Tales of Mystic Park is a collection of short stories that follows the lives of various families in Northwest Pennsylvania from the Civil War to today, showing the effects of the war on each generation. Through tears and laughter, each family has a compelling story to tell as the years pass by. The theme that connects them all is that the effects of war never end as they each struggle to cope with the future. Both tragedy and comedy, the stories in Tales of Mystic Park can be enjoyed indep...

Developing apps for Apple’s broadening platform of devices is an exciting topic these days. Apple created the Swift programming language to build state-of-the-art apps using the latest Apple technologies.In this 200-page book, author Scott Gardner articulates the similarities and differences between traditional Objective-C based programming and Swift, revealing what you need to know from syntax changes to emerging best practices and paradigm shifts, to write powerful, expressive, a...

The language barrier is a familiar term, but what exactly is the humor barrier? Humor is a universal phenomenon, but the cultural variance in how humor is used can prove to be a major obstacle for English language learners hoping to communicate effectively in cross-cultural contexts. While a growing number of researchers have explored the importance of helping language learners better understand the humor of the target culture, in Bridging the Humor Barrier: Humor Competency Training in En...

In a sensational follow-up to Echoes of Sherlock Holmes and In the Company of Sherlock Holmes, a brand-new anthology of stories inspired by the Arthur Conan Doyle canonFor the Sake of the Game is the latest volume in the award-winning series from New York Times bestselling editors Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger, with stories of Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, and friends in a variety of eras and forms. King and Klinger have a simple formula: a...

"An excellent collection" of vampire stories, from authors such as Harlan Ellison, Dan Simmons, Gahan Wilson, and Tanith Lee ( Publishers Weekly ).Renowned editor Ellen Datlow has gathered seventeen variations on vampirism ranging from classically Gothic to postmodern satire, from horrific to erotic. These stories reflect the evolution of vampire literature from Bram Stoker to Anne Rice and beyond, resulting in a deeper ex...

An exciting look at the essential roles that parasites play in Earth’s ecosystemsThis book looks at the weird and wonderful world of parasites, the most abundant form of life on Earth. Parasites come in all forms and sizes and inhabit every free-living organism. Parasitism is now, and always has been, a way to survive under changing environmental conditions. From arctic oceans to tropical forests, Scott Gardner, Judy Diamond, and Gabor Racz investigate how parasite...

In 1870, ten-year-old Adolph Korn was kidnapped by Indians. He thrived in the Comanches’ rough, nomadic existence, quickly becoming one of the tribe’s fiercest warriors. Forcibly returned to his parents after three years, Korn never adjusted to life in white society. He spent his last years living in a cave, all but forgotten by his family.Then Scott Zesch stumbled upon his great-great-great-uncle’s grave. Determined to understand how such a “good boy” could have become Indianized ...

Edited by Mylan Engel Jr. and Gary Lynn Comstock, this book employs different ethical lenses, including classical deontology, libertarianism, commonsense morality, virtue ethics, utilitarianism, and the capabilities approach, to explore the philosophical basis for the strong animal rights view, which holds that animals have moral rights equal in strength to the rights of humans, while also addressing what are undoubtedly the most serious challenges to the strong animal rights stance, inclu...

In this new collection, Ben Bova has compiled fourteen of his favorite short stories. Each story includes an all-new introduction with compelling insight into the narrative.Exploring the boundaries of the genre, Bova not only writes of spaceships, aliens, and time travel in most of his titles, but also speculates on the beginnings of science fiction in “Scheherazade and the Storytellers,” as well as the morality of man in “The Angel’s Gift.” Stories such as “The Café Coup” and “We’...

New epic fantasy in the grand tradition—including a never-before-published Song of Ice and Fire story by George R. R. Martin!Fantasy fiction has produced some of the most unforgettable heroes ever conjured onto the page: Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Barbarian, Michael Moorcock’s Elric of Melniboné, Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Classic characters like these made sword and sorcery a storytelling sensation, a cornerstone of fantasy fiction—and an inspira...

A comprehensive chronicle of Comic-Con International and modern geekdom itself as told through countless intimate, hilarious, and often thought-provoking stories by nearly fifty of the most integral members of today’s convention and fandom community.See You At San Diego is the comprehensive chronicle of Comic-Con International and modern geekdom itself as told through countless stories by nearly fifty of the most integral members of the Comic-Con and fando...

The Who were one of the most memorable and influential of the 1960s British Invasion bands—memorable because of their loudness and because they destroyed instruments during performances, and influential because of their success in crafting “Power Pop” singles like “My Generation” and “I Can See for Miles,” long-playing albums Live at Leeds and Who’s Next, and the “rock operas” Tommy and Quadrophenia. The themes that principal songwriter Pete Townshend imparted into The Who’s music drew upo...