Paul Verhoeven's 1992 thriller Basic Instinct - starring Michael Douglas as a police detective and Sharon Stone as the femme fatale Catherine Tramell - was one of the first mainstream 'erotic thrillers', a film which shifted the boundaries for graphic representations of sex in Hollywood cinema. It remains a significant milestone in film censorship and controversy. In his fascinating study, the first in-depth account of the film, Stevie Simkin explores the unrest and protest that Basic Instinct sparked in the gay, lesbian and feminist communities in the US, incensed by what they saw as the script's homophobia and misogyny. Simkin considers the social and cultural context in which Basic Instinct was made, examining the film's troubled production history, the battles with censors, and its reception. He offers a number of readings of the movie, looking at its representation of bisexuality and the depiction of a 'transgressive' female protagonist. He also focuses on key sequences, including the infamous interrogation scene, and details the cuts demanded by the censors, resulting in different UK and US versions. In conclusion, Simkin considers the legacy of Basic Instinct, and its enduring effect on media representations of the violent woman. STEVIE SIMKIN is Reader in Drama and Film at the University of Winchester, UK. His publications include work on cult television, popular music, and Renaissance drama. He is the author of, amongst other works, A Preface to Marlowe (1999), Revenge Tragedy: A New Casebook (2001), Early Modern Tragedy and the Cinema of Violence (2005), and, also in the Controversies series, a book on the Peckinpah film, Straw Dogs.

Through exclusive interviews with her family members, friends, and colleagues, this unauthorized, often incendiary, biography reveals a Sharon Stone little known to the public. "Naked Instinct" explores the actress's colorful love life and exposes the foibles, excesses, ambitions and fears of this driven and remarkable woman. photos, many in color.

NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • Sharon Stone tells her own story: a journey of healing, love, and purpose. • “Not your typical Hollywood autobiography. Brutally honest, restless and questing.” —O, The Oprah Magazine Sharon Stone, one of the most renowned actresses in the world, suffered a massive stroke that cost her not only her health, but her career, family, fortune, and global fame. In The Beauty of Living Twice, Stone chronicles her efforts to rebuild her life and writes about her slow road back to wholeness and health. In a business that doesn’t accept failure, in a world where too many voices are silenced, Stone found the power to return, the courage to speak up, and the will to make a difference in the lives of men, women, and children around the globe. Over the course of these intimate pages, as candid as a personal conversation, Stone talks about her pivotal roles, her life-changing friendships, her worst disappointments, and her greatest accomplishments. She reveals how she went from a childhood of trauma and violence to a career in an industry that in many ways echoed those same assaults, under cover of money and glamour. She describes the strength and meaning she found in her children, and in her humanitarian efforts. And ultimately, she shares how she fought her way back to find not only her truth, but her family’s reconciliation and love. Stone made headlines not just for her beauty and her talent, but for her candor and her refusal to “play nice,” and it’s those same qualities that make this memoir so powerful. The Beauty of Living Twice is a book for the wounded and a book for the survivors; it’s a celebration of women’s strength and resilience, a reckoning, and a call to activism. It is proof that it’s never too late to raise your voice and speak out.

Primal. Savage. Untamed. The Shifters of Darkness Falls will leave you breathless!Trist liked her life. Middle of the pack, no pressure, no expectations until she's traded to a new pack. Now she's the omega, bottom of the pecking order and has the attention of not only Raff, the savage, unfiltered beta of her new pack, but also a stalker who wants to make Trist his own. Raff doesn't play nice, ever. And he gets what he wants. Right now he wants Trist and he'll take out anyone who gets in his way. As the two follow their hearts, dangerous forces are at play that threaten not only their love but also Trist's life. This is Book 1 of Jasmin Quinn's Shifters of Darkness Falls Series. All books are standalone but are connected by common characters and themeThis is a contemporary paranormal romance with suspense and intrigue. No cliffhanger. No cheating. HEA. Contains mature themes including explicit language, violence, and descriptive sex scenes. 18+ About the Book Series: The Shifters of Darkness FallsShifters aren't easy - to know, to be, to live with. They're a fragile contradiction. Part wolf, part human, all shifter. They're ruled by instinct and governed by convention. Darkness Falls, a small northern British Columbia community, is nestled in the northernmost access to the Rocky Mountains where the rugged wilderness, the vast back-country and the lakes, rivers and streams are untouched and pristine. The area is well-known for its fishing and diversity of wildlife, including moose, black and grizzly bear, mountain sheep, goat, caribou, elk, lynx and of course, wolf. This is how Darkness Falls thrives - its natural diversity is a lure for tourists and shifters alike. Many come to visit, some don't leave. Darkness Falls is a haven for shifters and too many things can go wrong.Humans and shifters working together, playing together, sleeping together. The four packs that claim territory around Darkness falls try to be civilized, try to work with each other and the humans to co-exist and protect the community, but in the pack, human rules don't apply and where pack justice is concerned, the lines between humans and shifters gets blurred. It's dark in Darkness Falls, even when the sun is shining. Shifters of Darkness Falls is a paranormal contemporary romance suspense series with no cliffhangers, no cheating, and sexy happy endings. All books are standalone but are connected by common characters and themes.

Includes section "Book reviews."