On June 28, 1972 in a South Bronx subway station, John Skagen, a white off-duty policeman on his way home, suddenly and without apparent provocation, ordered James Richardson, a black man on his way to work, to get against the wall and put his hands up. Richardson had a gun, and the two exchanged shots. In the melee that followed, Skagen was fatally wounded by a cop who rushed to the scene. In the ensuing trial, William Kunstler handled Richardson's defense and the author of this book, then assistant district attorney, prosecuted the case. Here is a first-hand, behind-the-scenes account of every step of the proceedings.

NO VILLAINS, NO HEROES is a moving historical novel of the 1912 Hillsville Massacre, the most shocking crime in the state of Virginia, and a cautionary tale for our own time about the true meaning of law and justice. No Villains, No Heroes dramatizes a shocking episode in Virginia history. In March 1912 Floyd Allen was convicted of assault in Carroll County, in Virginias Blue Ridge. When he announced, Gentlemen, I aint a-goin, a gun battle erupted in the crowded courtroom between law officers and the Allen clan. Five people were killed; seven wounded. Floyd and his young son Claude were executed a year later. Other Allens served long prison sentences. But who were the villains? Who were the heroes? In this moving historical novel, the narrator, a detective called in to hunt down the fugitives, grapples with these perplexing questions and the true meaning of law and justice. This exciting novel tells the story of a once-famous but now largely forgotten episode in Virginia history, the Hillsville Massacre of March 1912, recalled in vivid detail by Carter Hayne, a private lawman on the scene. His experience is so transforming that it turns him into a crusading lawyer who dedicates his life to advancing criminal justice. It effortlessly recreates an age and place, pre-modern America 100 years ago in the Blue Ridge Mountains, the setting for an event so complex and weighty, even primal, that it is, as Hayne says, just like a Greek tragedy. Kirkpatrick Sale, author of 12 books, including The Fire of His Genius: Robert Fulton and the American Dream.

"Tom King's debut novel opens in an imaginative world of comic book superheroes struggling to take on normal lives after sacrificing their powers to save the world"--

..."a compelling piece of work, strongly evocative of an era that seems, more and more, to have been one of the most extraordinary periods in our history . The unions, the mobs, the plots, the characters."Don DeLillo

Sharp-eyed Marianne lives in a white tower made of steel and concrete with her father and the other Professors. Outside, where the land is thickly wooded and wild beasts roam, live the Barbarians, who raid and pillage in order to survive. Marianne is strictly forbidden to leave her civilized world but, fascinated by these savage outsiders, decides to escape. There, beyond the wire fences, she will discover a decaying paradise, encounter the tattooed Barbarian boy Jewel and go beyond the darkest limits of her imagination. Playful, sensuous, violent and gripping, Heroes and Villains is an ambiguous and deliriously rich blend of post-apocalyptic fiction, gothic fantasy, literary allusion and twisted romance.

While the Misfits are attending a comic book convention and waiting for a sneak preview of the new Hyperman movie, they see the film stolen by someone dressed as Hyperman's nemesis, the Jester.

This volume presents three major social types in American society-heroes, villains, and fools-as models for American behaviour. Approaching these models primarily through language, Orrin E. Klapp explores what they may suggest about Americans as a people. Rather than study people, the author describes abstract types named and embedded in popular language. These social types are important symbols; and a way to attack a symbol is by identifying its meaning in various contexts. He further argues that the language surrounding heroes, villains, and fools reveals a social structure. We may not escape being ascribed a type, but we do have a choice of type. Known more commonly as "finding oneself," we can manipulate cues-with dress, facial expressions, style of life, or conspicuous public roles-to build an identity. This classic study has serious contemporary implications. For a public figure, an inevitable result of the typing process is the development of at least two selves, the public and the private. When the book originally appeared in 1962, the struggle to balance two images generally only plagued celebrities and politicians. Today, social media offers everyone the opportunity to develop an online persona. This volume will be of interest to sociologists as well as anyone who has a Facebook account.

WHAT IS THE STORY GRID? The Story Grid is a tool developed by editor Shawn Coyne to analyze stories and provide helpful editorial comments. It's like a CT Scan that takes a photo of the global story and tells the editor or writer what is working, what is not, and what must be done to make what works better and fix what's not. The Story Grid breaks down the component parts of stories to identify the problems. And finding the problems in a story is almost as difficult as the writing of the story itself (maybe even more difficult). The Story Grid is a tool with many applications: 1. It will tell a writer if a Story ?works? or ?doesn't work. 2. It pinpoints story problems but does not emotionally abuse the writer, revealing exactly where a Story (not the person creating the Story'the Story) has failed. 3. It will tell the writer the specific work necessary to fix that Story's problems. 4. It is a tool to re-envision and resuscitate a seemingly irredeemable pile of paper stuck in an attic drawer. 5. It is a tool that can inspire an original creation.

Heroes and Villains, the seventh volume in Jon Scieszka’s Guys Read Library of Great Reading, is chock-full of adventure featuring an array of characters—with and without capes. Featuring ten all-new, original stories that run the gamut from fantasy to comics to contemporary adventure to nonfiction, and featuring eleven of the most acclaimed, exciting writers for kids working today, this collection is the perfect book for you, whether you use your powers for good—or evil. Authors include Laurie Halse Anderson, Cathy Camper and Raúl Gonzalez, Sharon Creech, Jack Gantos, Christopher Healy, Deborah Hopkinson, Ingrid Law, Pam Muñoz Ryan, Lemony Snicket, and Eugene Yelchin, with illustrations by Jeff Stokely.

It is 1895 and the world is in turmoil. The Great Powers compete for resources and the latest technology, and an undeclared and secret war rages between them all. This is battleground of the Adventuring Companies. These clandestine agents of the Great Powers operate in the shadows, matching skills and wits in pursuit of the newest scientific formulae or powerful occult artifacts. In Her Majesty's Name sets these adventuring companies against each other in one-off encounters and in longer narrative campaigns. Companies are usually comprised of just 4–15 figures and two players could easily play three games in an evening, making an on-going campaign a highly viable option. In Her Majesty's Name has been designed to allow maximum versatility for the player – if you can imagine it, the system will help you build it. There is, however, a wealth of material provided in the book, covering weird science, mystical powers, and a range of pre-generated adventuring companies, including the British Explorers' Club, the Prussian Society of Thule, the US Marine Corps, the Légion Étrangère, the revolutionaries of the Brick Lane Commune, ancient Egyptian cults, and the mysterious Black Dragon Tong.