Electric Dreams is the definitive history of the hugely influential bands The Human League and Heaven 17, from Sheffield beginnings to world-renowned synth-pop pioneers. The book draws on first-hand interviews with band members, ex-band members, management, producers, friends and other musicians, including Phil Oakey, Martyn Ware, Ian Marsh, Gary Numan and Martin Rushent. Electric Dreams will take you back to a time when completely new sounds were being invented, when the possibilities presented by affordable new technology meant that musically inquisitive, but technically untrained, pop fans could make music in the real spirit of punk. This was no three-chord wonder; this was a one-fingered revolution.

Electronic dance music was once the utopian frontier of pop culture. But three decades after the acid house 'summer of love', it has gone from subculture to the global mainstream. Does it still have the same power to inspire?

From the pleasure palaces of Ibiza and Las Vegas to 'new frontiers' like Shanghai and Dubai, raving is now a multi-million-dollar business. But there are still hardcore believers upholding its DIY ethos - the techno idealists of Berlin and Detroit and the queer subcults of New York, the post-apartheid party people of South Africa and the outlaw techno travellers of France.

In Rave On, Matthew Collin travels the world to experience these unique scenes first-hand, talk to the key players and hear the story of how dance culture went global - and find out if its maverick spirit can survive its own success.

Peace, Love, Unity, and Respect. Cultural liberation and musical innovation. Pyrotechnics, bottle service, bass drops, and molly. Electronic dance music has been a vital force for more than three decades now, and has undergone transformation upon transformation as it has taken over the world. In this searching, lyrical account of dance music culture worldwide, Matthew Collin takes stock of its highest highs and lowest lows across its global trajectory. Through firsthand reportage and interviews with clubbers and DJs, Collin documents the itinerant musical form from its underground beginnings in New York, Chicago, and Detroit in the 1980s, to its explosions in Ibiza and Berlin, to today's mainstream music scenes in new frontiers like Las Vegas, Shanghai, and Dubai. Collin shows how its dizzying array of genres--from house, techno, and garage to drum and bass, dubstep, and psytrance--have given voice to locally specific struggles. For so many people in so many different places, electronic dance music has been caught up in the search for free cultural space: forming the soundtrack to liberation for South African youth after Apartheid; inspiring a psychedelic party culture in Israel; offering fleeting escape from--and at times into--corporatization in China; and even undergirding a veritable "independent republic" in a politically contested slice of the former Soviet Union. Full of admiration for the possibilities the music has opened up all over the world, Collin also unflinchingly probes where this utopianism has fallen short, whether the culture maintains its liberating possibilities today, and where it might go in the future.

Collins Big Cat Guided Reading Handbooks provide a continuous programme of teaching and assessment that take every reader from phonics to fluency. Detailed support for both collaborative guided reading sessions and independent sessions for every Big Cat book. Supports practice of reading comprehension strategies through focused, targeted lesson plans and resource sheets, ensuring every pupil reaches age-related expectations. Includes advice for demonstration and modelling in every lesson plan, supporting pupils in developing key skills such as inference and deduction from the start. Vocabulary Boost sessions for every book to extend pupils' expressive and receptive vocabulary. Formative and summative assessment opportunities to fully assess pupil progress in reading. Matches to the current programmes of study for English, Science, History and Geography. Supporting resource sheets and editable lesson plans available at collins.co.uk.

From its first publication in 1997, Altered State established itself as the definitive text on Ecstasy and dance culture. This new edition sees Matthew Collin cast a fresh eye on the heady events of the acid house 'Summer of Love' and the rave scene's euphoric escalation into commercial excess as MDMA became a mass-market narcotic. Altered State is the best-selling book on Ecstasy culture, using a cast of memorable characters to track the origins of the scene and its drug through psychedelic subcults, underground gay discos and the Balearic paradise of Ibiza, to the point where Tony Blair was using an Ecstasy anthem as an election campaign song. Altered State critically examines the ideologies and myths of the scene, documenting the criminal underside to the blissed-out image, shedding new light on the social history of the most spectacular youth movement of the twentieth century.

You should never steal a car with a zombie in the trunk. And, if a frozen zombie falls out of the freezer portion of the refrigerator and thaws before you decide what to do, hop on your Segway and blow your zombie whistle. In "The Ultimate Zombie Hunter's Handbook" authors Matthew Collins and Geoffrey Collins have provided a comprehensive "how-to" guide for dealing with zombies.

Through a series of lessons, illustrations, and lists, "The Ultimate Zombie Hunter's Handbook: "

Defines and describes zombies and their threat
Describes typical human responses to zombies
Suggests when "to throw in the towel" when faced by a zombie
Recommends appropriate weapons
Provides information for preparing for a zombie invasion
Supplies ideas for applying this new knowledge to tactical situations

So when you're about to turn on the washing machine and you see pale zombie feet shuffling past your basement windows and hear a crash as something comes through the doors, you will know exactly what to do.

An adrenalin-charged trip through some of the cultural flashpoints of the past few decades, Pop Grenade celebrates the power of music as a force for change. Based on first-hand, personal reportage from raves, riots and rebellions, it explores how music has been used as a weapon in struggles for liberation and attempts to create temporary paradises. From Berlin's anarchic techno scene after the fall of the Wall to outlaw sound systems in wartime Bosnia, from Moscow during the crackdown on Pussy Riot to New York in the militant early years of hip-hop, it tells the extraordinary stories of some of the world's most audacious musical freedom fighters, disco visionaries and rock'n'roll rebels with a cause.

Television, Social Media, and Fan Culture examines how fans use social media to engage with television programming, characters, and narrative as well as how television uses social media to engage fan cultures. The contributors review the history and impact of social media and television programming; analyze specific programs and the impact of related social media interactions; and scrutinize the past fan culture to anticipate how social media programming will develop in the future. The contributors explore a diverse array of television personalities, shows, media outlets, and fan activities in their analysis, including: Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, and Paula Deen; Community, Game of Thrones, Duck Dynasty, Toddlers and Tiaras, Talking Dead, Breaking Bad, Firefly, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Army Wives, The Newsroom, Doctor Who, Twin Peaks, and The Man from U.N.C.L.E.; as well as ESPN's TrueHoop Network and Yahoo's Ball Don't Lie; and cosplay.

Television, Social Media, and Fan Culture examines how fans use social media to engage with television programming, characters, and narrative as well as how television uses social media to engage fan cultures. The contributors review the history and impact of social media and television programming; analyze specific programs and the impact of related social media interactions; and scrutinize the past fan culture to anticipate how social media programming will develop in the future. The contributors explore a diverse array of television personalities, shows, media outlets, and fan activities in their analysis, including: Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, and Paula Deen; Community, Game of Thrones, Duck Dynasty, Toddlers and Tiaras, Talking Dead, Breaking Bad, Firefly, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Army Wives, The Newsroom, Doctor Who, Twin Peaks, and The Man from U.N.C.L.E.; as well as ESPN's TrueHoop Network and Yahoo's Ball Don't Lie; and cosplay.