A new superhero has arisen in India in the wake of the brutal gang rape on a Delhi bus two years ago: Priya, a mortal woman who is raped herself, but who fights back against sexual violence with the help of the goddess Parvati – and a tiger. – THE GUARDIAN “Priya’s Shakti is the first Indian comic book of its kind — not only confronting teenagers with the sensitive issue of sexual violence, but also engaging young people through its innovative use of augmented reality technology.” — REUTERS

PRIYA — India’s first female superhero, embarks on a mission to stop the spread of Covid-19. She befriends a little girl named Meena to show her the sacrifices made by frontline healthcare workers and instill the power of courage and compassion during this difficult time. She teams up with Pakistan’s female superhero, Burka Avenger, to foil her arch enemy from infecting her city with the potent virus.

Priya continues her adventures with her flying tiger, Sahas. She returns home and discovers all the young women have disappeared in her rural village including her sister, Laxmi. She discovers they were taken to an underground brothel city called Rahu, which is ruled by a demon who gets his power through fear and entrapment of women.

Life is joyful for childhood friends Sunil and Megha. Being teenagers is tough enough for both, but a hypnotic storm is brewing that can throw their innocent relationship into turmoil. The same swarm transforms Priya and her flying tiger Sahas into metallic beings and traps them in a digital maze. Can Priya the superhero confront the menace, and rescue Sunil, Megha and their friends from being consumed by the swarm?

Contributions by Bart Beaty, T. Keith Edmunds, Eike Exner, Christopher J. Galdieri, Ivan Lima Gomes, Charles Hatfield, Franny Howes, John A. Lent, Amy Louise Maynard, Shari Sabeti, Rob Salkowitz, Kalervo A. Sinervo, Jeremy Stoll, Valerie Wieskamp, Adriana Estrada Wilson, and Benjamin Woo The Comics World: Comic Books, Graphic Novels, and Their Publics is the first collection to explicitly examine the production, circulation, and reception of comics from a social-scientific point of view. Designed to promote interdisciplinary dialogue about theory and methods in comics studies, this volume draws on approaches from fields as diverse as sociology, political science, history, folklore, communication studies, and business, among others, to study the social life of comics and graphic novels. Taking the concept of a “comics world”—that is, the collection of people, roles, and institutions that “produce” comics as they are—as its organizing principle, the book asks readers to attend to the contexts that shape how comics move through societies and cultures. Each chapter explores a specific comics world or particular site where comics meet one of their publics, such as artists and creators; adaptors; critics and journalists; convention-goers; scanners; fans; and comics scholars themselves. Through their research, contributors demonstrate some of the ways that people participate in comics worlds and how the relationships created in these spaces can provide different perspectives on comics and comics studies. Moving beyond the page, The Comics World explores the complexity of the lived reality of the comics world: how comics and graphic novels matter to different people at different times, within a social space shared with others.

Former Prime Minister of India and member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Atal Bihari Vajpayee was an understated politician of the kind not often seen in contemporary times. His patriotism was uncompromising, forged out of the paradoxes in his life: a sensitive poet who summoned nerves of steel to conduct the Pokhran-II nuclear tests; a man of humble beginnings who envisioned a project as titanic as the Golden Quadrilateral highways. Devoid of any natural political pedigree or patronage network, he harnessed his political acumen to transform India's relations with the United States which had long been mired in misunderstandings rooted in the Cold War. His prudent decisions led to key strategic and economic policy contributions. There is a need to understand Vajpayee as a decision-maker, with specific references to key initiatives in the strategic and economic fields that have had a significant effect on the India that we see today. Vajpayee fleshes out not only Vajyapee's political philosophy but also provides an insider's account and an intimate memoir of the person.

Shri Mataji writes that “India is a very ancient country and it has been blessed by many seers and saints who wrote treatises about reality and guidelines on how to achieve it.” This is just such a book. This book is both an introduction to Sahaja Yoga, describing the nature of the subtle reality within each of us, and a step-by-step handbook on how to be a good Sahaja Yogi, the nature of Sahaj culture, how to be a leader and how to raise children. “The knowledge of Sahaja Yoga cannot be described in a few sentences or one small book, but one should understand that all this great work of creation and evolution is done by some great subtle organization, which is in the great divine form.”

"And suddenly I am flooded... terror, shame, despair, horror, disgust." "How can I talk about things I can't pin down?" With subtlety and sensitivity, this powerful graphic novel draws the reader into the experience of trauma and dissociation caused by sexual violence. It reveals the intrusive traumatic memories and distress experienced by a victim of childhood sexual exploitation in her adulthood and follows the process of coming to terms with her past through therapy and art. Positive and hopeful at its heart, it demonstrates her ability to be a good parent irrespective of mental health struggles and explores the importance of relationships with people in the present. Tackling complex issues including the nature of traumatic memory, self-harm, victim-blaming, racism in the police, health and education services and the media's impact, this graphic novel reveals how the past can be triggered by the present and how victims of sexual abuse can be excellent parents and successful in life in spite of this.

Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- List of Table -- Foreword: Earth to Transmedia -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction: Conceptualizing National and Cultural Transmediality -- PART I: European Transmediality -- 1 United Kingdom: The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu's 'Comeback' as a Transmedia Undertaking -- 2 Spain: Emergences, Strategies and Limitations of Spanish Transmedia Productions -- 3 Portugal: Transmedia Brand Narratives, Cultural Intermediaries and Port Wine -- 4 France: Telling Tales of Cultural Heritage using Transmedia Storytelling -- 5 Estonia: Transmedial Disruptions and Converging Conceptualizations in a Small Country -- PART II: North and South American Transmediality -- 6 United States: Trans-Worldbuilding in the Stephen King Multiverse -- 7 Canada: Transmediality as News Media and Religious Radicalization -- 8 Colombia: Transmedia Projects in Contexts of Armed Conflict and Political Change -- 9 Brazil: Reconfigurations and Spectatorship in Brazilian Telenovelas -- PART III: Asian Transmediality -- 10 Japan: Fictionality, Transmedia National Branding and the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games -- 11 India: Augmented Reality, Transmedia Reality and Priya's Shakti -- 12 Russia: Interactive Documentary, Slow Journalism and the Transmediality of Grozny: Nine Cities -- List of Contributors -- Index

A black teenage lesbian finds herself stranded in a dangerous and unfamiliar place: an all-white Christian youth backpacking camp.