The road trip from hell continues, Bobby Ray and Dahlia cause enough mayhem to reach the ears of Heaven itself! A certain archangel wants his trumpet back, and he doesn't care if he has to turn a hundred hellbound cars into scrap to get it! But what about that car? Does it really deserve an eternity chauffeuring demons across Earth? Or is there another road out of this mess, with Bobby Ray at the wheel?
Wanting desperately to be behind the wheel, Luke Fulmer counts down the days to his sixteenth birthday, when he can finally get his license. Unfortunately, the first thing he does with it is "borrow" his neighbor's car. When he is pulled over and found in possession of an air pistol, a ski mask, a stolen TV, and a bag of pot, the unforgiving local magistrate takes scissors to his license and vows to lock him up if he ever stands in front of her again. So with an absent father and a mother descending into alcoholism, he moves in with his older brother, Nick, an easygoing ex-con who wants to steer Luke onto the straight and narrow. In the summer that follows, Luke contends with a kleptomaniac girlfriend, a duffel bag full of cocaine, and the realization that he must save his family from themselves, even as he plots to beat a path out of town. In his hilarious, unforgettable debut -- with everything from stock car racing to drug dealing -- Dallas Hudgens brilliantly evokes Southern culture in a tale that is raucous and wrenching, funny and wise.
Al-'Arabiyya is the annual journal of the American Association of Teachers of Arabic and serves scholars in the United States and abroad. Al-'Arabiyya includes scholarly articles and reviews that advance the study, research, and teaching of Arabic language, linguistics, literature, and pedagogy.
Alina Sherwin has had to fight for every victory in her life. Raised in Poland, she moves to Australia with her family as a young girl. There, in the early 1970s, she becomes the first woman in her state to graduate with an engineering degree and quickly finds that her new industry won't employ her. Undaunted by rejection from the Australian scientific community and encouraged by her new American husband, Wayne, Alina decides to move again, in hopes of finding what she desires in his homeland. To her distress, Wayne's unconditional love is marred by his desire for an open marriage. She is shocked and intrigued. Convinced that Wayne would make a great father, she resolves to have a baby with him, as long as his yearning is limited to words. On a return visit to Poland, Alina regains confidence in her abilities and finds peace in leaving her childhood behind. The American society that spawned a secular constitution and a vibrant feminist movement, promises to be an inspiring new home. Alina is ready to seek fulfillment once again.
It all comes down to this, as an unholy alliance of cops, demons, satanic bikers, and one corrupt preacher conspireto lure Bobby Ray and Dahlia into a trap that even the forces of Heaven can't save them from. Will our heroes ride off into the sunset, or will the sky turn red with blood as the seas boil away? Can Bobby Ray keep the pedal to the medal hard enough to outrun the apocalypse? Find out in the fastest, furiousest finale ever to hit the comic stands!
For more than two thousand years Christian expansion and proselytizing was couched in terms of 'defending the faith'. Until recently in the United States, much of that defense came in the form of reactions against the 'liberal' influences channeled through big-corporate media such as popular music, Hollywood movies, and network and cable television. But the election of Ronald Reagan as a Hollywood President introduced Christian America to the tools of advertising and multimedia appeals to children and youth to win new believers to God's armies. Christotainment examines how Christian fundamentalism has realigned its armies to combat threats against it by employing the forces it once considered its chief enemies: the entertainment media, including movies, television, music, cartoons, theme parks, video games, and books. Invited contributors discuss the critical theoretical frameworks of top-selling devices within Christian pop culture and the appeal to masses of American souls through the blessed marriage of corporatism and the quest for pleasure.
Most of these stories are true. Some are fabrications. "The Gun Show" is one. It is a loose interpretation of an event. If you are familiar with the event, you will understand the satire. The stories, such as "The Great Possum Slayer", tell of a hunting adventure. We are all guilty of doing something to a friend in the name of fun. "The night Before Christmas" describes a practical joke that turned out better than planned! Several stories, as an example, "BB'S & Bumblebees", reflect on our desire to imitate our parents. Several of the stories convey a safety message. "The Hazards of Plastic Bullets", is an example that shows what can happen in the blink of an eye when we choose to disregard a simple safety statement. Some of the stories deal with older people and a time not so long ago. These people believed that you took care of your problem. You will notice in these stories, the problem would have gone away or been taken care of long before law enforcement could arrive. With our modern communications we can now summon the Calvary in an instant. It has not been too long ago that this was not the case in a lot of areas of our great nation. "The Letter", is an adaptation of a letter I want read at my funeral. Surprise, fear, courage, fortitude and a child's belief that they are bullet proof are all expressed in stories in this book. A book of this nature easily causes us to reflect on our lives and events that have slipped into our fading memory. If this book reminds a single individual of any similar events in their past, makes them a safer individual, or makes them laugh it will have succeed in its purpose beyond expectations.
