“A wildly entertaining read.”—The Washington Post What if we've been reading Jane Austen and romantic classics all wrong? A literary scholar offers a funny, brainy, eye-opening take on how our contemporary love stories are actually terrifying. Covering cultural touchstones ranging from Normal People to Taylor Swift and from Lord Byron to The Bachelor, The Darcy Myth is a book for anyone who loves thinking deeply about literature and culture—whether it’s Jane Austen or not. You already know Mr. Darcy—at least you think you do! The brooding, rude, standoffish romantic hero of Pride and Prejudice, Darcy initially insults and ignores the witty heroine, but eventually succumbs to her charms. It’s a classic enemies-to-lovers plot, and one that has profoundly influenced our cultural ideas about courtship. But what if this classic isn’t just a grand romance, but a horror novel about how scary love and marriage can be for women? In The Darcy Myth, literature scholar Rachel Feder unpacks Austen’s Gothic influences and how they’ve led us to a romantic ideal that’s halfway to being a monster story. Why is our culture so obsessed with cruel, indifferent romantic heroes (and sometimes heroines)? How much of that is Darcy’s fault? And, now that we know, what do we do about it?

From international #1 bestselling author of The Ruin and The Murder Rule comes a compulsive crime thriller set in the fiercely competitive, cutthroat world of research and academia, where the brightest minds will stop at nothing to succeed. When Dr. Emma Sweeney stumbles across the victim of a hit-and-run outside Galway University early one morning, she calls her boyfriend, Detective Cormac Reilly, bringing him first to the scene of a murder that would otherwise never have been assigned to him. The dead girl is carrying an ID that will put this crime at the center of a scandal--her card identifies her as Carline Darcy, heir apparent to Darcy Therapeutics, Ireland's most successful pharmaceutical company. Darcy Therapeutics has a finger in every pie, from sponsoring university research facilities to funding political parties to philanthropy--it has even funded Emma's own ground-breaking research. As the murder investigation twists in unexpected ways and Cormac's running of the case comes under scrutiny from the department and his colleagues, he is forced to question himself and the beliefs that he has long held as truths. Who really is Emma? And who is Carline Darcy? A gripping and atmospheric follow-up to The Ruin, an "expertly plotted, complex web of secrets that refuse to stay hidden" (Karen Dionne, author of The Marsh King's Daughter), The Scholar is perfect for fans of Tana French and Flynn Berry.

The continuing adventures of Fitzwilliam and Elizabeth Darcy as they get dragged into yet another bizarre adventure. A cryptic map from a dead Sea-Captain holds clues to an elusive wizard’s treasure. But first they must solve the puzzles on the map and then find their way through the wilds of a very different Britain. Battling Elves, Pirates and Monks, the treasure they eventually find is not at all what they were expecting. This hilarious sequel to Pride and Perpetration opens a whole new world of odd characters as well as touching on the past lives of our heroes.

A unique, illustrated introduction to astrology that explores the zodiac through a literary lens, drawing lessons from celebrated authors including Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, W.E.B. Du Bois, Nella Larsen, Oscar Wilde, and dozens more. AstroLit is a cosmic voyage through the lives and works of literary giants from the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries. Renowned literary history scholars McCormick Templeman and Rachel Feder bring the twelve signs of the zodiac to glimmering life by analyzing the astrological influence of over fifty illustrious writers' sun signs on the shape and depth of their work. Each of the twelve sections focuses on a particular zodiac sign, featuring profiles of three celebrated authors, analyzing their works and lives through the prism of their astrological sign. You'll uncover connections between writers' signs and their realms of creative influence, including the Capricornian ambition of Edgar Allan Poe and Zora Neale Hurston, the Sagittarian influence on William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, and the Taurean gothiness evident in Mary Wollstonecraft's work. Each chapter also includes writing advice and reading recommendations for readers, no matter your sign. A delight for both astrology and book lovers, AstroLit is a gratifying exploration of classic literature and a playful way for readers and astrology lovers to learn something new about their favorite authors.

Puffy, The Grand Archmage of the Camp Rainbow Circle (a gathering of gay mages and cross dressers) is dying, due to a strange and debilitating curse. He unexpectedly sends for several individuals with questionable backgrounds and morals to find a cure. This band of misfits includes Basher, an alcoholic dwarf from The Ale Appreciation Association, who boasts an insatiable sexual appetite. Busty Valentine, a well endowed valkerie with a passion for bar room brawls. An elf called Jeremy, a one hundred and forty year old virgin who is terrified of women. Then finally Darcy Powerpuff, a shy hermit and sexually confused mage from The Camp Rainbow Circle, whose only real companion is his mischievous house goblin Silky. The Grand Puff (Puffy) sends for this rabble and gives them the quest of locating the legendary faerie dragons. Follow them on their quest, as they fight, hump and drink their way out of, but more often than not into trouble. Have they been told the whole truth, and have they all bitten off more than they can chew

Cortes_Reviews_raw Play Video Buy Amazon Buy B&N Reviews See the Critic's Praise Listed on 25 Best of 2021 Fact vs Fiction In 1672, Henry Morgan took 36 ships and 2,000 men to sack Panama City for a $1 billion plunder and 600 slaves. Afterward, Morgan cheated his men, disappearing with nearly the entire treasure, and 200 slaves on three ships never to be seen again. Morgan alone survived as a haunted man who hid away in drunken debauchery, and burned his log books to keep the world from learning the terrifying truth. True story. ​ Three hundred years later, Sophia Martinez discovers odd relics hidden within a 200-year Roatan Island family home that reopens a legacy of disappearance, dementia and death. At the center of the mystery is a bloody log book written by an insane Inquisition executioner named Cortés. With a Mayan prophecy psychopath in pursuit, Sophia will need the help of lost relatives to uncover a sacred pilgrimage to the origins of the Mayan creation myth. Time is running out to decode the macabre enigma and escape the deadly necropolis or they too will vanish without a trace – and an apocalypse will unleash on live television.

A Friends with Benefits Cowboy Romance by USA Today bestselling author Melissa Belle. He’ll do anything for her…except let her go. I told Logan Wild to let me go. I told him not to fight for me. I’m just a girl in a bar who needs to save her family. I never planned to become a Wild, even though Logan was with me from the start. But sometimes fate plays her hand, and all you can do is surrender. Logan and Macey’s emotional, friends-with-benefits romance begins in Whiskey Girl, continues in Warrior Girl, and concludes in Wild Girl. Whiskey Girl and Warrior Girl both end in cliffhangers. Binge on the entire series today!

A fascinating look into the myths that continue to shape our understanding and appreciation of Jane Austen. Was Jane Austen the best-selling novelist of her time? Are all her novels romances? Did they depict the traditional world of the aristocracy? Is Austen's writing easy to understand? Well into the 21st century, Jane Austen continues to be one of the most compelling novelists in all English literature. Many of her ideas about class, family, history, intimacy, manners, love, desire, and society, have inspired "myths" that are often contradictory — she was a Tory who was also a liberal feminist, or, her novels are at once sharply satirical and unapologetically romantic. Myths, like Austen's works, are dynamic, changing over time and impacting how we read and interpret literature. 30 Great Myths about Jane Austen examines the accepted beliefs — both true and untrue —that have most influenced our readings of Austen. Rather than simply de-bunking, or validating, commonly-held views about Austen, authors Claudia L. Johnson and Clara Tuite explore how these myths can be used to engage with the life, work, and reception of Jane Austen. Applying the most up-to-date scholarship to better understand how myths shape our appreciation of Jane Austen, this fascinating volume: Introduces readers to the history of Austen reception, both in academic scholarship and in the general public Examines Jane Austen’s life and letters, her historical contexts, her texts, and their afterlives Discusses Austen’s influence on the development of literary criticism as a discipline Explores each of Austen’s main novels, as well as relatively obscure texts such as Sanditon and The Watsons Offering engaging narrative and original insights, 30 Great Myths about Jane Austen is a must-read for scholars, instructors, and students of English and Romantic literature, as well as general readers with interest in the life and works of Jane Austen.

Things That Go Bump in the Mind features a longish short story that fits roughly into the fantasy genre, several ghost and fantasy stories, and a handful of poems which likewise touch on supernatural themes.

"When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." This line comes from director John Ford's film, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, but it also serves as an epigram for the life of the legendary filmmaker. Through a career that spanned decades and included work on dozens of films -- among them such American masterpieces as The Searchers, The Grapes of Wrath, The Quiet Man, Stagecoach, and How Green Was My Valley -- John Ford managed to leave as his legacy a body of work that few filmmakers will ever equal. Yet as bold as the stamp of his personality was on each film, there was at the same time a marked reticence when it came to revealing anything personal. Basically shy, and intensely private, he was known to enjoy making up stories about himself, some of them based loosely on fact but many of them pure fabrications. Ford preferred instead to let his films speak for him, and the message was always masculine, determined, romantic, yes, but never soft -- and always, always totally "American." If there were other aspects to his personality, moods and subtleties that weren't reflected on the screen, then no one really needed to know. Indeed, what mattered to Ford was always what was up there on the screen. And if it varied from reality, what did it matter? When you are creating legend, fact becomes a secondary matter. Now, in this definitive look at the life and career of one of America's true cinematic giants, noted biographer and critic Scott Eyman, working with the full participation of the Ford estate, has managed to document and delineate both aspects of John Ford's life -- the human being and the legend. Going well beyond the legend, Eyman has explored the many influences that were brought to play on this remarkable and complex man, and the result is a rich and involving story of a great film director and of the world in which he lived, as well as the world of Hollywood legend that he helped to shape. Drawing on more than a hundred interviews and research on three continents, Scott Eyman explains how a saloon-keeper's son from Maine helped to shape America's vision of itself, and how a man with only a high school education came to create a monumental body of work, including films that earned him six Academy Awards -- more than any filmmaker before or since. He also reveals the truth of Ford's turbulent relationship with actress Katharine Hepburn, recounts his stand for freedom of speech during the McCarthy witch-hunt -- including a confrontation with archconservative Cecil B. DeMille -- and discusses his disfiguring alcoholism as well as the heroism he displayed during World War II. Brilliant, stubborn, witty, rebellious, irascible, and contradictory, John Ford remains one of the enduring giants in what is arguably America's greatest contribution to art -- the Hollywood movie. In Print the Legend, Scott Eyman has managed at last to separate fact from legend in writing about this remarkable man, producing what will remain the definitive biography of this film giant.