For many, Blue Velvet is David Lynch's masterpiece. It represents a unique act of cinema: an 80s Hollywood studio film as radical, visionary and cabalistic as anything found in the avant-garde; a mysteriously symbolic and subterranean 'cult' movie that nevertheless has recognisable stars and was broadly distributed; a genre piece with the ambience of a fearsome, hyper-composed nightmare; an American 'art film' by Hollywood's only reputable 'art film' director.Michael Atkin...

The Hemlock: A Literary Arts Journal – Spring Issue 07 | May 2025The Spring 2025 issue of The Hemlock is a vivid tapestry of voices and visions from around the world. This edition brings together an extraordinary collection of poetry, fiction, flash fiction, non-fiction, visual arts, and book reviews, showcasing the work of writers and artists from diverse nationalities, cultures, and creative traditions.Each page is a doorway into...

There were no bullfights in 1937 Madrid, just bombs, freedom fighters, journalists, and plenty of corpses. Ernest Hemingway, covering the Spanish Civil War for the American press, came looking for stories and danger, and found something else: a friend murdered amid the ruins.With a new novel stirring in his head and his veins pumping with booze, Hemingway sets out to find who killed José Robles Pazos, a bureaucrat in the Popular Front, and who's covering it up. There is, after all, ...

As a gay superhero in the deep South, Jericho Hansen wants to go professional, but knows he doesn't have the public awareness to do this in Savannah, Georgia. So when his application to join Force Majeure (America's most prestigious superhero team) is answered with an invitation to an interview, it seems his dreams have come true.But this is only the beginning. It's bad enough that his boyfriend doesn't want him to go, but once he gets to Utopia City (an ultra-tech metropolis in th...

This book provides practical and buildable solutions for the design of foundations for housing and other low-rise buildings, especially those on abnormal or poor ground. A wealth of expert information and advice is brought together dealing with the key aspects a designer must consider in order to achieve effective and economic foundation designs. This second edition of Structural Foundations Manual for Low-Rise Buildings has been completely updated in line with the new government ...

A witty, literate, and action-filled debut, Hemingway Deadlights catches the famed author in his later years, battling to solve the injustices in a flawed world.It is 1956 and Hemingway has spent much of the year at his home in Key West, hiding from tourists and autograph hunters. But a friend's sudden death rouses Papa from his idyll. To say that the cause of death is suspicious is to put it lightly. It's not every day that a part-time smuggler is impaled ...

The Secret Marriage of Sherlock Holmes is about reading, a process that we take for granted. But Sherlock Holmes, the cultural icon to whose exploits Michael Atkinson gives new readings, became famous by taking nothing for granted. Holmes's adventures can be read in new ways, including ways that he himself would have found startling, but which can give contemporary readers satisfaction. In clear, accessible prose that will engage specialists and lay readers alike, Atkinson engages...

Screening the Nonhuman draws connections between how animals represented on screen translate into reality. In doing so, the book demonstrates that consuming media is not a neutral act but rather a political one. The images humans consume have real world consequences for how animals are treated as actors, as pets, and in nature. The contributors propose that altering the representations of animals can change the way humans relate to non/humans. Our hope is for humans to generate more ethica...

A friend named Jay is a book about a young male, who has become a vile product of his sordid surroundings. The once kind, caring, and loving Michael has finally succumbed to the drugs that surround his grotesque world, and is losing himself within.Alone again, Michael sees an incongruous cloud floating out of the sky toward him. He then meets a stranger with an unshaved face and long hair. Since then, things just have not been the same.

They have all dated him. They all want him back. Now they all have him - To share. One thing they all knew was that there was something or someone very important missing from their fledging music band. A band of criminals is a story of four girls that used to date the same guy in high school, but have now moved on with their lives, or so they tell themselves and each other. Now they live together, argue, fight, breathe together, and now they want to kill each other. Who said it was going t...

Many myths surround male bodies and associated bodywork, especially when such bodywork is labelled culturally or socially atypical or 'problematic'. Bodybuilding, for example, has been explained in terms of gender inadequacy and an 'Adonis complex' akin to reverse anorexia, while men electing to undergo aesthetic cosmetic surgery are deemed 'too concerned' about their appearance and thus woman-like. Myths also discredit men and boys who do not engage in appropriate bodywork when this is ex...

"What a helpful book! This will be a ′friend ′ to many undergraduate students looking for clarification."- Helen Hazelwood, St Mary′s University College"This is a great book that really helps the students understand research and the complex processes that can often daunt even the most intelligent students."- Phil Barter, Middlesex University"Few can bring research methods to life like Mike Atkinson. His bread...