In this collection of short tales born in a creative writing group, Susan Widdicombe portrays the vicissitudes of an eclectic group of characters as they struggle to overcome life's many problems. A dog's fidelity to his mistress is put to the test in 'Taking Sides' while the joys and compromises of old age are highlighted in 'A Walk in the Park' and 'Sex and Love'. Some of the stories are set in Southern Africa while others take us to France, Italy or Spain. Some celebrate the comedy of the human experience while others highlight its tragedy. But all invite us to reflect on our options and on the consequences of our choices as we navigate through the changing kaleidoscope of our individual lives on Planet Earth and elsewhere. Tales of Inner Turmoil I offers us a set of quirky short stories as entertaining as they are thought-provoking.

Art is one of the best parts of your life... are you ready to make it your living? Whether you are an art student, an aspiring artist or a longtime hobbyist, Margaret Peot offers experienced advice and empowerment for taking that next step. Chapter by chapter, she'll help you map out a personalized route toward the creative life of your dreams. With real-world advice on everything from bidding for freelance jobs and pricing artwork, to filing for taxes, to building a network of connections within the community, readers will learn to navigate the business of being an artist. Exercises and worksheets help readers figure out where their interests and strengths lie and how to use these to their advantage. Interviews with artists who have carved out successful careers for themselves and an index of useful organisations and list of additional reading provide further resources to would-be professional artists. In a world where artists are stereotyped as struggling and starving, this upbeat, down-to-earth guide will help you shape your goals, identify opportunities and earn a productive, joyful living with your artwork. Embrace your passion and shape your every day into a work of art!

A noted comics artist himself, Santiago Garcia follows the history of the graphic novel from early nineteenth-century European sequential art, through the development of newspaper strips in the United States, to the development of the twentieth-century comic book and its subsequent crisis. He considers the aesthetic and entrepreneurial innovations that established the conditions for the rise of the graphic novel all over the world. Garcia not only treats the formal components of the art, but also examines the cultural position of comics in various formats as a popular medium. Typically associated with children, often viewed as unedifying and even at times as a threat to moral character, comics art has come a long way. With such examples from around the world as Spain, France, Germany, and Japan, Garcia illustrates how the graphic novel, with its increasingly global and aesthetically sophisticated profile, represents a new model for graphic narrative production that empowers authors and challenges longstanding social prejudices against comics and what they can achieve.

Once in a while, it's just pure fun to peek inside other people's lives. In Una Voce, author Jennifer Larmore offers a look into her life and the lives of opera singers, their thoughts, their struggles, and their feelings. She narrates the story of her journey and working in the industry for almost thirty years. Una Voce presents a study of people who conquer fear and insecurity to stand on a stage and bare their hearts and souls. Larmore puts a positive spin on everything from anger, how money- if you can get it-changes you, dealing with crazy directors and conductors, jealousy, homesickness, friendship, philosophy, and shares her ideas on sabotage, procrastination, fear, hindsight, manipulation, plus the thrill and glory of success. Filled with anecdotes and practical tips for new musicians, Una Voce shares one singer's story of her long and illustrious music career and her life at large-one voice in a sea of many and yet, unique.

A lot of songs, filled with fun and sung things of that sort, happy, sad, glad, mad, a time to share, a time to be anything you want. How about a chance? It is fun! Fun in the sun. Fun everywhere. Have a good day. Talk Show in book format by Mirjana Nikolovski.

Written from the perspective of a practising artist, this book proposes that, against a groundswell of historians, museums and commentators claiming to speak on behalf of art, it is artists alone who may define what art really is. Jelinek contends that while there are objects called 'art' in museums from deep into human history and from around the globe - from Hans Sloane's collection, which became the foundation of the British Museum, to Alfred Barr's inclusion of 'primitive art' within the walls of MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art - only those that have been made with the knowledge and discipline of art should rightly be termed as such. Policing the definition of art in this way is not to entrench it as an elitist occupation, but in order to focus on its liberal democratic potential. Between Discipline and a Hard Place describes the value of art outside the current preoccupation with economic considerations yet without resorting to a range of stereotypical and ultimately instrumentalist political or social goods, such as social inclusion or education. A wider argument is also made for disciplinarity, as Jelinek discusses the great potential as well as the pitfalls of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary working, particularly with the so-called 'creative' arts. A passionate treatise arguing for a new way of understanding art that forefronts the role of the artist and the importance of inclusion within both the concept of art and the art world.