A Fierce Green Place: New and Selected Poems brings together, across the span of thirty-plus years, the rebellious, innovative work of the Jamaican-born Canadian writer Pamela Mordecai. From her acclaimed first collection Journey Poem published in 1989, to the moving elegy for her murdered brother in the true blue of islands, to the stories of freed slaves told in subversive sonnets, and on to her dazzling reimaginings of biblical stories, A Fierce Green Place highlights the astounding range and depths of a poet who mixes Jamaican Creole with standard English, profanity and reverence with dub and blues, the oral and vernacular with metrical virtuosity. Mordecai's words, written out of a "womb-space" of sound and power, shine through neo-colonial violence and patriarchy with such lines as: "Women together / in one place will / bleed in solidarity / till every last body / turn super bitch at once."

Writing the Black Diasporic City in the Age of Globalization theorizes the city as a generative, “semicircular� social space, where the changes of globalization are most profoundly experienced. The fictive accounts analyzed here configure cities as spaces where movement is simultaneously restrictive and liberating, and where life prospects are at once promising and daunting. In their depictions of the urban experiences of peoples of African descent, writers and other creative artists offer a complex set of renditions of twentieth- and twenty-first-century Black urban citizens’ experience in European or Euro-dominated cities such as Boston, London, New York, and Toronto, as well as Global South cities such as Accra, Kingston, and Lagos—that emerged out of colonial domination, and which have emerged as hubs of current globalization. Writing the Black Diasporic City draws on critical tools of classical postcolonial studies as well as those of globalization studies to read works by Ama Ata Aidoo, Amma Darko, Marlon James, Cecil Foster, Zadie Smith, Michael Thomas, Chika Unigwe, and other contemporary writers. The book also engages the television series Call the Midwife, the Canada carnival celebration Caribana, and the film series Small Axe to show how cities are characterized as open, complicated spaces that are constantly shifting. Cities collapse boundaries, allowing for both haunting and healing, and they can sever the connection from kin and community, or create new connections.

Jerusalem, 1099 AD, was the central focus of the First Crusade, the holy war between Christian Crusaders and the Saracens. Passionately motivated by the sight of their Holy City, the Crusaders stop and wait for orders to assault the city's stone walls. In that moment of hesitation, wing-walkers Kate Phillips and Jen Fillmore are pulled from twenty-first century Earth World and hurled into the land of Domar in Bigna World. The two find their lives caught in a world of medieval knights and scaly beasts, far from their high tech world. Brought to Domar to find a cure for the Bas plague spreading throughout Domar, Kate and Jen are plunged into the deep, mystical chambers of Rapio, the sinister, dark Prince of Bigna. The fate of Jerusalem 1099 AD hangs on their actions in Domar. Blasting Trumpets, the second book in The Locket Chronicles, is a continuation of the life journey of two characters, Kate and Jen, who first appeared in The Morgan Chronicles, the first series by Carole Bailey.

Jerusalem, 1099 AD, was the central focus of the First Crusade, the holy war between Christian Crusaders and the Saracens. Passionately motivated by the sight of their Holy City, the Crusaders stop and wait for orders to assault the city's stone walls. In that moment of hesitation, wing-walkers Kate Phillips and Jen Fillmore are pulled from twenty-first century Earth World and hurled into the land of Domar in Bigna World. The two find their lives caught in a world of medieval knights and scaly beasts, far from their high tech world. Brought to Domar to find a cure for the Bas plague spreading throughout Domar, Kate and Jen are plunged into the deep, mystical chambers of Rapio, the sinister, dark Prince of Bigna. The fate of Jerusalem 1099 AD hangs on their actions in Domar. Blasting Trumpets, the second book in The Locket Chronicles, is a continuation of the life journey of two characters, Kate and Jen, who first appeared in The Morgan Chronicles, the first series by Carole Bailey.

A Poetics of Performance: The Oral-Scribal Aesthetics in Anglophone Caribbean Fiction explores the impact of orature-performance on Caribbean prose fiction. Arguing that orature-performance is the structuring device for many contemporary novels and short stories, this work extends the critical consensus that Caribbean oral modes infuse all genres of literature from the region. This book also examines how the formal and thematic synergies between Caribbean orature and literature constitute an inter-performative relationship between the region's literary and performance cultures. Beginning with a retrospective analysis of New Day and The Lonely Londoners, two harbingers of an aesthetic of orality, A Poetics of Performance reads fictions by post-1950s writers Earl Lovelace, Merle Collins, Marie-Elena John, Marlon James and Collin Channer alongside calypso, reggae, and different modes of Caribbean oral storytelling. The analyses elucidate what may be termed the most consequential aspect of Caribbean literary self-fashioning: an "inward turn" to the expressive resources and discursive tools of folk and popular culture. This recuperation has in turn forged a literary tradition grounded, not only in the folk and urban working-class performance cultures, but inevitably in a "woman"-centered poetics.

Ireland, 1014 AD, was a turbulent time; but wing walkers Kate Phillips and Jen Fillmore discover that the fate of the island is tied to an island in another world-Gudsrika Isle in the world of Bigna. Caught in a world between medieval mercenaries and twenty-first century cell phones, Kate and Jen find their lives hurled into a sinister domain of deceit, treachery and tomblike dungeons. Brought to Gudsrika Isle to prevent the magic of the BOK, the sacred writings of Gudsrika, falling into the sorcery powers of wicked Queen Ionta, they must trust the supernatural power within their lockets to save them from being imprisoned for eternity by Rapio--the dark, mystical leader of Gudsrika.
BOK, the first book in The Locket Chronicles, is a continuation of the lives of two characters, Kate and Jen, in the first series by Carole Bailey, The Morgan Chronicles.

Ireland, 1014 AD, was a turbulent time; but wing walkers Kate Phillips and Jen Fillmore discover that the fate of the island is tied to an island in another world-Gudsrika Isle in the world of Bigna. Caught in a world between medieval mercenaries and twenty-first century cell phones, Kate and Jen find their lives hurled into a sinister domain of deceit, treachery and tomblike dungeons. Brought to Gudsrika Isle to prevent the magic of the BOK, the sacred writings of Gudsrika, falling into the sorcery powers of wicked Queen Ionta, they must trust the supernatural power within their lockets to save them from being imprisoned for eternity by Rapio--the dark, mystical leader of Gudsrika.
BOK, the first book in The Locket Chronicles, is a continuation of the lives of two characters, Kate and Jen, in the first series by Carole Bailey, The Morgan Chronicles.

On the Western Front in France in the summer of 1918, World War I whirled around U.S. Army nurse Jenny Drake. Lured into patriotic espionage, she is thrown together with U.S. Army Air Service pilot, Joseph Morgan. The two are instantly attracted to each other, but the race to find the traitors in their midst puts Jenny in the direct path of a life-threatening situation. Thus begins The Morgan Chronicles in Destiny Rising, Book One-The Master's Rose. Destiny Rising, Book Two-Fatal Mark continues The Morgan Chronicles during the last months of World War II. When Annie Bell's flight instructor Jessie is found dead, Annie becomes a nurse at Tulsa General Hospital, the place Jessie was last seen alive. Determined to find the truth, Annie is drawn into a relationship with Stewart Morgan, Navy pilot and intelligence officer. Together they pursue the investigation until he is given overseas orders. Annie proceeds on her own, tumbling into a criminal web that is trapping women patients into a psychotic state.

On the Western Front in France in the summer of 1918, World War I whirled around U.S. Army nurse Jenny Drake. Lured into patriotic espionage, she is thrown together with U.S. Army Air Service pilot, Joseph Morgan. The two are instantly attracted to each other, but the race to find the traitors in their midst puts Jenny in the direct path of a life-threatening situation. Thus begins The Morgan Chronicles in Destiny Rising, Book One-The Master's Rose. Destiny Rising, Book Two-Fatal Mark continues The Morgan Chronicles during the last months of World War II. When Annie Bell's flight instructor Jessie is found dead, Annie becomes a nurse at Tulsa General Hospital, the place Jessie was last seen alive. Determined to find the truth, Annie is drawn into a relationship with Stewart Morgan, Navy pilot and intelligence officer. Together they pursue the investigation until he is given overseas orders. Annie proceeds on her own, tumbling into a criminal web that is trapping women patients into a psychotic state.

CHARIOTS OF THE CLOUDS For as long as she could remember, Colley Morgan wanted to be a pilot. Determined to achieve her childhood dream, she accepts a position flying for Aero Pacific Aviation in Southern California owned by Geoff Fillmore. Their first encounter draws them together yet at the same time sets a quirky pace for their relationship. While flying a charter flight to Baja California, Colley finds herself in jeopardy when her plane is forced down in an isolated area and then stolen. Alone in a strange country, Colley turns to the only person she can reach, Geoff. Colley and Geoff put their personal differences aside to pursue recovering "their" airplane. As the mystery of the stolen plane unfolds, their decision leads them into the treacherous world of smugglers. Chariots of the Clouds is the second book in the Morgan Family Genealogy Series.

CHARIOTS OF THE CLOUDS For as long as she could remember, Colley Morgan wanted to be a pilot. Determined to achieve her childhood dream, she accepts a position flying for Aero Pacific Aviation in Southern California owned by Geoff Fillmore. Their first encounter draws them together yet at the same time sets a quirky pace for their relationship. While flying a charter flight to Baja California, Colley finds herself in jeopardy when her plane is forced down in an isolated area and then stolen. Alone in a strange country, Colley turns to the only person she can reach, Geoff. Colley and Geoff put their personal differences aside to pursue recovering "their" airplane. As the mystery of the stolen plane unfolds, their decision leads them into the treacherous world of smugglers. Chariots of the Clouds is the second book in the Morgan Family Genealogy Series.

One of the hallmarks of contemporary culture is its attitude toward aging and the elderly. Youth and productivity are celebrated in today's society, while the elderly are increasingly marginalized. This not only poses difficulties for old people but is also a loss for the young and middle-agers, who could learn much from the elderly, including what it means to grow old (and die) in Christ.

"Growing Old in Christ" presents the first serious theological reflection ever on what it means to grow old, particularly in our culture and particularly as a Christian. In a full-orbed discussion of the subject, eighteen first-rate Christian thinkers survey biblical and historical perspectives on aging, look at aging in the modern world, and describe the Christian practice of growing old. Along the way they address many timely issues, including the medicalization of aging, the debate over physician-assisted suicide, and the importance of friendships both among the elderly and between the elderly and the young.

Weighty enough to instruct theologians, ethicists, and professional caregivers yet accessible enough for pastors and general readers, this book will benefit anyone seeking faith-based insight into growing old.

CONTRIBUTORS: David Aers
David Cloutier
Rowan A. Greer
Stanley Hauerwas
Judith C. Hays
Richard B. Hays
Shaun C. Henson
L. Gregory Jones
Susan Pendleton Jones
Patricia Beattie Jung
D. Stephen Long
M. Therese Lysaught
David Matzko McCarthy
Keith G. Meador
Charles Pinches
Joel James Shuman
Carole Bailey Stoneking
Laura Yordy

In this volume, the editors and authors strive to understand the evolving Trans-Caribbean as a discontinuous, displacing and displaced, transnational space. It considers the imagined community in the islands as its psycho-social homeland, while simultaneously pursuing different cultural strategies of redefining and resisting colonial 'homeland' conventions (which Kamau Brathwaite appropriately termed the 'inner plantation'). Thus, the Trans-Caribbean is suspended in a double-dialectic, which opposes both the hegemonic metropolitan space inhabited, as well as the romanticized, yet colonialized, 'inner plantation, ' whose transcendence via migration perpetually turns out to be an illusion. Given this, cultural production and migration remain at the vortex of the Trans-Caribbean. The construction of cultural products in the Trans-Caribbean understood as a collection of social and new migratory practices both reflects and contests post-colonial metropolitan hegemonies. Following Arjun Appadurai's distinction, these homogenizing and heterogenizing counter-trends in Trans-Cariabbean spaces can be observed through cultural transactions manifesting themselves as ethnoscapes, mediascapes, technoscapes, financescapes, cityscapes, ideoscapes, etc. For the purposes of this book the editors invited anthropologists, sociologists, political scientists, linguists, liberal arts and gender studies specialists, as well as cultural and literary historians to begin drawing some of the diasporic trajectories on the huge canvas of cultural production throughout the Trans-Caribbean.Constructing Vernacular Culture in the Trans-Caribbean will find its audience among scholars in cultural studies, migration, literary theory, and cultural criticism who have a special interest in Caribbean and Latin American Studies, as well as among students and scholars of migration and postcolonialism and postmodernity in general."

Milady Standard Natural Hair Care and Braiding is designed to be the training resource of choice for individuals committed to nurturing textured hair and providing excellent natural hair care services. This book introduces the technical and creative aspects of braiding, styling, and grooming hair that is naturally curly, kinky, or multi-textured. Also included, are 17 procedures with step-by-step photos and detailed instructions in techniques for styling and grooming natural hair and natural hair additions. This is a "must have" for those who are serious about developing a wide range of services and building a broad, diverse client base--crucial elements for success in the flourishing hair care industry.