The hard knocks of life keep piling up for Eje. Born into a country on the brink of civil war, he knows the real meaning of survival. After a decade living in Canada, things aren’t getting any easier but if he can keep his head down for his last year of high school he thinks there might be an out for him from his poverty-stricken neighborhood. Too bad fate likes to throw fastballs at Eje and he’s forced into an afterschool paddling program. The Aquatic club is filled with white kids, who like to run for fun and paddle for performance. Eje has talent but liking paddling doesn’t mean much when you’re another kid from the projects. Shannon used to live to paddle. After a drunk driver crashed into the car holding her and her mother, life has been anything but normal. Re-learning how to kayak isn’t fun, and trying to find out where she stands with her once BFF’s at the club reinforces how much has changed. Before the accident she’d never give a newbie paddler the time of day, but the minute she meets Eje all that changes. Unlike the guys at the club Eje’s mysterious without trying. When ultimatums threaten to end the afterschool paddle program and secrets get revealed will Eje and Shannon forget their friendship for the good of others or trust each other to do right? Two teens with little in common tackle prejudice and stereotypes to risk it all to help each other.

"A man arrives in the underworld in search of his true love, to find instead a mysterious guitar-wielding guide who may be able to help him. As he lingers undecided, he begins to mistake the underworld for the real world, becoming caught there, until he wakes up to the reality of his choices and breaks a cycle of violence."--BOOK JACKET.

Scratching the Surface: Hip Hop, Remoteness, and Everyday Life presents the encounters of a young, rural teenager growing up in Devon, in the south-west corner of the UK as he engages with the evolution of hip hop, told through 28 particular and detailed memories drawn from the experience of the author. The book is divided into four parts, and situated between 1983 and 1986, explores the emotional growth, contextual questioning, and at times, naïve journey of the protagonist as he reflects on such minutiae as the price tags on record sleeves, the LED display on cassette players, and the zips on tracksuit tops. The author of Provincial Headz: British Hip Hop and Critical Regionalism returns with a quirky contextual novella which unearths a less canonical hip hop history of the 1980s and expresses the innocence and obsessions of an only child growing up in the sticks, as he strives to make sense of his personal history, identity, and place in the world, through the often dialectic relationship between Devonian life and hip hop culture. This is the first publication in the new Rhythm Obscura/Headz Projects series which seeks to uncover the hidden histories of music cultures in Britain. Adam de Paor-Evans is an independent creative practitioner, ethnomusicologist and spatio-cultural theorist and was previously Reader in Ethnomusicology at University of Central Lancashire, UK. His research is focused on the relationship of the non-obvious, societal and regional-rural phenomena within music cultures. He leads the scholarly research project 'Rhythm Obscura: Revealing Hidden Histories Through Ethnomusicology, Practice Research and Material Culture' and has been an actively involved in British hip hop culture since 1983. Between 1989-1992 he was a member of pioneering Devon hip hop crew Def Defiance as Project Cee. He also performs original 45-only DJ shows under the pseudonym RARE~GRILLS.

"On his way to visit an inmate at a Texas prison who has promised him information, Detective Dave Robicheaux stops off at an amusement park to watch a teenaged Elvis-like rock-and-roller from his hometown of New Iberia named Johnny Shondell playing to a crowd of swooming young girls. One of them is another New Iberia teenager named Isolde Balangie. The Shondell and Balangie families are longtime rivals in the New Iberia criminal underworld. Yet Johnny and Isolde are in love. And like Romeo and Juliet, Johnny and Isolde are being kept apart by their families. In fact, Isolde tells Robicheaux, her parents have given her to the Shondell patriarch to be used as a sex slave. Seeking to uncover why, Robicheaux gets too close to both Isolde's mother and her father's mistress. As retribution, the elder Balangie orders a mysterious assassin to go after Robicheaux and his longtime partner, Clete Purcell. Yet this is unlike any hitman Robicheaux has ever faced: he has the ability induce hallucinations and might be a time-traveling reptilian. A Private Cathedral is both vintage James Lee Burke and one of his most inventive works to date--mixing romance, violence, mythology and science-fiction to produce a thrilling story about the all-consuming, all-conquering power of love."--

Can vegetative wake up? Of course! Because Chu Hao did wake up, not only that, he also accidentally acquired a magical ability. Before, he was framed by his in-laws, rejected by his wife, ridiculed by others. After, with the magical ability, his beautiful wife began to care about him and love him. The beauties are scrambling around him, and even his parents-in-law began to please him. ☆About the Author☆ Lai Le Lao Di, an excellent online novelist. His novels have rich plots and sincere emotions.

what does it mean to steal a chicken without being able to eat a grain of rice

Wag is a charismatic and mischievous character. A soon-to-be Boston Pizza franchise owner, he likes to push people’s buttons and takes life to the extreme. After an evening out with his wife in Calgary, he decides to drive back to his temporary home in Lethbridge to make his early morning shift, hoping he can make it back in time to catch a few hours of sleep before a head office inspection. The next thing he remembers is his wife screaming. Wanting someone to help her, he tries to call out but realizes that he can barely speak, let alone open his eyes. Finally, only remembering sensations and sounds, he wakes up in Calgary Hospital, where he learns that he fell asleep behind the wheel and drove into a deep ditch, leaving him as a C5-C6 quadriplegic. Filled with anger and disbelief, he lashes out at those around him. His wife, who is unharmed, tries to remain hopeful, which infuriates him. He begins to spiral into the universal five stages of grief, moving back and forth between denial and anger as he begins his six month stay at the hospital. Though he finds strength and relief from fellow patients and their views on life, Wag’s anger and depression define him, and those around him wonder how he’ll survive once he’s thrust into the realities of the walking world. Full of dark humour and raw vulnerability, 4 and 1⁄2 Steps delves into the challenges Wag faces both emotionally and physically as he adjusts to his new stage of life.

"The Careers of Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas as Referenced in Literature" is a study of the perception of these two Hollywood megastars and their work, as presented in the text and context of references and allusions found in world literature. This book also aims to establish the impact factor of the two actors and their major films, as well as to provide extensive data for further studies of the complex and bilateral relationships between film and literature. The pertinent quotations have been extracted from over 150 works—novels, short stories, plays, poems and some nonfiction biographies and memoirs (excluding those focused on film celebrities)—by more than 120 authors. The main body of the book consists of two parts, each devoted to one actor and each having five identical sections. In the first section, references to the actor’s films are discussed while the second section presents references to the actor himself. The third section shows the complete list of references found to the actor and his films, including references not mentioned in the first two sections—either because of their relative insignificance, the lack of an English translation in case of foreign-language works or repetitiveness and/or abundance in a given work. The fourth section offers the credits of the films referenced, and the fifth section presents the actor’s complete monographic bibliography. The third part of the book, ‘Epilogue: Final Remarks and Conclusions,’ provides an analysis and classification of all the references and allusions presented in the main body, and it elaborates on the friendship of the two actors. College professors and students interested in film studies, particularly film analysis and criticism, film perception and film genres, will find this book of great interest. It will also appeal to people interested in biographical books on movie personalities and movie fans, especially those interested in westerns, film noir and the careers of Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas.

Uproarious advice and never-before-seen color photos from drag queen extraordinaire Bianca Del Rio The cheeky, larger-than-life drag queen and outrageous comic—"The Joan Rivers of the Drag World," (New York Times)—who isn’t afraid to shock or offend brings her trademark acerbic wit and sharp commentary to the page in an illustrated collection of advice. When it comes to insult comics, Bianca Del Rio is in a class by herself. Fierce, funny, and fabulous—a would-be love child sired by John Waters and birthed by Joan Rivers—Bianca sandblasted her name in the annals of pop culture on RuPaul’s Drag Race. Thanks to her snarky frankness, impeccable comedic timing, and politically incorrect humor, she became the show’s breakout star, winning its sixth season. In Blame It On Bianca Del Rio, Bianca shares her opinions loudly and proudly, offering raucous, hilarious, no-holds-barred commentary on the everyday annoyances, big and small, that color her world, and make it a living, albeit amusing, hell for anyone who inhabits it. A collection of biting advice filled with vibrant photos from Bianca’s twisted universe, Blame It On Bianca Del Rio will shock you and keep you laughing. But be warned: it is not for the faint of heart!