Richard Linklater is a popular American filmmaker who is widely celebrated for the breadth of his oeuvre. Over the past three decades, Linklater has directed more than twenty features, ranging from non-linear independent films to Hollywood genre entertainment. Despite the popularity of Linklater's rich and varied body of work--and perhaps also because of this generic diversity--he remains under-represented in critical and scholarly fora. ReFocus: The Films of Richard Linklater addresses this oversight, bringing together twelve original essays attending to Linklater as a filmmaker whose work engages with contemporary debates in American politics, gender, youth, and activism as well as significant concepts in film studies, including time and duration, rhythm, and movement. Together these essays form a dialogue on Linklater's ongoing role in contemporary American popular culture, and the impact his work has on discussions within (and beyond) film studies.

ReFocus: The Films of Spike Jonze is the first collection of essays on this important and original contemporary filmmaker. It looks at his ground-breaking work in both features and short forms, exploring the impact of his filmmaking across a range of philosophical and cultural discussions. Each of Jonze's feature films, from Being John Malkovich (1999) to Her (2013), is discussed at length, focusing on issues of authorship, narration, genre and adaptation. As well as the textual aspects of Jonze's feature films, the contributors consider his work in music videos and shorts - investigating his position as a filmmaker on the blurred boundaries between studio and independent modes of production.

ReFocus: The Films of Spike Jonze is the first collection of essays on this important and original contemporary filmmaker. It looks at his ground-breaking work in both features and short forms, exploring the impact of his filmmaking across a range of philosophical and cultural discussions. Each of Jonze's feature films, from Being John Malkovich (1999) to Her (2013), is discussed at length, focusing on issues of authorship, narration, genre and adaptation. As well as the textual aspects of Jonze's feature films, the contributors consider his work in music videos and shorts - investigating his position as a filmmaker on the blurred boundaries between studio and independent modes of production.

Since the late 1990s a new language has emerged in film scholarship and criticism in response to the popularity of American directors such as Wes Anderson, Charlie Kaufman, and David O. Russell. Increasingly, adjectives like 'quirky', 'cute', and 'smart' are used to describe these American films, with a focus on their ironic (and sometimes deliberately comical) stories, character situations and tones. Kim Wilkins argues that, beyond the seemingly superficial descriptions, 'American eccentric cinema' presents a formal and thematic eccentricity that is distinct to the American context. She distinguishes these films from mainstream Hollywood cinema as they exhibit irregularities in characterization, tone, and setting, and deviate from established generic conventions. Each chapter builds a case for this position through detailed film analyses and comparisons to earlier American traditions, such as the New Hollywood cinema of the 1960s and 1970s. American Eccentric Cinema promises to challenge the notion of irony in American contemporary cinema, and questions the relationship of irony to a complex national and individual identity.

The difficult and nuanced issue of discrimination - race, gender, ethicity, religion - is the focus of this volume. Discrimination has long played a part in medievalism studies, but it has rarely been weaponized as thoroughly and publicly as in recent exchanges. The essays in the first part of this volume respond to that development by examining some of the many forms discrimination has taken in medievalism (studies) relative to race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and ethnicity. These papers thus inform many of the subsequent chapters, which address a wide variety of aspects of medievalism, showing how many cultural areas it touches upon. Subjects include Evelyn Underhill's literary interest in the Arts and Crafts Movement; the Anchoresses of the filmmaker Chris Newby and novelist RobynCadwallader; cinematic battle orations; contemporary representations of Viking helmet horns; modern board-game culture; and Vincent Van Gogh's Studio of the South. The volume also includes a transcription and contextualization ofthe celebrated scholar Helen Waddell's notes on medieval texts. KARL FUGELSO is Professor of Art History at Towson University. Contributors: Carla Arnell, Aida Audeh, Peter Burkholder, Christopher Caldiero,Michael Evans, Jennifer FitzGerald, Jonathan Godsall, Angus J. Kennedy, Nadia Margolis, Lauryn Mayer, Timothy S. Miller, Tison Pugh, Richard Utz, Kim Wilkins, Karen A. Winstead, Helen Young

The Year of Ancient Ghosts is the first collection of stories by multiple award-winning Australian writer Kim Wilkins. Born in England, Kim Wilkins is the author of over 20 novels for readers of all ages. Her debut novel The Infernal won two Aurealis Awards. Her latest books, contemporary epic romances, are published under the pseudonym Kimberley Freeman, and include Lighthouse Bay and Wildflower Hill. Kim Wilkins is a four-times winner of the Aurealis Award, twice winner of the Sassy Award for popular fiction, and winner of the Romantic Book of the Year award. The book collects 5 novellas, comprising two written especially for this collection and 2 reprints and the first print publication of "Wild Dreams of Blood."

The Year of Ancient Ghosts is the first collection of stories by multiple award-winning Australian writer Kim Wilkins. Born in England, Kim Wilkins is the author of over 20 novels for readers of all ages. Her debut novel The Infernal won two Aurealis Awards. Her latest books, contemporary epic romances, are published under the pseudonym Kimberley Freeman, and include Lighthouse Bay and Wildflower Hill. Kim Wilkins is a four-times winner of the Aurealis Award, twice winner of the Sassy Award for popular fiction, and winner of the Romantic Book of the Year award. The book collects 5 novellas, comprising two written especially for this collection and 2 reprints and the first print publication of "Wild Dreams of Blood."

This spell binding true story will keep you captivated as you travel with one girl on a humbling voyage. You will laugh and you will cry as you see a girl try to save herself with her "pk" title, along with any other label she can find, just to find herself lost in an identity she wishes not to claim. In the middle, she slips onto a few crossings that prove in the end to be quite beautiful. On one such passage, this "dignified Christian" finds herself unwed and pregnant. Standing before her father and eighty churches he represents, rumors quickly fly. Unveiled and about to be thrust in to motherhood, the woman marries the father just to learn the father is addicted to steroids and alcohol. Abused and anorexic, the woman finally flees and has her daughter's father arrested. One would think that is the end of the story. However, the woman finally lets her boring religion grow in to an exhilarating relationship with an exciting Daddy. She comes to find in that charismatic place, away from labels and far from any human man's grip, she can never fall too far without landing gently in Daddy's arms. Cradled safely in this newfound place of faith, she remarries her daughter's father in a blind belief her husband will become a godly man. She is inspired to journey on a gut wrenching expedition, walking every step with a tenacious faith, declaring to all of Heaven and hell she and her family will leave a legacy that will change her community, her world, and perhaps a part of eternity. Somewhere in the middle she too forever is changed, as she finds the highest accolade and her preordained destiny not in any man's title, but instead resting securely inside of her Daddy's arms.

From the author of "The Autumn Castle" comes a dark tale of immortal love and loss that brings together Norse gods and mortals. Original.

- Like Laurel K. Hamilton, Elizabeth Hand, and Neil Gaiman, Wilkins writes dark, urban fantasies. This novel, featuring a modern woman struggling against abnormal forces, will appeal to mainstream readers as well. - In 2006, Aspect will publish Wilkins's North American debut, was published by HarperCollins in Australia in 4/03 and received rave reviews

Since the late 1990s a new language has emerged in film scholarship and criticism in response to the popularity of American directors such as Wes Anderson, Charlie Kaufman, and David O. Russell. Increasingly, adjectives like 'quirky', 'cute', and 'smart' are used to describe these American films, with a focus on their ironic (and sometimes deliberately comical) stories, character situations and tones. Kim Wilkins argues that, beyond the seemingly superficial descriptions, 'American eccentric cinema' presents a formal and thematic eccentricity that is distinct to the American context. She distinguishes these films from mainstream Hollywood cinema as they exhibit irregularities in characterization, tone, and setting, and deviate from established generic conventions. Each chapter builds a case for this position through detailed film analyses and comparisons to earlier American traditions, such as the New Hollywood cinema of the 1960s and 1970s. American Eccentric Cinema promises to challenge the notion of irony in American contemporary cinema, and questions the relationship of irony to a complex national and individual identity.

While the term 'bestseller' explicitly relates books to sales, commercially successful books are also products of individual creative work. This Element presents a new perspective on the relationship between art and the market, with particular reference to bestselling writers and books. We examine some existing perspectives on art's relationship to the marketplace to trouble persistent binaries that see the two in opposition; we break down the monolith of the marketplace by thinking of it as made up of a range of invested, non-hostile participants such as publishing personnel and readers; we articulate the material dimensions of creative writing in the industry through the words of bestselling writers themselves; and we examine how the existence of bestselling books and writers in the world of letters bears enormous influence on the industry, and on the practice of other writers.

Young adult fantasy (YA fantasy) brings together two established genres - young adult fiction and fantasy fiction - and in so doing amplifies, energises, and leverages the textual, social, and industrial practices of the two genres: combining the fantastic with adolescent concerns; engaging passionate online fandoms; proliferating quickly into series and related works. By considering the texts alongside the way they are circulated and marketed, this Element aims to show that the YA fantasy genre is a dynamic formation that takes shape and reshapes itself responsively in a continuing process over time.