What makes a monster? Is it born in the shadows or meticulously crafted for the screen?Vetting the Visceral: A Blueprint of Cinematic Sociopathy is a high-stakes psychological assessment of cinema's most disturbing figures. Moving beyond surface-level tropes, this dossier provides a clinical yet raw breakdown of 27 iconic performances (by actors and actresses) in movies and TV series, from the modern-day predatory ambition of Lou Bloom in the movie Nig...

You think artificial intelligence is just smart code? Think again. It's examining your deepest desires, your most embarrassing habits, and your unspoken truths. This isn't just artificial intelligence, it's Alien Intelligence (AI).This book plunges into an unsettling, thought-provoking, gut-churning philosophical leap: what if our creation of AI isn't just innovation, but revelation? What if a dormant 'alien DNA' resides deep within us, a forgotten blueprint that directly spawned A...

Winner of the APAC Insider Australian Enterprise Awards 2022 & 2024.Are you exhausted from living in the shadow of a loved one's addiction?I know the hell you're living in. For me, it was a volatile Molotov cocktail of my son's addiction and my own reactive behaviours. A constant cycle of hospital and prison stints. The worry, the rage, the fear, the shame—it's a heavy load that feels impossible to carry.But what if you cou...

The compelling, groundbreaking guide to creative writing that reveals how the brain responds to storytelling, based on the wildly popular creative writing class.Enlightening and empowering, The Science of Storytelling is destined to become an invaluable resource for writers of all stripes, whether novelist, screenwriter, playwright, children’s writer, or writer of creative or traditional nonfiction.Award-winning writer and acclaimed teacher of crea...

In a world where AI and publishing collide, discover the untapped potential to revolutionise how we access information. The book explores the intersection of publishing and artificial intelligence, tracing their evolution from ancient times to today's digital landscape. It highlights key technological innovations such as the printing press and AI models, and discusses AI's role in demand forecasting and editorial consistency. Nadim Sadek, with a diverse background in AI and publishing, pro...

Governor General's Award-winner Michael Harris explores the profound emotional and intellectual benefits of solitude, and how we may achieve it in our fast-paced world.The capacity to be alone--properly alone--is one of life's subtlest skills. Real solitude is a contented and productive state that garners tangible rewards: it allows us to reflect and recharge, improving our relationships with ourselves and, paradoxically, with others. Today, the zeitgeist embraces ...

Discover strategies to use AI thoughtfully in every stage of the writing process—without compromising creativity or critical thinkingFeeling conflicted about integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into your writing instruction? You’re not alone. In a world where AI-generated text can seem like a writing teacher’s enemy, incorporating it into writing instruction may feel like an act of betrayal. The advent of generative AI might feel like "one more thing"...

Former private investigator and New York Times notable author David Corbett offers a unique and indispensable toolkit for creating characters that come vividly to life on the page and linger in memory. Corbett provides an inventive, inspiring, and vastly entertaining blueprint to all the elements of characterization-from initial inspiration to realization-with special insights into the power of secrets and contradictions, the embodiment of roles, managing the "tyranny of motive," and maste...

Subtext is one of the most elusive and powerful elements of craft. Literally meaning what lies beneath the text, it is an undercurrent, a hidden agenda, a vibe, a reinforcement of theme—and it exists in what is implied but not explicitly spelled out. It has impact because what you don’t say is often more powerful than what you do say.Elizabeth Lyon, editor and author, demystifies the techniques involved in writing subtext, and offers examples and excerpts from multiple genres. Lyon...

So, you've started using AI, but it's not the magic bullet you hoped for.The output is generic, the process is clunky, and you're spending more time fixing text than writing it.Sound familiar? You're not alone.Seasons of Writing with AI is your practical field guide to bridging the gap between AI's promise and its reality. This isn't another beginner's guide or philosophical debate—it's a collection of battle-tested strategies from 18 month...

Anna Quindlen offers deep truths from her life to motivate and inspire you to become your most authentic self.“Trying to be perfect may be inevitable for people who are smart and ambitious and interested in the world and its good opinion. . . . What is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.”In Being Perfect, Anna Quindlen shares wisdom that, perhaps without knowing it, yo...

From a longtime script consultant, "a vital aid to all writers, novelists, and screenwriters . . . invaluable" (Gale Anne Hurd, producer, The Walking Dead and Aliens).In this book, Linda Seger, author of Making a Good Script Great, shows how to create strong, multidimensional characters in fiction, covering everything from research to character block. She introduces concepts designed to stimulate the creative process, combining them with p...