Felix Mitterer's reputation as a European dramatist of the first rank is by now firmly established. With his gift for sketching social milieu in a few salient strokes and creating almost unbearably intense moments of dramatic suspense, he has for over thirty years been riveting the attention of viewers on the suffering of such oppressed groups as the aged (Siberia), the mentally challenged (No Room for Idiots) and the workingmen and women in thrall to corrupt corporations (One Everyman). The two plays offered here, In the Lions' Den and The Panther, fall well within the purview of Mitterer's social concerns, portraying as they do, respectively, the plight of the Jews in the Third Reich and, once again, the aged in contemporary society. Yet they also reveal a deeper and more personal thematic vein having to do with the intimate symbiosis of language and individual identity. In Lions' Den the Jewish protagonist Kirsch affects Tyrolean dialect to create an Aryan persona for survival purposes, in effect corroborating the idealist doctrine, esse est percipi (to be is to be perceived, as this or that). You are what you can persuade others you are, and God help you if your powers of persuasion fail you! In The Panther the old man's self-image, his very sense of himself, erodes with the chipping-away of age at his memory of the lines that make up Rilke's immortal Dinggedicht. In both plays the bedrock ordering of experience imposed by language is strained to the breaking point, leaving the protagonists teetering on the brink of the abyss that looms just beyond personal identity. Of his own life the self-effacing Felix Mitterer has said: "Its only unusual aspect is that I became a writer, that I was saved and others weren't". His words allude obliquely to the grinding poverty and backbreaking work he had to endure labouring on the farms of the Tyrol as he grew up. They also convey his solidarity with those "others" who could not make it out of the Alpine ghetto and suggest his deep commitment to make their plight, and that of other oppressed groups, the driving force of his dramatic art. Felix Mitterer has done what all true artists do, transformed his personal demons into angels of art. And in tracing, through that art, the correspondence between his own demons and those of society, he masters them, not only in himself but in the receptive viewer (or reader) as well.

IN 12 YEARS, MICHELLE LYONS WITNESSED NEARLY 300 EXECUTIONS. As a reporter and then spokesperson for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Michelle was a frequent visitor to Huntsville's Walls Unit, where she recorded the final moments of death row inmates' lives before they were put to death by the state. Michelle witnessed some of the most notorious criminals, including serial killers, child murderers and rapists, speak their last words on earth, while a cocktail of lethal drugs surged through their veins. Misgivings began to set in as the execution numbers mounted. She came to know and like some of the condemned people she saw die, and began to query the seemingly arbitrary nature of the death penalty. Do executions actually make victims of us all? 'Haunting, dark and hard to put down' Houston Chronicle 'A portrait of what it's like to be surrounded by death... a memoir of perseverance in the face of routine tragedy' The Daily Beast

The United States introduced the earned income tax credit (EITC) in 1975, where it remains the most significant earnings-based refundable credit in the Internal Revenue Code. While the United States was the first country to use its domestic revenue system to deliver and administer social welfare benefits to lower-income individuals or families, a number of other countries, including New Zealand and Canada, have experimented with or incorporated similar credits into their tax systems. In this work, Michelle Lyon Drumbl, drawing on her extensive advocacy experience representing low-income taxpayers in EITC audits, analyzes the effectiveness of the EITC in the United States and offers suggestions for how it can be improved. This timely book should be read by anyone interested in how the EITC can be reimagined to better serve the working poor and, more generally, whether the tax system can promote social justice.

"Meditation, Depression and an Alien Encounter" follows a conversation about depression and meditation between cartoonist, Michael Lyons and an alien named, Steven.

"Amix Blood" is the story of a bi-racial girl with a unique set of problems. She is half elfin and half vampire. When Amix is asked to leave the prestigious vampire academy, she enrolls in a boarding school dedicated to assimilating elves into the dominant vampire culture. After attempting a daring mid-day escape, Amix meets a kindred spirit in Steven. Steven is also of mixed-heritage. He is half human and half alien. Together, they resist the terrible elf-hunter, Santa Claus, and try to get back home.

Little Cutie is a ragged red and white teddy bear who goes on a vision quest to find out who he is and where he belongs. Along the way, Little Cutie gets advice from a number of woodland animals (all with Ojibwe names) about life, living with humans, and how to find the Great Spirit.

"Rockstar Cartoonist" follows the life of cartoonist, Michael Lyons and his struggles as an aspiring artist and musician. Beginning in 1967, when we witness the birth of Lyons as the reincarnation of Michelangelo, the reader follows his experiences (especially regarding: dating, drawing, and playing guitar) as he progresses throughout the decades. In the end, we discover Michael as a middle-aged man with ambivalent feelings about love, music and cartoons.

"Dog and Ma'iingan" is an English/Ojibwe language picture book. Readers learn how to count to ten and how to say a number of animal names in Ojibwe.

"Yea Gimiwan " ("Yea Raining " in Ojibwe) is an Enlish/Ojibwe coloring book. Author and illustrator, Michael Lyons covers counting to ten, simple greetings and good-byes, and a number of animal names common to Northern Minnesota.