In the summer of 1987 in Venice, California, ten-year-old Bug and her new friend Frankie learn important lessons about life, family, being your true self, and how to navigate in a world that is not always just or fair.

Reading Frankie Ravan is like opening the windows of an Advent calendar; inspired by miniatures, pointillist paintings, and country quilts, the vignettes reveal a rural coming-of-age story full of adventure, delight, superstition, humor, and curiosity. Frankie--eight years old in 1958--grew up in Crawford's Nook, then on the old Ravan homestead on Upper Burnt Ruby Creek.During this period the mountain community was haunted by memories of untimely death. Frankie enjoyed his life with wonder until an awareness of these deaths entered his experience. He learned relief from the sadness of death when a nearly forgotten ancestor showed him how to look deeply into the beauty of the world. As he looked he sensed the presence of all those who had gone before; and they, too, were watching the world around him, hovering behind and above like vibrant images in frescoes on cathedral ceilings, observing something wondrous about their own and others' lives.

Frankie Lee is a modern day monster hunter. He and his friend Bug, and mentor Merv, go around and hunt the monsters that the police can't. Together with the help of Officer Hadley from the police department they help control the monster population and keep order in the town of Alliance, Oh. Anything from werewolves to vampires to ghosts, they hunt and do whatever is necessary to keep the town safe. Follow Frankie first hand as he battles things you never thought were real. Frankie is who you call when things get weird and the police can't help. If you've got a problem, he's your man.

When a highly skilled boxer with autism wants to take part in the corrupt world of professional fighting, whose decision is it to make? A bankrupt boxing gym, a down-on-his luck drifter, and a desperate father grapple with an opportunity that could solve all their problems, but at a tragic cost. Noki has grown up in his father's gym, around the seedy world of boxing his whole life, the fighters there calling him a "man-child." A young Black man with autism with a penchant for wearing Disney t-shirts, Noki is gifted with incredible boxing skills, considered by his inner circle as unbeatable. But when the unscrupulous boxing bigwigs see dollar signs, his gym family is torn: Are they permitting Noki to pursue his passion or are they taking advantage of someone with a disability. Noki, a new young adult fiction novel by Douglas Farrago, is a masterfully written coming of age story of loyalty, grit, and self-discovery in the most heartbreaking of circumstances. "This is Rocky meets Forrest Gump".

Tycoon Harrison Grant is distracted from closing a high-stakes deal by his feelings for his new assistant, Francesca Masseria.

A Mississippi town in 1964 gets riled when tempers flare at the segregated public pool.As much as Gloriana June Hemphill, or Glory as everyone knows her, wants to turn twelve, there are times when Glory wishes she could turn back the clock a year. Jesslyn, her sister and former confidante, no longer has the time of day for her now that she'll be entering high school. Then there's her best friend, Frankie. Things have always been so easy with Frankie, and now suddenly they aren't. Maybe it's the new girl from the North that's got everyone out of sorts. Or maybe it's the debate about whether or not the town should keep the segregated public pool open. Augusta Scattergood has drawn on real-life events to create a memorable novel about family, friendship, and choices that aren't always easy.

A veteran on leave investigates a murder in his Kentucky backwoods hometown in this Appalachian noir by the acclaimed author of Country Dark. Mick Hardin, a combat veteran and Army CID agent, is home on a leave to be with his pregnant wife—but they aren’t getting along. His sister, newly risen to sheriff, has just landed her first murder investigation—but local politicians are pushing for someone else to take the case. Maybe they think she can’t handle it. Or maybe their concerns run deeper. With his experience and knowledge of the area, Mick is well-suited to help his sister investigate while staying under the radar. Now he’s dodging calls from his commanding officer as he delves into the dangerous rivalries lurking beneath the surface of his fiercely private hometown. And he needs to talk to his wife. The Killing Hills is a novel of betrayal within and between the clans that populate the hollers—and the way it so often shades into violence. Chris Offutt has delivered a dark, witty, and absolutely compelling novel of murder and honor, with an investigator-hero unlike any in fiction.

Among Golden Age Hollywood film stars of European heritage known for playing characters from the East--Chinese, Southeast Asians, Indians and Middle Easterners--Anglo-Indian actor Boris Karloff had deep roots there. Based on extensive new research, this biography and career study of Karloff's "eastern" films provides a critical examination of 41 features, including many overlooked early roles, and offers fresh perspective on a cinematic luminary so often labeled a "horror icon." Films include The Lightning Raider (1919), 14 silent films from the 1920s, The Unholy Night (1929), The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932), The Mummy (1932), John Ford's The Lost Patrol (1934), the Mr. Wong series (1938-1940), Targets (1968), and Isle of the Snake People (1971), one of six titles released posthumously.

At the end of the millennium, thousands of homeless people roamed the streets of Manhattan. A small group of them went underground. Invisible to society, they managed to start a new life in the tunnel systems of the city. Acclaimed war photographer and cultural anthropologist Teun Voeten gained unprecedented access to this netherworld. For five months in 1994 and 1995 he lived, slept and worked in the tunnel. With him, we meet Vietnam veterans, macrobiotic hippies, crack addicts, Cuban refugees, convicted killers, computer programmers, philosophical recluses and criminal runaways. Voeten describes their daily work, problems and pleasures with humor and compassion. He also witnessed the end of tunnel life. The tunnel people were evicted in 1996, but Amtrak and homeless organizations offered them alternative housing. Some succeeded in starting again above ground, while others failed. In this updated version of the book, Voeten tracks down the original tunnel dwellers and describes what has happened in the thirteen years since they left the tunnels.

Surfers loathed them, teenagers flocked to them, critics dismissed them, producers banked on them--surf and beach movies. For a short time in the 1960s they were extremely popular with younger audiences--mainly because of the shirtless surfer boys and bikini-clad beach girls, the musical performers, and the wild surfing footage. This lavishly illustrated filmography details 32 sizzling fun-in-the-sun teenage epics from Gidget to the Beach Party movies with Frankie and Annette to The Sweet Ride plus a few offshoots in the snow!) Entries include credits, plot synopses, memorable lines, reviews and awards, and commentary from such as Aron Kincaid of The Girls on the Beach, Susan Hart of The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini, Peter Brown of Ride the Wild Surf, Chris Noel of Beach Ball, and Ed Garner of Beach Blanket Bingo. Biographies of actors and leading actresses who made their marks in the genre are included.