Fake it so Real takes on the fallout from a punk-rock lifestyle--the future of "no future"--and its effect on the subsequent generations of one family. In June of 1983, Gwen, a gnarly Nancy Spungen lookalike, meets Damian, the enigmatic leader of a punk band. Seven years and two unplanned pregnancies later, Damian abandons Gwen, leaving her to raise their two daughters, Sara and Meg, on her own. The fourteen stories that make up this book usher Gwen and her daughters through five decades, haunted by Damian's ghost. Fuelled by vodka and scrappy determination, Gwen balances a responsibility to her daughters with her narcissistic, self-destructive tendencies. Sara and Meg scramble through adolescence and enter adulthood walking the line between selfishness and self-sacrifice, attempting to avoid their parents' mistakes, all the while making a whole new set of mistakes of their own. In the voices of Gwen, Damian, Sara, Meg, Damian's bandmate and Gwen's true love, these stories weave a raw and honest tapestry of family life as told from the underbelly, focused on the grey area between right and wrong, the idea that we are all equally culpable and justified in our actions, and the pain and ecstasy that accompany a life lived authentically.

A teen plunges into a downward spiral of addiction in this classic cautionary tale. January 24th After you’ve had it, there isn't even life without drugs… It started when she was served a soft drink laced with LSD in a dangerous party game. Within months, she was hooked, trapped in a downward spiral that took her from her comfortable home and loving family to the mean streets of an unforgiving city. It was a journey that would rob her of her innocence, her youth—and ultimately her life. Read her diary. Enter her world. You will never forget her. For thirty-five years, the acclaimed, bestselling first-person account of a teenage girl’s harrowing decent into the nightmarish world of drugs has left an indelible mark on generations of teen readers. As powerful—and as timely—today as ever, Go Ask Alice remains the definitive book on the horrors of addiction.

When a grumpy athlete's grandma tries to play matchmaker, he turns to a jilted bride who desperately needs to NOT fall in love to play his fake girlfriend.

In a political moment when social panics over literature are at their peak, Dangerous Fictions is a mind-expanding treatise on the nature of fictional stories as cultural battlegrounds for power. Fictional stories have long held an uncanny power over hearts and minds, especially those of young people. In Dangerous Fictions, Lyta Gold traces arguments both historical and contemporary that have labeled fiction as dark, immoral, frightening, or poisonous. Within each she asks: How “dangerous” is fiction, really? And what about it provokes waves of moral panic and even censorship? Gold argues that any panic about art is largely a disguised panic about power. There have been versions of these same fights over fiction for centuries. By exposing fiction as a social danger and a battleground of immediate public concern, we can see what each side really wants—the right to shape the future of a world deeply in flux and a distraction from more pressing material concerns about money, access, and the hard work of politics. From novels about people driven insane by reading novels to “copaganda” TV shows that influence how viewers regard the police, Gold uses her signature wit, research, and fearless commentary to point readers toward a more substantial question: Fiction may be dangerous to us, but aren’t we also dangerous to it?

This book is about the intrusive fear that we may not be what we appear to be, or worse, that we may be only what we appear to be and nothing more. It is concerned with the worry of being exposed as frauds in our profession, cads in our love lives, as less than virtuously motivated actors when we are being agreeable, charitable, or decent. Why do we so often mistrust the motives of our own deeds, thinking them fake, though the beneficiary of them gives us full credit? Much of this book deals with that self-tormenting self-consciousness. It is about roles and identity, discussing our engagement in the roles we play, our doubts about our identities amidst this flux of roles, and thus about anxieties of authenticity.

Walt Disney World is a pilgrimage site filled with utopian elements, craft, and whimsy. It’s a pedestrian’s world, where the streets are clean, the employees are friendly, and the trains run on time. All of its elements are themed, presented in a consistent architectural, decorative, horticultural, musical, even olfactory tone, with rides, shows, r

What is the metaverse? Will it really happen? How will it affect learning and development (L&D)? Where do I start? Learning and the Metaverse explains where the Metaverse came from, what it is, where it is going, debunks the myths and demystifies the jargon. It shows how it can be used to improve training and learning activities. Written by a learning technology expert with more than 35 years' experience, this book explains what this shift from 2D to 3D learning involves and what it means for you as a learning professional. It analyses the evidence for effective learning in 3D and explains what works and what doesn't. There is also guidance on designing training that can be used in the Metaverse and why it's important to consider how people learn when doing this. This book includes discussion of the Metaverse and broader education as well as coverage of virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), immersive technology and learning simulations. This guide contains everything learning professionals need to know about learning and the Metaverse.

Hochstapler geben vor, jemand zu sein, der sie nicht sind. Sie konstruieren eine Lebensgeschichte, die sich bestimmter kultureller Vorannahmen und Stereotype bedient, um für andere glaubhaft zu sein. Doch ist Identität nicht stets auch Produkt eines erzählerischen Selbstentwurfs? Am Beispiel von wahren und imaginierten Fällen von Betrügern in Nordamerika fragen die Beiträge des Bandes nach den Motiven von Hochstapelei, den Mechanismen der Täuschung – und warum diese funktionieren.

In the olden days.... Roman Emperors threw Christians to the lions! Gladiators battled to the death! Mayans sacrificed virgins! Witches were burned at the stake! Today? We’ve got REALITY TV! The hot, new genre that suddenly snuck up and captured our imagination as: • Cops put us in prowl cars to pursue loonies, thugs and druggies! • Survivor trapped us on an island with naked, flaming fattie Richard Hatch! • American Idol gobbled up American TV—and spat out the bones! How did reality programming “hijack” TV? Read the eye-popping exposé that takes you straight to Reality Hell. Sex…Drugs…Dirty Tricks…and Scandals! Giggle as Paris Hilton & Nicole Richie get barf-y in the sticks and hump-y with the hicks…. Boggle at never-before-revealed secrets behind Simon Cowell’s manly man-boobs…. Gasp as wee Mini-Me takes a public pee…. And much, much more. REALITY TV! The Super Bowl of Voyeurism…. But JENNIFER ANISTON hates it! “I have no interest in that ‘Idol’ shit,” snarls Jen—who sneers that “humiliation and degradation” make contestants look like monkeys playing in poop. Jennifer’s disgust is a touchstone for this book—which is actually dedicated to her by the author. REALITY TV! Love it or hate it…. You know you want to watch!

To inherit her family’s ranch, there’s only one thing she needs… a husband. Cowboy and the Fake Marriage is a sweet rancher romance. It is book two in the Charming Ranch series. Beth Charming Dad is sick and I don’t have much time to convince him that I can handle running Charming Ranch when he’s gone. I always knew my father would grow old, but I never expected that he’d leave the ranch to someone else. Dad wants to know that the fate of Charming Ranch is in experienced hands. But I’m not worried, I have a plan. All I need to do is find a rancher to marry me as soon as possible and I have just the man in mind. Harrison is handsome, chivalrous, and kind hearted. But can real love grow out of a fake marriage? Joshua Mason My heart and soul is in Haystack Lake, not to mention my entire family. It’s a simple life: family, farming, and working at Charming Ranch just like my father did before me. There isn’t any place I’d rather be. But when my boss becomes ill, the future of the ranch and the town I love dangles in the balance. This place is home and I’d do anything to save it. When the boss’s daughter approaches me with an outlandish plan, it just might be crazy enough to work. Ainsley is sweet, smart, and generous. But what happens when a secret plan grows into a secret love? Looking to get out of town for a while? I’ve got just the escape for you. Welcome to Charming Ranch, a dude ranch built on small town pride. Get to know the Mason brothers as they work the land, look for love, and find out the value of family along the way. The Charming Ranch series is a collection of sweet rancher romance books. Each can be read as a stand alone, but you will enjoy the Mason brothers so much more as a group ♥ Book One- Single Dad & the Nanny at Charming Ranch Book Two- Cowboy and the Fake Marriage at Charming Ranch Book Three- Single Mom at Charming Ranch Book Four- Rancher and the Second Chance Book Five- Grateful for Love at Charming Ranch Book Six- Mr. & Mrs. Forever at Charming Ranch As always, this series comes with a blissful promise of a hopeful happily ever after, no cheating, no cliffhangers, and a whole lot of cheer. Pack your bags, we’re getting out of the city for some laughs with the loveable, quirky, Mason brothers. Pour some tea, and fall in love today!