Beautiful Monsters explores the ways in which "classical" music made its way into late twentieth-century American mainstream culture—in pop songs, movie scores, and print media. Beginning in the 1960s, Michael Long's entertaining and illuminating book surveys a complex cultural field and draws connections between "classical music" (as the phrase is understood in the United States) and selected "monster hits" of popular music. Addressing such wide-ranging subjects as surf music, Yiddish theater, Hollywood film scores, Freddie Mercury, Alfred Hitchcock, psychedelia, rap, disco, and video games, Long proposes a holistic musicology in which disparate musical elements might be brought together in dynamic and humane conversation. Beautiful Monsters brilliantly considers the ways in which critical commonplaces like nostalgia, sentiment, triviality, and excess might be applied with greater nuance to musical media and media reception. It takes into account twentieth-century media's capacity to suggest visual and acoustical depth and the redemptive possibilities that lie beyond the surface elements of filmic narrative or musical style, showing us what a truly global view of late twentieth-century music in its manifold cultural and social contexts might be like.

Hank Donner-Varian yearns for something beyond his perfect, but routine marriage. Forbidden fantasy beckons until a chance encounter with the enigmatic and devastatingly sexy Abbott Lowery turns curiosity into a dangerous obsession. Hank’s unaware of the sinister depths beneath Lowery's facade. When Hank's flirtation spirals into nightmare, he's thrust into a world of horror orchestrated by a man who once embodied his deepest desires. In a heart-pounding race against time, Beautiful Monster immerses readers in a gripping tale of passion, deception, and survival. Can Hank navigate the treacherous maze of obsession and deceit before it's too late? Or will the irresistible stranger prove to be Hank's downfall, plunging him into a nightmare from which escape is impossible?

Written from the perspective of a teenager, this chilling psychological thriller follows Tessa as she copes with the blood-stained event that changed her life forever. Set in Perth, Western Australia, this gripping novel demonstrates how Tessa clings to anorexia and to her sinister, imaginary friend, Ned—her greatest support and her staunchest ally who is privy to her deepest secrets—in an attempt to deal with the loss of her brother and the resulting change in her parents.

“Tantimedh’s vivid and divinely beleaguered Ravi is a triumph of the fabulous. Introduce yourself to him immediately.” —Alan Moore Enjoy “the best high-concept television show you’ve never seen” (Alan Moore) in this second book of the Ravi PI series, featuring detective Ravi Chandra Singh and his team at the gleefully amoral, unfailingly dangerous secret agency Golden Sentinels. When Ravi’s colleagues at Golden Sentinels discover that he sees gods in moments of heightened anxiety and stress, they are surprisingly fine with it. They even encourage him to incorporate his visions into his work, especially now that the cases have become more intense, with many hidden risks at play. But their latest case—a search for a dead Russian oligarch’s last will and testament—leads to more than anyone expected: a missing heir, murderous relatives, and geopolitical implications. So, when Ravi’s boss sends him to Los Angeles to wait out the heat, it’s almost a relief…until Ravi’s past catches up to him. In this thrilling and complex sequel to the “exciting and dynamic” (Deepak Chopra) Her Nightly Embrace, nothing is what it seems as Ravi stumbles upon a dangerous scheme that involves the CIA, MI5, and a wanted man with a $20 million price on his head.

A beautiful, ancient deep sea creature has deigned to mentor a gullible little fish. Will hard work and obedience earn the Little Fish a place alongside this glittering leviathan?

This is a unique book about domestic abuse, fighting cancer, drunk driving, texting and driving, teenage pregnancy, suicide, addiction, bullies, love, dating, marriage, betrayal, rebounding, loneliness, current events, celebrities, super heroes, mentoring and much more. What is unique about it? It is done in poetry form and each poem has websites and phone numbers for easy reference plus full page hand drawn illustrations that match each poem. I guess I would name it self help poetry if I had to put a label on it. Enjoy!

The first definitive edition in English of writings by poet, painter, pickpocket-plagiarist, and consummate anti-artist Francis Picabia, one of Dada's leading figures. Poet, painter, self-described funny guy, idiot, failure, pickpocket, and anti-artist par excellence, Francis Picabia was a defining figure in the Dada movement; indeed, André Breton called Picabia one of the only “true” Dadas. Yet very little of Picabia's poetry and prose has been translated into English, and his literary experiments have never been the subject of close critical study. I Am a Beautiful Monster is the first definitive edition in English of Picabia's writings, gathering a sizable array of Picabia's poetry and prose and, most importantly, providing a critical context for it with an extensive introduction and detailed notes by the translator. Picabia's poetry and prose is belligerent, abstract, polemical, radical, and sometimes simply baffling. For too long, Picabia's writings have been presented as raw events, rule-breaking manifestations of inspirational carpe diem. This book reveals them to be something entirely different: maddening in their resistance to meaning, full of outrageous posturing, and hiding a frail, confused, and fitful personality behind egoistic bravura. I Am a Beautiful Monster provides the texts of of Picabia's significant publications, all presented complete, many of them accompanied by their original illustrations.

For some time now, I have been studying women. How they are good for men and also could be dangerous to men. Men have been made happy by them and with them. I have also seen men fall or feel less about themselves because of women. My study goes back to the beginning of time in the Garden of Eden. The book's focus is on the consequences of associating with an immoral woman. Eventually, moral corruption robs us of the ability to distinguish right from wrong. A man that findeth a wife, findest a good thing. But, sometimes you can find trouble, that’s if she is not the right mate. Among such tragedies is the disaster of sexual sins with immoral women and wayward wives. Such sin begins with flirtatious looks and ends with disastrous punishment. They set traps for men. Solomon tells us in the Song of Songs about the love and beauty of the woman, and the beauty of her body parts.

You are a beautiful creature. If they do not recognise the greatness in you, it’s because they have not recognised the greatness in themselves. Unfortunately, not many will understand what that means as they simple do not share or accept those high frequency values for themselves in that moment in time. If you continue to think about something or someone, it or they will indeed cross your path. If you take the time to indulge in simple energy called gratitude, you can unlock your mind to a different perspective on life. Yes, I do understand pain.

"Presents scientifically backed and time-proven Eastern meditation practices that offer an antidote to the forces of frenzy and stress that awash us"--