The race between good and evil has come to the slums of Oklahoma City. Marvin (Monsta) Guiden comes home from a 15 year prison sentence for a crime he may not have committed. The streets turn deadly with the revelation of the abuse his mother and his gang have suffered at the hands of a Goblin named Tear Drop, who's now running the East Grove Homies. Can love save him and his family? Or will hate and a need for revenge kill everyone. This story of thugs, goonz and goblins may be the end of the hood unless a guardian angel can help.
There's a bitter wind brewing in Buffalo, New York and it's blowing in more than just snow. "Little Skag" Farino, the last don of the local crime family, wants Kurtz dead and is sending in platoons of hit men, starting with the Attica Three Stooges and working up through more competent killers. Little Skag's beautiful sister, Angelina Farino Ferrara, is back from seven years in Sicily and has her own deadly agenda for Kurtz. If that isn't enough, Kurtz is approached by a dying concert violinist who wants his daughter's killer found. Rejecting the case at first, he is soon on the trail of a man who's not just the murderer of one child, but a cold-blooded serial killer who is a master of alternate identities and has the power to send a hundred men after Kurtz. As the bodies pile up like cords of wood, Hard Freeze hits town with the power of a whiteout blizzard and builds to a truly chilling climax. This is a crime novel where trigger fingers freeze to blue steel.
A group biography of seven enduring and beloved games, and the story of why—and how—we play them. Checkers, backgammon, chess, and Go. Poker, Scrabble, and bridge. These seven games, ancient and modern, fascinate millions of people worldwide. In Seven Games, Oliver Roeder charts their origins and historical importance, the delightful arcana of their rules, and the ways their design makes them pleasurable. Roeder introduces thrilling competitors, such as evangelical minister Marion Tinsley, who across forty years lost only three games of checkers; Shusai, the Master, the last Go champion of imperial Japan, defending tradition against “modern rationalism”; and an IBM engineer who created a backgammon program so capable at self-learning that NASA used it on the space shuttle. He delves into the history and lore of each game: backgammon boards in ancient Egypt, the Indian origins of chess, how certain shells from a particular beach in Japan make the finest white Go stones. Beyond the cultural and personal stories, Roeder explores why games, seemingly trivial pastimes, speak so deeply to the human soul. He introduces an early philosopher of games, the aptly named Bernard Suits, and visits an Oxford cosmologist who has perfected a computer that can effectively play bridge, a game as complicated as human language itself. Throughout, Roeder tells the compelling story of how humans, pursuing scientific glory and competitive advantage, have invented AI programs better than any human player, and what that means for the games—and for us. Funny, fascinating, and profound, Seven Games is a story of obsession, psychology, history, and how play makes us human.
In the five boroughs of New York City, there are turf wars and rival gangs, but at the top are five families that run things, cooperating with their rivals whenever it means they will all make more money. Through the darkest tunnel comes the light, but for Caesar King, there is nothing but more darkness on the other side. After the failed attempt on his life, he is afraid that the Pact of the Five Families is no more. He can trust nobody. Whoever murdered Barry is now aiming for Caesar’s crown, and the only way to flush them out and figure out who’s responsible is to go to war…with everybody.
This is a book of poetry as well as music for coming albums from Renaldo " Da Beast Bearrilla " Gary. Urban music and poetry are frowned upon at times, creating a barrier in breakdown or understanding. These lyrics and poems are being shared to give vivid imagery of urban life in which some lives are based on. Coming from this and other walks me life, through perils of myself and others comes the paintings to your minds canvas. Consider lyric a prelude to a sensual stunning display of talent showing you there is more to life for lower and middle class than jail, struggle, and strife through life’s tribulations. Keep in mind while reading, you are to examine the negative to focus on the positive. From there selections will come the double disc debut album name DVD. 727, 813, 941, 239, 305, 786, 313, 242, 876 better yet nation and worldwide stand up!!
Donettello-'The Don' of the city just returning from a seven year prison bid. He has a dream of being a legitamit business man and leaving the streetlife alone. Angel-Donettello's woman who has a secret of her own. Bryanna-Angel's best friend who wants to be with 'The Don' Brian- Donettello's little brother, is inlove with Bryanna Andre'-Donettello's best friend. he as been running the city for the seven years that Donettello has been away. The story of one crew's dealings with money, power, and each other
In the gritty streets of Cleveland anything can happen. Just ask Christopher Bird Clark. Being a young hustler raised in the streets, hed seen it all and done it all; TWICE. Growing up under legends like Big Tyco and Flex taught him every facet of the game, enabling him to perfect the concrete hustle and outlast his peers. Shady women, thirsty police and deadly consequences all came with the luxuries the grind afforded. Those would be the evils that he lived with, until the demands of fatherhood prompt him to finally call it quits. But not before leaving an indelible mark on the game; attempting to make his largest play ever and exit before his world crumbles around him. Racing through life in the fast lane rarely allows a sudden exit and the game knows no exception, which he soon realizes as he finds himself struggling to survive, The Deadmans Curve.
Games are poised for a major evolution, driven by growth in technical sophistication and audience reach. Characters that create powerful social and emotional connections with players throughout the game-play itself (not just in cut scenes) will be essential to next-generation games. However, the principles of sophisticated character design and interaction are not widely understood within the game development community. Further complicating the situation are powerful gender and cultural issues that can influence perception of characters. Katherine Isbister has spent the last 10 years examining what makes interactions with computer characters useful and engaging to different audiences. This work has revealed that the key to good design is leveraging player psychology: understanding what's memorable, exciting, and useful to a person about real-life social interactions, and applying those insights to character design. Game designers who create great characters often make use of these psychological principles without realizing it. Better Game Characters by Design gives game design professionals and other interactive media designers a framework for understanding how social roles and perceptions affect players' reactions to characters, helping produce stronger designs and better results.
N. Katherine Hayles is known for breaking new ground at the intersection of the sciences and the humanities. In Unthought, she once again bridges disciplines by revealing how we think without thinking—how we use cognitive processes that are inaccessible to consciousness yet necessary for it to function. Marshalling fresh insights from neuroscience, cognitive science, cognitive biology, and literature, Hayles expands our understanding of cognition and demonstrates that it involves more than consciousness alone. Cognition, as Hayles defines it, is applicable not only to nonconscious processes in humans but to all forms of life, including unicellular organisms and plants. Startlingly, she also shows that cognition operates in the sophisticated information-processing abilities of technical systems: when humans and cognitive technical systems interact, they form “cognitive assemblages”—as found in urban traffic control, drones, and the trading algorithms of finance capital, for instance—and these assemblages are transforming life on earth. The result is what Hayles calls a “planetary cognitive ecology,” which includes both human and technical actors and which poses urgent questions to humanists and social scientists alike. At a time when scientific and technological advances are bringing far-reaching aspects of cognition into the public eye, Unthought reflects deeply on our contemporary situation and moves us toward a more sustainable and flourishing environment for all beings.
