Girls Bite Back

The first Chicagoland Vampires novel from New York Times bestselling author Chloe Neill. Sure, the life of a graduate student wasn't exactly glamorous, but it was Merit's. She was doing fine until a rogue vampire attacked her. But he only got a sip before he was scared away by another bloodsucker and this one decided the best way to save her life was to make her the walking undead. Turns out her savior was the master vampire of Cadogan House. Now she’s traded sweating over her thesis for learning to fit in at a Hyde Park mansion full of vamps loyal to Ethan Lord o the Manor Sullivan. Of course, as a tall, green-eyed, four-hundred-year-old vampire, he has centuries’ worth of charm, but unfortunately he expects her gratitude—and servitude. But an inconvenient sunlight allergy and Ethan’s attitude are the least of Merit's concerns. Someone's still out to get her. Her initiation into Chicago's nightlife may be the first skirmish in a war...and there will be blood.

Bombshell spies, slayers, witches and assassins: kick-ass female stars have taken over blockbuster movies like Charlie's Angels and Kill Bill as well as prime time TV hits such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Charmed. These characters kill as quickly as they break down in tears, and beat guys up as easily as they toss them into bed. With very few exceptions, they're young, white, beautiful, straight and skinny. How are young women to respond to these images of women who fight (or bite) back? As the product of corporate media, are these icons of 'female power' merely cons? This one-of-a-kind anthology of new fiction, essays, and comics recognises the seductiveness as well as the limitations of such contemporary pop culture heroines. Contributors -- including Nalo Hopkinson, Larissa Lai, Shary Boyle, Nikki Stafford, Mariko Tamaki, Sonja Ahlers and Sherwin Tjia -- critique constructs of female power and invent alternative role models.

The scenario of ""Mars Girl"" evolves between thriller and SF. The New Yorker profiler Kelly takes part in an investigation into the disappearance of ten serial killers. They were kidnapped from their penitentiary during a raid commando. At the same time, still in the United States, murders are committed against scientists of the research center ""Living on Mars."" The latter works in a rather secret project, parallel to the one of the NASA... When I wrote ""Mars Girl"" in 2004 and published it on the Internet in 2005, I wanted to give a tribute to the modern popular culture through a short novel the style of which would be as young and direct as possible: very close to the action, putting the dialogs forward with informal conversations, a willingly fantasy-based approach to the characters and their environment, in order to create the literary equivalent of a video game, series or a pop-corn movie.

The ubiquitous presence of food and hunger in Caribbean writing—from folktales, fiction, and poetry to political and historical treatises—signals the traumas that have marked the Caribbean from the Middle Passage to the present day. The Tropics Bite Back traces the evolution of the Caribbean response to the colonial gaze (or rather the colonial mouth) from the late nineteenth century to the twenty-first. Unlike previous scholars, Valérie Loichot does not read food simply as a cultural trope. Instead, she is interested in literary cannibalism, which she interprets in parallel with theories of relation and creolization. For Loichot, “the culinary” is an abstract mode of resistance and cultural production. The Francophone and Anglophone authors whose works she interrogates—including Patrick Chamoiseau, Suzanne Césaire, Aimé Césaire, Maryse Condé, Edwidge Danticat, Édouard Glissant, Lafcadio Hearn, and Dany Laferrière—“bite back” at the controlling images of the cannibal, the starved and starving, the cunning cook, and the sexualized octoroon with the ultimate goal of constructing humanity through structural, literal, or allegorical acts of ingesting, cooking, and eating. The Tropics Bite Back employs cross-disciplinary methods to rethink notions of race and literary influence by providing a fresh perspective on forms of consumption both metaphorical and material.

Roald Dahl meets The Beast and the Bethany in this second exciting middle grade adventure following young vampire Leo as she strives to prove herself. A vampire and a ghost being friends is unheard of. It makes no sense. The two factions have despised one another for all eternity. But Leo the vampire and Minna the ghost have battled side-by-side: they’re sisters-in-arms, they’re best friends, and they’ll have to work together to vanquish a new, deadly threat. Summoned to the Ghostly Realm for the murder of the Orphanmaster, Leo must complete three tasks to prove herself worthy of her unlife, each more treacherous than the last. Can Leo convince the Ghostly Realm of her innocence and earn her freedom, or will she be trapped there forever?

The first book of its kind, Gender & Rock introduces readers to how gender operates in multiple sites within rock culture, including its music, lyrics, imagery, performances, instruments, and business practices. Additionally, it explores how rock culture, despite a history of regressive gender politics, has provided a place for musicians and consumers to experiment with alternate identities and ways of being. Drawing on feminist and queer scholarship in popular music studies, musicology, cultural studies, sociology, performance studies, literary analysis, and media studies, Gender & Rock provides readers with a survey of the topics, theories, and methods necessary for understanding and conducting analyses of gender in rock culture. Via an intersectional approach, the book examines how the gendering of particular roles, practices, technologies, and institutions within rock culture is related to discourses of race, sexuality, age, and class.

Straighten your cape and ready your fangs . . . the ghosts are biting back. The spookiest story you'll read this year is the ghoulish follow-up to Alex Foulkes's highly acclaimed Rules for Vampires. A vampire and a ghost being friends is unheard of. It makes no sense. The two factions have despised one another for all eternity. But . . . Leo the vampire and Minna the ghost have battled together side-by-side, they're sisters-in-arms, they're best friends, and they'll have to work together to vanquish a new, deadly threat. Summoned to the Ghostly Realm for the murder of the Orphanmaster, Leo must complete three tasks to prove herself worthy of her unlife, each more treacherous than the last. Can Leo convince the Ghostly Realm of her innocence and earn her freedom, or will she be trapped there forever? A monstrously funny and devilishly dark new adventure in Alex Foulkes's Rules for Vampires series, illustrated throughout by the award-winning Sara Ogilvie, Ghosts Bite Back is perfect for fans of Lemony Snicket and Skulduggery Pleasant to sink their claws into. Praise for Rules for Vampires: 'A wickedly fun debut, with a wonderfully strong girl hero.' Cressida Cowell, Children's Laureate 'Fans of fast-paced, well-written gothic romps will devour Rules for Vampires.' Phil Earle, bestselling author of When the Sky Falls ‘Deliciously dark, fangtastically feisty and gloriously gothic!' Laura Ellen Anderson, author of Amelia Fang ‘Brilliant! It’s a deadly funny, twisty, gothic romp with the loveliest vampire. Sara Ogilvie’s illustrations are the perfect match.’ Jenny McLachlan, bestselling author of Land of Roar 'Wonderfully atmospheric, humorous and touching.’ Radiya Hafiza, author of Rumaysa