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The Caped Crusade: Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture
By Glen Weldon. 2016
A witty, intelligent cultural history from NPR book critic Glen Weldon explains Batman's rises and falls throughout the ages--and what…
his story tells us about ourselves.Since his creation, Batman has been many things: a two-fisted detective; a planet-hopping gadabout; a campy Pop-art sensation; a pointy-eared master spy; and a grim and gritty ninja of the urban night. For more than three quarters of a century, he has cycled from a figure of darkness to one of lightness and back again; he's a bat-shaped Rorschach inkblot who takes on the various meanings our changing culture projects onto him. How we perceive Batman's character, whether he's delivering dire threats in a raspy Christian Bale growl or trading blithely homoerotic double-entendres with partner Robin on the comics page, speaks to who we are and how we wish to be seen by the world. It's this endlessly mutable quality that has made him so enduring. And it's Batman's fundamental nerdiness--his gadgets, his obsession, his oath, even his lack of superpowers--that uniquely resonates with his fans who feel a fiercely protective love for the character. Today, fueled by the internet, that breed of passion for elements of popular culture is everywhere. Which is what makes Batman the perfect lens through which to understand geek culture, its current popularity, and social significance. In The Caped Crusade, with humor and insight, Glen Weldon, book critic for NPR and author of Superman: The Unauthorized Biography, lays out Batman's seventy-eight-year cultural history and shows how he has helped make us who we are today and why his legacy remains so strong.Sleeping Dragon, Rising Sun
By Fabien Lascombe, Craig Cartmell, Charles Murton. 2014
With new equipment, Talents, Mystical Powers, scenario options and a host of Adventuring Companies, Sleeping Dragon, Rising Sun reveals the…
mysteries of the East to players of In Her Majesty's Name. In the West, the Great Powers send their agents into the ailing Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires but stop short of overt acts of aggression. In the East, however, conflicts between rival factions regularly erupt into open warfare. In India, the British Raj faces the machinations of rebellious maharajahs, Russian agents and a resurgent Thuggee cult. In China, the Celestial Court weaves a complex web of plots and alliances to counter both the external threat of the Great Powers and the internal menaces of mutinous warlords and an ancient power that has arisen and seeks to return to the Jade Throne. Across the pirate-infested South China Sea, Japan has established itself as a new Great Power and is starting to forge its own empire despite unrest from rebels and insurgents at home. Throughout the entire region treasure-seekers, mercenaries and adventurers of all stripes take advantage of the chaos to seek glory and riches.Heroes, Villains and Fiends
By Fabien Lascombe, Charles Murton. 2013
It is 1895 and the future depends not upon the actions of governments but upon those of the Adventuring Companies,…
and will be shaped by countless engagements in city streets, ancient ruins, dense jungles, high mountains and boundless deserts. In America, good men fight to preserve their hard-won liberty and the great drive west is stalled by Native American mystics and powerful outlaw gangs. In Africa, native forces fight to push back the Pax Britannica no longer is a Lee-Metford rifle and a disciplined resolve enough to put the foe to flight. In Europe, darkness gathers around the Austro-Hungarian court and the Great Powers watch warily, knowing its fall could precipitate a war to end all wars. Heroes, Villains and Fiends presents new Companies, from the rebellious Zulu and Apache to the spies of the Okhrana and Secret Service, and the mysterious forces of such groups as the Knights Templar and the sinister Hellfire Club. With equipment, Talents and Mystical Powers, additional scenarios and a sample campaign, Heroes, Villains and Fiends opens up new possibilities for In Her Majesty's Name.Sunbeam on the Astronaut
By Steven Cerio. 2014
A long-awaited collection of comics, art, and stories by artist Steven Cerio that explores silly, psychedelic, and strange worlds. Smiling…
cartoon critters carouse with threatening cutout whales against a shifting comic landscape in these unique illustrated stories. The psychedelic meets Saturday morning cartoons in stories with such intriguing titles as "A Private History of Sunbeams and Head Colds," "The Add Witch in The Berry Patch," and "Ninny Noonday Ninny."Steven Cerio is a prominent rock poster and magazine illustrator. His work is best known from his ongoing collaboration with San Francisco-based performance art and music group The Residents.The Dark Eidolon and Other Fantasies
By Clark Ashton Smith, S. T. Joshi. 2014
A much-awaited collection of prose and poetry from one of the great cosmic masters of the supernatural Not just any…
fantasy, horror, and science fiction author could impress H. P. Lovecraft into calling him "unexcelled by any other writer, dead or living" or compel Fritz Lieber to employ the worthy term sui generis. Clark Ashton Smith--autodidact, prolific poet, amateur philosopher, bizarre sculptor, and unmatched storyteller--simply wrote like no one else, before or since. This new collection of his very best tales and poems is selected and introduced by supernatural literature scholar S. T. Joshi and allows readers to encounter Smith's visionary brand of fantastical, phantasmagorical worlds, each one filled with invention, terror, and a superlative sense of metaphysical wonder.A Question Mark Above the Sun
By David Koepsell, Eric Lorberer, Kent Johnson. 2012
"At the end of last year, an extraordinary work of detective criticism briefly appeared, despite legal threats. Kent Johnson's A…
Question Mark Above the Sun (Punch Press) movingly speculates that Kenneth Koch forged one of Frank O'Hara's greatest poems as a posthumous tribute to his friend. A noir-ish middle also recounts some very funny run-ins with the English avant-garde. Shame on the poets who forced its redaction and suppression." - Jeremy Noel-Tod, The Times Literary Supplement, including a previous edition of A Question Mark Above the Sun as one of its 2011 Books of the YearWhat you have in your hands is a kind of thought-experiment. It proffers the idea that a radical, secret gesture of poetic mourning and love was carried out by Kenneth Koch in memory of his close friend Frank O'Hara. I present the hypothesis as my own very personal expression of homage for the two great poets. The proposal I set forward here, nevertheless, is likely to make some readers annoyed, perhaps even indignant. Some already are. A few fellow writers, even, have worked hard through legal courses to block this book's publication. The forced redaction of key quotations herein (replaced by paraphrase) is one result of their efforts.In this self-described "thought experiment"-part fiction, part literary detective work, and always daring-Kent Johnson proposes a stunning rewrite of literary history. Suppressed upon initial release, this is a one-of-a-kind book by one of our most provocative contemporary authors.Kent Johnson is the author, translator, or editor of over thirty books of poetry and criticism, including Beneath a Single Moon: Buddhism in Contemporary American Poetry (Shambhala Publications, 1991), Doubled Flowering: From the Notebooks of Araki Yasusada (Roof Books, 1998), and his most recent collection of poems, Homage to the Last Avante-Garde (Shearsman Books, 2008). Best known for his radical ideas about authorship, scholarship, and experimentation, it was with his translations of Hiroshima survivor poet Araki Yasusada that Johnson became both celebrated and castigated. Only after Yasusada's poems were published in American Poetry Review did readers learn there was no Yasusada, and that Johnson was not a translator on this project, but the author. Johnson is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship in Translation. He lives in Illinois, where he is a faculty member in English and Spanish at Highland Community College.Cyborgs in Latin America
By J. Andrew Brown. 2010
A PDF version of this book is available for free in open access via the OAPEN Library platform, www. oapen.…
org . Cyborgs in Latin America explores the ways cultural expression in Latin America has grappled with the changing relationships between technology and human identity.Rocket Trip
By Tina Twito. 2018
Hop in your rocket ship for a trip to the stars! In this fantasy rhyming poem about flying through space,…
readers will visit Mars, the purple kitties of the planet Fuzz, and an asteroid inhabited by dinosaurs—all in plenty of time to return home for lunch!Monster School
By Kate Coombs, Lee Gatlin. 2018
Twilight's here. The death bell rings. Everyone knows what the death bell brings—it's time for class! You're in the place…
where goblins wail and zombies drool. (That's because they're kindergartners.) Welcome to Monster School. In this entertaining collection of poems, award-winning poet Kate Coombs and debut artist Lee Gatlin bring to vivid life a wide and playful cast of characters (outgoing, shy, friendly, funny, prickly, proud) that may seem surprisingly like the kids you know . . . even if these kids are technically monsters.Monster School
By Kate Coombs, Lee Gatlin. 2018
Twilight's here. The death bell rings. Everyone knows what the death bell brings—it's time for class! You're in the place…
where goblins wail and zombies drool. (That's because they're kindergartners.) Welcome to Monster School. In this entertaining collection of poems, award-winning poet Kate Coombs and debut artist Lee Gatlin bring to vivid life a wide and playful cast of characters (outgoing, shy, friendly, funny, prickly, proud) that may seem surprisingly like the kids you know . . . even if these kids are technically monsters.Desmarcados
By David Murra Morales, John Kipling Lewis. 2016
Desmarcados comprende una serie de microrrelatos y poemas de temas variados que juegan con las expectativas del lector. Nos muestra…
escenarios insólitos que se mueven entre lo experimental y lo poético: teorías conspirativas, ciencia ficción y cuentos filosóficos son tan sólo algunos de los géneros presentes en esta obra de John Kipling Lewis.Finding Baba Yaga: A Short Novel in Verse
By Jane Yolen. 2018
A young woman discovers the power to speak up and take control of her fate—a theme that has never been…
more timely than it is now…You think you know this story. You do not. A harsh, controlling father. A quiescent mother. A house that feels like anything but a home. Natasha gathers the strength to leave, and comes upon a little house in the wood: A house that walks about on chicken feet and is inhabited by a fairy tale witch. In finding Baba Yaga, Natasha finds her voice, her power, herself....Francia contra los robots
By Georges Bernanos. 1947
En 1948, el reconocido escritor de inspiración mística Georges Bernanos desapareció, dejando el manuscrito de un último libro, publicado póstumamente:…
Francia contra robots. Esta apasionada defensa de la libertad es un desafío a las idolatrías paganas de ganancia y fuerza, con una increíble actualidad. Esta diatriba contra la "sociedad de las máquinas" es un grito futurista, para señalar una sociedad en la que es posible llevar una vida digna de seres humanos.Esta visionaria obra señala una Sociedad futura donde la tecnología domina a los seres humanos y los deshumaniza. Atacando la conformidad burguesa en nombre de sus creencias católicas, el autor afirma "que no es ni de izquierda ni derecha" y los conflictos internos son especialmente la fuente de las maldades que disminuyen al hombre y todas las tiranías que lo aplastan.“El peligro no está en las máquinas, de lo contrario deberíamos hacer este sueño absurdo de destruirlas por la fuerza, a la manicura de los iconoclastas que, rompiendo las imágenes, se halagaron aniquilando también las creencias. El peligro no está en la multiplicación de máquinas, sino también en el número cada vez mayor de hombres, que desde su infancia, solo desean lo que las máquinas pueden proveer”.The Sign of the Dragon: The Sign Of The Dragon Book 1
By Mary Soon Lee. 2020
Drawing on Chinese and Mongolian elements, award-winning poet Mary Soon Lee has penned an epic tale of politics, intrigue, and…
dragons perfect for fans of Game of Thrones and Beowulf.As the fourth-born prince of Meqing, Xau was never supposed to be king. But when his three older brothers are all deemed unfit to rule and eaten by a dragon, as is the custom, Xau suddenly finds himself on the Meqinese throne. The early years of his reign are marred by brutal earthquakes and floods, and the long-simmering tension with the neighboring country of Innis finally erupts into war. Worst of all, a demon thought long-dead walks the realm again, leaving death and destruction in its wake. In a desperate gamble, Xau must broker an uneasy peace with his former enemies and hope their combined strength is enough to vanquish the demon before it destroys them all.The Sign of the Dragon is comprised of over 300 individual poems, including the Rhysling-winning "Interregnum." The first 60 poems appeared in the 2015 Dark Renaissance Books publication Crowned, which won the 2016 Elgin Award, and many individual poems have appeared in award-winning literary magazines such as Fantasy & Science Fiction, Spillway, and Strange Horizons. Collected together in its entirety for the very first time, with over 200 never-before-published poems, readers can finally enjoy King Xau's story of sacrifice and war and dragons from beginning to end.Mary Soon Lee is a poet and storyteller who has won the Elgin and the Rhysling awards. Her work has appeared in Analog, Asimov's, Daily Science Fiction, F&SF, Fireside, Science, and American Scholar. She is also the author of Elemental Haiku: Poems to honor the periodic table three lines at a time. Born and raised in London, she now lives in Pennsylvania with her family.Why God Is a Woman
By Nin Andrews. 2015
Why God Is a Woman is a collection of poems written about a magical island where women rule and men…
are the second sex. It is also the story of a boy who, exiled from the island because he could not abide by its sexist laws, looks back with both nostalgia and bitterness and wonders: Why does God have to be a woman? Celebrated prose poet Nin Andrews creates a world both fantastic and familiar where all the myths, logic, and institutions support the dominance of women.Nin Andrews's books include The Book of Orgasms and Sleeping with Houdini.Jabberwocky: A Nonsense Coloring Book (Visions In Poetry Ser. #1)
By Lewis Carroll. 2004
Get lost in this magical world full of beasts -- both familiar and fantastical -- with your children while reading…
and re-reading Jabberwocky year after year.'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe; All mimsy were the borogoves, and the mom raths outgrabe.Lewis Carroll's most iconic seemingly nonsensical poem is brought to life like never before with award-winning illustrator Charles Santore's stunning renditions of a brave warrior who is on a mission to slay the dastardly Jabberwock. Get lost in this magical world full of beasts (both familiar and fantastical) with your children while reading and re-reading Jabberwocky year after year.The Cyborg Anthology
By Lindsay B-E. 2020
Poems written by Cyborgs in the future – this collection melds sci-fi and poetry, human and machine. The Cyborg Anthology…
takes place in a future where there was a thriving world of Robots and Cyborgs living peacefully beside Humans, but a disaster destroyed all Robot and most Cyborg life. The book is organized like a typical anthology of literature, split into sections that include a biography of each poet and a sample of their poetry. It covers early Cyborg poetry, political, celebrity, and pop culture poets, and ends with the next generation of Cyborg poets. The narrative takes place in the time after a cataclysmic event, and the collection wrestles with this loss. Through the lives of the poets, the book chronicles the history of personhood for technological beings, their struggle for liberation, and demonstrates different ways a person can be Cyborg. The poems and biographies together tell the story of a complex and enthralling world-to-come, exploring topics that are important in the future, and also urgent right now. “With mordant wit and a playful satiric touch, these Cyborg poems showcase a dazzling range of poetic forms and ideas: imaginative and charmingly subversive. Move over Norton Anthology of Poetry, there’s a new force in town, and they are a delight.” —Renée Sarojini Saklikar, author of Listening to the Bees and Children of Air India "The premise of this collection alone is fabulous. The poems are potent and powerful. With echoes of Le Guin, Brunner and Monáe, Lindsay B-e’s debut is layered and smart, provocative, and deeply satisfying. I was moved and fascinated. Speculative poetry at its best." —Hiromi Goto, author of Chorus of Mushrooms and Darkest LightSpeculate: A Collection of Microlit
By Dominique Hecq, Eugen Bacon. 2021
From what began as a dialog between two adventurous writers curious about the shape-shifter called a prose poem comes a…
stunning collection that is a disruption of language—a provocation. Speculate is a hybrid of speculative poetry and flash fiction, thrumming in a pulse of jouissance and intensity that chases the impossible.The Slaughterman's Daughter: Winner of the Wingate Prize 2021
By Yaniv Iczkovits. 2020
A SUNDAY TIMES MUST READS PICK"Boundless imagination and a vibrant style . . . a heroine of unforgettable grit" DAVID…
GROSSMAN"A story of great beauty and surprise" GARY SHTEYNGARTThe townsfolk of Motal, an isolated, godforsaken town in the Pale of Settlement, are shocked when Fanny Keismann - devoted wife, mother of five, and celebrated cheese-maker - leaves her home at two hours past midnight and vanishes into the night.True, the husbands of Motal have been vanishing for years, but a wife and mother? Whoever heard of such a thing. What on earth possessed her?Could it have anything to do with Fanny's missing brother-in-law, who left her sister almost a year ago and ran away to Minsk, abandoning their family to destitution and despair?Or could Fanny have been lured away by Zizek Breshov, the mysterious ferryman on the Yaselda river, who, in a strange twist of events, seems to have disappeared on the same night?Surely there can be no link between Fanny and the peculiar roadside murder on the way to Telekhany, which has left Colonel Piotr Novak, head of the Russian secret police, scratching his head. Surely a crime like that could have nothing to do with Fanny Keismann, however the people of Motal might mutter about her reputation as a vilde chaya, a wild animal . . .Surely not.Translated from the Hebrew by Orr ScharfThe Nanny and the Iceberg: A Novel
By Ariel Dorfman. 1999
Conceived the night of Che Guevara's burial in 1967, Gabriel McKenzie is inextricably bound up in the history and politics…
of his native Chile. Twenty-four years on, and still a virgin, Gabriel returns from Manhattan exile to confront his legacy: a Don Juan father and a country preparing for the five-hundredth anniversary of America's "discovery." Into Gabriel's quest for manhood and identity enter one iceberg, a faithful if eccentric nanny, and a whole host of fantastical characters.