Alex And The Hobo

When a ten-year-old boy befriends a mysterious hobo in his southern Colorado hometown in the early 1940s, he learns about evil in his community and takes his first steps toward manhood by attempting to protect his new friend from corrupt officials. Though a fictional story, Alex and the Hobo is written out of the life experiences of its author, José Inez (Joe) Taylor, and it realistically portrays a boy's coming-of-age as a Spanish-speaking man who must carve out an honorable place for himself in a class-stratified and Anglo-dominated society. In this innovative ethnography, anthropologist James Taggart collaborates with Joe Taylor to explore how Alex and the Hobo sprang from Taylor's life experiences and how it presents an insider's view of Mexicano culture and its constructions of manhood. They frame the story (included in its entirety) with chapters that discuss how it encapsulates notions that Taylor learned from the Chicano movement, the farmworkers' union, his community, his father, his mother, and his religion. Taggart gives the ethnography a solid theoretical underpinning by discussing how the story and Taylor's account of how he created it represent an act of resistance to the class system that Taylor perceives as destroying his native culture.

Raised in poverty as an illegitimate child, Jack London dropped out of school to support his mother, working in mind-deadening jobs that would foster a lifelong interest in socialism. Brilliant and self-taught, he haunted California's waterside bars, brawling with drunken sailors and learning about love from prostitutes. His lust for adventure took him from the beaches of Hawaii to the gold fields of Alaska, where he experienced firsthand the struggles for survival he would later immortalize in classics like White Fang and The Call of the Wild. A hard-drinking womanizer with children to support, Jack London was no stranger to passion when he met and married Charmian Kittredge, the love of his life. Despite his adventurous past, London had never before met a woman like Charmian; she adored fornication and boxing, and willingly risked life and limb to sail and explore. She typed his manuscripts while he churned out novels, serving as his inspiration and his critic. Lover, fighter, and onetime hobo, Jack London lived large and died before he was forty. This is a rare biography, from bestselling historian Alex Kershaw, that proves the truth can be more fascinating--and a far greater adventure--than a fiction.

An updated and expanded version of this classic study of contemporary American film, the new edition of A Cinema of Loneliness reassesses the landscape of American cinema over the past decade, incorporating discussions of directors like Judd Apatow and David Fincher while offering assessments of the recent, and in some cases final, work from the filmmakers--Penn, Scorsese, Stone, Altman, Kubrick--at the book's core.

“A sweet story, rich in family relationships, small-town comfort, and a romance between two deserving people” from the author of The Sweet Spot (The Romance Dish). In Heather Heyford’s second Willamette Valley Romance, a single mom and attorney with deep roots in the rolling hills of Oregon’s Ribbon Ridge wine country thinks her family is perfect as is—until she crosses paths again with a gruff police officer who has two boys of his own . . . After detective Alex Walker’s last case in Portland is skewered by a tough-as-nails attorney, he decides to finish out his career on a quiet note in the Willamette Valley. Dedicated to his job and committed to his family, he’s fine letting his brusque exterior keep even the thought of a relationship at bay—especially once he realizes his new hometown is the old hometown of the attorney who ruined his last case . . . Single mom and attorney Kerry O’Hearn is just as wary as Alex is, thanks to her disastrous first marriage. But she isn’t fooled by Alex’s tough-guy image. When he asks for her assistance in gaining custody of two little boys from an abusive foster home, she sees what he desperately tries to hide: a giant-sized heart. Between them they have five kids and a whole barrel of bad experience. And yet, Kerry can’t shake the feeling that she and the crusty cop were meant to be . . . Praise for the Willamette Valley Romances “Heather Heyford always pulls at my heartstrings.”—Guilty Pleasures on Right All Along “Heartfelt and engaging.”—Urban Book Reviews on The Sweet Spot

In this 20th anniversary edition, Kolker continues and expands his inquiry into the phenomenon of cinematic representation of culture by updating and revising the chapters on Kubrick, Scorsese, Altman and Spielberg.

During the Great Depression, Harry Partch rode the railways, following the fruit harvest across the country. From his experience among hoboes he found what he called ""a fountainhead of pure musical Americana."" Although he later wrote immense stage works for instruments of his own creation, he is still regularly called a hobo composer for the compositions that grew out of this period of his life. Yet few have questioned the label''s impact on his musical output, compositional life, and reception. Focusing on Partch the person alongside the cultural icon he represented, this study examines Par.

A pair of boys discover Satans constrictor locked in a basement room. A group of children dare to defy the curse of the Tree House Ripper. A vampire drains the blood of a baby gorilla with horrifying consequences. A young man copes with the childhood trauma of satanic possession with daily trips to the zoo, but something evil has taken over the family of mandrills at the monkey house. And the werewolf novella, Menacing Shadows: When satanic serial killer Jack Mercy was locked away, he left behind a legacy of murder and a family in ruins. A decade later, the Mercy family has tried to rebuild their lives in White Crag, an affluent ski resort town; but they still live in Jacks infamous shadow. Twin brothers Neal and Michael have little memory of their father before he was incarcerated, but after a harrowing incident with a werewolf in the forest, Neal discovers that his brother is communicating with their father and carrying on his unspeakable legacy. As Neal and his best friend dig deeper, they discover the curse of the werewolf is not nearly finished with the Mercy family or the town of White Crag. Menacing Shadows is an innovative horror collection that presents a combination of scary fairy tales, nightmarish prose poems, and gay horror, ranging in length from flash fiction to full-length novellas.

The story says that one day a Fisher King will rise to heal the land. In the 1950s, they’re still waiting. . . . “A captivating historical thriller, a great spine-tingling romp through history in search of the Holy Grail. Fans of The Da Vinci Code will love this!”—Kevin Baker, author of Dreamland and Paradise Alley At the turn of the twentieth century, a baseball player named George Gibson embarks upon a mystical journey to the Congo. His mission: to shepherd a powerful relic to its home in Abyssinia. But poet-turned-grail seeker Arthur Rimbaud is after what Gibson possesses—as others before him have been for millennia. A half century later, after receiving an honorable discharge from the Korean War, twenty-year-old Lance Porter vows to put his civilian life back together—which means heading to commie-infested Berkeley to see his high school sweetheart, Ellie. But after Lance gets cold feet, he encounters instead a drunk, gay poet named Jack Spicer, who spews crazy stories about Lance being the Fisher King. It appears that the bearing of the grail has been bequeathed to young Lance, much to his shock and disbelief. Can a legacy born in the deserts of Ethiopia truly be reemerging in the bohemian bars of New York City and San Francisco? And is a vet with a lost soul really worthy of its care? Alexander C. Irvine has breathed a refreshing burst of air into the Arthurian legend. In One King, One Soldier, ancient characters and Irvine’s pitch-perfect historical accuracy merge with a gritty, dark portrait of America in the cold-war ’50s. Here, three stories come brilliantly together in an edgy mix of baseball, imperialism, poetry, and grail mythology.

The Messer Building is located in the heart of downtown Callahan. It’s a building of architectural wonder. It’s visible from almost anywhere in the downtown area. And it’s home to the Darketo Sanction, a top secret organization that’s housing the largest collection of mad scientists anywhere in the country. Two weeks ago, the security system in the Messer Building tried to kill every single human onsite and nobody knows why. Since the geniuses in the Darketo Sanction can’t figure it out, they’ve decided to outsource the mystery to Alex Cheradon. (Although, to be fair, it’s a building filled with a bunch of mad scientists. This one shouldn’t be too hard to figure out, right? Right?) Meanwhile, Devon Christian is on the edge of sanity. The voices in his head get louder every day. At some point, he’s not going to be able to ignore those voices forever. And when he stops, there’s only one person at the top of his hit list

One man’s extraordinary journey through the twentieth century and how he learned to read at age 98 “Things will be all right. People need to hear that. Life is good, just as it is. There isn’t anything I would change about my life.”—George Dawson In this remarkable book, George Dawson, a slave’s grandson who learned to read at age 98 and lived to the age of 103, reflects on his life and shares valuable lessons in living, as well as a fresh, firsthand view of America during the entire sweep of the twentieth century. Richard Glaubman captures Dawson’s irresistible voice and view of the world, offering insights into humanity, history, hardships, and happiness. From segregation and civil rights, to the wars and the presidents, to defining moments in history, George Dawson’s description and assessment of the last century inspires readers with the message that has sustained him through it all: “Life is so good. I do believe it’s getting better.” WINNER OF THE CHRISTOPHER AWARD “A remarkable autobiography . . . . the feel-good story of the year.”—The Christian Science Monitor “A testament to the power of perseverance.”—USA Today “Life Is So Good is about character, soul and spirit. . . . The pride in standing his ground is matched—maybe even exceeded—by the accomplishment of [George Dawson’s] hard-won education.”—The Washington Post “Eloquent . . . engrossing . . . an astonishing and unforgettable memoir.”—Publishers Weekly Look for special features inside. Join the Circle for author chats and more.