This new study of the origins of the English novel argues that the novel emerged from historical writing. Examining historical writers and forms frequently neglected by earlier scholars, Robert Mayer shows that in the seventeenth century historical discourse embraced not only 'history' in its modern sense, but also fiction, polemic, gossip, and marvels. Mayer thus explains why Defoe's narratives were initially read as history. It is the acceptance of the claims to historicity, the study argues, that differentiates Defoe's fictions from those of writers like Thomas Deloney and Aphra Behn, important writers who nevertheless have figured less prominently than Defoe in discussions of the novel. Mayer ends by exploring the theoretical implications of the history-fiction connection. His study makes an important contribution to the continuing debate about the emergence of what we now call the novel in Britain in the eighteenth century.

Walter Scott and Fame is a study of correspondences between Scott and socially and culturally diverse readers of his work in the English-speaking world in the early nineteenth century. Examining authorship, reading, and fame, the book is based on extensive archival research, especially in the collection of letters to Scott in the National Library of Scotland. Robert Mayer demonstrates that in Scott's literary correspondence constructions of authorship, reading strategies, and versions of fame are posited, even theorized. Scott's reader-correspondents invest him with power but they also attempt to tap into or appropriate some of his authority. Scott's version of authorship sets him apart from important contemporaries like Wordsworth and Byron, who adhered, at least as Scott viewed the matter, to a rarefied conception of the writer as someone possessed of extraordinary power. The idea of the author put in place by Scott in dialogue with his readers establishes him as a powerful figure who is nevertheless subject to the will of his audience. Scott's literary correspondence also demonstrates that the reader can be a very powerful figure and that we should regard reading not just as the reception of texts but also as the apprehension of an author-function. Thus, Scott's correspondence makes it clear that the relationship between authors and readers is a dynamic, often fraught, connection, which needs to be understood in terms of the new culture of celebrity that emerged during Scott's working life. Along with Byron, the study shows, Scott was at the centre of this transformation.

This new study of the origins of the English novel argues that the novel emerged from historical writing. Examining historical writers and forms frequently neglected by earlier scholars, Robert Mayer shows that in the seventeenth century historical discourse embraced not only 'history' in its modern sense, but also fiction, polemic, gossip, and marvels. Mayer thus explains why Defoe's narratives were initially read as history. It is the acceptance of the claims to historicity, the study argues, that differentiates Defoe's fictions from those of writers like Thomas Deloney and Aphra Behn, important writers who nevertheless have figured less prominently than Defoe in discussions of the novel. Mayer ends by exploring the theoretical implications of the history-fiction connection. His study makes an important contribution to the continuing debate about the emergence of what we now call the novel in Britain in the eighteenth century.

Offering an extensive introduction to cinematic representations of classic fiction of the eighteenth century, this study sheds new light on the process of converting prose fiction into film. The contributors provide a variety of theoretical and critical approaches to the process of bringing literary works to the screen. They consider a broad range of film and television adaptations, including several versions of Robinson Crusoe and adaptations of Gulliver's Travels, Clarissa and Tom Jones. This book appeals to students of literature and film alike.

Before there was "WATCHMEN," there was SUPERFOLKS.... David Brinkley used to be a hero, the greatest the world had ever seen--until he retired, got married, moved to the suburbs, and packed on a few extra pounds. Now all the heroes are dead or missing, and his beloved New York is on the edge of chaos. It's up to Brinkley to come to the rescue, but he's in the midst of a serious mid-life crisis--his superpowers are failing him.
At long last this classic satire that inspired comic books like "Watchmen" and "Miracleman" is back in print. It's a hilarious thriller that digs deep into the American psyche.

This book uses a Demon to teach the Baby Name. It is the passive learning 5th Derivative 4's to be said out loud as 1st Derivative 4's so to say them to all neurons.. This book will teach you your last name, and teach you a magical Seamonds device that activates when you are half submerged in water, an element necessary for coming back to life from the dead. The book is a list-out of what I semantically coin thoroughly as risk-and-bill Human Link to the Teleport. The device , The Name "Jankskybit", lets you in both Iris, thus making you a Superhero with an "EYE PHONE"

Foreword By Francis W. Lynch And Mark W. Allem. Edited By Arthur C. Curtis.

From the acclaimed author of Superfolks and The Dreams of Ada comes this tale of the human struggle, of love and war, sorrow and joy, death and renewal, faith and doubt... all seen from the ferret's point of view. Ezra Wroth is a man of today, a master of science but facing his own mortality, struggling with an array of uncertainties. His children are adults with more exuberance than wisdom, his own past holds dark secrets, and the world around him has plans for him he cannot imagine. Into his life comes Cleo, a ferret who understands him better than he understands himself... or is what is happening not quite what it seems? "Bold and original . . . If you're ready to catch anything a book can throw at you, dive in." -- Rain Taxi Review of Books

Author Robert Mayer has created a spellbinding tale of resounding readability which provides the most powerful, indictment capital punishment arid the "court system ever to appear in fictional form. The Execution explores the delicate, all too individualistic threads that weave the web. of American justice; with frightening precision, Mayer, traps the reader within that web, squarely upon Death Row.

When a knock on the door interrupts her nightly escape into the pages of a cheap romance, Midge, aka Beatrice Audra Smith, is understandably annoyed. Paperback romances may not be the world's best protection against the "lonelies," but what else is a 4'11," 87 pound, 30 1/4 year-old dreamer to do in the middle of the Enchantment Trailer Park in Santa Fe? Enter Horace Decker, out on parole and in every sense a getaway man. He explains his presence outside Midge's trailer as easily as he will capture her heart: "I got paroled two hours ago. Jake said he got this cute little sister. Said to look you up." So what if the most memorable thing Jake ever did for his sister was strand her in a darkened church after stealing a sacred statue. Maybe this ex-con is just what Midge needs to forget the recent loss of her pet prairie dog. "Well come on in then," she says. "Any cellmate of Jake's is a cellmate of mine." Lucky for Midge. And for Decker. And especially for the reader. For the story of what happens when these two discover each other is by turns exhilarating and sad, humorous and heartwarming, and always engaging. Set largely at the local race track, the adventures of Midge and Decker remind us that breaking even in life not only involves time, but luck, as well. Sometimes it's a matter of finding the right person. Or the right place. Or even the right horse, as Midge will realize after placing a most unusual bet: if Blue Lady wins the Unicorn Handicap, Decker will finally settle down, marry Midge, and give his name to the unborn child she carries by him. If Blue Lady loses, Decker can run away yet again. Though made impulsively, Midge's wager quickly looms larger and larger in her mind. The fate of those things that have outlived their usefulness-old dolls and old horses that just cannot run-disturbs Midge, forcing her to act as a kind of savior. Her knack for turning discarded losing tickets into a winning system demonstrates that salvation is indeed possible in some cases. The road to maturity is a long one, certainly longer than the race Blue Lady will run at the Downs, and sacrifices have to be made along the way. But maturity need not spell the end of innocence. While Midge learns that toughness is indispensable for daily survival (she agrees with Decker's characteristically succinct assessment of human existence: "Ain't nobody gets a free ride"), she retains her own special innocence that gains charm through her acquired strength. And for all his gruffness, Decker, too, possesses a youthful tenderness. Like memories of childhood and first romance, the effect of Midge and Decker endures. It is an unusual love story that is profoundly human. It will make you laugh. It will make you cry. Most of all you will find Midge and her story completely irresistible.

New Orleans, August 2005. The lives of a ballet dancer, a reporter, a psychiatrist, and a Voodoo queen intersect and overlap in the shadow of a stalker and a serial killer... and all the while, a bad wind named Katrina is headed their way.

To a growing boy, life without base-ball would be unimaginable, es-pecially in the spring of 1947. History is being made at Ebbets Field. Jackie Robinson is about to break the color line and Brooklyn has a shot at the pennant. In the Bronx, eight-year-old Ben-jamin "Peewee" Brunig dreams of making the major leagues as the next Dodger shortstop; the heir apparent to Pee Wee Reese. But even as he fan-tasizes about the future, the people around him-his mother, his rabbi father, his grandmother, even the neighborhood Rag Lady-are tor-mented by the present and the past. Only a family crisis could distract Peewee from his baseball passion. When his infant cousin is kidnaped, Peewee summons all the courage befitting a future Dodger shortstop and embarks on a search-and-rescue mission for the stolen baby. What Peewee discovers on the streets of New York is just the begin-ning in a series of shocking revela-tions that come to light about his family. A boy's loss of innocence is at the heart of Robert Mayer's richly woven narrative about the secrets and sorrows of a Jewish immigrant family and of a youngster who finds in America's greatest sport the courage and grace with which to face real life.

The Long Walk of the Navajos continues in Sweet Salt, a novel of beauty and endurance by Robert Mayer. Monument Valley is home to Nina Yazzie, a Navajo girl becoming a Navajo woman. In throbbing rhythms live with her through a hectic ride to a hospital at Tuba City. Bear the pain of the child within her, struggling to be born prematurely; witness her father, Not-So-Fast, who carries within him the curse of a wolf girl; her grandfather, One-Blue-Eye, who speaks in riddles of the wisdom of the Navajo Nation; and Michael, an anglo doctor, who treats her after a suicide attempt and becomes her friend, her confidant. With her sheep as companions, walk with the child Nina through Monument Valley. With the older Nina, walk through Santa Fe, a city that seduces her to art and to love.

The true, bewildering story of a young woman's disappearance, the nightmare of a small town obsessed with delivering justice, and the bizarre dream of a poor, uneducated man accused of murder--a case that chillingly parallels the one, occurring in the very same town, chronicled by John Grisham in" The Innocent Man."
On April 28, 1984, Denice Haraway disappeared from her job at a convenience store on the outskirts of Ada, Oklahoma, and the sleepy town erupted. Tales spread of rape, mutilation, and murder, and the police set out on a relentless mission to bring someone to justice. Six months later, two local men--Tommy Ward and Karl Fontenot--were arrested and brought to trial, even though they repudiated their "confessions," no body had been found, no weapon had been produced, and no eyewitnesses had come forward. "The Dreams of Ada" is a story of politics and morality, of fear and obsession. It is also a moving, compelling portrait of one small town living through a nightmare.

Loan sharks may conjure up an image of tough guys in fedoras looking to make a profit off of desperate people in dire financial straits, but in reality, lenders who advance small sums of cash at high interest rates until payday existed long before organized crime entered the trade. Today the businesses that fill this niche in the credit market prefer the name 'payday lenders' rather than loan sharks, but most large cities are still a hotbed of usurious lending, and the landscapes are dotted with their inviting and brightly colored storefronts. Despite their more respectable name, these predatory lenders have endured through regulation, prohibition, and the rise and fall of the mob since the late 1800s. In this intriguing and accessible book, Mayer aptly assesses the consequences of high-interest lending--both for the people who borrow at such steep prices and for society as a whole. He argues that although some consumers gain from borrowing at high rates, payday lending in its modern form consistently traps many of the wage earners who pawn their postdated checks, leaving them worse off than they were before. Because payday lending regulations vary widely throughout the country, Mayer chose to focus his story on Chicago, a city that serves as a fine representative of the legacy of loan sharking. "Quick Cash "will engage policy analysts, economists, and regional historians, as wells as general readers interested in the fascinating story behind these unscrupulous lending operations that feed off America's current tough economic times.

Published in 1719, Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe is one of those extraordinary literary works whose importance lies not only in the text itself but in its persistently lively afterlife. German author Johann Gottfried Schnabel—who in 1731 penned his own island narrative—coined the term “Robinsonade� to characterize the genre bred by this classic, and today hundreds of examples can be identified worldwide. This celebratory collection of tercentenary essays testifies to the Robinsonade’s endurance, analyzing its various literary, aesthetic, philosophical, and cultural implications in historical context. Contributors trace the Robinsonade’s roots from the eighteenth century to generic affinities in later traditions, including juvenile fiction, science fiction, and apocalyptic fiction, and finally to contemporary adaptations in film, television, theater, and popular culture. Taken together, these essays convince us that the genre’s adapt- ability to changing social and cultural circumstances explains its relevance to this day. Published by Bucknell University Press. Distributed worldwide by Rutgers University Press.