This book is about the ways that Gothic literature has been transformed since the 18th century across cultures and across genres. In a series of essays written by scholars in the field, the book focuses on landscape in the Gothic and the ways landscape both reflects and reveals the dark elements of culture and humanity. It goes beyond traditional approaches to the Gothic by pushing the limits of the definition of the genre. From landscape painting to movies and video games, from memoir to fiction, and from works of different cultural origins and perspectives, this volume traverses the geography of the Gothic revealing the anxieties that still haunt humanity into the twenty-first century.

Israeli pianist, Miranda, facing divorce after a long marriage, becomes a glamorous pianist in a New York garden cafe. Her husband, Hal, returns with his muslim lover to his life as an oil prince in Saudi Arabia. Each evening, Miranda transforms sadness into laughter with her Betty Boop routine. Dressed in the black, spiked wig and red, satin gown of the classic funny girl, Miranda plays and sings Helen Kane's famous songs. Into this glitzy world walks a handsome stranger. It is love at first sight, but conflicts explode since Dak's knowledge of music extends to naming his dog Beethoven. His wife seeks his financial ruination. His down home family and angry, teenage daughter try to destroy the couple's relationship, and Miranda's grown children plot to bring her home. Dak lands a job in Taiwan, and Miranda follows. After a gallant attempt to adjust to the culture and climate, Miranda returns home, and Dak is fired. Jobless, the two now face economic ruination. Hal returns home gravely ill, and Miranda is torn between her new love and her old love of many years.

A heartwarming love story for all those people seeking a relationship in mid life.

Brilliant, native-American protest poet, Kore, follows her egocentric lover to Vegas where he holds blockbuster-writing seminars in a glitzy hotel on the "Strip." The voyeuristic Carlton improvises a lover's quarrel in his workshop, choosing Kore and Nev, the brooding class pariah, secretly back from Vietnam, to roleplay. When the antiwar activist, pampered by her rich, white parents, angers the down-and-out Nev, the skit erupts in violence, and Carlton bans the two from class. Kore heads for the mountains with Nev where he lives in abandoned mining caves and stashes stolen ammo to blow up the government that sent him to Nam. The tough, in-your-face Kore and the vet, haunted by the death of a woman he loved, face each other alone in the wilderness where their conflicting needs explode into a nightmarish battle, and Kore must choose between the barren, rocky road of love for the sorrowing Nev or the easy life with Carlton in return for slavish idolatry.

A dark, gritty memoir-like novel, both a psychological thriller and a powerful love story, told with rare honesty in riveting prose, confronts the huge emotional cost of today's guerrilla warfare on the young men and women thrust into its hit-and-run horror.

This book is a mostly humorous look at life in traditional rural Appalachia. It is based on true stories either in her lifetime or those handed down in the oral tradition of the culture. It is a collection of short stories, vignettes, and poetry. It is a testament to the tenacity and heart of these hearty people.

This book is about the ways that Gothic literature has been transformed since the 18th century across cultures and across genres. In a series of essays written by scholars in the field, the book focuses on landscape in the Gothic and the ways landscape both reflects and reveals the dark elements of culture and humanity. It goes beyond traditional approaches to the Gothic by pushing the limits of the definition of the genre. From landscape painting to movies and video games, from memoir to fiction, and from works of different cultural origins and perspectives, this volume traverses the geography of the Gothic revealing the anxieties that still haunt humanity into the twenty-first century.

What are bulletproof vests made of? How do manufacturers get lipstick into the tube? How much brass does it take to make a trumpet? The answers-and so much more fascinating information-can be found in How Things Are Made, a behind-the-scenes look at the production everyday objects of all kinds, from guitars, sunscreen, and seismographs to running shoes, jetpacks, and chocolate. Each page of How Things Are Made features informative step-by-step text along with detailed but easy-to-follow illustrations, diagrams, and sidebars to tell the stories behind the things we sometimes take for granted but often wonder about. Did you know that Edison didn't really invent the light bulb? Or that the first bar code was on a pack of Wrigley Spearmint gum? Or that a maple seed inspired the design for the helicopter? Discover these fascinating anecdotes and much more in How Things Are Made.