Set during the turmoil of the brutal Christian conversion of the Norse, this short story is the coming of age tale of Arne Thoreson. Thoreson, whose condemnation of Christianity is born out of respect for his lineage, is the son of Thore, feeder of ravens, and Ranveig, a Singer witch. When adversity befalls Orkney, Arne must not only assert his defiant rejection of Christianity, but take decisive action to thwart the Christ-Wolf, Olaf Trygvason. Part of the Storycuts series.
In 'Grave Gold', when a hole is uncovered after a mudslide Cassie, a university student, and Anna, her archaeology professor and lover, begin exploring what appears to be an ancient man-made cave. However, they quickly begin to suspect that this may actually be the grave of the famous Boudica. As their exploration continues Cassie begins having vivid dreams about Boudica and cannot escape the feeling that what Anna hails as academic research is actually the desecration of a sacred burial site. In 'Dream Walker', in order for summer to arrive and the darkness of winter to depart, a village performs an annual ritual under the guidance of the grandmother who is the dreamer. The villagers know that if the ritual is performed incorrectly, or the sacrifice is not willing, then the buds of spring will never grow into the summer. In 'Pantera II', set in Hyrcania AD 57 this short story gives an insight into the culture and society of an ancient city and provides a glimpse of Pantera's past through the eyes of the narrator Demalion of Macedon. This exclusive short stories bundle is part of the Storycuts series.
They are known as the Legion of the Damned. Throughout the Roman Army, the XIIth Legion is notorious for its ill fortune. It faces the harshest of postings, the toughest of campaigns, the most vicious of opponents. For one young man, Demalion of Macedon, joining it will be a baptism of fire. And yet, amid all of the violence and savagery of his life as a legionary, he realises he has discovered a vocation - as a soldier and a leader of men. He has come to love the Twelth and all the bloody-minded, dark-hearted soldiers he calls his brothers. But just when he has found a place in the world, all that he cares about is ripped from him when, during the brutal Judaean campaign, the Hebrew army inflict a catastrophic defeat upon the legion - not only decimating their ranks, but taking away their soul - the eagle. There is one final chance to save the legion's honour - to steal back the eagle.
The late Dwight Conquergood’s research has inspired an entire generation of scholars invested in performance as a meaningful paradigm to understand human interaction, especially between structures of power and the disenfranchised. Conquergood’s research laid the groundwork for others to engage issues of ethics in ethnographic research, performance as a meaningful paradigm for ethnography, and case studies that demonstrated the dissolution of theory/practice binaries.Cultural Struggles is the first gathering of Conquergood’s work in a single volume, tracing the evolution of one scholar’s thinking across a career of scholarship, teaching, and activism, and also the first collection of its kind to bring together theory, method, and complete case studies. The collection begins with an illuminating introduction by E. Patrick Johnson and ends with commentary by other scholars (Micaela di Leonardo, Judith Hamera, Shannon Jackson, D. Soyini Madison, Lisa Merrill, Della Pollock, and Joseph Roach), engaging aspects of Conquergood’s work and providing insight into how that work has withstood the test of time, as scholars still draw on his research to inform their current interests and methods.
There is more to identity than identifying with one’s culture or standing solidly against it. José Esteban Muñoz looks at how those outside the racial and sexual mainstream negotiate majority culture—not by aligning themselves with or against exclusionary works but rather by transforming these works for their own cultural purposes. Muñoz calls this process “disidentification,” and through a study of its workings, he develops a new perspective on minority performance, survival, and activism.Disidentifications is also something of a performance in its own right, an attempt to fashion a queer world by working on, with, and against dominant ideology. By examining the process of identification in the work of filmmakers, performance artists, ethnographers, Cuban choteo, forms of gay male mass culture (such as pornography), museums, art photography, camp and drag, and television, Muñoz persistently points to the intersecting and short-circuiting of identities and desires that result from misalignments with the cultural and ideological mainstream in contemporary urban America.Muñoz calls attention to the world-making properties found in performances by queers of color—in Carmelita Tropicana’s “Camp/Choteo” style politics, Marga Gomez’s performances of queer childhood, Vaginal Creme Davis’s “Terrorist Drag,” Isaac Julien’s critical melancholia, Jean-Michel Basquiat’s disidentification with Andy Warhol and pop art, Felix Gonzalez-Torres’s performances of “disidentity,” and the political performance of Pedro Zamora, a person with AIDS, within the otherwise artificial environment of the MTV serialThe Real World.
Boudica, “She Who Brings Victory.” Born to the Eceni, a tribe of dreamers and warriors, she is her people’s last hope: a copper-haired warrior who can lead her tribe in battle—and speak the language of the sacred dreamers. But in the face of a battle half won, Boudica has retreated with the living and wounded. Because across a river is the world’s mightiest army. And with the invaders comes a strange, bloodthirsty warrior astride a pied horse—a man who seems to know the Eceni as well as they know themselves. For just as destiny marked the young queen for greatness, it was destiny, too, that drove Boudica’s half brother to a far different path. Now brother and sister will stand on opposite sides of a brutal war of attrition, each unknowingly determined to see the other dead.
With the Dumnonii defeat of the Second Legion the Celtic victory is complete. But Hywell, Cunomar and Valerius must still find the lost Eagle of the Second and prevent Rome from attempting another attack. To prevent further conflict the Emperor Nero must be overthrown and replaced by someone of their choosing. Part of the Storycuts series.
Enter the most terrifying place of all...the mind of R.L. Stine! The Nightmare Hour...the time when the lights fade, the real world slips into shadow, and the cold, moonlit world of evil dreams takes over your mind. What horror awaits a boy who has to spend Halloween in a darkened hospital? How do you outwit a ghost who wants your skin? What makes Nightmare Inn the most frightening place to visit? In this spine-tingling collection of stories that inspired the hit TV show R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour, bestselling author R.L. Stine spins a web of terror that will trap you in the world of nightmares. And there’s more... In Nightmare Hour, the author shares the secrets behind his twisted tales. Where did the idea for each bone-chilling story come from?
"This is the first book in the Boudica series. In AD 60, Boudica, war leader of the Eceni, led her people in a final bloody revolt against the occupying armies of Rome. It was the culmination of nearly twenty years of resistance. This book recreates the beginnings of a story so powerful its impact has survived through the ages." --Worldcat.org.
