Through extended readings of English, French, and Italian writers of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth centuries, Claustrophilia shows that medieval enclosures actually make room for desires and communities that a poetics of pure openness would exclude.

"No one will ever look past these scars."Once a popular singer, Griffin lost everything to a fire. Society cast him aside when it became clear he was no longer handsome. Sure that no one will ever see beyond the scars that have ruined half of his body, he turns to desperate measures to find companionship."How can I do anything but surrender?"Kidnapped because of his looks, Ryder is delivered to Griffin to become anything his master wants him to be. He is repeatedly forced to choose between humiliation and worse. Each time he obeys Griffin, a piece of him breaks away. Can he truly refuse when every option is worse than the next?In this psychological drama, two men struggle with their definitions of what society labels beauty as opposed to a beast... and they learn that the true definition of beauty might not be as clear as they'd thought.

Claustrophilia is a genre-bending sci-fi Gothic that dives deep into the psyche's need for love and control while exploring the darker side of human (and non-human) relationships. After the tragic death of his entire family, Thomas lives under a conservatorship overseen by his lover, Ethan. But Ethan's job keeps him away. Isolated in the family's decaying Connecticut mansion, Thomas lives a monotonous life under the watchful eye of a live-in security firm until one day, he discovers an alien hiding on the grounds of his estate. Confronted with the challenge of helping to save an alien species from extinction, Thomas must overcome the forces that control him in his own home. In a world where reality is not always what it seems, and trust is a double-edged sword, one wrong move could turn his whole world upside down... again.

In Feeling as a Foreign Language, Alice Fulton considers poetry's uncanny ability to access and recreate emotions so wayward they go unnamed. Fulton contemplates topics ranging from the intricacies of a rare genetic syndrome to fractals from the aesthetics of complexity theory to the need for "cultural incorrectness." Along the way, she falls in love with an outrageous 17th century poet, argues for a Dickinsonian tradition in American letters, and calls for a courageous poetics of inconvenient knowledge.

Arguably the greatest science fiction writer who ever lived, Isaac Asimov also possessed one of the most brilliant and original minds of our time. His accessible style and far-reaching interests in subjects ranging from science to humor to history earned him the nickname “the Great Explainer.” I. Asimov is his personal story—vivid, open, and honest—as only Asimov himself could tell it. Here is the story of the paradoxical genius who wrote of travel to the stars yet refused to fly in airplanes; who imagined alien universes and vast galactic civilizations while staying home to write; who compulsively authored more than 470 books yet still found the time to share his ideas with some of the great minds of our century. Here are his wide-ranging thoughts and sharp-eyed observations on everything from religion to politics, love and divorce, friendship and Hollywood, fame and mortality. Here, too, is a riveting behind-the-scenes look at the varied personalities—Campbell, Ellison, Heinlein, Clarke, del Rey, Silverberg, and others—who along with Asimov helped shape science fiction. As unique and irrepressible as the man himself, I. Asimov is the candid memoir of an incomparable talent who entertained readers for nearly half a century and whose work will surely endure into the future he so vividly envisioned.

For much of the mid-twentieth century, Roberto Gerhard found himself an outsider. He was airbrushed from much writing on contemporary music in Spain during the Franco regime, and was known in England more for his ‘commercial’ music for theatre, film and radio than his concert works. However, his significance as a musical innovator in developing serial technique and in the field of electro-acoustics is now being gradually recognised in both Spain and England, as well as further afield. The volume explores an extensive range of Gerhard’s work from the early Wind Quintet and the Spanish ballets Pandora and Don Quixote with their overt political overtones, through to the late period Metamorphoses and a newly discovered chance-based composition Claustophilia written in response to a request by John Cage for his book Notations. One of the key themes presented throughout the book is Gerhard’s innovative use of serialism. Gerhard’s development of Schoenberg’s technique led him to explore the serialization of both pitch and time. This volume suggests evidence for the first time that situates Gerhard’s idiosyncratic experiments alongside rather than after the total serialist works of his European counterparts Pierre Boulez, Olivier Messiaen and Karlheinz Stockhausen.

The essays collected in Emblems of Adversity: Essays on the Aesthetics of Politics in W. B. Yeats and Others hinge on the question of political articulation in Yeats’s poetry. Politics and history are paramount to our understanding of the Yeatsian poetic text. They are inextricable from the poet's aesthetic philosophy. Yet politics manifests itself in a complex and complicated form in his work. It articulates itself both consciously and unconsciously. It is at once latent and manifest; appropriated and yet rejected; unambiguously announced in the title but immediately muffled in the corpus. Additionally, political articulation in Yeats’s poetry is multifarious, insofar as the biographical, the national and the historical are not only politicized but most often envisioned—apocalyptically—as emblems of adversity. To put it differently, ageing, Irish politics and modernity are synonymous with a Time transmogrifying “ancestral houses” into “ruins”—a Time “half dead at the top.” Self, Ireland and history are intermeshed in Yeats’s symbolism. They are inseparable from his worldview. His rage against ageing most often culminates in raging about the age—both modernity and Irish current reality. These essays trace Yeats’s aestheticization of politics right from the beginning of his poetic career, from his early pastoral innocence to the later modernist experience. Some of them examine Yeats comparatively with other modernists.

Whether you're sipping Czech beer with locals or exploring hilltop castles, get to know these fairytale cities with Moon Prague, Vienna & Budapest. Inside you'll find: Flexible itineraries for 1 to 5 days in Prague, Vienna, and Budapest that can be combined into a longer trip Strategic advice for foodies, art lovers, history buffs, and more Must-see highlights and unique experiences: Enjoy classical music in Vienna, wander through labyrinthine Habsburg palaces, or soak in Budapest's thermal Széchenyi baths. Hike through the Vienna Woods or bike through the Wachau Valley, where ruined castles, vineyards, and rolling hills line the banks of the Danube. Admire the works of Klimt and Schiele in Vienna's glamorous galleries, take in the festive atmosphere at Prague's Christmas markets, and walk across the romantic Charles Bridge as the sun sets over the Vltava The best local flavors: Sip a Melange in a cozy booth of a classic Viennese coffeehouse, sample local wine at a Hungarian vineyard, and kick back with a pint of pilsner at one of Prague's beer gardens Ideas for side trips from each city, including Liberec, Danube Bend, Lake Balaton, and the Kutná Hore Bone Church Honest insight from Budapest local Jennifer Walker and Prague local Auburn Scallon Full-color photos and detailed maps throughout Background information on the landscape, history, and cultural customs of each city Handy tools such as visa information, Hungarian, German, and Czech phrasebooks, and tips for traveling with children or as a senior Experience the best of these three cities at your own pace with Moon Prague, Vienna & Budapest. Exploring more of Europe's top spots? Check out Moon Rome, Florence & Venice or Moon Barcelona & Madrid.

Defines words and concepts currently used in psychiatry. Incorporates new terms and diagnostic criteria on DSM-IV as well as terms from the WHO levicons on mental disorders and on alcoholism and other substance dependency that will accompany ICD-10.