Newly revised and expanded by the author, this study of epic fantasy analyzes the genre from its earliest beginnings in Medieval romances, on through practitioners like Tolkien, up to today's brightest lights.

    The most extraordinary thing he found when writing about his experiences is that the most common comment about his work is "OMG that's me. You are telling my story. I don't feel so alone now."Living with mental illness is hard, but it's especially difficult when dealing with more than one condition at the same time. Many books about coping with mental illness focus on one disorder, such as bipolar disorder, anxiety, panic attacks, or depression. Because Dave Mowry didn't see any that dealt with his situation of living with multiple disorders simultaneously, he decided to write about it himself.OMG That's Me! is sometimes funny, often poignant, but always deeply honest, open, and personal. Mowry's stories let others know there is help and there is hope, and that they too can recover and live a full life. This book is a must read for family members and friends who will gain true insight into the experiences of loved ones living with a mental illness. This book is a must read for mental health professionals who will better understand the symptoms faced by their patients. And ordinary people will see the strength, resilience, and beauty of people that will shatter the stigma surrounding mental illness.

    No album represented this rip-it-up-and-start-again movement better than the act's breakthrough 1982 LP, Rio. A cohesive album with a retro-futuristic sound-influences include danceable disco, tangy funk, swaggering glam, and Roxy Music's art-rock-the full-length sold millions and spawned smashes such as "Hungry Like the Wolf" and the title track.However, Rio wasn't a success everywhere at first; in fact, the LP had to be buffed-up with remixes and reissued before it found an audience in America. The album was further buoyed by colorful music videos, which established Duran Duran as leaders of an MTV-driven second British Invasion, and the group's cutting-edge visual aesthetic. Via extensive new interviews with band members and other figures who helped Rio succeed, this book explores how and why Rio became a landmark pop-rock album, and examines how the LP was both a musical inspiration-and a reflection of a musical, cultural, and technology zeitgeist.

    Macbeth is a distinguished warrior hero, who over the course of the play, transforms into a brutal, murderous villain and pays an extraordinary price for committing an evil act. A man consumed with ambition and self-doubt, Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s most vital meditations on the dangerous corners of the human imagination. Award-winning writer and beloved professor Harold Bloom investigates Macbeth’s interiority and unthinkable actions with razor-sharp insight, agility, and compassion. He also explores his own personal relationship to the character: Just as we encounter one Anna Karenina or Jay Gatsby when we are seventeen and another when we are forty, Bloom writes about his shifting understanding—over the course of his own lifetime—of this endlessly compelling figure, so that the book also becomes an extraordinarily moving argument for literature as a path to and a measure of our humanity. Bloom is mesmerizing in the classroom, wrestling with the often tragic choices Shakespeare’s characters make. He delivers that kind of exhilarating intimacy and clarity in Macbeth, the final book in an essential series.

    “Hiarious ... Rodi’s title is a tribute. He’s angry that the Austen craze has defanged a novelist who’s ‘wicked, arch, and utterly merciless. She skewers the pompous, the pious, and the libidinous with the animal glee of a natural-born sadist’ … Like Rodi, I believe Austen deserves to join the grand pantheon of gadflies: Voltaire and Swift, Twain and Mencken.” - Lev Raphael, The Huffington Post

    Darcy’s cutting remark at the Meryton assembly, Miss Elizabeth Bennet replies with a comment of her own about the sign of a true gentleman. When Darcy hears the statement, he is instantly stricken with remorse. He seeks a quiet place to compose himself and prepare an apology. As Miss Elizabeth moves through the crowd to share the incident with her friend, Charlotte Lucas, she hears an anguished voice from the darkened balcony. Stepping forward to offer assistance, she is surprised at what else she hears. This event and the turn it makes in the relationship between Darcy and Elizabeth is the premise of this delightful new story. How will an earlier understanding between our dear couple change their interactions with those around them—particularly Miss Bingley, Mr. Wickham, and Mr. Collins?

    From his unique childhood growing up with a gay father and a domineering mother to his tragically early death in 2007 after battling the NHS for a drug that could prolong his life, David Nolan investigates the lives and times of the man they called "Mr. Manchester." Drawing on nearly 50 interviews with musicians, DJs, writers, actors, family, and friends—including Wilson's partner of 17 years Yvette Livesey, You're Entitled To An Opinion . . . paints a picture of a unique, driven, and chaotic man whose inspiration and influence is still being felt today across the worlds of music and television.

    At the Meryton assembly, Fitzwilliam Darcy was rude, and Elizabeth Bennet was offended. But what if, through a series of conversations, Darcy and Lizzy come to recognize the virtues that lay hidden beneath his pride and her prejudice? Even though the lovers walk a smoother path, there are obstacles, including other suitors for Lizzy and societal hurdles for Mr. Darcy. Conversations with Mr. Darcy, a novella, is a gentle “what if” Pride and Prejudice re-imagining where Darcy finds courage and inspiration in a long-ago love story from his own family. Novella length - approximately 30,000 words

    How To Be A Public Author will take the debate to another level. It will get everyone talking – and laughing – even more about Britain’s biggest annual book bonanza.Francis Plug is a troubled and often drunk misfit who causes chaos and confusion wherever he goes – and where he most likes to go is to real author events, collecting signatures from the likes of Salman Rushdie, Kazuo Ishiguro, and Eleanor Catton.As he adds to this collection of signed Booker first editions, Francis – a wannabe author himself – is also helpfully writing a self-help manual. This is devised with the novice writer in mind, and full of sage wisdom and useful tidbits to help ease freshly published novelists into the demands and rigors of author events, readings, and general life in the public eye.So, “If you’re provided with a hands-free mic, clipped to your lapel, don’t forget to turn it off when you visit the toilet, or if you need to vomit before your event.” Likewise, it’s always good to be wary of the germs of fans – and “considering the use of elbow-length dishwashing gloves at book signings, and a large, easy-wipe kitchen apron.” And so too, cultivating a photographic ‘look’ for the many publicity shots you will be subjected to is also a good idea – Francis’s personal choice being that of Macaulay McCulkin in Home Alone.With advice like this, and Francis’ warm and deranged personality, How To Be A Public Author will prove ESSENTIAL reading for anyone with an interest in the literary world.How To Be A Public Author is a brilliant slapstick comedy, blurring fact and fantasy to astonishing effect, and it is also a surprising and touching meditation on loneliness and finding a place in the world. The Man Booker Prize becomes a springboard to explore what it means to be an author – and a human being – in the twenty-first century.

    Looking for some diversion, the good colonel happened upon a local Romani woman who was selling her people’s treasured Moon Wine. Find out what happens to some of our favourite Jane Austen characters when her advice is ignored in A Very Merry Mix-up.

    Tread in Jane's footsteps as you explore her school in the old gatehouse of the ruined Reading Abbey; her perfectly-preserved home in her Chawton cottage, where she spent the last eight years of her life; or her final resting place in Winchester Cathedral.Whether you want to take this book as your well-thumbed guide on a real Austenian pilgrimage of your own, or experience the journey from the comfort of your own living room, Jane Was Here will take you - with a tone as wry as Jane's itself - on an enchanting adventure through the ups and downs of the world of Jane Austen.

    His Nobel Lecture offers a powerful defense of poetry as "the ship and the anchor" of our spirit within an ocean of violent, divisive world politics.

    All the novellas in the Darcy and Elizabeth What If? series are separate, standalone stories. They can be read in any order. What if Lady Catherine's companion had overheard Mr Darcy proposing to Elizabeth at Rosings? When Lady Catherine fears her nephew is to marry Miss Elizabeth Bennet, she allows her daughter, Anne, to marry Colonel Fitzwilliam. Anne feels indebted to Elizabeth, and in an effort to thank her she persuades Mr Bingley to return to Netherfield. Mr Darcy joins his friend, and Elizabeth is brought face to face with Mr Darcy at a second Netherfield ball.

    Inspired by Jane Austen's Emma, Clueless is an everlasting pop culture staple.In the first book of its kind, Jen Chaney has compiled an oral history of the making of this iconic film using recollections and insights collected from key cast and crew members involved in the making of this endlessly quotable, ahead-of-its-time production. Get a behind-the-scenes look at how Emma influenced Heckerling to write the script, how the stars were cast into each of their roles, what was involved in creating the costumes, sets, and soundtrack, and much more.This wonderful twentieth anniversary commemoration includes never-before-seen photos, original call sheets, casting notes, and production diary extracts. With supplemental critical insights by the author and other notable movie experts about why Clueless continues to impact pop culture, As If! will leave fans new and old totally buggin' as they understand why this beloved film is timeless.

    These include not only famous and expected names (Harriet Beecher Stowe, Willa Cather, Dorothy Parker, Flannery O’Connor, Gwendolyn Brooks, Grace Paley, Toni Morrison, and Jodi Picoult among them), but also many who were once successful and acclaimed yet now are little known, from the early American best-selling novelist Catherine Sedgwick to the Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright Susan Glaspell. Showalter shows how these writers—both the enduring stars and the ones left behind by the canon—were connected to one another and to their times. She believes it is high time to fully integrate the contributions of women into our American literary heritage, and she undertakes the task with brilliance and flair, making the case for the unfairly overlooked and putting the overrated firmly in their place.Whether or not readers agree with the book’s roster of writers, A Jury of Her Peers is an irresistible invitation to join the debate, to discover long-lost great writers, and to return to familiar titles with a deeper appreciation. It is a monumental work that will greatly enrich our understanding of American literary history and culture.