously contemplates ending her life. But God sends Chase Farr to reintroduce Zoe to the importance of having God in her life. Yet when Zoe's friendship with Chase turns romantic, he suddenly backs away--further confusing Zoe with his decision to remain a virgin. Through life's twists and turns of celebration and sorrow, Zoe ultimately learns what it means to truly trust in God--but in the end, does this revelation come too late to fix things with Chase?

    Musical. STINKFOOT is an absurdist musical written by former Bonzo Dog Band frontman Vivian Stanshall (1943-1995) and his wife Ki Longfellow-Stanshall for their Old Profanity Showboat in Bristol. The musical was performed in December 1985 but has not been published before. The Sea Urchin edition will contain the script of the musical, lyrics and artwork by Vivian Stanshall, photos of the Bristol performances and an introduction by Ki Longfellow-Stanshall.

    It's funny, poignant and completely unexpected. You won't be able to stop thinking about it.   Di's twelfth novel opens in New Zealand in the 1960s. The Mitchell family has run a prosperous sheep farm for generations and the youngest daughter, Sally, has just turned 20. She rides to the hounds and leads an indulged life. That is, until she shocks her parents by becoming involved with an older man. Scandalised, they try to pack her off to England, but Sally doesn't make it. After a wild spree in Sydney she's cashed in her ticket and, hell bent on adventure, takes a job as a governess on a remote cattle station - Barra Creek - in the Gulf country of Cape York. Untamed and crocodile infested, it's a land of deserts, jungles and wide rivers. Then the great stations were run by men who were loners and women who had to cope or leave.   Decades later, in 2003, Sally learns a secret that will change many lives - including her own - and leave readers horrified on one hand, and smiling and crying on the other.

    Despite being born to a broken-hearted mother and a faithless father, Campbell still believes in the power of love...if she can ever find it. Living in the same neighborhood, but unknown to Campbell until a chance meeting brings them together, is Donovan, the "little man" of a shattered home-a family torn apart by anger and bitterness. In the face of these daunting obstacles, Donovan dreams of someday marrying, raising a family, and playing for the NBA. But, deep inside, Campbell and Donovan live with the histories that have shaped their lives. What they discover-together and apart-forms the basis of this compelling, sensual, and surprising novel.A deeply thoughtful novel about hope, forgiveness, and the cost of Loving Donovan, this is certain to be another bestseller from a supremely gifted author.

    

    Meghann is now a highly successful attorney, and has put all thoughts of love completely behind her – until she meets the one man who believes he can change her mind. Claire has fallen in love for the first time in her life, and as her wedding day approaches she prepares to face her strong-willed older sister. Reunited after two decades, these two women who believe they have nothing in common will try to become what they never were: a family.Tender, funny, bittersweet and moving, Kristin Hannah's Between Sisters skilfully explores the profound joys and sorrows shared in a close relationship, the mistakes made in the name of love, and the promise of redemption."

    Each book also contains biographical details of the original author, and a glossary of unusual words and activity suggestions.

    He was just another disapproving voice in a long line of disapproving voices. Grace learned at an early age not to trust, not to reach out, not to believe. She'd do her time at Sapling Hill and move on with her life. She didn't need anyone.Joanna Carey, senior instructor at Sapling Hill, wasn't looking for anything more than completing one more year at the facility and getting that much closer to her private dream--a small cabin on a quiet lake. She was touch, smart, and she had a plan for her life.When tough instructor Carey meets angry and disillusioned Grace Waters, neither is prepared for what comes next. Stubborn and angry Grace meets her match in Carey, the strong and disciplined woman who is determined to help Grace help herself. What Carey is not expecting is that Grace will break through her defenses. Together, they will change each other's lives in ways that neither thought possible.

    His slow descent into semi-madness is chronicled here, in The Office, The Scripts volume 2. Following on from the phenomenal success of series 1 voted Comedy of the Year at the British Comedy Awards the second series averaged over 4 million viewers, with a 25% audience share. This book features the scripts from all six episodes and contains over 500 picture screengrabs taken from the broadcast masters and available exclusively in this BBC publication. Original and accurate and painfully funny: it will have every office in the country twitching with spasms of recognition This is a gem. The Times

    The compelling sequel to the top-selling Lincolnshire saga Tangled Threads, this is a captivating story of love, war and courage.

    Biggie Smalls, a.k.a. The Notorious B.I.G.In this riveting account of Biggie's remarkable life, hip hop journalist Cheo Hodari Coker tells the story you've never heard about the dramatic, tension-filled world of Biggie, Tupac, Puff Daddy, and Suge Knight, tracing their friendships and feuds from the beginning to the bitter end. Despite the clash of personalities and styles, all four were key players in a volatile and creative era of hip hop, a time when gangsta rap became popular music.Before he rocketed to fame as Biggie, Christopher Wallace was a young black man growing up in Brooklyn with a loving single mother. An honors student who dropped out of school to sell drugs, Biggie soon discovered that he had a gift for rocking the mike. Coker's narrative is based on exclusive interviews with Biggie's family and friends, some of whom have never spoken publicly about Biggie before.Compellingly written and brilliantly illustrated, with rare color and black-and-white photographs from Vibe's archives and Biggie's family, this is an in-depth look at the life and afterlife of an icon whose music is as powerful and prevalent as ever. A virtuoso of flow as well as a master storyteller, Biggie was arguably the greatest rapper of all time. We've heard a lot of speculation about Biggie's death. Now it's time to remember his life and celebrate his work.

    They have a well-meaning but shallow church. What Sherry doesn't know is that Doug has a shameful struggle with his thought life. When an exotic dancer's life intersects theirs, this suburban couple has to make a hard choice: do they risk their convenience and security for her sake, or do they cross to the other side of the road? The dark forces will not easily give up their most important pawn. But Ronnie must come out of the darkness, for only she can unravel a plot of devastating destruction.

    Neither is quite what they seem to be. In the audio edition, the actors are Alan Bennett and Judi Dench.

    Ballala, a poet in his court, has immortalised his patron in his work Bhoja Prabandha which is a romantic tale, written in Sanskrit, partly in verse and partly in prose. Ballala was interested not so much in history as in heroics. In his attaempt to magnify Bhoja as a patron of the arts and letters, Ballala has ignored historical facts. The poets, Kalidasa and Bana, who he said adorned Bhoja's court, actually lived much before Bhoja's times.

    A masterful poet of the downtrodden, his plays portray life on New York's hardscrabble streets in a manner both tender and unflinching, while continually exploring the often startling gulf between who we are and how we perceive ourselves. Gathered in this volume is his current off-Broadway hit, Our Lady of 121st Street, a comic portrait of the graduates of a Harlem Catholic school reunited at the funeral of a beloved teacher, along with his two previous plays: the philosophical jailhouse drama Jesus Hopped the A Train and In Arabia, We'd All Be Kings, an Iceman Cometh for the Giuliani era that looks at the effect of Times Square's gentrification on its less desirable inhabitants.

    A team of contemporary fiction scholars from both sides of the Atlantic has been assembled to provide a thorough and readable analysis of each of the novels in question.The books in the series will all follow the same structure: a biography of the novelist, including other works, influences, and, in some cases, an interview; a full-length study of the novel, drawing out the most important themes and ideas; a summary of how the novel was received upon publication; a summary of how the novel has performed since publication, including film or TV adaptations, literary prizes, etc.; a wide range of suggestions for further reading, including websites and discussion forums; and a list of questions for reading groups to discuss.

    Now Alice's many fans can treasure the first four books in the beloved series in his handsome boxed set.Books in this set include:"The Agony of AliceAlice in Rapture, Sort OfReluctantly AliceAll But Alice"

    Although her father is dead, and her mother works hard, Ellie's grandmother Bridie is always there to provide a welcoming hug when the little girl returns from school. But, one tragic day, Ellie's secure world is suddenly torn apart with the mysterious death of her mother, and Ellie is forced to live with her uncle Mick, a man with a violent temper. As the years pass, Ellie's yearning to know the truth about her mother's death never fades - it even casts a shadow over her blossoming romance with childhood friend, Franco Baldini. For Franco knows more about that fateful day than he dares admit, especially to Ellie. Can their love survive when Ellie longs to uncover events that Franco is desperate to forget? And will Ellie ever find out what really happened to her mother?

    Chubby Tracy Turnblad (Marissa Jaret Winokur, 2003 Tony winner for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical) is transformed into a teen celebrity on a local TV dance program. With her irresistible stage mother (Harvey Fierstein, 2003 Tony winner for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical) at her side, she attempts to win the heart of the local heartthrob and integrate "The Corny Collins Show" at the same time.

    Chiaka is not at all acting like himself. In fact, he recently skipped his college entrance exams. Is Chiaka's classmate the only one who may be able to unveil the unholy perversion that has secretly crept into Chiaka's life?

    

    The audio CD includes the complete 1938 Mercury Theatre on the Air broadcast, along with Orson Welles's press conference from the next day, a rare interview between Orson Welles and H.G. Wells and clips from a later version of "War of the Worlds." The book includes the story behind the "Panic Broadcast," the radio play script, biographical information on H.G. and Orson and the complete text of H.G. Wells's classic, "The War of the Worlds"-in addition, the book features lavish black-and-white and color photographs and illustrations. "Two words: absolutely priceless. To have all the aspects of this classic story and historic moment in American broadcast media wrapped into one finely researched package is fantastic."-Today's Librarian "With all of this information gathered into a neat package, young adults have an opportunity to read, listen and learn about one of the most important events of radio history and a science-fiction classic."-Library Journal

    Huston has never before written about that time—an era of racism and repression, a time when this country was still relatively young, an age of quirky individualism and almost frontier-style freedom that largely has ceased to exist. Fearful he would not be believed, on one hand, but desirous of the freedom to embellish, on the other, Curtiss chronicles that time in Sins of the Seventh Sister, a book he characterizes as “a novel based on a true story of the gothic South.” It is his story and the story of the people of Elkins, West Virginia, a small town whose inhabitants included his mother, Billy-Pearl Curtiss, and her many sisters—all stunning blondes. Billy-Pearl would prove to be an irresistibly romantic figure in her son’s life. She was the seventh of eleven children, all girls to her father’s consternation. By the time of her arrival, her father felt he had been patient enough and insisted on calling her Billy; he taught her everything he had intended to impart to his firstborn son. She would grow up to be one of the most beautiful women in the county, but also one of the most opinionated and liberal. Her aim was so precise that she was barred from the local turkey shoot because none of the men had a chance against her. When a Klansman accused her of attempted homicide after she shot him through the shoulder to stop him from setting fire to the home of her black neighbors, she told the sheriff, “If I had meant to kill him, he’d be dead.” And with that defense, she was exonerated.Curtiss Farm was large and the house had many rooms, which Billy-Pearl got in the habit of gathering people to fill, especially the downtrodden who had nowhere to go. In May 1929, Billy-Pearl brought home a boy from the local orphanage. Stanley was sixteen, the age at which the orphanage kicked children out, and Billy-Pearl, knowing his sad history, could not allow him to end up on the streets. Stanley had witnessed his father beat his mother to death in a drunken rage and had taken a straight razor and slit his father’s throat while he slept. A country judge had the boy castrated to control his aggressive ways. Not a boy, but not yet a man, Stanley was tall, willowy, and frightened as a colt upon his arrival at Curtiss Farm—not at all the playmate for whom Huston had hoped. But quickly a friendship developed between the two that would last a lifetime—a friendship that would survive murder, suicide, madness, and Stanley’s eventual transformation into Stella, a singer who would live her adult life as a glamorous woman.Sins of the Seventh Sister is brilliantly conceived and masterfully written, as alive with flamboyant characters and wildly uncontained emotions as any book to come out of the South.

    It's time for a new assistant. But will Scumspawn (Robert Duncan) get the job?Andy Hamilton stars as Satan in the comedy that's satirical, philosophical, inventive, topical - and timeless.

    There is Kerry Max Cook, a Texan who was convicted of murdering a young woman even though she was found with another man's hair grasped in her fist--a man whom "Texas killed a thousand times, and just keeps on doing it" in his nightmares. And there is Delbert Tibbs, a black Chicago poet who speaks of his years on death row with anger and bitterness, yet also, as he says, "still sings." All their stories have been compiled and edited by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen into The Exonerated, a play that is both a riveting work of theater and an exploration of the dark side of the American criminal justice system.

    He also tells the actor when to go fast and when to go slow and when to accent a particular word.This book sets out to make going to Shakespeare performances or acting in them a richer experience, and it should have a wide appeal to both actors and audiences.It also celebrates Sir Peter Hall’s fifty years as a director of Shakespeare; from his early days at Cambridge, through founding the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford on Avon in the early ’60s, and later to his fifteen years as the director of the Royal National Theatre of Great Britain. Throughout these years, Peter Hall worked with the greatest Shakespearean actors of our generation including Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud, Edith Evans, Ralph Richardson, Peggy Ashcroft, Charles Laughton and in later years Judi Dench, Anthony Hopkins, Ian Holm, David Warner, and many others. Through this great line flows a tradition of speaking and understanding Shakespeare that remains as relevant and important today. And it is Hall’s experience of working and learning with these and many other actors over the years that underpins the core of this book.Sir Peter Hall is one of the major figures in theatre today. To date he has directed over two hundred productions, including the world premiere in English of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, and the premieres of most of Harold Pinter’s plays. His diary and autobiography are published by Oberon Books.

    The Soldier Who Killed a King will stun you afresh with how completely Christ's resurrection changed history, one life at a time.

    Baltimore's Tracy Turnblad, a big girl with big hair and an even bigger heart, has only one passion: to dance. She wins a spot on the local TV dance program, "The Corny Collins Show," and overnight is transformed from an awkward overweight outsider into an irrespressible teen celebrity. But can a trendsetter in dance and fashion vanquish the program's reigning blond princess, win the heart of heartthrob Link Larkin, and integrate a television show without denting her 'do? Only in "Hairspray!" Based on John Waters's 1988 film, the musical comedy "Hairspray" opened on Broadway in August 2002 to rave reviews. "Hairspray: The Roots "includes the libretto of the show--along with hilarious anecdotes from the authors, to say nothing of dance step diagrams and full-color bouffant wigs to copy and cut out--along with all the creative energy, brilliant color, and full-out emotion that have made the musical "a great big, gorgeous hit . . . [that] is a triumph on all levels" (Clive Barnes, "The New York Post). "

    They have grown up together and become top climbers, but have since become estranged. Rob is nevertheless grief-stricken when he hears of Jamie's death after a fall on a relatively easy Welsh rockface. The past, though, hides the secret clues behind the tragedy.

    Includes Macbeth, The Merchant of Venice, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, and The Taming of the Shrew.

    On November 22, 1963, just hours after President Kennedy's assassination, Lyndon Johnson was sworn in as President aboard Air Force One using JFK's own Bible. Immediately afterward, the Bible disappeared. It has never been recovered. Today, its value would be beyond price. In the year 2000, actress Cady Cuyler is recruited to return to 1963 for this Bible-while also discovering why her father disappeared in the same city, on the same tragic day. Finding frightening links between them will lead Cady to a far more perilous mission: to somehow prevent the President's murder, with one unlikely ally: an ex-Marine named Lee Harvey Oswald. Forward to Camelot: 50th Anniversary Edition brings together an unlikely trio: a gallant president, the young patriot who risks his own life to save him, and the woman who knows their future, who is desperate to save them both. History CAN be altered ...

    This first novel takes place in Oklahoma in the hot summer of 1932, where the love of two people is tested at every turn.

    There's no rest for the wicked and Satan's as busy as ever, especially when a new, extremely beautiful woman called Hope arrives in Hell. When it transpires, however, that she has been sent to the underworld accidentally, even the sardonic Satan begins to melt to her charms. Soon he has embarked on an epic quest to confront Death in order to return her to the land of the living. Helping, or more often hindering, Satan are the Professor, Scumspawn, and Thomas, who encounter Queen Victoria, Harpo Marx, St Peter, Death (who has a surprisingly strong Welsh accent), and talking crocodiles. Devilishly good fun to play—that's Old Harry's Game.1 CD. 1 hr.

    On a hot Toronto night in 1933, at an amateur baseball game at Christie Pits field, four Nazi youths flashed a large black swastika, shouting "Heil Hitler!" Within seconds, a group of Jewish youths charged at them, trying to grab the flag. One of the Nazi youths snatches back the banner and breaks free, running with the flag through the park, setting off a four-hour race riot involving 15,000 people, injuring hundreds, and sending scores to the hospital. In this panoramic novel, Karen X. Tulchinsky traces the fortunes of the Lapinskys from the evening of the riots through World War II and into the 1950s. It is then, in a boxing ring at Madison Square Garden, that Sonny Lapinsky must decide whether or not to reconcile with a family torn apart by a violent past — a decision that will affect generations to come, including his son and future biographer, Moses. Set against the Great Depression, race riots, and World War II, this family saga about a Jewish boy-cum-champion boxer is filled with humor, sorrow, bravery, folly, and the stuff of everyday life.

    She has no interest in heeding her father's wishes by wedding a cavalry officer from Fort Harris, but knows she has little choice. Until she meets a courageous Indian warrior who ignites her soul, inspiring her to defy not only her father but the prejudices of their people ...Night Wolf is the chief of the Wolf band of the Cree, and his first responsibility is to them. By marrying a Chippewa maiden, he will ensure the future survival of his people through an alliance between the tribes. But Night Wolf cannot deny the fiery passion he feels for Marissa --- a forbidden desire that threatens to overwhelm his sense of duty ...

    Featuring major works by literary masters from the ancient world through the twentieth century, this concise anthology combines comprehensive coverage of key works of the Western literary tradition and the best core, enduring works of the literatures of China, Japan, India, the Middle East, Africa, and native Americas. The anthology includes epic and lyric poetry, drama, and prose narrative, with many complete works and a focus on the most influential pieces and authors from each region and time period. The texts are supplemented by contextual materials that help students understand the literary and historical eras from which these texts arose. Engaging introductions, scholarly annotations, maps, pronunciation guides, and illustrations developed by a distinguished editorial team provide a wealth of teachable materials that support and illuminate the selections.

    This volume completes the new six-volume Loeb Classical Library edition of his plays.In Bacchae, a masterpiece of tragic drama, Euripides tells the story of king Pentheus's resistance to the worship of Dionysus and his horrific punishment. Iphigenia at Aulis recounts the sacrifice of Agamemnon's daughter to Artemis, the price exacted by the goddess for favorable sailing winds. Rhesus (probably not by Euripides) dramatizes a pivotal incident in the Trojan War. David Kovacs presents a faithful and skillfully worded translation of the three plays, facing a freshly edited Greek text.

    H.D.'s 1927 adaptation of Euripides's Hippolytus Temporizes and her 1937 translation of Ion appeared midpoint in her career. These two verse dramas can both be considered as "freely adapted" from plays by Euripides; they constitute a commentary in action, and in this regard resemble the Oedipus plays of W. B. Yeats and Ezra Pound's Women of Trachis. In the first play, the young man Hippolytus is obsessed with the virgin goddess Artemis and discovers the depth of his passion with the sensual Phaedra, his disguised stepmother: this experience brings self-knowledge and death. The heroine Kreousa in Ion attempts to poison Ion when she fails to recognize him as her son by Apollo and sees instead an outsider and possible usurper of her throne. H.D.'s translations of the Greek were greatly admired by T. S. Eliot. In her reworkings, she creates modern versions of classic plays, enabling her to explore her favorite poetic themes. Sigmund Freud (with whom H.D. was undergoing analysis just before she embarked on Ion) commended her translations; and after writing them, H.D. was able to go on to write Helen in Egypt, "a sweeping epic of healing and integration." These marvelous versions attest to H.D.'s claim that "the lines of this Greek poet (and all Greek poets if we have but the clue) are today as vivid and as fresh as they ever were."

    We recommend that you do not rely solely on the information presented and that you always read labels, warnings, and directions before using or consuming a product. Please see our full disclaimer below.

    Part detective, part psychologist, he never failed to nab a wrongdoer. His methods might have been unorthodox - he once summoned a tree as the key witness in a case - but he never failed to get the desired results.

    Manifesto for Another World features the words and struggles of internationally celebrated activists including Vaclav Havel, Baltasar Garzón, Helen Prejean, and Marian Wright Edelman; and Nobel Prize Laureates the Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, Elie Wiesel, Oscar Arias Sánchez, Rigoberta Menchú Tum, José Ramos-Horta, and Bobby Muller. Equally moving are the stories of more than thirty others, unknown and (as yet) unsung beyond their national boundaries: Kailash Satyarthi, who has spent a lifetime working to free tens of thousands of victims of child labor in his native India, and Juliana Dogbadzi, who was sold into sexual slavery by her parents at age twelve, escaped after seventeen degrading years, and now is devoted to the liberation of African girls bound in the same terror. From their ranging voices Dorfman culls the message: freedom from persecution, and freedom of opportunity, for all. Manifesto for Another World is both a political testament and a work of art.

    Langley is a concert pianist by profession but prefers his studies of the world's minutiae, all of which he considers collectible. His older brother, Homer, a former admiralty lawyer and aspiring intrigant, maintains the household and dreams of wilder times. These seem about to begin when the beautiful socialite Milly inserts herself into the Collyer m

    Among the ten plays, three are completely out of print. Included are The God of Venegeance (1918) by Sholom Asch, the first play to introduce lesbian characters to an English-language audience; Lillian Hellman's classic The Children's Hour (1933), initially banned in London and passed over for the Pulitzer Prize because of its subject matter; and Oscar Wilde (1938) by Leslie and Sewell Stokes, a major award-winning success that starred Robert Morley. More recent plays include Mart Crowley's The Boys in the Band (1968), the first hit "out" gay play that was the most realistic and groundbreaking portrayal of gays on stage up to that time; Martin Sherman's Bent (1978), which daringly focused on the love between two Nazi concentration camp inmates and starred Richard Gere; William Hoffman's As Is (1985), which was one of the first plays to deal with the AIDS crisis and earned three Tony Award nominations; and Terrence McNally's Love! Valour! Compassion! (1994), which starred Nathan Lane and won the Tony Award for Best Play. The other plays are Edouard Bourdet's The Captive (1926), Ruth and Augustus Goetz's The Immoralist (1954) and Frank Marcus's The Killing of Sister George (1967). Forbidden Acts includes a broad range of theatrical genres: drama, tragedy, romance, comedy and farce. They remain vibrant and relevant today as a testament of art's ability to persevere in the face of oppression.

    Book annotation not available for this title.

    Tolson. The story begins with her suicide attempt at the age of twenty-five. In the aftermath, she commits to counseling to recover from anxiety and depression. The reader accompanies the author through therapy sessions, where the young woman reveals dysfunctional family relationships, including domestic violence, sexual abuse, and mental illness. She learns from her counselor that she'd been suffering from PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) which was the underlying cause of self-destructive behaviors, such as addictions and alcoholism. Due to the therapeutic process, the author discovers the value of life. Her story illustrates physical, emotional, and spiritual transformation. In sharing her inspirational journey, she provides readers with a message of hope.Author Lynn C. Tolson appeals to the reader from the first paragraph of her powerful memoir Beyond the Tears: A True Survivor's Story. Tolson uses creative non-fiction to tell her story, fascinating the reader with metaphor, prose, and poetry. Tolson tells her riveting story in first-person narrative, enabling the reader to instantly bond with her authentic voice. Readers can readily visualize the settings, plot, and characters due to the author's well-developed descriptions and dialogue. This is not an average auto-biography: the book combines story-telling with self-help, affirmations, meditations, and therapeutic concepts. Each chapter begins with a quote appropriate to the content, which gives the reader even more to contemplate. The topics challenge the reader to explore social problems within the context of family relationships. However, Tolson uses her clever wit to offer the reader occasional comic relief. Readers say that they simultaneously laughed and cried on the same page. Some readers say that reading the book literally changed their lives. Readers also say they view themselves and their families with a fresh perspective.

    

    After twenty years of defending the most hardened criminals, many of whom he knew to be guilty, the only thing he can no longer do is look at himself in the mirror. Loosely based on a multiple-murder that shocked Montreal in the 1990s, this riveting story pulls the reader into the inner workings of a murder trial, and reveals what one lawyer must do when he has to defend "The Guilty."

    The independent, intelligent, feisty Hepburn comes alive when Mulgrew slips deftly into the voice and being of the famous actress. The two-act play opens in 1938 when the actress is 31 years old and in the middle of a career slump. She is awaiting a call to see if she has won the part of Scarlet in a film called GONE WITH THE WIND. The story moved to 1983 when Parkinson's disease has left her voice shaking, her hand clutching a cane, but her eyes still shining with intelligence and wit. TEA AT FIVE is an unforgettable trip down Broadway, Hollywood Blvd, and memory lane.

    Journalist Mallory Baylor has been hiding a secret from her ex-lover Saxton McKensie, a high-powered attorney engaged to TV superstar Deena Ingram, who knows nothing about their past affair.

    We are proud to announce that it is the first release in our new Soft Skull Screen Print series, the goal of which is, in the first instance, to publish screenplays as literature, and, in the second instance, to give the reader insight into the process whereby text becomes image. "Secretary is the darkly comic tale of a young woman who finds love in a satisfying sadomasochistic relationship with her boss. Simultaneously sweet and subversive, the success of the film is due to Erin Cressida Wilson's masterful adaptation of Mary Gaitskill's 1989 short story. Some may be tempted by squeamishness when Maggie Gyllenhaal's character is bent over and methodically spanked in the office--punishment for her typos--but the twist is in her surprised joy and redemption from her own psychic distress. This un-PC version of romantic comedy is provocative in its ability to transcend stereotypes. "Secretary combines a close-up look at the adaptation and screenwriting process with a behind-the-scenes view of film from the perspective of its creators. In addition to the screenplay, the book also includes Erin Cressida Wilson's provocative introductory essay about how she came to write the film (and in which she confesses her own penchant for spanking), an interview with director Steven Shainberg by David Breskin, drawings and blocking notes from Shinberg's director's note-books, and previously unpublished photos from the set. Bonus materials include a foreword by Molly Haskell, author of "From Reverence to Rape: The Treatment of Women in the Movies, as well as an excerpt from the original short story "Secretary"by Mary Gaitskill. "Secretary is an essential and fascinating study of independent movie making at its best.

    

    Includes background information, character summary, and commonly asked questions.

    Unlike those works, Ripple is a highly realistic story in terms of subject matter and drawing style. Martin is a floundering painter desperately attempting to pursue his fine art inclinations rather than toil in the world of commercial art. He hires a homely model, Tina, to pose for a series of "erotic" paintings that he hopes will be his breakthrough into the gallery world. Over time, Martin and Tina's relationship evolves from a tenuous working relationship to a confused sexual one. Martin's initial repulsion for Tina slowly turns to attraction and eventually lust, causing him to re-evaluate his own notions of beauty and sexuality. Meanwhile, Tina's own motives behind working for Martin are slowly turned upside down as well, building the book towards its inevitably explosive end. Throughout it all, Ripple is a complex love story poked and prodded from all angles, from Martin and Tina's physical and emotional feelings toward each other, Martin's dishonesty to himself, Tina's self-loathing, and everything in between. Sad, funny, and often uncomfortably titillating, Ripple is a remarkably introspective graphic novel, rendered with kinetic realism in a pen technique that calls to mind a more controlled Edward Sorel and Jules Feiffer.

    Set in the 1970s, the novel revisits Dr. Suguro, now in late middle age, running a modest clinic in Tokyo's vibrant, seedy Shinjuku district and trying to put behind him a haunting experience from World War II. Weaving together multiple story lines, Endô lays before the reader a cross section of Tokyo in the 1970s: a vain university professor who leads a humiliating double life; a crusading young reporter determined to pursue aging war criminals; two feckless college students as empty of ideals as they are of purpose; an old man dying of cancer; a quixotic foreigner named Gaston; and Suguro. With a vision as humane as it is unflinching, Endo examines the often impossible complexities of real forgiveness in a world of inscrutable cruelty and suffering.

    Reprint.

    The translation of Peer Gynt appears for the first time in this Norton Critical Edition. Backgrounds gives students an understanding of Ibsen 's creative process with selections from his correspondence and other writings. Twenty-seven documents have been collected and arranged by play, with a section of autobiographical writings at the end. Ibsen 's plays continue to provoke diverse commentary. Criticism includes nineteen of the most important responses to Ibsen 's work, among them essays by Bernard Shaw, Sandra Saari, E. M. Forster, Hugh Kenner, and Joan Templeton. A Chronology and Selected Bibliography are also included.

    If you know my mother, you'll sense there's an irony there, based on the fact that she is the Queen of the Limitation Placers in my life.Francesca battles her mother, Mia, constantly over what's best for her. All Francesca wants is her old friends and her old school, but instead Mia sends her to St. Sebastian's, an all-boys' school that has just opened its doors to girls. Now Francesca's surrounded by hundreds of boys, with only a few other girls for company. All of them weirdos or worse.Then one day, Mia is too depressed to get out of bed. One day turns into months, and as her family begins to fall apart, Francesca realises that without her mother's high spirits, she hardly knows who she is. But she doesn't yet realise that she's more like Mia than she thinks. With a little unlikely help from St. Sebastian's, she just might be able to save her family, her friends, and especially herself.

    . . a gifted poet who offers up vibrant imagery like a street corner preacher in the midst of a nervous breakdown."—New York Times"Talk is the most intellectually ambitious play in years. It wins the case for a renewed theatre of ideas."—Time Out"Mr. Rux has a fertile imagination and exceptional talent."—Wall Street Journal"A dazzling play. Mr. Rux’s ideas have the urgency and passion of actions. He draws on satire, rhetoric, naturalism (the kind that Strindberg said ‘seeks out the points where great battles take place’) and poetry."—Margo Jefferson, New York TimesIn the age of McCarthy and the Beat poets, a controversial African-American artist, Archer Aymes, became an overnight sensation for his first book, Mother and Son—ten years later he was found dead in a prison cell. Decades later, a conference is formed and a panel comes together to debate the facts and importance of Aymes’s life. Through Rux’s vivid imagery, and meticulous research, his crackling dialogue and poetically constructed debate, we become participants at the conference, and listen very closely, achingly, as Rux scrutinizes the way we record history, skewers our reverence toward celebrity and academic authority, and dismantles our confidence in our own memory.Carl Hancock Rux is a multidisciplinary artist who combines poetry, music, theatre and dance. He was a resident artist with Mabou Mines; The Ebenezor Experimental Theater in Lulea, Sweden; and the University of Ghana at Legon. He is the author of numerous plays, including Waiting for the Dog to Die, and has been commissioned to write poetry/prose for the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater and Urban Bush Women. His debut album, Rux Revue, (Sony) was named one of the top alternative music CDs of 1999. His second CD, Apothecary Rx, is to be released by Giant Step in 2002. He is the author of Pagan Operetta, a book of poems, and his first novel, Asphalt, has been signed by Simon & Schuster.

    Played out against the backdrop of rural hardship and deprivation on the family’s Kansas farm, the secret in her father’s previous life eventually explains his harsh treatment of the three older children and her mother’s bitterness over his countless misunderstandings and slights. When originally published in 1931, a reviewer of Black Cherries commented that there is “a sharpness about all impressions in the book, a keenness of sensuous and spiritual apprehension that leaves brilliant after-images with the reader.” Another described the series of sketches as “exquisite in texture and so faithful to the childish mind that one derives a warm impression of the imagined young narrator.” Grace Stone Coates (1881–1976) spent most of her life in the tiny ranching community of Martinsdale in southwestern Montana. During a seven-year period, twenty of Coates’s short stories were cited in the annual Best American Short Stories as Distinctive or Honor Roll stories, and John Updike chose Coates’s “Wild Plums” for inclusion in Best American Short Stories of the Century. Coates also published two collections of poetry.

    Information on Elizabethan history and society, literary terms, Shakespearean criticism, and Shakespeare's sources is also provided, and a comprehensive glossary includes listings of theatrical terms, actors, and theater companies from the 16th century to the present.

    Filled with one-on-one interviews and entertaining anecdotes, Off-Off-Broadway Explosion explores the backstage stories and captivating history of the unusual venues and legendary personalities of the era. Readers will discover intimate accounts of the innovative Beat Generation playwrights who transformed the New York stage, such as Edward Albee, Sam Shepard, Lanford Wilson, Amiri Baraka, Jean-Claude van Itallie, and many other artists whose legacy is still felt within theater halls today. They’ll learn about the Greenwich Village visionaries who allowed emerging playwrights to showcase experimental works not welcome on the traditional stage, such as Joseph Cino, the wildly eccentric papa who sired Caffe Cino, and Al Carmines, the radical minister of Judson Memorial Church, whose Judson Poets’ Theater was known for the avant-garde musicals conceived by the pastor himself. Finally, a special chapter, “Your Own Off-Off-Broadway,” advises today’s playwrights and theater artists how give voice to their own work and find progressive audiences to appreciate it.Playwrights Discussed:• Edward Albee• Sam Shepard• Amiri Baraka • Landford Wilson• Maria Irene Fornés• Jean-Claude van Itallie• Robert Patrick• Megan Terry• Rochelle Owens• Doric Wilson• and many others• Documents the origins of innovative off-off-broadway plays and their writers• Includes archival, rarely seen photos• Personal interviews with leading playwrights• Applicable advice for theater groups in any city

    Handke's play is a downright attack on the way language is used by a corrupt society to depersonalize the individual.My Foot My Tutor: "Handke has here written an hour-long play without words that may at first look like a piece of audience-provocation but that finishes up as sheer theatrical poetry."—GuardianIn The Ride Across Lake Constance, a group of characters (known only by the names of the actors who perform the parts) talk and play games together and skate over the thin ice that separates them from unspoken danger: "Intensely theatrical ... an author for whom playwriting seems akin to tightrope walking."—The TimesThey Are Dying Out puts the pillars of the bourgeoisie under the microscope to reveal an alien race, suffocated by rationality, unable to cope with untamed subjective impulses and shows an "uncanny knack for making the familiar seem strange" (Plays and Players).

    In Peril is a taut, well-paced, and riveting drama wrapped around a seagoing world few people have the opportunity to glimpse.

    To her, the war was nothing more than an inconvenience on her shopping trips to Berlin. But when she is walking her dogs, Tirpitz and Bismarck, on the far side of her estate, she discovers something that changes her life forever.Obersturmführer Meyer is an SS officer who works in the camp close to the Burbeck estate. He despises those in his charge and considers them to be no more than animals for the slaughter. But the arrogant Countess with a father who is a General in the Wehrmacht in Berlin was rapidly becoming a bigger nuisance than the smell from the burial pits.Helga’s discovery of Jewish children hiding on her estate leads her to investigate the nearby camp. What she finds there shocks her to the soul. She decides to take the children to France and somehow to safety. It begins as a self-destructive whim borne on the bitterness and anger of her discovery, but slowly and surely Helga is drawn inexorably down the path to smuggling and eventually, spying. She engages Jacob, one of the children, to help in her plans. And soon she is embroiled with the French Resistance. But her continued trips across occupied Europe to the South of France with “children from her estate” soon attract even more attention from Obersturmführer Meyer. It isn’t long before both know exactly what the other is doing; it becomes a game, but a game that will lead to final bloodshed in a French forest.Captain Taylor of the US Army has met Helga only once. But that meeting and everything he learns about her afterwards plants a seed of love that won’t stop growing. But Helga isn't easy to find once lost. And when Captain Taylor visits a Convent in the Southern French resort of Antibes in 1948 he soon finds out that the end of the war isn’t the end of the story. But what connects a German Countess in the war with a Catholic nun in Cyprus in 1946? And will Captain Taylor finally track her down?

    Una nueva y fascinante perspectiva en el juego del ajedrez: ms fcil, ms rpida, ms sencilla y en todo tipo de tableros.

    Bringing together contributors who are powerful politicians and everyday heroes; the famous and the infamous; husbands, educators, bus drivers, teachers, and fathers, this assemblage of commentaries, including those by Isaac Hayes, Mayor Willie Brown, and Coolio, illustrate the issues that affect each of their lives. With raw honesty, the contributors share experiences only their brothers can truly understand—from sex to spirituality, family to justice, money to power—and work to collectively heal the spirit and awaken a better understanding of the Black men in all of our lives.