Michelle Rosenchild is a young woman who's grown sick of working in retail. After being betrayed by Corporate America, she turns into a supervillain known as "Black Thunder," who vows to expose the corruption of modern society. Together with her pals Captain Silverware, Deerboy, and Minor Inconvenience Man, they try plotting world domination, only to realize it's incredibly difficult when you're poor and don't know how to build a super death-ray. Instead, they decide to plot a bank robbery, so they can make some quick cash, and maybe buy their own secret supervillain island somewhere. But along the way, Black Thunder gets recruited by a gang of terrorists known as "The Furies," who are hell-bent on tearing down the city's government. Now, Black Thunder is faced with a dire choice: Should she help "The Furies" with their acts of villainy...Or defend the corrupt system she claims to hate? THE LEGEND OF BLACK THUNDER is a black comedy which deconstructs supervillain tropes from throughout comic book history, questioning the idea of what it means to be a villain, and who the true "villains" are in the world today. After all, who should we be more afraid of: Comic book villains, or the people they owe back-taxes to? Read what top critics are saying about The Legend of Black Thunder: “Well, at least it’s better than ‘The Golden Age.’” – everyone “Wait, why is this written like a stage play?” – also everyone “I’m totally going to read it!” – people who read 5 pages and then put it away “It was okay, I guess.” – people who actually read it “Of all the books I’ve ever read, I can definitely say that this was one of them.” – The Rock (Not Dwayne Johnson—literally just a rock.) “Makes for great kindling.” – Kindling Magazine (which also makes for great kindling) “seen.” – The Washington Post ABOUT THE AUTHOR KALEB QUIST is a non-award-winning “author” whose last book, The Golden Age – a story about retired superheroes living together in a nursing home – peaked at 1,354,971 on Amazon’s list of best-selling novels. Kaleb Quist currently resides in Southern Oregon, which is only slightly better than anywhere in California. When he’s not making up words about fake people for monetary gain, he enjoys firing people at places he doesn’t work, driving 5 miles over the speed limit, and screaming obscenities at the local ducks.

Thunder Rose vows to grow up to be more than just big and strong, thank you very kindly--and boy, does she ever But when a whirling storm on a riotous rampage threatens, has Rose finally met her match?

A comprehensive, all-new collection bringing together the most thoughtful, inspiring, and wisest voices from the Black diaspora across history. Bartlett's Familiar Black Quotations paints a rich canvas of Black history through time. Five thousand quotes are culled from the time of Ancient Egypt through American slavery, Jim Crow, the Civil Rights Era, Apartheid, to the present day. With a foreword by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and passages from authors, artists, scientists, philosophers, theologians, activists, politicians, and many others, Bartlett's Familiar Black Quotations will appeal not only to quote aficionados and researchers, but also to history buffs. Aesop's Fables and the Holy Bible are in the same company as Nelson Mandela and President Obama; Maya Angelou and Toni Morrison; Bob Marley and Jay-Z. A wonderful reference tool and gift, Bartlett's Familiar Black Quotations is sure to follow in the footsteps of Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, becoming a beloved authority.

In this comprehensive, groundbreaking study, Tim A. Ryan explores how American novelists since World War I have imagined the institution of slavery and the experience of those involved in it. Complicating the common assumption that authentic black-authored fiction about slavery is starkly opposed to the traditional, racist fiction (and history) created by whites, Ryan suggests that discourses about American slavery are -- and have always been -- defined by connections rather than disjunctions. Ryan contends that African American writers didn't merely reject and move beyond traditional portrayals of the black past but rather actively engaged in a dynamic dialogue with white-authored versions of slavery and existing historiographical debates. The result is an ongoing cultural conversation that transcends both racial and disciplinary boundaries and is akin to the call-and-response style of African American gospel music. Ryan addresses in detail more than a dozen major American novels of slavery, from the first significant modern fiction about the institution -- Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind and Arna Bontemps's Black Thunder (both published in 1936) -- to recent noteworthy novels on the topic -- Edward P. Jones's The Known World and Valerie Martin's Property (both published in 2003). His insistence upon the necessity of interpreting novels about the past directly in relation to specific historical scholarship makes Calls and Responses especially compelling. He reads Toni Morrison's Beloved not in opposition to a monolithic orthodoxy about slavery but in relation to specific arguments of controversial historian Stanley Elkins. Similarly, he analyzes William Styron's The Confessions of Nat Turner in terms of its rhetorical echoes of Frederick Douglass's famous autobiographical narrative. Ryan shows throughout Calls and Responses how a variety of novelists -- including Alex Haley, Octavia Butler, Ishmael Reed, Margaret Walker, and Frances Gaither -- engage in a dynamic debate with each other and with such historians as Herbert Aptheker, Charles Joyner, Eugene and Elizabeth Genovese, and many others. A substantially new account of the development of American slavery fiction in the last century, Calls and Responses goes beyond merely exalting the expression of black voices and experiences and actually reconfigures the existing view of the American novel of slavery.

Set in 1790, 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow' tells the tale of superstitious schoolmaster Ichabod Crane who seeks the hand of Katrina, but finds he has a rival for her affections in the form of Brom Bones Van Brunt who likes to play tricks on him. Turned down by Katrina, 'heavy-hearted and crestfallen' he rides through the autumn night where he encounters a headless horseman in a classic American ghost story that is often referenced today. It's a companion piece to 'Rip Van Winkle', which you'll also find here among many other great short stories from Washington Irving, who was a good friend of Charles Dickens and perhaps the first America author to earn a living from writing. Interestingly, Irving was the man who first popularized the name 'Gotham' for New York City and he also invented the flying sequence for Santa Claus's sleigh. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Arcturus Classics series brings together high-quality paperback editions of classics works, presented with contemporary graphic cover designs. Together they make a wonderful collection which is perfect for any home library.