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".
The Samburu of northern Kenya struggle to maintain their pastoral way of life as drought and the side effects of globalization threaten both their livestock and their livelihood. Mirroring this divide between survival and ruin are the lines between the self and the other, the living and the dead, "this side" and inia bata, "that side." Cultural anthropologist Bilinda Straight, who has lived with the Samburu for extended periods since the 1990s, bears witness to Samburu life and death in Miracles and Extraordinary Experience in Northern Kenya. Written mostly in the field, Miracles and Extraordinary Experience in Northern Kenya is the first book-length ethnography completely devoted to Samburu divinity and belief. Here, child prophets recount their travels to heaven and back. Others report transformations between persons and inanimate objects. Spirit turns into action and back again. The miraculous is interwoven with the mundane as the Samburu continue their day-to-day twenty-first-century existence. Straight describes these fantastic movements inside the cultural logic that makes them possible; thus she calls into question how we experience, how we feel, and how anthropologists and their readers can best engage with the improbable. In her detailed and precise accounts, Straight writes beyond traditional ethnography, exploring the limits of science and her own limits as a human being, to convey the significance of her time with the Samburu as they recount their fantastic yet authentic experiences in the physical and metaphysical spaces of their culture.
About the Book Adam St. James is back, this time in a thriller with his old friend from high school, April Mayes, and new friends helping him unwind a disaster of cosmic proportions. The story opens in the timeline of the Cryptid Trilogy. The Cryptid saga is over, and Adam is weary of the fighting, death and destruction, yet it persists and dogs him relentlessly. More bad news is about to be revealed for which Adam will be blamed, but for which he has no responsibility. A powerful immortal offers Adam, and the family of his choosing, the opportunity to depart Adam’s birth universe for an alternate universe where old struggles and battles do not exist. Catastrophic things are about to unfold over which he has no control. One of his old friends, April Mayes and her parents, do not possess the genetic profile that will allow them to survive the coming catastrophe; Adam chooses to invite them to spare their lives in the alternate universe. The rest of his family and friends will survive the catastrophe, as will an “alt” Adam who remains behind. Adam is warned to be careful about the attributes and items he and his fellow traveler wish to take with them; their wish to leave their home world behind will be granted, but do they understand how any minor tweaks may bend and alter the timeline in their new universe? This novel reimagines old characters in new cosmic circumstances telling a tale of what might happen when mortals mess with the very fabric of reality and existence. Adam, and April Mayes, who is now a famous TV and movie star, make the journey to a new universe together, but with unexpected and unintended altered personalities. What follows is disastrous, and in the end, a journey no one wished to make. How will they change, what are the consequences, and how will this adventure pan out? As usual, where goes Adam St. James also goes murder, intrigue, action and betrayal. Buckle up, readers, the adventure is about to begin!
About the Book Crissy Chance is the second book in the Cryptid Trilogy Sequels series that began with the novel, April Mayes. It is set in an alternate universe in a world much like ours, but without the challenges that were present in the birth world of the named characters. Adam has, by now, been reborn hundreds of times into new worlds, the deck of characters he once knew and loved always reshuffled. In this novel, his first love Misti is now a part of the Suarez family along with her new brother Rodrigo, his wife and children, including mom Maria and Pops Agustin. They reside in the background of the story as Misti and friend Noki Lee surface as Adam's two girlfriends. A new girl, Eene Birkenstock, steps up first as a girl in need of rescue by Misti and Adam in their OT Project, then afterward as an integral part of Adam's two new and pressing projects. Immortal spirits Hecate and Hana also appear as the story winds down to its inevitable conclusion. Criminals in the Triads are chasing women for the secrets they know about a fantastic archeological discovery, and new enemies are after Adam too. Edward St. James is no longer a good dad, but a criminal deeply hidden behind a wall of powerful international authorities. Adam's mother survived the gangland shootout in an LA coffee shop, and is now in league with her husband. Both are psychos who now have a new acolyte, Crissy Chance, a tax attorney and adopted daughter who is deeply involved in their criminal and sexual lives. Cousins from Adam's past lives are present in this new life helping Adam as he flees New York for Greece, then flees again for Africa. The names are the same as in past novels, but the characters are different - except Adam. The central driver of action is the discovery of artifacts and grave goods proving that Marco Polo did reach China, and lived out his entire life there with wives, concubines and children. The cache discovered is immense, and incredibly rare and valuable, setting a cast of characters against Adam and his family for control of the Marco Polo cache, and the wealth it represents. But is the cache real? Adam remembers the fraud committed by those behind the "Hitler Diaries" who almost got away with an incredible scam. But what drives all the people involved, as some live, some are murdered, and all are lying about something, or not saying anything at all. As usual in Adam's life, there is betrayal, deception and murder.
The ability to generate inspired ideas is vital in all creative industries, fashion being no exception. Basics Fashion Design 01: Research and Design (2nd edition) investigates fashion design research and how to use it to develop inspired designs and concepts. This second edition of a best-selling title used on courses throughout the UK and US is revised and updated with a new design scheme and many new visuals from the catwalk, the studio and designers' portfolios. It includes new case studies and eleven interviews with key personnel, plus reflective exercises designed to instruct readers on how to excel in carrying out professional fashion research and design.
Maddie's past is about to catch up to her... Maddie Arnette has built her whole life around the narrative that her father murdered her mother. When a woman in the grocery store claims that Maddie's father did not kill her mother, the revelation forces the journalist toward a reckoning. Is it possible that her father has sat in prison for almost forty years for a crime he did not commit? And if he didn't do it, who did? Maddie barely has time to absorb this earth-shattering news when she is called to report on what appears to be a suicide. Tilly Dawson is found shot to death on her driveway, a gun by her side. But right away something about the situation doesn't feel right to Maddie. Before long, the tough television reporter finds herself delving once more into a dark world of violence, secrets and intrigue. Maddie's journey to find the truth in her own life parallels her journey to seek justice for Tilly. This time around Maddie must put her own life on the line to guarantee that the truth will prevail. Lies that Bind is book two of the gripping Maddie Arnette crime novels by Amanda Lamb, a veteran television crime reporter, author, and blogger for an award-winning NBC affiliate in the southeast. Each book in the series can be read as a stand-alone or in order of publication. Amanda Lamb has published ten books in dramatically different genres from true crimes to touching and humorous memoirs to children's books. From murder cases to motherhood, Amanda examines life through the lens of a curious journalist who is constantly observing and documenting. Fans of Megan Miranda's All the Missing Girls and Kimberly McCreight's A Good Marriage will be captivated by Maddie's fight in Lies that Bind.
The Elves and Rebens are locked in an endless battle of bloodshed and sorrow that not only destroys them, but also every soul on Atoria. Death, terror, and anguish ravage every land touched by the claws and fangs of the ruthless Rebens that are led by the ancient demon, Ood-Durak. But all hope is not lost. In the sacred book of the Moa called the Neo-Kindle, a prophecy is told of a mighty warrior that will come to erase the presence of Ood-Durak. This man will be a hybrid of Reben and Elf. He will cleanse Atoria of evil with his twin blades and astonishing strength. Gruff is the embodiment of this prophecy. As the two sides of his persona fight for his soul, Gruff must choose which one he and his devastating swords will follow. On a journey that takes him to foreign lands and against powerful men and savage creatures, Gruff struggles to restrain the red-eyed beast raging inside him.
Three-hundred years after the fall of Loda Durak, a new evil has risen to test the might and authority of Gruff. A warlock empowered by shadow and darkness has come to usher in a new era on Atoria. Through dark magic, demonic soldiers, and the lost technology of an ancient civilization, Lord Shima forces change and terror on Gruff's planet. With the powerful aid of his three sons and the awesome might of a life-altering stranger, Gruff must once again stand against a fearsome adversary. As Gruff races against time and space to save his world, he must also hold together his band of young and impulsive soldiers who are much too eager to prove their worth. Armed with razor-sharp steel, unimaginable armor, and mind-blowing strength, Gruff and his impetuous men slay demons and beasts on their path to Lord Shima's cancerous kingdom of Atlantis.
