The Games Gods Play
The Games Gods Play

Author: Abigail Owen

Publisher: Entangled: Red Tower Books

Published: 2024-09-03

Total Pages: 631

ISBN-13: 1649376588

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THE INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “This story is my latest obsession.” —USA Today bestselling author, Devney Perry The gods love to play with us mere mortals. And every hundred years, we let them... I have never been favored by the gods. Far from it, thanks to Zeus. Living as a cursed office clerk for the Order of Thieves, I just keep my head down and hope the capricious beings who rule from Olympus won't notice me. Not an easy feat, given San Francisco is Zeus' patron city, but I make do. I survive. Until the night I tangle with a different god. The worst god. Hades. For the first time ever, the ruthless, mercurial King of the Underworld has entered the Crucible—the deadly contest the gods hold to determine a new ruler to sit on the throne of Olympus. But instead of fighting their own battles, the gods name mortals to compete in their stead. So why in the Underworld did Hades choose me—a sarcastic nobody with a curse on her shoulders—as his champion? And why does my heart trip every time he says I’m his? I don’t know if I’m a pawn, bait, or something else entirely to this dangerously tempting god. How can I, when he has more secrets than stars in the sky? Because Hades is playing by his own rules...and Death will win at any cost.

Play and the Picaresque
Play and the Picaresque

Author: Gordana Yovanovich

Publisher: University of Toronto Press

Published: 1999-01-01

Total Pages: 182

ISBN-13: 9780802047045

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Analyses three important Latin American novels in an attempt to redefine the nature of the picaresque, especially in regard to the roles of spontaneous play and carnivalesque laughter.

Methods for Studying Video Games and Religion
Methods for Studying Video Games and Religion

Author: Vít Šisler

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-11-28

Total Pages: 222

ISBN-13: 1315518325

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Game studies has been an understudied area within the emerging field of digital media and religion. Video games can reflect, reject, or reconfigure traditionally held religious ideas and often serve as sources for the production of religious practices and ideas. This collection of essays presents a broad range of influential methodological approaches that illuminate how and why video games shape the construction of religious beliefs and practices, and also situates such research within the wider discourse on how digital media intersect with the religious worlds of the 21st century. Each chapter discusses a particular method and its theoretical background, summarizes existing research, and provides a practical case study that demonstrates how the method specifically contributes to the wider study of video games and religion. Featuring contributions from leading and emerging scholars of religion and digital gaming, this book will be an invaluable resource for scholars in the areas of digital culture, new media, religious studies, and game studies across a wide range of disciplines.

Chopsticks and Gambling
Chopsticks and Gambling

Author: Desmond Lam

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-07-28

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13: 1351528572

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The Chinese are known throughout the world as avid gamblers with a long history of participation in games of chance. Historians have documented wagering on such games as far back as the early Chinese dynasties. Despite measures by ancient Chinese rulers to contain gambling, it proliferated, and Chinese games have evolved and multiplied since then. Desmond Lam provides a unique look into the little-known world of Chinese gambling from historical, cultural, psychological, and social perspectives.Chinese gamblers regularly patronize casinos in the United States, Canada, and Australia. The recent expansion of gambling in East Asia has attracted much global media attention. Macau, the only place in China where casino gambling is now legal, easily surpasses Las Vegas as the world's largest casino gaming market. Each year, Chinese from mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan account for almost 90 percent of visitors to Macau.The expansion of the Chinese gambling industry has brought about much harm to Chinese communities, despite all of the development it has also stimulated. This book is the first to examine the beliefs, motivations, attitudes, and behaviors of Chinese gamblers, and will be of interest to students of history and sociology, as well as those studying the history and culture of China.

Interactive Storytelling
Interactive Storytelling

Author: Alex Mitchell

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2021-12-03

Total Pages: 545

ISBN-13: 3030923002

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This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling, ICIDS 2021, held in Tallinn, Estonia, in December 2021. The 18 full papers and 17 short papers, presented together with 17 posters and demos, were carefully reviewed and selected from 99 submissions. The papers are categorized into the following topical sub-headings: Narrative Systems; Interactive Narrative Theory; Interactive Narrative Impact and Application; and the Interactive Narrative Research Discipline and Contemporary Practice.

Virtually Sacred
Virtually Sacred

Author: Robert M. Geraci

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 369

ISBN-13: 0199344698

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Robert Geraci argues that virtual worlds and video games have become a locus for the satisfaction of religious needs, providing many users with communities, a meaningful experience of history and human activity, and a sense of transcendence.

Bernard Evslin's Greek Mythology
Bernard Evslin's Greek Mythology

Author: Bernard Evslin

Publisher: Open Road Media

Published: 2017-12-05

Total Pages: 1470

ISBN-13: 1504049985

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Gods, heroes, and monsters made accessible by “one of the most widely published authors of classical mythology in the world” (The New York Times). With over ten million copies of his books sold worldwide, Bernard Evslin’s modern takes on Greek myths have captured the imaginations of countless readers. Collected here in one volume are nine books of timeless action and adventure surrounding such legendary figures as Zeus and the Olympians; heroes such as Perseus, who slew the hideous Medusa; the epic struggles of the Trojan War; and much, much more . . . This ebook includes Gods, Demigods and Demons; Hercules; Heroes, Gods and Monsters of the Greek Myths; Jason and the Argonauts; Monsters of Greek Mythology Volume One; Monsters of Greek Mythology Volume Two; The Adventures of Ulysses; The Dolphin Rider; and The Trojan War.

Sethra Lavode
Sethra Lavode

Author: Steven Brust

Publisher: Tor Books

Published: 2010-01-18

Total Pages: 347

ISBN-13: 1429922133

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Sethra Lavode is the sequel to The Paths of the Dead and The Lord of Castle Black, and the culmination of the bestselling epic begun with The Phoenix Guards. The oldest person in the Dragaeran Empire. A military genius and master of sorcery whose story stretches back to before the dawn of history. Now, after a long absence, the undead Sethra Lavode, the Enchantress of Dzur Mountain, has reentered the Empire's affairs. And the affairs of Khaavren and Pel, Tazendra and Aerich, and all their descendants, colleagues, and friends. For since Adron's Disaster, when Dragaera City was turned instantly into a sea of amorphia, the Empire has been in ruins. Trade has declined, brigands rule the roads, plagues sweep through the population. Now an ambitious Dragonlord means to rebuild the Empire in his own name. But unknown to him, the true heir, the Phoenix Zerika, has already retrieved the Imperial Orb from the Paths of the Dead. Sethra Lavode means to see Zerika on the throne. To do so will entail a climactic battle of sorcery and arms, told with all the swashbuckling flair for which Steven Brust is known. The Khaavren Romances, set in the world of Vlad Taltos's Dragaera: 1. The Phoenix Guards 2. Five Hundred Years After 3. The Paths of the Dead (The Viscount of Adrilankha, Vol. 1) 4. The Lord of Castle Black (The Viscount of Adrilankha, Vol. 2) 5. Sethra Lavode (The Viscount of Adrilankha, Vol. 3) The Baron of Magister Valley [standalone] At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.