Cousins And Pranksters

Sven and Ariella are a couple in their twenties who meet through an online dating service. Despite many differences in their likes and dislikes, the two fall in love. During their courtship, Sven soon discovers there are peculiar figures in Ariella ́s family, some of whom are obviously disturbed. Unbeknownst to Sven, two of his friends have ties to Ariella ́s extended family and both have different roles in the bizarre family saga. Cousins and Pranksters is a past-paced, humorous contemporary novella with some unbelievable characters - including one that gets away with almost inconceivable mayhem. The absurdity of modern life is satirized and brought to life by an assortment of absurdly funny characters.

The Vietnam War had a major impact on the American people and politics. Unfortunately, the majority of people in the world do not know that the Vietnam War also happened in Cambodia and Laos. This is a story of a Khmer family that lived through the legacy of the Nixon/Kissinger doctrine that helped the Khmer Rouge rise to power, resulting in the murder of over one million of their own people. Although almost two million Khmers had perished, those of us who survived this dark period and dispersed all over the world are their immortal seeds.

Pranksters, Hooligans, and Big Lizards - An intense and suspenseful yet insightful comic work of fiction set in present-day North Carolina - Life is full of unexpected and unlikely situations, from unlikely occupations, mismatched couples to strange behavior. Sven and Ariella are newlyweds who find their career paths leading them to Charlotte, North Carolina where Buford, Ariellas mysterious cousin and prankster is hiding under an alias. At the same time, Ariellas parents each find their own peculiar callings in the city. In their move to Charlotte, the parents are accompanied by some strange yet comical figures with ambitions of their own, one of whom is a career criminal with a dangerous past and who runs a secret organization. It is the "hooligan" with the criminal past that ultimately becomes the first victim of two murders. To add to the suspense,the police learn that they have been foiled and have the wrong suspect in custody. Later on, after the second murder takes place,the authorities are baffled in their efforts to determine if the two murders are in any way related. By a strange sequence of events, "prankster" Buford finds himself at the scenes of both murders. In the midst of these violent acts, there is also a mystery surrounding two large lizards. Buford finds he may very well have met his match and finally be forced to retire or maybe he has just found a new partner in pranksterdom and the woman of his dreams. Sven and Ariella provide commentary on the unfolding events but in the process, they reveal hypocrisies about themselves. Each have their own perspective Sven proclaims to be a devout man of faith but Ariella prides herself on being a nonbeliever. But it is Ariellas hysterically odd grandmother Annabelle, a kind of all-knowing oracle with the wisdom of the ages, who has connections everywhere and knows almost everyones secrets in this wild contemporary comedy/mystery.

Libraries are full of surprises, books of all description, old and new, famous and infamous, side-by-side shelves bursting with magazines next to racks bearing the world' s biggest and most important newspapers. You can find out just about anything you want to know in the silence of its reading rooms. Or you can simply read a novel or nod off in a well-cushioned fireside leather armchair and dream of another time, another place, a piece of history, perhaps your own, an adventure somewhere in your deep past, your stories, the ones you still tell your children and grandchildren. Such are the treasures in my library, tidbits and tales of people I've met and things I've done that have changed the way I see the world and how the world sees me, as a journalist, a father, an editor, a son, a poet, an observer and a participant. Come, enter with me and see what we can find inside.

This volume represents a contribution to comparative scholarship in Medieval and Renaissance studies in its investigation of the ingenious diversity of roguish practices found in Medieval and Renaissance literature and its recognition of the coherent normative function of tales of tricksters and pranksters. The wide variety of works analysed, from those forming part of the established canon of texts on undergraduate degree schemes to lesser-known works, makes the volume of interest to students and researchers alike. The roguish behaviour of women, priests, foxes and outlaws and the knavery of Eulenspiegel and Panurge are used to illustrate how rituals of inversion and humiliation typical of the medieval carnival are reflected in literary accounts of trickery, and to question whether the restorative function attributed to carnival celebration is equally to be found in the intra-textual and extra-textual outcomes of trickery. This analysis is supported by studies into the trickster in mythology, sociological investigations into the role of disorder, Bakhtinian theories of carnival and the carnivalesque, and theories of black humour.

From Benjamin Franklin's newspaper hoax that faked the death of his rival to Abbie HoffmanOCOs attempt to levitate the Pentagon, pranksters, hoaxers, and con artists have caused confusion, disorder, and laughter in Western society for centuries. Profiling the most notorious mischief makers from the 1600s to the present day, a Pranksters aexplores how OC pranksOCO are part of a long tradition of speaking truth to power and social critique. Invoking such historical and contemporary figures as P.T. Barnum, Jonathan Swift, WITCH, The Yes Men, and Stephen Colbert, Kembrew McLeod shows how staged spectacles that balance the serious and humorous can spark important public conversations. In some instances, tricksters have incited social change (and unfortunate prank blowback) by manipulating various forms of media, from newspapers to YouTube. For example, in the 1960s, self-proclaimed OC professional hoaxerOCO Alan Abel lampooned AmericaOCOs hypocritical sexual mores by using conservative rhetoric to fool the news media into covering a satirical organization that advocated clothing naked animals. In the 1990s, Sub Pop Records then-receptionist Megan Jasper satirized the commodification of alternative music culture by pranking thea New York Times ainto reporting on her fake lexicon of OC grunge speak.OCO Throughout this book, McLeod shows how pranks interrupt the daily flow of approved information and news, using humor to underscore larger, pointed truths. Written in an accessible, story-driven style, a Pranksters areveals how mischief makers have left their shocking, entertaining, and educational mark on modern political and social life."

Wimpy Kid and Dork Diary fans, meet Aldo Zelnick! Aldo Zelnick is not an athlete like his older brother or a rock collector like his best friend; he’s just a regular kid who likes to draw. On the first day of summer vacation after fourth grade, Aldo's grandma, Goosy, gives him a sketchbook in which to record all of his ideas and adventures, and Aldo quickly discovers how much fun cartooning is. From petitioning for a neighborhood pool slide to his passion for slushies, Aldo illustrates his summer vacation, wacky friends, and loving family in this charming comic novel that blends text with illustrations on every page. Engaging and entertaining, the story and drawings in this book will captivate both enthusiastic and reluctant young readers. This first installment in an A-to-Z alphabet series includes a glossary of words to help kids broaden their vocabulary.