At the 2006 annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, the Prophetic Texts in their Ancient Contexts section devoted a session to the theme "The Aesthetics of Violence." Participants were invited to explore multiple dimensions of prophetic texts and their violent rhetoric. The results were rich-- engaging discussion of violent images in ancient Near Eastern art and in modern film, as well as advancing our understanding of the poetic skill required for invoking terror through words. This volume collects those essays as well as others especially commissioned for its creation. As a collection, they address questions that are at once ancient and distressingly-modern: What do violent images do to us? Do they encourage violent behavior and/or provide an alternative to actual violence? How do depictions of violence define boundaries between and within communities? What readers can and should readers make of the disturbing rhetoric of violent prophets? Contributors include Corrine Carvahlo, Cynthia Chapman, Chris Franke, Bob Haak, Mary Mills, Julia O'Brien, Kathleen O'Connor, Carolyn Sharp, Yvonne Sherwood, and Daniel Smith-Christopher.

This volume explores multiple dimensions of prophetic texts and their violent rhetoric, providing a rich and engaging discussion of violent images not only in prophetic texts and in ancient Near Eastern art but also in modern film and receptions of prophetic texts. The volume addresses questions that are at once ancient and distressingly-modern: What do violent images do to us? Do they encourage violent behavior and/or provide an alternative to actual violence? How do depictions of violence define boundaries between and within communities? What readers can and should readers make of the disturbing rhetoric of violent prophets? Contributors include Corrine Carvahlo, Cynthia Chapman, Chris Franke, Bob Haak, Mary Mills, Julia O'Brien, Kathleen O'Connor, Carolyn Sharp, Yvonne Sherwood, and Daniel Smith-Christopher.

From tales of woe, to tales of triumph, the short stories in this collection are my very best written over the years. The stories in this collection will make you laugh, make you cry, make you think, and best of all, make you read. From the first page to the last page you will encounter stories that beg you to keep reading until the very end. The thing I love most about these stories is their surprise endings. In most of the stories you will not see the ending coming. From the first story, a laughable tale which describes what happens when the drunk man doesn't drive, until the last story, which is a heart wrenching tale of one mans loss and his refusal to deal with it, and what he does in the end to finally confront that which he for so long avoided, you will be thrown through strange tales which you will want to read again and again. There are a total of eleven tales in this book. Throughout you will discover many things. From the bird who eats people whole, to the warehouse where nothing is normal, from the insane man who discovers a real psycho, to the man who discovers who the real psycho is, you will not be disappointed by what you read. I have included only my very best short stories, some I wrote over 14 years ago, and every one I have polished and refined to make them my very best. Now I turn them over to you, to enjoy and laugh at, to wonder and marvel at, but most of all, to read and enjoy.

Detective Jim Jovian has just completed the overnight shift for the West Covina Police Department on Christmas Eve when he receives an ominous call. A jogger has informed him that a man in a Santa Claus outfit is hanging from a tree on Pear Street. Upon investigation, Jovian notices that the number '1' is carved into the tree from which Santa is hanging. A series of gruesome murders occur over the next week and a half, each one bearing an ascending number. Los Angeles has a serial murderer and the police are at a loss as to his pattern or how to stop him.

My soul is filled with passion, my heart is filled with desire, my mind is filled with words. This book is my soul, my heart, and my mind all rolled into one. Are you ready to take the journey with me?

White knuckled follow up to 12 DAYS - Malibu, the playground of the rich and the famous. This tranquil, upscale beach community is rocked by the death of not one but two of its famous residents who reside behind the storied gates of the Malibu Movie Colony. Detective Jim Jovian must fight his demons, both external and internal, to unearth the deadly secrets of the sand.