By the late summer of 2040, environmental disasters have already taken the lives of billions. Humans are on the endangered list, along with thousands of other species. Entomologist Dr. Nora Frost of Colorado receives an odd invitation to conduct research at an ancient, dilapidated castle that had recently been renovated for the touring industry in Bavaria, Germany. Reports exist of tourists being attacked by a large spider in the castle, with deaths reoccurring. Nora is intrigued by the idea of studying a large, aggressive arachnid while the world is falling apart. Upon arriving at the German castle, Nora finds the mystery has become a nightmare for her and the other five selected biologists and entomologists. Additionally, Dr. Lillian Dixon enters the scene to assume charge, in her curt and demanding style, but she is a paleontologist. The others cannot fathom why she would be part of the team. What should be a straightforward research project turns into a mission to gain as much information as possible to survive.

An old tale tells of one of the universe’s most prized treasures titled the Araknyd, which was the embodiment of the eight ultimate chakras of the universe. The chakras were represented by its eight legs, which were separated from it. Some said it would grant the user the aptitude to become the ultimate being, and some said it was able to give life as easily as it could take it away. The Araknyd was held inside a temple on a pedestal, dormant, waiting to be activated by all eight of its legs, which were each protected by an oracle, a part of a group called the 8-Legged Anatomy. Along with the treasure, there was a prophecy that spoke of a young man who was immune to poison. He could harness all eight chakras of the universe, and he would be the one that brought them all together. When a boy named Paul meets a ravishing spider named Roxy, she takes him to a place where he learns about the legend of the Araknyd. Before long, they also conjure a demon named Violet that gets added to the team. The three of them embark on a quest, defeating deities of anguish, making baneful decisions, and risking the fate of existence to retrieve those eight legs and not only awaken the power, but stop the completed Araknyd from falling into the wrong hands.

An oversized anthology of dark and bizarre tales written throughout the past century includes entries by international best-sellers and award-winners, including Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, and Franz Kafka.

Three timeless tales retold for the stage by one of the UK’s most renowned writers of plays for children, Charles Way. Winner of the Writers Guild Best Children’s Play Award, his plays appeal to audiences of all ages and are translated into several languages and performed internationally. Each of the three plays explores the journey from childhood to adulthood, but each takes a specific angle. Sleeping Beauty is driven by the notion of duality. Everyone and everything in the play has a complimentary aspect; King and Queen, Castle and forest, bright witch and dark witch, etc. Gryff, half-dragon, half-human is the physical embodiment of the idea of duality and is at war with himself. This is both dramatic, since it provides the conflict needed for the drama, and thematically rich, since it explores what all of us, but more precisely children, feel as they grow up. Cinderella is a play about a journey from darkness to light, from sickness to health. Everyone in the play is under the influence of some kind of loss, and the play explores these feelings and the sometimes painful route one must take to accommodate them and move on in life. It’s a moving and beautiful play, that also manages to be tremendously funny and the introduction of Mozart as a character, whose music charts the whole journey toward light and joy, is a theatrical coup. Where Cinderella has music at its core, Beauty and the Beast has dance. This is a play about overcoming fear, and the subconscious world is represented through imagery and movement. The play begins with a startling dream sequence and then segues into the drawing-room world of a Jane Austen novel, before moving to the wilds of Dartmoor. Throughout this journey one is never sure if the play is in dreamtime or not, and Way connects this feeling to the very act of theatre itself. As ever, the themes are explored through dramatic action, and the result in Beauty and the Beast is a script of rare brevity that allows actors and directors room to explore the profound nature of the story.

A collection of thirteen award-winning, science fiction tales that inspired motion pictures and television programs includes one by Philip K. Dick that became Minority Report, another by Clive Barker that became Candyman, and William Gibson's Johnny Mnemonic. Reprint.

This latest installment in the Psychology of Popular Culture series turns its focus to superheroes. Superheroes have survived and fascinated for more than 70 years in no small part due to their psychological depth. In The Psychology of Superheroes, almost two dozen psychologists get into the heads of today's most popular and intriguing superheroes. Why do superheroes choose to be superheroes? Where does Spider-Man's altruism come from, and what does it mean? Why is there so much prejudice against the X-Men, and how could they have responded to it, other than the way they did? Why are super-villains so aggressive? The Psychology of Superheroes answers these questions, exploring the inner workings our heroes usually only share with their therapists.

'I’d always known that I was Brown. Black was different though; it came announced. Black came with expectations, of rhythm and other things that might trip me up.' Imani is a foundling. Rescued as a baby and raised by nuns on a remote Northumbrian island, she grows up with an ever-increasing feeling of displacement. Full of questions, Imani turns to her shadow, Amarie, and her friend, Harold. When Harold can’t find the answers, she puts it down to what the nuns call her “greater purpose”. At nineteen, Imani answers a phone call that will change her life: she is being called to Accra after the sudden death of her biological mother. Past, present, faith and reality are spun together in this enthralling debut. Following her transition from innocence to understanding, Imani's experience illuminates the stories we all tell to make ourselves whole.

From the author of Thirteen, Tom Hoyle's Spiders is a creepy, spine-tingling thriller that will leave you breathless, perfect for fans of Michael Grant. Adam may have survived once, but a cult still has him in its sights. And this time he may not escape with his life . . . Abbie's dad is an undercover agent, tasked with exposing dangerous cults. He's normally able to maintain his distance, but this time Abbie's worried he's in too deep. Megan was sure she and Adam were safe, but now he's missing and she's the only one who can help him . . . The web is closing in around them . . .

Alexander the Great (356-333 BC) was to capture the imagination of his contemporaries and future generations. His image abounds in various cultures and literatures - Eastern and Western - and spread around the globe through oral and literary media at an astonishing rate during late antiquity and the early Islamic period. The first Iskandarnama, or 'The Book of Alexander', now held in a private collection in Tehran, is the oldest prose version of the Alexander romance in the Persian tradition. Thought to have been written at some point between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries by an unknown author, the lively narrative recasts Alexander as Iskandar, a Muslim champion - a king and prophet, albeit flawed but heroic, and remarkably appropriated to Islam, though the historic Alexander lived and died some 1,000 years before the birth of the faith. This new English translation of the under-studied text is the first to be presented unabridged and sheds fresh light onto the shape and structure of this vital document.In so doing it invites a reconsideration of the transformation of a Western historical figure - and one-time mortal enemy of Persia - into a legendary hero adopted by Iranian historiographic myth-making. Evangelos Venetis, the translator, also offers a textual analysis, providing much-needed context and explanations on both content and subsequent reception. This landmark publication will be invaluable to students and scholars of classical Persian literature, ancient and medieval history and Middle East studies, as well as to anyone studying the Alexander tradition.

Kafka Translated is the first book to look at the issue of translation and Kafka's work. What effect do the translations have on how we read Kafka? Are our interpretations of Kafka influenced by the translators' interpretations? In what ways has Kafka been 'translated' into Anglo-American culture by popular culture and by academics? Michelle Woods investigates issues central to the burgeoning field of translation studies: the notion of cultural untranslatability; the centrality of female translators in literary history; and the under-representation of the influence of the translator as interpreter of literary texts. She specifically focuses on the role of two of Kafka's first translators, Milena Jesenská and Willa Muir, as well as two contemporary translators, Mark Harman and Michael Hofmann, and how their work might allow us to reassess reading Kafka. From here Woods opens up the whole process of translation and re-examines accepted and prevailing interpretations of Kafka's work.