Magic, books, and cats collide in a village near Niagara Falls in the latest Magical Bookshop Mystery from the author of Crime and Poetry. In Cascade Springs, New York, Violet Waverly and her grandma, Daisy, are the proprietors of Charming Books, where the power of the written word is positively enchanting... October in Cascade Springs means tourists are pouring in for the annual Food and Wine Festival, and Daisy hopes to draw those crowds to the store. She asks Violet and the local writing group, the Red Inkers, to give a reading of the works of Edgar Allan Poe in the shop’s back garden to entertain the revelers. Everyone eagerly agrees. Yet their enthusiasm is soon extinguished when Violet discovers one of the writers dead during the event. After the shop magically tells Violet she’ll need to rely on Poe’s works to solve the murder, she enlists the help of her trusty tuxedo cat, Emerson, and the shop’s crow, Faulkner. But they must act fast before someone else’s heart beats nevermore...

A drummer, a fanfic writer, and an amateur taxidermist walk into a convention center, and the weekend that unfolds will change all of their lives. Drummer Phoebe Byrd prides herself on being one of the guys, and she's ready to prove it by kicking all their butts in the snare solo competition at the Indoor Percussion Association Convention. Writer Vanessa Montoya-O'Callaghan has been looking forward to the WTFcon for months. Not just because of the panels and fanfiction readings but because WTFcon is where she'll finally meet Soleil, her internet girlfriend, for the first time. Taxidermy assistant Callie Buchannan might be good at scooping brains out of deer skulls, but that doesn't mean it's her passion. Since her parents' divorce, her taxidermist father only cares about his work, and assisting him at the World Taxidermy and Fish-Carving Championships is the only way Callie knows to connect with him. When a crazy mix-up in the hotel lobby brings the three girls together, they form an unlikely friendship against a chaotic background of cosplay, competition, and carcasses!

Morrie's been arrested on suspicion of murder. Mina knows the Napoleon of Crime is innocent, but how can she prove her favorite con-artist is being stitched-up? Being the spider in the center of a vast criminal web has left Morrie in hot water. His list of enemies is long... too long for Mina and her men to unravel. Mina doesn't have a clue to stand on when a shadow from Morrie's past shows up and threatens to destroy everything she's fought for. If Morrie's ex solves the murder before them it could mean the end of Nevermore Bookshop. But is Mina ready to pit her sleuthing skills against literature's foremost consulting detective? Add a rambunctious puppy, a meddling mother, a cockroach cookery lesson, and their ultimate enemy closing in, and Mina's on her toughest case yet. There's only one way to get the answers they need, but are Heathcliff and Quoth prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice to save their friend? The Nevermore Bookshop Mysteries are what you get when all your book boyfriends come to life. Join a brooding antihero, a master criminal, a cheeky raven, and a heroine with a big heart (and an even bigger book collection) in book 5 of this steamy reverse harem paranormal mystery series by USA Today bestselling author Steffanie Holmes.

"Prose and Cons" by Len Barry is Performance Art in Print, a visual representation of the harmony and discord, the consensus, compromise, and conflict of a soul always in tune and in step with Truth - a truth that bona fide creativity always tells...even if those closest to him could not comprehend it at the time and often misunderstood it and him."Prose and Cons" is part oil on the roiled waters of social justice, part fire in the belly of true civil rights struggles, and part autobiography of a man who has lived through it all. And, as he tell you to do, he follows his own advice: Question Everything.At 17, Barry went on tour with James Brown. He was the only white performer, but that's how funkalisciously good he was with Soul, especially the Philly Soul sound. Lead singer of The Dovells, a legendary Doo Wop group in the early 1960s that led the American invasion of Britain, his solo act included several hits.

As the United States' prison population has exploded over the past 30 years, a rich, provocative and ever-increasing body of literature has emerged, written either by prisoners or by those who have come in close contact with them. Unlike earlier prison writings, contemporary literature moves in directions that are neither uniformly ideological nor uniformly political. It has become increasingly personal, and the obsessive subject is the way identity is shaped, compromised, altered, or obliterated by incarceration. The 14 essays in this work examine the last 30 years of prison literature from a wide variety of perspectives. The first four essays examine race and ethnicity, the social categories most evident in U.S. prisons. The three essays in the next section explore gender, a prominent subject of prison literature highlighted by the absolute separation of male and female inmates. Section three provides three essays focused on the part ideology plays in prison writings. The four essays in section four consider how aesthetics and language are used, seeking to define the qualities of the literature and to determine some of the reasons it exists.

“This celebration of differences displays great respect for readers' intelligence and yields more with each reading. —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Two shy kids discover the power of friendship in this charming picture book that celebrates being different. A boy likes to dress as a cat, but his best friend’s dog objects. What will he dress as now? A giraffe? A fox? A shark? When his best friend, Camille, suggests a frog, they work together to make the frog costume…until Camille runs out of patience. So the boy makes a list of the pros and cons of being a frog: Pros: 1. My friend Camille gave me the idea 2. I’m less likely to be chased by a dog 3. Being in a frog costume makes me feel brave Cons: 1. Not everyone loves wearing a frog costume as much as me 2. If you start getting bossy about your frog costume then your friend will get up and leave 3. A frog is NOT a solitary creature so it is no fun for a frog if his friend gets up and leaves Luckily, he won’t have to choose, because true friendship means accepting each other’s differences: he can be himself and have his friend Camille.

Following the bestselling The Secret Loves of Geeks comes this brand-new anthology featuring comics and prose stories by cartoonists and professional geeks about the world of comic book conventions from the guests who've attended them across the world. Featuring stories that are funny, sad, sweet, embarrassing, and heartfelt; of a geek culture life that shapes us, encourages us, and exhausts us every summer. Featuring work by Brian Michael Bendis (The Man of Steel), Jim Zub (Wayward), Kieron Gillen (The Wicked and the Divine), Sina Grace (Iceman), and many more.

Chuck Taylor's OCD has rendered him a high school outcast. His endless routines and habitual hand washing threaten to scare away both his closest friend and the amazing new girl in town. Sure he happens to share the name of the icon behind the coolest sneakers in the world, but even Chuck knows his bizarre system of wearing different color "Cons" depending on his mood is completely crazy. In this hilariously candid debut novel from comedian Aaron Karo—who grew up with a few obsessions and compulsions of his own—very bad things are going to happen to Chuck. But maybe that's a good thing. Because with graduation looming, Chuck finds himself with one last chance to face his inner demons, defend his best friend, and win over the girl of his dreams. No matter what happens, though, he'll have to get his hands dirty.

Pros and Cons: A Debaters Handbook offers a unique and invaluable guide to the arguments both for and against over 140 current controversies and global issues. Since it was first published in 1896 the handbook has been regularly updated and this nineteenth edition includes new entries on topics such as the right to possess nuclear weapons, the bailing out of failing industries, the protection of indigenous languages and the torture of suspected terrorists. Equal coverage is given to both sides of each debate in a dual column format which allows for easy comparison. Each entry also includes a list of related topics and suggestions for possible motions. The introductory essay describes debating technique, covering the rules, structure and type of debate, and offering tips on how to become a successful speaker. The book is then divided into eight thematic sections, where specific subjects are covered individually.

A cloth bag containing eight copies of the title and a folder containing book sign out sheets.