Merlin The Poisoned Chalice

Merlin is poisoned by the sorceress Nimueh and Arthur seeks the only antidote that can save him - but the prince is walking into a trap...

Merlin is poisoned by the sorceress Nimueh and Arthur seeks the only antidote that can save him - but the prince is walking into a trap...

When Morgana's nightmares spill into waking hours she becomes terrified that she has magic. Gaius is determined to keep her in the dark for her own good but Merlin won't stand by and watch his friend suffer. He knows exactly what she's going through and he knows she needs the truth. Is Merlin about to reveal his secret at last? Willfully disobeying Gaius, Merlin risks everything to help Morgana, little guessing what the far reaching consequences might be. Lives are put in danger, loyalties are tested, and Morgana is reunited with the strange young druid boy Mordred, who the Dragon predicted would one day kill Arthur . . .

When Morgana's nightmares spill into waking hours she becomes terrified that she has magic. Gaius is determined to keep her in the dark for her own good but Merlin won't stand by and watch his friend suffer. He knows exactly what she's going through and he knows she needs the truth. Is Merlin about to reveal his secret at last? Willfully disobeying Gaius, Merlin risks everything to help Morgana, little guessing what the far reaching consequences might be. Lives are put in danger, loyalties are tested, and Morgana is reunited with the strange young druid boy Mordred, who the Dragon predicted would one day kill Arthur . . .

The 21st century has seen a resurgence of popular interest in the Middle Ages. Television in particular has presented a wide and diverse array of "medieval" offerings. Yet there exists little scholarship on television medievalism. This collection fills the gap with 10 new essays focusing on the depiction of the Middle Ages in popular culture and questioning the role of television in shaping our ideas about past and present. The contributors emphasize the need for scholars of medievalism to pay attention to its manifestations on the small screen. The essays cover quite a range of topics, including genre, gender and sexuality. The series covered are Game of Thrones, Merlin, Full Metal Jousting, Joan of Arcadia, Tudors, Camelot and Mists of Avalon. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

Television has long been a familiar vehicle for fairy tales and is, in some ways, an ideal medium for the genre. Both more mundane and more wondrous than cinema, TV magically captures sounds and images that float through the air to bring them into homes, schools, and workplaces. Even apparently realistic forms, like the nightly news, routinely employ discourses of “once upon a time,” “happily ever after,” and “a Cinderella story.” In Channeling Wonder: Fairy Tales on Television, Pauline Greenhill and Jill Terry Rudy offer contributions that invite readers to consider what happens when fairy tale, a narrative genre that revels in variation, joins the flow of television experience. Looking in detail at programs from Canada, France, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the U.S., this volume’s twenty-three international contributors demonstrate the wide range of fairy tales that make their way into televisual forms. The writers look at fairy-tale adaptations in musicals like Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, anthologies like Jim Henson’s The Storyteller, made-for-TV movies like Snow White: A Tale of Terror, Bluebeard, and the Red Riding Trilogy, and drama serials like Grimm and Once Upon a Time. Contributors also explore more unexpected representations in the Carosello commercial series, the children’s show Super Why!, the anime series Revolutionary Girl Utena, and the live-action dramas Train Man and Rich Man Poor Woman. In addition, they consider how elements from familiar tales, including “Hansel and Gretel,” “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Snow White,” and “Cinderella” appear in the long arc serials Merlin, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Dollhouse, and in a range of television formats including variety shows, situation comedies, and reality TV. Channeling Wonder demonstrates that fairy tales remain ubiquitous on TV, allowing for variations but still resonating with the wonder tale’s familiarity. Scholars of cultural studies, fairy-tale studies, folklore, and television studies will enjoy this first-of-its-kind volume.

"A sixteen-year-old biracial girl in rural Oregon in the 1920s searches for the truth about her father's death while avoiding trouble from the Ku Klux Klan in this YA historical novel inspired by Shakespeare's 'Hamlet'"--

Extensive reading improves fluency and there is a real need in the ELT classroom for contemporary, motivating material that will instantly appeal to students. This reader is based on an episode from the popular BBC series, Merlin, where the legend of Merlin and King Arthur is updated for a 21st century teenage audience.