Player and Avatar
Player and Avatar

Author: David Owen

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2017-06-19

Total Pages: 239

ISBN-13: 1476629420

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Do you make small leaps in your chair while attempting challenging jumps in Tomb Raider? Do you say "Ouch!" when a giant hits you with a club in Skyrim? Have you had dreams of being inside the underwater city of Rapture? Videogames cast the player as protagonist in an unfolding narrative. Like actors in front of a camera, gamers' proprioception, or body awareness, can extend to onscreen characters, thus placing them "physically" within the virtual world. Players may even identify with characters' ideological motivations. The author explores concepts central to the design and enjoyment of videogames--affect, immersion, liveness, presence, agency, narrative, ideology and the player's virtual surrogate: the avatar. Gamer and avatar are analyzed as a cybernetic coupling that suggests fulfillment of Atonin Artaud's vision of the "body without organs."

First Lady
First Lady

Author: Michael Malone

Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.

Published: 2002-07-01

Total Pages: 448

ISBN-13: 140222561X

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A New York Times Bestseller! Critically acclaimed novelist and award-winning short story writer Michael Malone is the smart, literate, compassionate voice of the American south. His gift for crafting the great American comedy, as he did in Handling Sin, is matched only by his ability to create mystery novels ripped with tension, twists and humanity. A woman's body has been found—murdered, mutilated, tagged and addressed to Lt. Justin Savile V and Police Chief Cuddy R. Mangum. Dubbed the "Guess Who Killer" by a voracious press, Hillston, North Carolina, has a serial killer on its hands. The media and the mayor demand answers while the city lives in fear. Savile and Mangum are being taunted and stalked. Worse, they have no leads. Plot driven in the classic sense of a bestseller, yet written with literary style and substance, First Lady is a novel you will want to read and savor yourself and share with a friend. Continuing the series begun with lauded novels Time's Witness and Uncivil Seasons, Michael Malone's return proves a thrilling success.

The Blingsters
The Blingsters

Author: Andrea C. Neil

Publisher: 1631 Press LLC

Published: 2023-08-15

Total Pages: 227

ISBN-13: 1733415483

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Grandmas. Good Times. Grand theft? Griffin Beckett is pretty sure her grandma Marge’s “canasta team” are up to no good. Newly unemployed and unhappily married, Griffin heads to the seniors’ Florida beach house to extract G-ma and bring her home—and ends up with more than she bargained for. Marge doesn’t want to leave … and why is there a huge diamond buried in the carpet? When her crafty grandma gives her the slip at the airport and the “canasta team” turns out to be a ring of jewel thieves, Griffin realizes she’s in way over her head. Desperate for help, she calls on her other grandmother, Delphine, who might be a retired super spy. But local police detective Roland Magnusson is also on the case, and he’s determined to get his man. Or grandma! With the clues stacking up against Marge and her friends, their retirement looks set to end behind bars. Meanwhile, Griffin has a dilemma of her own. Is everyone as innocent—or guilty—as they seem? The Blingsters is the first book in a brand-new humorous cozy mystery series—nab your copy today! Publisher’s note: there are no dead bodies in this book! Mystery and mayhem: yes. Murders: nope!

Chocolate
Chocolate

Author: Louis E. Grivetti

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2011-09-20

Total Pages: 1556

ISBN-13: 1118210220

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International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) 2010 Award Finalists in the Culinary History category. Chocolate. We all love it, but how much do we really know about it? In addition to pleasing palates since ancient times, chocolate has played an integral role in culture, society, religion, medicine, and economic development across the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Europe. In 1998, the Chocolate History Group was formed by the University of California, Davis, and Mars, Incorporated to document the fascinating story and history of chocolate. This book features fifty-seven essays representing research activities and contributions from more than 100 members of the group. These contributors draw from their backgrounds in such diverse fields as anthropology, archaeology, biochemistry, culinary arts, gender studies, engineering, history, linguistics, nutrition, and paleography. The result is an unparalleled, scholarly examination of chocolate, beginning with ancient pre-Columbian civilizations and ending with twenty-first-century reports. Here is a sampling of some of the fascinating topics explored inside the book: Ancient gods and Christian celebrations: chocolate and religion Chocolate and the Boston smallpox epidemic of 1764 Chocolate pots: reflections of cultures, values, and times Pirates, prizes, and profits: cocoa and early American east coast trade Blood, conflict, and faith: chocolate in the southeast and southwest borderlands of North America Chocolate in France: evolution of a luxury product Development of concept maps and the chocolate research portal Not only does this book offer careful documentation, it also features new and previously unpublished information and interpretations of chocolate history. Moreover, it offers a wealth of unusual and interesting facts and folklore about one of the world's favorite foods.