It is the 1950's in Cleveland. Bryan Wiseman never looks for trouble but trouble finds him. It's a hot summer day when two bullies throw him down a ravine, then toss his bike on top of him. A year later Bryan, now eight, is in the hospital dealing with a rare neurological disease caused by his fall. His disorder, dystonia, is cured by a series of operations. Between the surgeries Bryan and his friends deal with the bullies. Along the way they meet Al Rosen and Herb Score of the Cleveland Indians and learn some lessons about life.
‘A scintillating debut — pacy, unsettling and shot through with dark truth.’ —Hugh Riminton It’s 2011 and in a remote fishing village in far north Queensland, ex special forces soldier Daniel Grey has just returned from a brutal tour of duty in Afghanistan. Unsure of what’s next, he’s sought out his old mentor and school rugby coach. He meets the coach’s beautiful wife Maria, and their daughter Remy – a strange and reclusive girl with unusual gifts. Dealing with the loss of his former life and his best friend – along with some deeper wounds – Daniel now faces his toughest battle. In doing so, he has the chance to conquer old demons once and for all – and maybe help a new friend find her way in the world. Cooktown is a confronting and tender novel which unflinchingly examines our need for human closeness via unforgettable characters set adrift from society. ‘A brave and compelling novel, addressing real and pertinent issues.’ —Steven Lang
The revealing, confronting and shocking story of how sports-related concussion and the damage it causes can change a person's life and the impact it has on their family. '. . . a deeply moving and compelling tale of two people caught up in the consequences of repeated concussions - a tale so strong that it will help to change the whole nature of contact sports.' - Peter FitzSimons Concussion has become one of the biggest issues in contact sports. Only in the past decade have the consequences of repeated head knocks become better understood, and the science is still catching up. But with the discovery of CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, in the brains of deceased footballers, it is now known that the onset of a form of dementia, caused by repeated concussions, can strike people as young as their thirties and forties. This is what happened to Michael Lipman, a former rugby international, who came out in public in 2020 as having had a diagnosis of early-onset dementia and probable CTE. In Concussion, Michael and his wife Frankie Lipman tell their story with courage and candour. For Michael, the damage was already done before he met Frankie. When they fell in love, he was a retired footballer in his mid-thirties, prone to moments of bizarre behaviour and memory loss. Since then, Michael and Frankie have become parents together, as Michael's challenges have grown. Living with Michael's degenerative brain condition is the future they face. Concussion is both an emotional personal journey and a deep insight into our understanding of CTE. Michael and Frankie's message is urgent, moving and important, and a must-read for anyone involved in contact sports.
Ethics in Social Science Research: Becoming Culturally Responsive provides a thorough grounding in research ethics, along with examples of real-world ethical dilemmas in working with vulnerable populations. Author Maria K. E. Lahman aims to help qualitative research students design ethically and culturally responsive research with communities that may be very different from their own. Throughout, compelling first person accounts of ethics in human research—both historical and contemporary—are highlighted and each chapter includes vignettes written by the author and her collaborators about real qualitative research projects.
A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist tells the amazing story of how a group of imprisoned boys won their freedom, found justice, and survived one of the darkest and least-known episodes of American history. In the early twentieth century, United States health officials used IQ tests to single out "feebleminded" children and force them into institutions where they were denied education, sterilized, drugged, and abused. Under programs that ran into the 1970s, more than 250,000 children were separated from their families, although many of them were merely unwanted orphans, truants, or delinquents. The State Boys Rebellion conveys the shocking truth about America's eugenic era through the experiences of a group of boys held at the Fernald State School in Massachusetts starting in the late 1940s. In the tradition of Erin Brockovich, it recounts the boys' dramatic struggle to demand their rights and secure their freedom. It also covers their horrifying discovery many years later that they had been fed radioactive oatmeal in Cold War experiments -- and the subsequent legal battle that ultimately won them a multimillion-dollar settlement. Meticulously researched through school archives, previously sealed papers, and interviews with the surviving State Boys, this deft exposé is a powerful reminder of the terrifying consequences of unchecked power as well as an inspiring testament to the strength of the human spirit.
The designer of Unreal and Gears of War offers an eye-opening personal account of the video game industry as it grew from niche hobby to hundred-billion-dollar enterprise. Video games are dominating the planet. In 2020, they brought in $180 billion dollars globally—nearly $34 billion in the United States alone. So who are the brilliant designers who create these stunning virtual worlds? Cliff Bleszinski—or CliffyB as he is known to gamers—is one of the few who’ve reached mythical, rock star status. In Control Freak, he gives an unvarnished, all-access tour of the business. Toiling away in his bedroom, Bleszinski created and shipped his first game before graduating high school, and at just seventeen joined a fledgling company called Epic Games. He describes the grueling hours, obscene amounts of Mountain Dew and obsessive focus necessary to achieve his singular creative visions. He details Epic’s rise to industry leader, thanks largely to his work on bestselling franchises Unreal and Gears of War (and, later, his input on a little game called Fortnite), as well as his own awkward ascent from shy, acne-riddled introvert to sports car-driving celebrity rubbing shoulders with Bill Gates. As he writes, “No one is weirder than a nerd with money.” While the book is laced with such self-deprecating humor, Bleszinski also bluntly addresses the challenges that have long-faced the gaming community, including sexism and a lack of representation among both designers and the characters they create. Control Freak is a hilarious, thoughtful, and inspiring memoir. Even if you don’t play games, you’ll walk away from this book recognizing them as a true art form and appreciating the genius of their creators.
In Comeback Season, Cathy Day, author of the highly praised novel The Circus in Winter, tells the heartwarming story of how she got back in the game of love -- thanks to her favorite football team, the Indianapolis Colts. In 2005, Day, an Indiana native, moves to Pittsburgh to start her dream job. She's thirty-seven, a college professor, an acclaimed writer -- and still single. Psyching herself up, she thinks, "This is the year for the Colts and for me." Instead, both Day and quarterback Peyton Manning face heartbreaking end-of-season losses: the man in her life decides to punt, and the Colts fall to the Pittsburgh Steelers, the eventual Super Bowl champs. Her blue heart broken, Day vows that if the Colts can come back in 2006 and try again, so can she. Inspired by Manning's legendary perfectionism, Day spends the off-season "in training." She gets in shape, imagining that she's Rocky Balboa running through the Philadelphia streets to the tune of "Gonna Fly Now." She quits smoking. She reads dating primers. She watches Sex and the City. She takes notes. She asks everyone she knows, "Um, do you know any men my age who aren't married?" Come preseason, Day reluctantly joins an online dating service and goes on practice dates while the Colts play practice games. Indy goes 1-4 in the preseason, which is better than Day's record of 0-4. Lonely and dejected, Day returns home to watch Colts games with her family, who are full of well-intentioned relationship advice -- much of it bad. The 2006 season finally arrives. Each week that fall, the Colts battle a new adversary and Day faces her enemies: her own romanticism, indecisive men, and her biggest foe, the singles industry. Friends and family deliver impassioned pep talks but can only watch anxiously from the sidelines as Day marches bravely into bars and coffee shops to meet perfect strangers. On the way to the Super Bowl, she discovers that the key to winning -- in both love and football -- exists somewhere between Trying Everything and Letting Go. Honest, touching, and frequently hilarious, Comeback Season tells a timeless story about our need to feel connected to people and to places. This year-long chronicle of one woman's journey will resonate with anyone who's ever looked for love...fumbled...recovered! and kept charging down the field.
Mike Carlton was born to controversy. His father Jimmy, a renowned Olympic athlete and later a Catholic priest, married his mother after a whirlwind wartime courtship. This scandal was hushed up at first, but eventually it made headlines. Six years later, Jimmy Carlton died in his wife's arms, felled by asthma. It was a tough beginning. Mike would have a Sydney suburban childhood where every penny counted. Unable to afford a university education, he left school at sixteen to begin a life in journalism that would propel him to the top, as one of Australia's best-known media figures. In an often turbulent career of more than fifty years he has been a war correspondent, political reporter, a TV news and current affairs reporter, an award-winning radio presenter in both Sydney and London, an outspoken newspaper columnist and a biting satirist. In later life he realised a lifelong ambition -- to write three bestselling books of Australian naval history. On Air is his story, no holds barred. With characteristic humour and flair, Mike tells of the feuds and the friendships, the fun and the follies, writing candidly of the extraordinary parade of characters and events he has encountered in the unique life he has led.
From the American heartland to the edge of Hell, David Morrell (bestselling author of such classics as First Blood and The Brotherhood of the Rose) has consistently redefined the modern thriller. Now he turns to a darker side of suspense in a powerful collection of tales, many of them award winners. Prefaced by revealing autobiographical introductions, they delve into the weird, uncanny terrors that lurk just beneath the comforting surfaces of daily life. Fear of loss, fear of pain, fear of madness, fear of being trapped, fear of the unspeakable horrors that fester deep within the soul. . . . No matter who or where you are, fear is always with you, always ready to attack from behind the masks of thoughts and dreams. In this career-spanning examination of his life and the fears we all share, let David Morrell tell you a story . . . “For These and All My Sins” —a motorist in need of help finds himself in a town where everyone is disfigured . . . and discovers too late the terrifying reason they became that way . . . “The Beautiful Uncut Hair of Graves”—Both your parents die suddenly. Going through their legal papers, you find adoption records, dated at your birthday . . . but every official document has vanished, along with your biological mother . . . “Orange Is for Anguish, Blue for Insanity”—Beneath the placid, beautiful landscapes of a master artist’s paintings are levels of meaning that hide deep layers of pain . . . and unearthly nightmares . . . “Dead Image”—You know that that Hollywood stars think fame is more important than life itself . . . but you don’t realize the half of it . . . (There’s a lot of James Dean in this story.) “The Shrine”—Parents grieving for their dead children find a hidden place that offers lost hope . . . or eternal madness . . .
The bestselling author of Good Girls Die First is back with an entertaining, high-octane and read-in-a-single-sitting new thriller. Walking disaster Saffron and her perfectionist twin sister Georgia have only one thing in common-they are both obsessed with battle royale video game Sole Survivor. While working at a brand new, high tech escape room complex, Saffron poses a question to the resident AI: which high school stereotype would survive the longest in a real life version of Sole Survivor? She is convinced a rebel like her would beat a know-it-all like Georgia. Unbeknown to her, the AI decides to determine the answer to her question by testing it out for real. It invites Saffron and Georgia's gamer friends to a preview of the escape rooms, but then it locks the doors and turns the rooms into a life-or-death battle to be the last player standing. The rebel, the know-it-all, the princess, the jock, the geek, the weirdo, the star, the artist and the criminal. Just like in Sole Survivor, only one can survive the night... It's Cabin in the Woods meets Squid Game Perfect for fans of Holly Jackson and Karen McManus. Knife-edge tension and twists you won't see coming.
