Summer, 1976. Jesse and his brother, Edgar, are on the road in search of victims. They're rovers, nearly indestructible nocturnal beings who must consume human blood in order to survive. For seventy years they've lurked on the fringes of society, roaming from town to town, dingy motel to dingy motel, stalking the transients, addicts, and prostitutes they feed on. This hard-boiled supernatural hell ride kicks off when the brothers encounter a young woman who disrupts their grim routine, forcing Jesse to confront his past and plunging his present into deadly chaos as he finds himself scrambling to save her life. The story plays out through the eyes of the brothers, a grieving father searching for his son's murderer, and a violent gang of rover bikers, coming to a shattering conclusion in Las Vegas on the eve of America's Bicentennial. Gripping, relentless, and ferocious, Rovers demonstrates once again why Richard Lange has been hailed as an "expert writer, his prose exact, his narrative tightly controlled" (Steph Cha, Los Angeles Times). Finalist for the 2022 Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award

Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Rural Europe investigates how social entrepreneurship advances social innovation in rural Europe and contributes to fighting social and economic challenges in these regions. Based on longitudinal data collected in four European countries, this book explains how social enterprises enact their business model based on an entrepreneurial reconfiguration of resources they obtain from their network relations, and how their activities empower local communities, driving change and eventually innovation. In these activities, the entrepreneurial mindset and the role as intermediary between different groups and domains of society help to reframe challenges into opportunities. The argument in this book develops from a description of what social enterprises report to do to an analysis of how they do it, and results in an explanation of why they take these actions. In doing so it gradually broadens the view from a focus on the social enterprises themselves to their interactions and network partners and, finally, to their positioning in societal fields. The presented model complements network theory with the concept of strategic action fields. This book reveals the crucial role of social entrepreneurship in innovation in rural regions, and the rich insights provided have far reaching implications for research, practice and policy. This book will appeal to everyone interested in the interface of social entrepreneurship, innovation, and regional/rural development, either on a practical or academic level.

How can municipalities in Central Europe create favourable conditions for local business? What and how can municipalities learn from each other? How can each individual in the local area contribute? And what requirements have to be met before know-how can successfully be transferred on a communal level? To answer all these questions, the authors of this book draw on results from a six-year research programme and comprehensively discuss the manifold opportunities, restrictions and prerequisites of establishing favourable conditions for small and medium enterprises in rural municipalities in Central Europe.

Pilot episode and all 15 episodes from Season 1 of the 1970s series set in the 1870s and starring David Carradine as Kwai Chang Caine, a half-Chinese, half-American Shaolin priest, who is roaming the Wild West in search of his missing brother. In the pilot epsiode, 'Kung Fu: The Way of the Tiger, the Sign of the Dragon', Caine runs away from his native China after accidentally killing the Emperor's nephew. He ends up in the American West, where he becomes the champion of the oppressed workers building the transcontinental railroad. Bounty hunters are after Caine in 'King of the Mountain', threatening the safety of a widow and homeless boy Caine has befriended. 'Dark Angel' sees Caine mentoring Serendipity Johnson, a poor preacher who has been blinded by the Indians, and helping him to develop his other senses so that his blindness is less of a handicap. In 'Blood Brother', Caine discovers that the narrow-minded, bigoted residents of a small town have killed a priest of whom they were suspicious and mistrusting. A young woman approaches Caine in 'An Eye for an Eye' to enlist his help with getting revenge on the soldier who raped her. In 'The Tide', Caine relies on the protection of a beautiful and mysterious Chinese girl to protect him from bounty hunters after sustaining serious injuries. 'The Soul is the Warrior' sees Caine encountering a sheriff who is facing imminent death. In 'Nine Lives', Caine meets an Irish miner who has accidentally killed his camp's mascot: a beer-drinking cat. In order to return to work he must find a replacement - and quickly. 'Sun and Cloud Shadow' sees Caine acting as mediator between a small Chinese mining village and a powerful rancher who claims that the mine they are working belongs to him. In 'Chains', Caine finds himself shackled to an angry and bitter man, and teaches him how to control his hatred and be at peace with himself. Jodie Foster, then a relatively unknown child actor, guest stars in 'Alethea' as a young girl who speaks out against Caine, testifying that that she witnessed him shooting a man, after he is put on trial for a murder he did not commit. In 'The Praying Mantis Kills', a young boy defends a jail against the gunmen who killed his father, the sheriff. Caine is captured and forced to labour as a slave in a silver mine in 'Superstition'. The mine then caves in, trapping him and the other miners. 'The Stone' sees Caine get tangled up in an affair involving a priceless diamond, a Brazilian slave, and the three revenge-seeking sons of a woman spurned by her lover. In 'The Third Man', a gambler who has been injured by thieves is then shot by an anonymous gunman. Finally, 'The Ancient Warrior' sees Caine attempting to honour the death wish of an Indian warrior who wants to die at his predestined burial place - which just happens to be in the middle of an Indian-hating community.

These hard-hitting, deeply felt stories trace men-- straight arrows and outlaws, have-it-alls and outcasts-- as they take stock of their lives and missteps and struggle to rise above their troubled pasts. A salesman considers his tenuous relationship with his sister after she has been brutally attacked. A house painter looks forward to moving his family out of their seedy neighborhood as he plans his last bank robbery. A drifter finds a chance at love when he delivers news of a barfly's death to the man's estranged daughter.
These are hard-boiled tales of life on the edge in a city where the sun hurts your eyes and dreams die more often than they come true. Full of heart and heartbreak, "Dead Boys "is the debut of an astonishingly talented new writer.
"The best debut collection we have read all year....you could shelve Lange between Denis Johnson, Richard Ford, and Richard Yates, and no fights would break out....Lange writes with tremendous heart, his characters' inner turmoil as rich and varied as any of the above masters. Dead Boys, we think, will live for a very long time." -"-E! Online," Tod Goldberg
"Superlative short fiction, and an arresting debut."
--"Kirkus Reviews"

How can municipalities in Central Europe create favourable conditions for local business? What and how can municipalities learn from each other? How can each individuals in the local area contribute? And what requirements have to be met before know how can successfully be transferred on a communal level?

To answer all these questions, the authors of this book comprehensively discuss the manifold opportunities, restrictions and prerequisites of establishing favourable conditions for small and medium enterprises in rural municipalities in Central Europe. Conclusions are therein drawn for similar regions throughout Europe and the world.

Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Rural Europe investigates how social entrepreneurship advances social innovation in rural Europe and contributes to fighting social and economic challenges in these regions. Based on longitudinal data collected in four European countries, this book explains how social enterprises enact their business model based on an entrepreneurial reconfiguration of resources they obtain from their network relations, and how their activities empower local communities, driving change and eventually innovation. In these activities, the entrepreneurial mindset and the role as intermediary between different groups and domains of society help to reframe challenges into opportunities. The argument in this book develops from a description of what social enterprises report to do to an analysis of how they do it, and results in an explanation of why they take these actions. In doing so it gradually broadens the view from a focus on the social enterprises themselves to their interactions and network partners and, finally, to their positioning in societal fields. The presented model complements network theory with the concept of strategic action fields. This book reveals the crucial role of social entrepreneurship in innovation in rural regions, and the rich insights provided have far reaching implications for research, practice and policy. This book will appeal to everyone interested in the interface of social entrepreneurship, innovation, and regional/rural development, either on a practical or academic level.

Written by clinicians, for clinicians, Cardiovascular Medicine and Surgery offers a comprehensive, authoritative, and multidisciplinary approach to this rapidly evolving field. Covering every area relevant to the daily practice of cardiovascular medicine, this new and innovative reference text, led by Drs. Debabrata Mukherjee and Richard A. Lange, brings together a stellar team of cardiovascular specialists from leading medical centers worldwide who focus on cutting-edge strategies for the clinical and surgical management of patients. Both medicine and surgery are highlighted in chapters along with follow-up care and changing technology to equip the clinician for optimal patient care. Highly structured and templated chapters cover pathogenesis, diagnosis, management, special considerations/limitations, follow-up care, and on-going and future research , Provides clinicians and fellows with comprehensive, evidence-based guidance on clinical cardiology, cardiovascular imaging, cardiac catheterization, electrophysiology, heart failure, vascular medicine, cardiovascular surgery, adult congenital heart disease, and preventative cardiology. Offers a multidisciplinary, heart team approach for valvular pathologies and coronary heart disease, with chapters authored either by a cardiologist or cardiac surgeon, or both based on subspecialty. Features a dedicated section on cardiac surgery to provide cardiologists a better perspective of commonly performed cardiac surgical procedures, risks and benefits, follow-up patient care, and changing technology. Includes hundreds of high-quality full-color anatomic illustrations, diagnostic images (ECGs, transthoracic echocardiograms, angiograms, MRIs), diagnostic and management algorithms, quick-reference tables, and clinical case studies throughout. eBook provides on-the-go access to additional online-only figures, tables, and videos Serves as a comprehensive, easily accessible reference for busy practitioners and cardiovascular trainees. , Enrich Your eBook Reading Experience Read directly on your preferred device(s), such as computer, tablet, or smartphone. Easily convert to audiobook, powering your content with natural language text-to-speech. ,

Winner of the CWA Short Story Dagger. Every life is uncertain. Every choice is a danger. Set on the dark side of Los Angeles, this is a masterful collection of edge-of-your-seat tales: a prison guard must protect an inmate being tried for heinous crimes. A father and son set out to rescue a young couple trapped during a wildfire after they cross the border. An ex-con trying to make good as a security guard stumbles onto a burglary plot. A young father must submit to blackmail to protect the fragile life he's built. Sweet Nothing is an intense and gripping journey through real lives with big problems, from one of America's great short story writers.