Chiaki Ogawa has never doubted who he is, although the rest of the world hasn’t been as kind. Bound by his mother’s dying wish, Chiaki tries to be a good daughter to his ailing father. But when the burden becomes too great, Chiaki sets out to remake himself in his own image and discovers more than just personal freedom in his transition—he finds understanding from the people who matter most. -- VIZ Media

Working at the local processing plant, Marcos is in the business of slaughtering humans—though no one calls them that anymore. His wife has left him, his father is sinking into dementia, and Marcos tries not to think too hard about how he makes a living. After all, it happened so quickly. First, it was reported that an infectious virus has made all animal meat poisonous to humans. Then governments initiated the “Transition.” Now, eating human meat—“special meat”—is legal. Marcos tries to stick to numbers, consignments, processing. Then one day he’s given a gift: a live specimen of the finest quality. Though he’s aware that any form of personal contact is forbidden on pain of death, little by little he starts to treat her like a human being. And soon, he becomes tortured by what has been lost—and what might still be saved.

Durs Grünbein is the most significant poet and essayist in German today. No other modern German poet has written from such an emphatically European and global perspective, and this volume seeks to present the poet and his work to the English-speaking world in all their significance and breadth. Written by a line-up of international scholars and critics, the volume offers highly readable and wide-ranging essays on Grünbein’s substantial œuvre, complemented by specially commissioned material and an interview with the poet. It covers the German and European traditions, and engages with Grünbein’s works in the context of a number of relevant topics, such as ‘memory’, ‘urban life’, ‘mortality’, ‘love’, and ‘presence’; it also probes Grünbein’s sustained dialogue with the natural sciences and the visual arts.

Presents an account of anatomy. This title covers key concepts medical students need to know. It gives an overview of a subject, and 50 fundamental principles that are expanded into double-page spreads. Difficult concepts are depicted by cartoon-strip illustrations, which enable understanding and assimilation of information.

With a recent burst of feature films, documentaries, and books on strippers, the business of exotic dancing is hotter than ever. Over the last decade there has been a steadily expanding interest in exotic dance, from its role as an "art form" to its benefits as a means of exercise. While the breadth of discussion generated on this topic has expanded, the fundamental debate remains the same: are female strippers empowering themselves or allowing themselves to be exploited? With her follow-up to Jane Sexes It Up: True Confessions of Feminist Desire, M. Lisa Johnson moves beyond the old debates and gives the reader a glimpse of what exotic dancing is like through the eyes of the stripper. The essays in Flesh for Fantasy cover everything from workplace policies and conditions, legal restrictions, customer behavior, and the struggle to overcome the stereotypes associated with the profession.

What if society looked at addiction without judgement? Unstitched shares the powerful story of one librarian’s quest to understand the impact of addiction fed by stigma and inevitable secrecy. The opioid epidemic has hit people in communities large and small and across all socio-economic classes. What should each of us know about it, and do about it? Unstitched moves readers from feelings of helplessness and blame into empathy, ultimately helping friends, family, and community members separate the disease of addiction from the person underneath. A stranger, rumored to be a heroin addict, repeatedly breaks into the small-town library Brett Ann Stanciu runs. After she tries to get law enforcement to take meaningful action against him—elementary school children and young parents with babies frequent the place after all—he dies by suicide. When she realizes how little she knows about opioid misuse, she sets out on a mission, seeking insight from others, such as people in recovery, treatment providers, the town police chief, and Vermont's US attorney. Stanciu’s journey leads to compassionate generosity, renewed faith, and ultimately a measure of personal redemption as she realizes she has a role to play in helping the people of her community stitch themselves back together.

There are legends that no one has heard about. There are myths that have yet to become myth. He has walked the earth for seven hundred years, and no one knows it. That is because if he comes for you, you will beg him to kill you. Lucifer is his master. Deceit is his power. Eternal life is his goal, and your youth is what he is after. Retired Special Forces expert Stormy Rain Clouds, known as Rain, has no way of knowing if he is in a dream or in the real world. Will Rain be the first to figure out how to defeat the servant of hell, or will his youth nourish the eternal life of the most evil being walking the earth?

Hot elf girls, magic powers, and an inter-dimensional spaceship. What more could a nerd ask for? When Theodore visited the new animatronic strip club in town, he didn't expect the elves the facility was famous for to be actual flesh-and-blood elves. And he definitely didn't expect to find an inter-dimensional phone booth tucked away in the back room. But find them he did, and before he knew it, he'd been sent to a strange and exotic land.Among the Thousand Worlds, power is free for any with the will and talent to take it. Here, elves practice immortal cultivation, gathering power to increase their personal strength and pursue eternal life. Theo must survive and gather allies, with whom he may just be able to build the greatest clan of all time, all while growing the mysterious power of the game-like interface passed down to him by the alien wizard, and the spaceship he has inherited.Warning: Zeal of the Mind and Flesh is the first novel of a series containing graphic violence, explicit sex, and a harem of magical girls of various supernatural species. Read at your own risk.Contains Harem, Cultivation, Dungeon Core, and GameLit elements.

Written by the pioneering scientist, theorist and activist J. D. Bernal, this futuristic essay explores the radical changes to human bodies and intelligence that science may bring about, and suggests the impact of these developments on society. Bernal presents a far-reaching vision of the future that encompasses space research and colonization, material sciences, genetic engineering, and the technological hive mind. In his view, it will be possible for the conditions of civilization to reach a state of materialist utopia. For all three realms—the world, the flesh, and the devil—Bernal attempted to map out the utmost limit of technoscientific progress, and found that there are almost no limits. With a new introduction by McKenzie Wark.