From kitschy novelties and wildly unappetizing food products to beautifully functional items such as garlic presses and toothpick dispensers, Inconspicuous Consumption is a delightful celebration of the sometimes elegant, sometimes ridiculous fringes of our late-20th-century culture. 50 photos. 192 pp. Author interviews & national radio campaign. National publicity. 15,000 print.

Hailed as "toweringly important" (Baltimore Sun), "a work of scrupulous and significant reportage" (E. L. Doctorow), and "an unforgettable historical drama" (Chicago Sun-Times), Big Trouble brings to life the astonishing case that ultimately engaged President Theodore Roosevelt, Supreme Court justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, and the politics and passions of an entire nation at century's turn. After Idaho's former governor is blown up by a bomb at his garden gate at Christmastime 1905, America's most celebrated detective, Pinkerton James McParland, takes over the investigation. His daringly executed plan to kidnap the radical union leader "Big Bill" Haywood from Colorado to stand trial in Idaho sets the stage for a memorable courtroom confrontation between the flamboyant prosecutor, progressive senator William Borah, and the young defender of the dispossessed, Clarence Darrow. Big Trouble captures the tumultuous first decade of the twentieth century, when capital and labor, particularly in the raw, acquisitive West, were pitted against each other in something close to class war. Lukas paints a vivid portrait of a time and place in which actress Ethel Barrymore, baseball phenom Walter Johnson, and editor William Allen White jostled with railroad magnate E. H. Harriman, socialist Eugene V. Debs, gunslinger Charlie Siringo, and Operative 21, the intrepid Pinkerton agent who infiltrated Darrow's defense team. This is a grand narrative of the United States as it charged, full of hope and trepidation, into the twentieth century.

Playing With Lukas is the extraordinary account of Karen Murdock and her horse Lukas. In 2002, when she purchased the nine-year-old chestnut gelding, a former Thoroughbred and now a sorely neglected yard animal, neither had any idea how both their lives were about to be transformed. Using her experience as a neglected child and a psychiatric nurse, employing the traits of patience, appreciation, kindness, compassion, and humor, she formed a deep bond with Lukas and trained him to perform many tricks. Today, he is listed by Yahoo and Google as the "World's Smartest Horse" and is considered one of the top liberty horses in the US. Karen and Lukas share their mission of providing happy futures for former Thoroughbreds. Pet owners and others will see that animals are intelligent and deserve humane treatment and "kind" training. The 83-page book is available for download as an e-book or as a paperback. Upcoming will be a training manual with details of Karen's special methods.

Lukas Maiden Voyage was written as a fable in which animals speak and act like people. The target audience ranges from nine years old to teenagers, even to moms and dads who may take delight in reading this story to their young children. The story revolves around the Passover celebration and Christs triumphal entry into Jerusalem, as seen through the eyes of the young burro that carried him. Intended for all Christians who grew up hearing about the life of Christs ministry, this story centers around a small, crippled colt that has been bullied his entire life by two Arabian stallions, who find ways to taunt the burro and make his life miserable. The name of the colt is Lukas, and the antagonistic twin brothers are Nimb and Obus. The colts greatest wish is to have someone come to Jethros stables and choose him for a ride. Since the little donkey was born with a weak back and a crippled leg, no one ever has. The young burros life changes dramatically when Lukas unknowingly meets Christ and is chosen by the Messiah to be ridden on the most important journey the world will ever know. Since hes never been ridden, this becomes Lukass maiden voyage.

“Why were you repeating the word small?” I prodded. He hesitated before starting to write. It’s something I tell myself. It helps when people are around. “Helps with what?” If I think small, if I’m small, they aren’t as… He took a few seconds to think about the word he wanted. Intimidated? He underlined the word twice and shrugged one of those massive shoulders. He inhaled deeply and his shoulders slumped. “Lukas.” Those deep brown eyes met mine. I don’t want you to be scared of me. My heart broke for him as I read the note. “I’m not scared of you.” I should have been. After what I’d gone through with Dylan, I knew what uncontrolled anger turned into. I should have been terrified to be in this man’s presence. I was fairly certain that not much would survive if Lukas Banks ever lost control of the fire storm that was burning within him. He watched me, looking for any sign that I might be lying. I moved my hand from his arm and pressed it over his heart. “Lukas, you don’t have to be small for me.” Viv I’ve spent the past five years of my life with one thing on my mind: Franny. My daughter is my heart and soul. I’d never really had any interest in men since leaving her dad, but that changes the instant I see Lukas walk into my grocery store. The small mountain of a man who doesn’t talk has a storm brewing in his eyes, yet I’ve never felt safer than when I’m with him. But someone out there doesn’t want me to be happy and suddenly, my life is in chaos. Lukas My entire life, I’ve been different; I’ve scared people. Ever since I’ve lost my voice, it’s been even worse. When I walk into a grocery store and the gorgeous redhead at the till talks to me like I’m not a freak, I have to admit, I’m blown away. When she shows up with pie to check on me a week later, I have to tell myself not to be an idiot. Nice girls like her don’t fall for monsters like me. Of course, it doesn’t take long to fall for her and her daughter. They’re amazing. When someone starts to threaten them, I make Viv a promise. I’ll keep them safe. Because the waste of skin trying to ruin her life is wrong: those two little redheads aren’t his… they’re mine.

Madison Being in the spotlight isn’t my idea of a good time. In fact, I do my best to stay out of it at all costs. But when my family needs me to help save their company, I’m thrust into the spotlight of an arranged marriage with the son of our rival. I always thought I’d marry for love. But marrying for the love of my family is kind of the same thing. Right? Lukas I fell for her before I had any idea who she was. In my mind, I claimed her the first time I laid eyes on her. I don’t care if she’s promised to another—my brother Because she’s supposed to be mine. I saw her first. There’s a merger on the cards. One that joins the power of my family with another. Sure, I arranged for her to marry my brother. But since this marriage is was my idea, there’s nothing preventing me from stepping in and marrying her myself. I never thought I’d marry at all. Turns out, I’ll do anything for the woman I love.

Lukas Moodysson is one of the most accomplished and unconventional filmmakers of his generation in Sweden. Moodysson, now well known for his English-language film Mammoth (2009) as well as his heartbreaking indictment of sex-trafficking in Sweden, Lilya 4-Ever (2002), debuted as a writer and director while still in his twenties with Show Me Love (1998). The film received four Guldbaggar--the Swedish equivalent of the Academy Awards--including best film, best director, best screenplay, and best actresses. A coming-of-age and coming out film about two young women in a stiflingly oppressive small town, Show Me Love is widely considered a youth film classic and was called a "masterpiece" by Ingmar Bergman. This book, which is the first study of Moodysson in any language, includes discussions of the film's genre, aesthetics, and style, and situates the film in both contemporary Swedish cinema and broader Swedish culture. It includes sequence and dialogue analysis and discusses how and why this particular film became so important: its queer significance, its unusually realistic depiction of youth, and its critical reception. Anna Stenport conducted extensive interviews with the cast and crew, including several enlightening discussions with Moodysson himself. Lukas Moodysson's Show Me Love offers an incisive introduction to Moodysson for readers interested in contemporary film, as well as a history and close analysis of changes in the Swedish film industry.

What was it like, in the Greco-Roman world of the late first century, to sit down to write a gospel, specifically, the Gospel According to Luke? Extensive scholarship has recently been focusing on Luke/Acts, the two-volume New Testament writing. This book uses such scholarship, but in an imaginative way. It sets out to follow Lukas, the author, through the whole process of writing his first part, the gospel. We are given, paragraph by paragraph, the complete gospel text in a vigorous translation, but interspersed with Lukas own human contacts and vivid experiences as he composes it.