Tim Summers provides an engaging introduction to video game music aimed at gamers, music enthusiasts, budding composers, music professionals, and anyone with an interest in the topic. Pixel Soundtracks explore a wide variety of topics, including:the history of game musicsound technology and chip musicinteractive and generative music compositionhow game music tells stories, creates worlds & characters, and evokes emotions classical and pop music in gamesbattle and boss music...

Understanding Video Game Music develops a musicology of video game music by providing methods and concepts for understanding music in this medium. From the practicalities of investigating the video game as a musical source to the critical perspectives on game music - using examples including Final Fantasy VII, Monkey Island 2, SSX Tricky and Silent Hill - these explorations not only illuminate aspects of game music, but also provide conceptual ideas valuable for future analysis. Music is n...

Video game music is a significant site of queerness where normative demands are questioned, suspended or loosened. Games resist hegemonic musical logics, challenge musical value systems and use music to complicate essentialist notions of identity. This Element proposes three areas of queerness, each representing different relationships between 'queer design' and 'queer engagement', ranging fromunintentionally resistive to explicit engagement with identity. First, this Element examines musi...

The Chinese Government's five-year strategy for social and economic development to 2015 includes the aim of making the southwestern province of Yunnan a bridgehead for 'opening the country' to southeast Asia and south Asia. Yunnan - A Chinese Bridgehead to Asia traces the dynamic process which has led to this policy goal, a process through which Yunnan is being repositioned from a southwestern periphery of the People's Republic of China to a 'bridgehead' between China and its regional neig...

This insightful book explores evolving perceptions of China, contrasting dominant Western narratives with Chinese perspectives. Highlighting the complexities of these discourses, the book critiques three prevailing views of China’s rise: the return of geopolitics, challenges to liberal order and prospects for collaborative governance.Bridging China Studies, International Relations and Global Political Economy, the book examines the politics of knowledge production to present a nuan...

The rise of China has been shaped and driven by its engagement with the global economy during a period of intensified globalization, yet China is a continent-sized economy and society with substantial diversity across its different regions. This means that its engagement with the global economy cannot just be understood at the national level, but requires analysis of the differences in participation in the global economy across China’s regions.This book responds to this challenge b...

Some 22 years after its creation, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is still held in high critical regard as one of the finest examples of the video game medium. The same is true of the game’s music, whose superlative reception continues to be evident, whether in the context of the game or in orchestral concerts and recordings of the game’s music.Given music’s well-established significance for the video game form, it is no coincidence that music is placed at the forefro...

Forest trails, cactus flails, and little skunk tails, that's where I get my magic..."Surprise, you're a witch." That's not exactly what I expected when I inherited a cozy little cottage in the woods. Nor to have a cactus as my new door guard or a skunk as my familiar! Still, this whole magic thing is growing on me.The pair of hot boyfriends certainly helps make it easier to accept the insanity. But after dealing a serious blow to the coven of wixen who plan...

This is the first issue of the Bicycle Reader, a new collection of quality writing about cycling. Two thoughts inspired us to start this collection.The first is that there is a great deal of brilliant article and essay-length writing about cycling that remains inaccessible to most readers. Some of it languishes out of print. Other pieces appeared in publications read by only a tiny minority of cyclists.The second is that eBook readers are the natural companion of cyclists. ...

Dawn Vanderbilt craves a life of adventure.After her engagement was broken off two years ago, the screenplay writer has spent her time wasting away on Plum Island's idyllic shores. It's only when her niece comes to visit that excitement finally comes back into her life—along with a mystery she could have never predicted.Liam Gains guards his scarred heart by focusing on his five-star hotel and his daughter, Lila. After a betrayal from his ex-wife, he has no...

The Summer Camp Mystery: The Aldens are spending a week at Camp Seagull on beautiful Claw Island. But as soon as camp begins, they realize that someone is not playing fair. Are some campers so desperate to win the Olympics that they are willing to cheat? The Boxcar Children are determined to solve the mystery before the competition is ruined for everyone!The Copycat Mystery: The Alden children are going back in time by helping at an old Victorian house that has be...

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic brought the world to its knees. When we weren’t sheltering in place, we were advised to wear masks, wash our hands, and practice social distancing. We watched in horror as medical personnel worked around the clock to care for the sick and dying. Businesses were shuttered, travel stopped, workers were furloughed, and markets dropped. And people continued to die.Amid all this uncertainty, writers and artists from around the world continued to create com...