Miss Rona

"Since slavery, African and African American humor has baffled, intrigued, angered, and entertained the masses. Rolling is a collection centering Blackness in comedy, especially on television, and observing that Blackness is often relegated to biopics, slave narratives, and the comedic. But like W.E.B. DuBois' ideas about double consciousness, and Racquel Gates' extension of his theories, we know that Blackness resonates for Black viewers in ways often entirely different for white viewers. Contributors to this volume cover a range of cases representing African American humor across film, television, digital media, and stand-up as Black comic personas try to work within, outside, and around the culture industries tilling for content. Essays engage with the complex industrial interplay of Blackness, white audiences, and comedy, satire and humor on streaming platforms, television networks, or digital media, and the production of Blackness within comedy through personal stories and interviews of Black folks working on crews and writing for television comedy. Rolling truly illuminates the innerworkings of Blackness and comedy in media discourse"--

A detective known for bold courage on the job deals with mental and physical abuse by his trophy wife. A woman strives to overcome the PTSD she brought from battlefields in Iraq so she can become a loving partner. In the title story, a socially dysfunctional man “girlfriends” women he “meets” in obituaries. From liaisons that are real, to those that are imaginary or somewhere between, Christopher T. Werkman skillfully creates characters beginning, ending, or finding a way through some type of romantic relationship. Girlfriending, Werkman’s collection of short stories, will fascinate, amuse, and astonish. Many of the stories are published in literary magazines and anthologies, but most appear only in this collection. His novel, Difficult Lies, was published in 2015.

A collection of favorite healthy recipes by a chef whose practices have been utilized by numerous Hollywood celebrities includes such options as Wild Salmon and Grilled Artichoke Salad with Green Tea Ranch Dressing, Wild Blueberry Cobbler, and Sundance Chocolate Torte. 12,000 first printing.

From its infancy, television networks and studios explore others avenues to increase their revenues. Conveniently enough, several film studios and production companies—MGM, MTM, Columbia/Screen Gems, Talent Associates, Warner Brothers—had their own record label divisions. The obvious benefit was cross promotion: a television series could be plugged on the record and the record could be promoted on the TV show. Though few and far between, several television performers went on to become major recording stars. Ricky Nelson started as a child actor on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet before dominating rock and pop charts. Johnny Crawford of The Rifleman, Walter Brennan of The Real McCoys, and even Bruce Willis of Moonlighting all scored Top Ten hit singles. But these were just the standouts from the hundreds of TV actors who recorded songs, and the stories behind their records are simply fascinating. In From Small Screen to Vinyl: A Guide to TV Stars Who Made Records 1950-2000, author Bob Leszczak offers a look at hundreds of stars who performed double duty: as a television performer as well as a recording artist. He looks not only at the show and the performer but the behind-the-scenes dramas that unfolded as each attempted to tackle the two different mediums. Through his interviews with many of these multitaskers, the author has uncovered new, and mostly never before known facts about those who sought to conquer the world of vinyl. As Leszczak stresses, most eagerly embraced the opportunity to record, while others saw it as a necessary evil—the result of contractual obligations or industry pressures. Entries are listed alphabetically from Nick Adams (of The Rebel) to Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. (of 77 Sunset Strip). Also included are over 80 photos of these rare releases taken from the author’s private collection. For a new look at your old favorites, From Small Screen to Vinyl, will let you see that just because one is a TV star does not mean that he or she does not have the ability to expand beyond their acting prowess. Baby boomers, fans of classic hits radio, and devotees of classic TV programs will find From Small Screen to Vinyl a treasure trove of TV and record trivia—and no TV or music library can be considered complete without it.

Offering a world full of traumatized characters trapped in a consumerist society where men, women, sex and gender have become unstable commodities, Chuck Palahniuk has become one of the most controversial of contemporary novelists. This book is the first guide to bring together scholars from a full range of critical perspectives to explore three of Palahniuk's most widely-studied novels: Fight Club, Invisible Monsters and Choke. Examining these works in light of such key critical themes as violence, masculinity, postmodern aesthetics and trauma, the book also explores the ethical dimension of Palahniuk's work that is often lost in the heat of the controversies surrounding his books. Together with annotated guides to further reading, Chuck Palahniuk also includes section introductions surveying the contexts and reception of each novel, making this an essential guide for students and scholars of contemporary literature.