On the brink of full-fledged adulthood, Nick James doesn't hear a barbaric roar for heroics in his head--but his friends sure do. When a severed arm is mysteriously found in the woods where they spent their summers as kids, Nick and his friends, lead by the irresistible Flint, seem determined to pull a phantom out of the realm of delusion and into the real world. Suspecting that the supposed specter they witnessed as teenagers is responsible for the severed arm, the five friends take to the wild for a camping reunion. And when a Lovecraftian cult arrives proclaiming the end of the world, Nick feels things are slipping into the surreal--exactly where Flint wants them to be. Bare Hands, Numb Skulls is a slice of pulp mythology that takes timeless motifs into off beat and unexpected directions. It explores the dynamics of pack buddy-dom and the growing pains of friendship. Nick may not share his friends' primitive lust for risk, but he may yet come to admire their willingness to rush in with the resurrected hope that monsters still lurk, that epic adventure still lives, even in the seemingly sterile woodlands of rural America.

In a world of divisive politicians, brainwashed followers, and extreme school rivalries between spoon-wielding Puddin’ Heads and their sworn enemies, the Sweeties, 14-year-old Blaze Union is expelled for the offense of playing guitar and soccer with hands deemed “too large” by MegaCorp standards. But instead of dropping out, Blaze embarks on a mission to become Island Nation's top school boss and liberate students and teachers from an absurd existence. Armed with a sarcastic teacher and a band of rebellious misfits, Blaze's revolution rapidly gains momentum, catching powerful knuckleheads off guard. But as shocking events escalate the conflict between the Puddin' Heads and Sweeties, Blaze faces unexpected enemies, shady alliances, and a disturbing question: are these catastrophes just coincidences, the fallout of her rebellion, or the work of hidden forces lurking in the shadows? With the country on edge, Blaze must confront the truth before her revolution unravels and the nation’s schools spiral into chaos. Brace yourself for a wild adventure filled with delusional leaders, epic showdowns, and a fight for freedom like no other. And don’t forget your spoon helmet—you’ll need it. Finalist - 2023 Mark Twain Book Award - Humor / Satire "Gloriously absurd... delightfully funny." — Kirkus Reviews "Hilarious... A must read." — Karen Johnson, teacher

Sergey Gandlevsky is widely recognized as one of the leading living Russian poets and prose writers. His autobiographical novella Trepanation of the Skull is a portrait of the artist as a young late-Soviet man. At the center of the narrative are Gandlevsky's brain tumor, surgery, and recovery in the early 1990s. The story radiates out, relaying the poet's personal history through 1994, including his unique perspective on the 1991 coup by Communist hardliners resisted by Boris Yeltsin. Gandlevsky tells wonderfully strange but true episodes from the bohemian life he and his literary companions led. He also frankly describes his epic alcoholism and his ambivalent adjustment to marriage and fatherhood. Aside from its documentary interest, the book's appeal derives from its self-critical and shockingly honest narrator, who expresses himself in the densely stylized version of Moscow slang that was characteristic of the nonconformist intelligentsia of the 1970s and 1980s. Gandlevsky is a true artist of language who incorporates into his style the cadences of Pushkin and Tiutchev, the folk wisdom of proverbs, and slang in all its varieties. Susanne Fusso's excellent translation marks the first volume in English of Sergey Gandlevsky's prose, and it will interest scholars, students, and general readers of Russian literature and culture of the late Soviet and post-Soviet periods.

This book provides a detailed description of the history of the Ism l sect and caliphal dynasty, the Fatimids, in North Africa (875-973).

Historians of piracy examine piracy in the Caribbean and Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and East Asia, asking whether pirates were outlaws or counterculture social bandits. They demonstrate that pirate ships were often microcosms of democracy, and that crews of pirate vessels knew that majority rule, racial equality, and equitable division of spoils were crucial for their survival. The book includes bandw historical illustrations. Pennell teaches Middle Eastern history at the University of Melbourne. c. Book News Inc.

This is the first new full-scale anthology of Restoration and eighteenth-century drama in over sixty years. Concentrating on plays from the heyday of 1660-1737, it focuses especially on Restoration drama proper (1660-1688) and Revolution drama (1689-1714), with a smaller selection of plays from the early Georgian period (1715-1737) and a glimpse at the later Georgian period’s “laughing comedy” (1770s and 80s). It includes nine sub-genres (heroic romance, political tragedy, personal tragedy, tragicomic romance, social comedy, subversive comedy, corrective satire, menippean satire, and laughing comedy), with the preponderance of exposure given to the jewel of this theatre, its comedy. The core canonical plays from the era—from Dryden’s All for Love and Behn’s The Rover to Congreve’s The Way of the World and Sheridan’s School for Scandal—are all here, but so are a remarkably wide range of non-canonical works. There are many more plays by women than in any previous general anthology of drama of the period. Also included are a number of works from the neglected 1660s, whose comedies feature delightful, subversive, levelling folk elements. In all there are forty-one plays; each is fully annotated and prefaced with an historical introduction. Also included are a general introduction, head-notes for each genre, and a glossary.

The Broadview Anthology of Restoration and Early Eighteenth-Century Drama, Concise Edition, with twenty-one plays, is half the length of the full anthology without compromising its breadth. Concentrating on plays from the heyday of 1660-1737, it focuses on Restoration drama proper and Revolution drama, with a selection from the early Georgian period and the later Georgian period's "laughing comedy." Seven of the nine sub-genres (personal tragedy, tragicomic romance, social comedy, subversive comedy, corrective satire, menippean satire, and laughing comedy) of the full anthology are represented, with the preponderance of exposure given to the jewel of this theatre, its comedy. Each play is fully annotated and prefaced with an historical introduction. Also included are a general introduction, a statement of procedures, and a glossary.