The Christmas Elf Who Lost Her Way is a heartwarming story about Poppy, a young elf who accidentally falls off Santa's sleigh and lands in a bustling city. Feeling lost and out of place, Poppy befriends a kind-hearted girl, Tessa, who helps her find her way back to the North Pole. Along the journey, Poppy discovers that even without magic, small acts of kindness can light up the world. This delightful tale teaches young readers that love, compassion, and generosity are the greates...

Black Mirror is a cultural phenomenon. It is a creative and sometimes shocking examination of modern society and the improbable consequences of technological progress. The episodes - typically set in an alternative present, or the near future - usually have a dark and satirical twist that provokes intense question both of the self and society at large. These kind of philosophical provocations are at the very heart of the show. Philosophical reflections on Black Mirror dra...

This book pairs close readings of some of the classic writings of existentialist philosophers with interpretations of films that reveal striking parallels to each of those texts, demonstrating their respective philosophies in action. Individual chapters include significant excerpts from the original texts being discussed and illustrated. Pairings cover Schopenhauer and Waking Life, Stirner and Hud, Kierkegaard and Winter Light, Nietzsche and The Fountainhead

Everyone says fourteen-year-old Billie is nothing but trouble. A fighter. A danger to her family and friends. But her care worker sees someone different. Her classmate Rob is big, strong; he can take care of himself and his brother. But his violent stepdad sees someone to humiliate. And Chris is struggling at school; he just doesn't want to be there. But his dad sees a useless no-hoper. Billie, Rob and Chris each have a story to tell. But there are two sides to every story, and the questio...

The first in a series of shorts that tell the story of corruption and betrayal.A Contract killer waits for next target and reminisces on his first job.

At a quiet restaurant in an unnamed city a man and a woman sit across from each other. She is distraught. He is quickly drunk. Neither can stop thinking of what they've just seen - a deed so brutal, so terrible as to leave the woman in tears. Was it a moment of meaningless urban violence or was it something more?From the author of the dark short story Hide and Seek and the bestselling novella The Sickroom comes a tale about the things we do for love and the devili...

A gaming academic offers a “fascinating” exploration of why we play video games—despite the unhappiness we feel when we fail at them (Boston Globe)We may think of video games as being “fun,” but in The Art of Failure, Jesper Juul claims that this is almost entirely mistaken. When we play video games, our facial expressions are rarely those of happiness or bliss. Instead, we frown, grimace, and shout in frustration as we lose, or die, or fail to ad...

A quiet night on patrol. A vivid imagination. And something lurking in the pitch-black mountain woods...Working the graveyard shift as a security guard at an exclusive, gated golf community in the Arizona mountains isn't the most glamorous job, but it's usually quiet. Your shift alternates between sitting in a sleepy gatehouse and patrolling dark, winding backroads surrounded by pine trees and wildlife.For one night watchman with a deep love for horror movi...

Fans have been responding to literary works since the days of Homer's Odyssey and Euripedes' Medea. More recently, a number of science fiction, fantasy, media, and game works have found devoted fan followings. The advent of the Internet has brought these groups from relatively limited, face-to-face enterprises to easily accessible global communities, within which fan texts proliferate and are widely read and even more widely commented upon. New interactions between readers and writers of f...

It started out as most other days, back in December 2014.I was ready to go to the office and get stuck into another day after the long train commute into the city.Occasionally, while walking downtown from the station, I'd stop in at the Lindt Café in Sydney's Martin place for a coffee and something nice to munch on.However, my ever-expanding waistline guilted me into avoiding the muffin that day, and I stopped by the little coffee stand around the corner from the offic...

When Maddy's best friend moves away, Maddy feels like she'll never be able to replace her. To cheer her up, her parents get her a kitten - a gorgeous tortoiseshell who she calls Biscuit. Biscuit quickly settles into her new home, and can't wait to go out for the first time and explore. But little does she know that a neighbour's two big tom cats see the garden as their territory. Together, the mean cats do their best to scare off the new arrival, and soon poor Biscuit is frightened to go o...

**National Book Critics Circle Award FinalistBest Book of Fall (Esquire) and a Most Anticipated Book of 2021 (Lit Hub)What Has Happened to Fiction in the Age of Platform Capitalism?**Since it was first launched in 1994, Amazon has changed the world of literature. The “Everything Store” has not just transformed how we buy books; it has affected what we buy, and even what we read. In Everything and Less, acclaimed critic Mark McGurl explores...