In this hilarious and heartwarming family comedy, one of sports' toughest players ever takes on his biggest challenge yet - fatherhood! A superstar with an ego bigger than a football field, Joe Kingman (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) is getting ready for a run at the big championship game when the 8-year-old daughter he never knew existed shows up at his not-so-family-friendly bachelor pad. As the big game gets closer, he begins to realize the most meaningful win he can achieve is the heart of one little fan who counts the most.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

The New York Times bestselling author of The Forgotten Man, L.A. Requiem, and The Last Detective returns with an intense, edge-of-your seat suspense novel. The story begins as bank robber Max Holman is leaving jail, having served his nine-year sentence. He's clean and sober, and the only thing on his mind is reconciliation with his estranged son, who is, ironically, a cop. Then the devastating news: his son and three other uniformed cops were gunned down in cold blood in the LA warehouse district the night before Holman's release.

Max's one rule was no violence and throughout his career as a bank robber, he never crossed that line. But now, with the loss of his son and shut out from any information on the case since the police are not interested in keeping ex-cons informed, Max decides there is only one thing to do: avenge his son's death. But he soon finds himself in a web of deceit and corruption as it becomes apparent that the supposed killer could not have murdered his son.

Batman is one of the most recognized and popular pop culture icons. Appearing on the page of Detective Comics #27 in 1939, the character has inspired numerous characters, franchises, and spin-offs over his 80+ year history. The character has displayed versatility, appearing in stories from multiple genres, including science fiction, noir, and fantasy and mediums far beyond his comic book origins. While there are volumes analyzing Batman through literary, philosophical, and psychological lenses, this volume is one of the first academic monographs to examine Batman through a theological and religious lens. Theology and Batman analyzes Batman and his world, specifically exploring the themes of theodicy and evil, ethics and morality, justice and vengeance, and the Divine Nature. Scholars will appreciate the breadth of material covered while Batman fans will appreciate the love for the character expressed through each chapter.

Watercolor Your Way meets you right where you are with watercolor. Whether you’re dipping your toe in, cannon-balling in, or honing your craft—this book is for you.   Written and illustrated by artist Sarah Cray, co-founder of the art education platform Let’s Make Art, Watercolor Your Way is designed to inform and guide you at your current skill level.   Each of four chapters focuses on different techniques and supplies, building on each other so you can bring your watercolor art to the next level. Instead of presenting everything about paints, color mixing, and techniques all at once, it’s offered in four small installments, with frequently asked questions, pro tips, and projects geared toward where you are on your artistic path, so you can get to the fun part—creating with watercolor—faster!    For Those Just Starting Out. Focuses on just three fundamental elements: shape, the wet-on-wet technique, and primary colors. Building Confidence and Skill. Spotlights creating value and form with watercolor. Finessing and Enhancing. Centers on adding detailed lines and backgrounds, and adjusting values by hue. Finding Your Style. Presents a process of how to develop a style that’s uniquely yours. With Watercolor Your Way, you can explore watercolor the way you’ve always wanted to, with expert instruction on a wide range of exciting techniques, themes, and color palettes that fit your needs as an artist.

‘Another grand slam for the master storyteller’ DAVID BALDACCI ‘A modern master of crime fiction’ GREGG HURWITZ THE CITY OF ANGELS Adele Schumacher isn’t a typical worried mum. When she hires Elvis to find her missing son, a controversial podcaster named Josh Shoe, she brings a bag filled with cash, paranoid tales of government conspiracies, and a squad of mysterious bodyguards. Finding Josh should be simple, but Elvis quickly learns he isn’t alone in the hunt – a team of deadly strangers are determined to find Josh first. THE CITY OF LIES With dangerous secrets lurking behind every lead, Elvis needs his friend Joe Pike more than ever to uncover the truth about Josh, corrupt politicians, and the murderous business cartels rotting the heart of Los Angeles. And when his estranged ex-girlfriend Lucy Chenier and her son return to the city, Elvis realizes just how much he has to lose . . . if he survives. Written with the heart, humour, and relentless suspense for which Crais is famous, Racing the Light delivers Elvis Cole’s most dangerous case yet.              Why Crais is the King of Crime . . . ‘Robert Crais – and Joe Pike – will have you by the throat’  INDEPENDENT   'Just keeps getting better and better' EVENING STANDARD   ‘Robert Crais is hands-down the World’s Greatest Crime Fiction Writer’ HUFFINGTON POST   ‘Expertly delivers his customary modern-day riff on the 1940s hardboiled idiom’ GUARDIAN   ‘Cleverly plotted, stylishly written’ WASHINGTON POST

Sara Baartman and the Hottentot Venus offers the authoritative account of one woman's life and reinstates her to the full complexity of her history. Displayed on European stages from 1810 to 1815 as the Hottentot Venus, Sara Baartman was one of the most famous women of her day, and also one of the least known. As the Hottentot Venus, she was seen by Westerners as alluring and primitive, a reflection of their fears and suppressed desires. But who was Sara Baartman? Who was the woman who became the Hottentot Venus? Based on research and interviews that span three continents, Sara Baartman and the Hottentot Venus tells the entwined histories of an elusive life and a famous icon. In doing so, the book raises questions about the possibilities and limits of biography for understanding those who live between and among different cultures. In reconstructing Baartman's life, the title traverses the South African frontier and its genocidal violence, cosmopolitan Cape Town, the ending of the slave trade, the Industrial Revolution, the French Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars, London and Parisian high society, and the rise of racial science. The authors discuss the ramifications of discovering that when Baartman went to London, she was older than originally assumed, and they explore the enduring impact of the Hottentot Venus on ideas about women, race, and sexuality. The title concludes with the politics involved in returning Baartman's remains to her home country, and connects Baartman's story to her descendants in nineteenth- and twentieth-century South Africa.

This collection of essays significantly refines the way we think about state and society in the British Southern Africa of the 19th and 20th centuries, from the conquest of the Transkei and Natal to contemporary Botswana and Zimbabwe. The essays embody a range of disciplinary perspectives, including anthropology, history, and historical sociology. Yet they share a set of theoretical and empirical concerns united by an interesting understanding the culture of power - and the power of culture - at Africa's southern tip. Contributing scholars are especially concerned with understanding the hidden and complex histories of state formation and popular culture, and the relationship among rule, experience, and meaning. By focusing on state formation, and not on who rules but on how rule is accomplished, the essays in this exemplary collection present a reinvigorated social history of state formation without reducing African historical actors to mere respondents to the intrusions of others. They argue that precisely because colonial conquest and rule were cross-cultural encounters requiring the exercise of both force and dialogue, state formation and the culture and consciousness of African subjects were intertwined historical developments.

China is as tough a business environment as you'll experience anywhere in the world, remaining one of the most complicated places to do business. Just ask all the company executives and entrepreneurs who've tried to do business there, lost money, and closed shop. They learned the hard way that success elsewhere doesn't always lead to riches in China.

Alan Refkin and Scott Cray, with Thornhill Capital, have spent years doing business in China, and they have a long-term track record of helping companies navigate the complicated business terrain. In this, their new guide, they share their intimate knowledge of how business is conducted in China. They explore the intricacies of how the Chinese negotiate, discuss ways to better protect yourself from the increased threat of cyberespionage and the theft of your intellectual property, show you how to litigate if necessary, take you through what's needed to successfully interact with government officials, and demonstrate how you can be successful and reap the financial rewards from conducting business in China.

Being successful in China is not an accident. What separates the thriving businessperson from those who abandon the country and their dreams for success is preparation. Get the information and tools you need to accomplish your goals, dominate, and win with "Conducting Business in the Land of the Dragon." ""Conducting Business in the Land of the Dragon" is a keen twenty-first-century guide to China and makes excellent reading for both experienced Sinophiles and China novices. ... Everyone will learn from Alan's fascinating experiences and understanding of China, its people, its culture, and its future." -John Lucas, director, Weinberg & Company "You'll never find a better guide to take you through the reality of conducting business in China. Period." -Jose F. Sada, president of DS Capital Partners

'Another grand slam for the master storyteller' DAVID BALDACCI 'A modern master of crime fiction' GREGG HURWITZ 'Robert Crais is a legend who deserves his place alongside Chandler, Hammett & Himes as a true master of the crime and mystery genre' STEVE CAVANAGH THE CITY OF ANGELS Adele Schumacher isn't a typical worried mum. When she hires Elvis to find her missing son, a controversial podcaster named Josh Shoe, she brings a bag filled with cash, paranoid tales of government conspiracies, and a squad of mysterious bodyguards. Finding Josh should be simple, but Elvis quickly learns he isn't alone in the hunt - a team of deadly strangers are determined to find Josh first. THE CITY OF LIES With dangerous secrets lurking behind every lead, Elvis needs his friend Joe Pike more than ever to uncover the truth about Josh, corrupt politicians, and the murderous business cartels rotting the heart of Los Angeles. And when his estranged ex-girlfriend Lucy Chenier and her son return to the city, Elvis realizes just how much he has to lose . . . if he survives. Written with the heart, humour, and relentless suspense for which Crais is famous, Racing the Light delivers Elvis Cole's most dangerous case yet. Why Crais is the King of Crime . . . 'Robert Crais - and Joe Pike - will have you by the throat' INDEPENDENT 'Just keeps getting better and better' EVENING STANDARD 'Robert Crais is hands-down the World's Greatest Crime Fiction Writer' HUFFINGTON POST 'Expertly delivers his customary modern-day riff on the 1940s hardboiled idiom' GUARDIAN 'The Elvis Cole and Joe Pike novels are among the very finest series in existence. I love these books. You will too' STEVE CAVANAGH 'Cleverly plotted, stylishly written' WASHINGTON POST

Riverbank filtration is widely used in Europe and to some extent in the United States for the public water supply. It is a cost-effective and realisable treatment technology in which horizontal and vertical wells pump a mixture of ground water and induced surface water from a river. This book describes the biogeochemical issues involved in contaminant removal from surface water and the mechanisms of pathogen removal. Specifically, the following three points are considered:
*The role of hydrogeological and well construction factors in the development of redox zones at bank filtration sites and the resulting impacts on contaminant removal.
*The mechanisms of pathogen removal, including the processes, colloid filtration, die-away, decay, and predation.
*The status of riverbank filtration processes in NATO partner countries.

Lisa Del Tura, a beautiful and young new teacher, cannot miss Keith Graylock, a student with a deep crush. As she waits for the feelings to pass, a further complication arises. Evil emerges at every corner, surrounding Keith and his fantasy, drawing the two closer and closer together. From disruptive behavior to heartfelt gestures, from an enemy to a personal friend, from a loner to near death, Keith brings a dark cloud. One that only Lisa can stop. With the community paralyzed and a school torn apart, Lisa must find the truth. With a concerned father, a budding romance and a strange intervention, no twist is left un turned. In the end, Lisa's fate is sealed and every step leads her straight to the inevitable. Secrets will be exposed and feelings left to linger. Most of all, there is the future and the very meaning of life. Love, and the enduring price to find it, and keep it, forever.

Chittaranjan Ray, Ph. D. , P. E. University of Hawaii at Manoa Honolulu, Hawaii, United States Jurgen Schubert, M. Sc. Stadtwerke Dusseldorf AG Dusseldorf, Germany Ronald B. Linsky National Water Research Institute Fountain Valley, California, United States Gina Melin National Water Research Institute Fountain Valley, California, United States 1. What is Riverbank Filtration? The purpose ofthis book is to show that riverbank filtration (RBF) isa low-cost and efficient alternative water treatment for drinking-water applications. There are two immediate benefits to the increased use of RBF: Minimized need for adding chemicals like disinfectants and coagulants to surface water to control pathogens. Decreased costs to the community without increased risk to human health. Butwhat,exactly, isRBF? In humid regions, river water naturally percolates through the ground into aquifers (which are layers of sand and gravel that contain water underground) during high-flow conditions. In arid regions, most rivers lose flow, and the percolating water passes through soil and aquifer material until it reaches the water table. During these percolation processes, potential contaminants present in river water are filtered and attenuated. If there are no other contaminants present in the aquifer or ifthe respective contaminants are present at lower concentrations, the quality of water in the aquifer can be ofhigher quality than that found in theriver. In RBF, production wells - which are placed near the banks ofrivers -pump large quantities ofwater.

'Just keeps getting better and better' DAVID BALDACCI 'Slick and enjoyable' SUN 'Top-notch fun noir' SUNDAY TIMES CRIME CLUB (starred review) DESPERATE MEN ARE DANGEROUS . . . Joe Pike wasn't looking to save someone's life on the day he left the bank. But when he saw Isabel, a young teller, being forced into a car by two men, he had no choice but to chase them down. Not long after being released on bail, the men are found dead and Isabel is missing. After his handling of the men, Pike is a prime suspect, along with Izzy - was this an abduction gone wrong? Or did it go exactly how she planned? Convinced that her life is in danger, Pike involves Elvis Cole in a search for the truth, and for Izzy. But they're not the only ones desperate to find her - and desperate men are dangerous. As explosive as Michael Connelly and as addictive as Lee Child, A Dangerous Man has 'the smoothest writing and best storytelling you'll ever read' (DAVID BALDACCI) *THE NEW COLE AND PIKE THRILLER* Why Crais is the King of Crime . . .'Bob is like a Porsche when it comes to writing. Indeed, it's quite fitting that he drives that model of car. Like the Porsche, his writing is elegant, stylish, funny, can fire on turbos when need be and dive deep when the plot demands it, but this is far and away some of the smoothest writing and best storytelling you'll ever read. He's written a lot of books, but just keeps getting better and better' DAVID BALDACCI '[Crais] expertly delivers his customary modern-day riff on the 1940s hardboiled idiom' Guardian 'Outstanding . . . Crais begins the story with deceptive simplicity but slowly ratchets up both the tension and the action with surgical precision . . . This one's sure to hit the bestseller charts' Publishers Weekly (starred review) 'Another rewarding page-turner by one of the most reliable storytellers in modern crime fiction' Daily Mail 'Crais is a whip-smart writer. Cole and Pike are carefully drawn, multilayered characters who've grown more complex through the years. This is one of the very best entries in a long-running and still first-rate series' Booklist on A Dangerous Man (starred review) 'Cleverly plotted, stylishly written' Washington Post 'If you've always wished Lee Child's Jack Reacher had a little more balance in his life - but the same formidable talents - you'll love Joe Pike and the latest book in this long, superb series . . . Crais never loses control of his clean, clear prose or his ability to sketch fully fleshed characters in a few scenes . . . A taut, exceptional thriller' Kirkus on A Dangerous Man (starred review)

Children's animated sequel set prior to the ending of the original film, 'Beauty and the Beast' (1991). Divided into four chapters, the feature follows Belle (voice of Paige O'Hara), Beast (Robby Benson), Lumiere (Jerry Orbach), Cogsworth (David Ogden Stiers) and the castle's other enchanted beings as they all try to get along with each other. The chapters are: 'The Perfect Word', 'Fifi's Folly', 'Mrs. Potts' Party' and 'The Broken Wing'. The feature also includes two original songs, 'Listen With Our Hearts' and 'A Little Thought'.

What exactly are comics? Can they be art, literature, or even pornography? How should we understand the characters, stories, and genres that shape them? Thinking about comics raises a bewildering range of questions about representation, narrative, and value. Philosophy of Comics is an introduction to these philosophical questions. In exploring the history and variety of the comics medium, Sam Cowling and Wesley D. Cray chart a path through the emerging field of the philosophy of comics. Drawing from a diverse range of forms and genres and informed by case studies of classic comics such as Watchmen, Tales from the Crypt, and Fun Home, Cowling and Cray explore ethical, aesthetic, and ontological puzzles, including: - What does it take to create—or destroy—a fictional character like Superman? - Can all comics be adapted into films, or are some comics impossible to adapt? - Is there really a genre of “superhero comics�? - When are comics obscene, pornographic, and why does it matter? At a time of rapidly growing interest in graphic storytelling, this is an ideal introduction to the philosophy of comics and some of its most central and puzzling questions.

Life in the California sun suits Elvis Cole--until the day a fifteen-year-old girl and her two younger siblings walk into his office. Then everything changes.
Three years ago, a Seattle family ran for their lives in a hail of bullets. Hired by three kids to find their missing father, Elvis now must pick up the cold pieces of a drama that began that night. What he finds is a sordid tale of high crimes and illicit drugs. As clues to a man's secret life emerge from the shadows, Elvis knows he's not just up against ruthless mobsters and some very angry Feds. He's facing a storm of desperation and conspiracy--bearing down on three children whose only crime was their survival...

The second blistering Elvis Cole novel from the bestselling author of RACING THE LIGHT 'Brilliant... read this, then read all his others' Mirror Bradley Warren had lost something very valuable, something that belonged to someone else: a rare thirteenth-century Japanese manuscript called the Hagakure. Everything PI Elvis Cole knew about Japanese culture he'd learned from reading SHOGUN, but he knew a lot of crooks - and what he didn't know, his sidekick Joe Pike did. Together, Cole and Pike begin their search in L.A.'s Little Tokyo, the nest of the notorious Japanese mafia, the Yakuza - and find themselves caught up in a white-knuckled adventure filled with madness, murder and sexual obsession. Just another day's work for Elvis Cole...

Seventeen-year-old Tyson seems a normal teenager: socially awkward, obsessed with video games and always hungry. But his mother has a feeling that her sweet, nerdy son is hiding something … and she’s just found a $40,000 Rolex watch under his bed.

Suddenly very frightened that Tyson is involved in something bad, she gets in touch with private investigator Elvis Cole and asks him to do some digging.

The information that Cole uncovers surprises everyone. Tyson spooks and runs. And then people start dying ...