While teenager Abigail parties a few doors away, the pretentious Beverly and her estate agent husband, Laurence, entertain their neighbours – Abigail’s mother, Susan, ex-footballer, Tony, and his wife, Angela. But as the alcohol flows, tensions in the hosts’ barely functional marriage emerge and their obsessions, prejudices and petty competitiveness are ruthlessly, and hilariously, exposed. ‘Goose-Pimples’, meanwhile, is easily as sharp and uncompromising. This time, the action focuses on ambitious casino croupier, Jackie, and Saudi businessman, Muhammad, who meet – and misunderstand – one another spectacularly.

    Gathered over 10 years in the classroom, this handbook of tried-and-tested techniques shifts the emphasis away from the teaching and onto the learning, and makes life as a teacher so much easier in the process.

    These poems attempt to capture the undying presence of love in all of its forms. Let your soul be deeply touched by the Rumi-like words of a lover drunk with passion for the truth.Here is a sample poem:truth is too simple for wordsbefore thought gets tangled up in nouns and verbsthere is a wordless sounda deep breathless sighof overwhelming reliefo find the end of fictionin this ordinaryyet extraordinary momentwhen words are recognizedas wordsand truth is recognizedas everything else

    Emotionally scarred by having never known her mother, Katie escapes to London and immerses herself in a seedy world of drugs, drink, and sex, chasing happiness in the bars and clubs, and snorting cocaine in private members' bars with her rich clients. Finding herself in a cycle of prostitution and unable to break free, she turns to drug smuggling and becomes embroiled in a bigamous marriage in an attempt to secure some emotional stability. From this dark emotional pit, Katie starts her painful journey back to "wellness" and attempts to rid herself of her addictions for good. This is a graphic tale of what life as a prostitute is really like and what can happen when people search for happiness outside of themselves.

    At the same time, it advances a radically new understanding of these recipes, one that will give the baker greater flexibility and confidence in the kitchen. Instead of grouping desserts into traditional categories (pies, cakes, cookies), Sherry Yard arranges them around crucial master recipes. Starting with these recipes -- simple, basic guidelines for making caramel, chocolate sauce, lemon curd, pound cake, and brioche, to name just a few -- Yard shows the cook how to create dozens of variations. Knowing how ingredients interact opens the door to a multitude of baking possibilities. For example, cream puff dough forms the foundation for éclairs, profiteroles, and the caramel-coated tower the French call croquembouche, but understanding how and why it behaves the way it does allows the cook to create deep-fried beignets, mascarpone-filled cannolis, or simmering-hot dumplings. This authoritative, friendly bake-shop bible contains fascinating mini-lessons on food science, illuminating bits of baking history, and time-saving tips. Newcomers to the world of baking will feel at ease with such simple, homey desserts as Banana Bread and Mississippi Mud Pie, and elaborate show-stoppers like Chocolate Brioche Sandwich with Espresso Gelato and Blackberry-Lime-Filled Doughnuts with Blackberry Sorbet and Berries will transform amateur bakers into expert pastry chefs.

    

    Since the day Rebecca and her Rather Sweet Bakery and Café came to town, life in this Hill Country hamlet has been even sweeter and the townsfolk now know why she is the Pastry Queen. Everything she makes is a lot like her: down-home yet grand, and familiar yet one-of-a-kind.  A native Texan, Rather makes the most of her Lone Star state's varied traditions, whether looking to the kitchens of Texas's Mexican and German immigrants or to the cowboy culture of her own forebears. Best of all, her recipes aren't fussy—one of her best-selling cakes stirs together in a single saucepan. Add in a cupful of Texas attitude and her made-from-scratch-with-love philosophy, and you've got an irresistible taste of American baking.  What's best at Rather Sweet? Rebecca's customers all have their favorites (and she is happy to cater to their cravings), but here's just a taste of the perennial best sellers: •  Apple-Smoked Bacon and Cheddar Scones•  Texas Big Hairs Lemon-Lime Tarts (the only big hair Rebecca has ever had!)•  Fourth of July Fried Pies•  Peach Queen Cake with Dulce de Leche Frosting•  Turbo-Charged Brownies with Praline Topping•  All-Sold-Out Chicken Pot Pies•  Kolaches (pillowy yeasted buns with sweet or savory fillings)•  PB&J Cookies With over 125 surefire tested recipes and 100 photographs that richly capture small-town life in the Hill Country, The Pastry Queen offers a Texas-size serving of the royal splendor of Rebecca's baked goods—courtesy of the rather sweet gal behind the case.

    Johnson's critically acclaimed novels - "Alberto Angelo", "Trawl" and "House Mother Normal - A Geriatric Comedy".

    Written over twenty years, the many pieces form an eclectic treasury of stories from Latin America, Asia, Africa, and beyond. Some consider the lives of women in society, both in East and West. The women-only police stations of Brazil, for instance, as well as the female inmates waiting to die on America's Death Row, or the young widows who clear landmines for a living in northern Cambodia. More still look at Morocco, where Shah and his family reside in a mansion set squarely in the middle of a sprawling Casablanca shantytown. And, yet more reflect on the oddities and contradictions of the modern world. Such as why, in India each summer, hundreds of thousands line up to swallow live fish; or how the Model T Ford sounded the death knell of lavish Edwardian ostrich-feather hats.

    Rather than quibble, Short opts for inclusiveness. Here is a dazzling array: 100s of pieces (under 1250 words) from 24 Western countries, written over five centuries by more than 200 contributors, including major authors of every era. Fables, histories, aphorisms, anecdotes, faux dictionary entries, a faux job application, hint fiction, lists, tableaus, meditations, chants, rants, and much more. Intensely pleasurable.Contributors include: Montaigne, von Kleist, Leopardi, Poe, Baudelaire, Bierce, Chopin, Stein, Jacob, Woolf, Kafka, J. Roth, Toomer, Borges, Queneau, Kunitz, Beckett, Milosz, Cortazar, Paz, Barthes, Calvino, O'Hara, Merwin, Lispector, Transtromer, Sanchez, Edson, Simic, Atwood, Valenzuela, Wideman, L. Davis, Komunyakaa, A. Carson, Forche, Harjo, Hempel, Wenderoth, Keret, B. Marcus, A. Bender, Eggers, B. Lerner, T. Brimhall.

    In-depth comparisons and analyses of the different arts in regard to their methods of movement, principles and philosophies, use of force and energy, body mechanics, and some practical applications, are also described. Frantzis also includes "Personal Odyssey" sections where he recounts many of his interesting encounters with famous martial arts masters. This feature recalls Robert W. Smith's Chinese Boxing: Masters and Methods, from a previous generation of martial arts books. To make this book as accessible to beginners as possible, there are five appendices covering the different styles of tai chi (such as Yang, Chen, Wu, Tung, Hou, and Sun), a history of Ba Gua, energy anatomy of the human body, a summary of Mr. Frantzis's training and lineage, a chapter on Chinese terminology and transliteration, and an extensive glossary.

    How does mankind react knowing of the imminent destruction of the Earth, before, during and after.

    Marshall Boswell examines the four major works of fiction David Foster Wallace has produced thus far: the novels The Broom of the System and Infinite Jest and the story collections Girl with Curious Hair and Brief Interviews with Hideous Men.

    This book presents the complete adaptation of the Army of Darkness feature film! Featuring 88 pages of non-stop Ash action, this is a must-have for your reading collection! Also features an interview with Bruce Campbell by writer Kurt Busiek who also provides the forward.

    Jack, a possible paranoid schizophrenic with a Messiah complex, inherits the title of the 14th Earl of Gurney after his father passes away in a bizarre accident. Singularly unsuited to a life in the upper echelons of elite society, Jack finds himself at the centre of a ruthless power struggle as his scheming family strives to uphold their reputation.Bubbling with acerbic wit and feverish energy, Olivier Award-winning and Oscar-nominated-writer Peter Barnes's razor-sharp satire combines a ferocious mix of hilarity and horror whilst mercilessly exposing the foibles of the English nobility.This edition of the play is published to coincide with the first-ever revival of this classic cult comedy at the Trafalgar Studios, London, on 16 January 2015.