This A-Z encyclopedia provides a broad and evenhanded overview of America's complex relationship with marijuana, examining political, recreational, cultural, medical, and economic aspects of marijuana use both historically and in the present day. Marijuana in America is an accessible and comprehensive exploration of the many changes in medical, legal, and cultural issues surrounding cannabis in the United States. This multidisciplinary volume features contributions from several different fields to explain all facets of marijuana, including its chemical composition, evolving depictions in popular culture, and historical, legal, and social settings in which marijuana use occurs. A mix of coverage provides readers with a full and accurate understanding of the spectrum of issues and controversies swirling around marijuana today, including: the changing legal landscape pertaining to the sale, possession, and use of marijuana, both at the state and federal levels; the factual basis for arguments for and against so-called "medical marijuana"; claims that marijuana is a gateway drug to harder drugs; changing cultural attitudes about marijuana and "potheads"; economic arguments for and against marijuana legalization; and the impact of marijuana on families, communities, the economy, and the criminal justice system. Detailed, authoritative, and evenhanded coverage of all medical, legal, cultural, and economic aspects of legal and illegal marijuana in America. Information sources for further research included in each entry. Timeline of legal, cultural, and social events and trends concerning marijuana and its use in the United States. Contributions from several different fields giving the volume a multidisciplinary focus.

Gothic Mash-Ups explores the role of intertextuality in Gothic storytelling through the analysis of texts from diverse periods and media. Drawing on recent scholarship on Gothic remix and adaptation, the contributors examine crossover fictions, multi-source film and comic book adaptations, neo-Victorian pastiches, performance magic, monster mashes, and intertextual Gothic works of various kinds. Their chapters investigate many critical issues related to Gothic mash-up, including authorship, originality, intellectual property, fandom, commercialization, and canonicity. Although varied in approach, the chapters all explore how Gothic storytellers make new stories out of older ones, relying on a mix of appropriation and innovation. Covering many examples of mash-up, from nineteenth-century Gothic novels to twenty-first-century video games and interactive fiction, this collection builds from the premise that the Gothic is a fundamentally hybrid genre.

In the year 2145...after disobeying a direct order, former special ops Marine Lieutenant John Kane found himself stripped of his rank and reassigned to the "U.S. Space Marines" -- the private army of the Union Aerospace Corporation. Now little more than a glorified security guard, Kane reluctantly accepts his fate on Mars City, the environmental community/lab center on the legendary red planet. But Kane could never have imagined the unspeakable horrors that awaited him there -- nightmarish aberrations of nature and unholy unions of flesh and machine awakened by unsuspecting researchers attempting to divulge the arcane secrets of this planet's extraordinary past. As the terrifying violence grows, Kane and a ragtag band of survivors must call on all of their skills if they can ever hope to make it out of Mars City alive -- even as those at the highest echelons of power continue their own covert and deadly machinations in a relentless bid to seize the ultimate source of power....

The year is 2144...and the battle over Earth's precious resources has raged for a century. With global economies in ruins and all-out world war more than a possibility, the U.S government turned to the Union Aerospace Corporation, giving it carte blanche on the legendary red planet of Mars in a desperate bid to construct an off-world outpost that might provide resources, a military advantage...as well as something so secret that even members of government don't have a clue about it....
Special Ops Marine Lieutenant John Kane was once a careerist simply glad to have a job, and couldn't care less about politics just as long as Uncle Sam's check cleared. But that was before he listened to his conscience and disobeyed a direct order. Busted down to private, Kane has been reassigned to the "U.S. Space Marines" -- the private army of the UAC -- with the prospect of becoming little more than a glorified security guard on Mars....
Now Lt. Kane's fate leads him to Mars City -- part environmental community, part lab center, and all owned and protected by the UAC. It's a strange world with a fatal environment, and the thousands who live and work within the city have already begun to think of themselves as Martians. And away from Mars City, at the strange ancient sites uncovered on the planet, a small squad of marines stand guard while scientists uncover wall glyphs and search for artifacts, having already found something that is so far amazing and inexplicable -- including the relic called "U1," nicknamed "the Soul Cube" -- and unknown to all, the bringer of destructive chaos and unspeakable horror....