Gunshine State

Gunshine State
Author: Andrew Nette
Publisher: Down & Out Books
Total Pages: 227
Release: 2018-02-26
Genre: Fiction
ISBN:

Gary Chance is a former Australian army driver, ex-bouncer and thief. His latest job takes him to Surfers Paradise, Queensland, working for aging standover man, Dennis Curry. Curry runs off-site, non-casino poker games, and wants to rob one of his best customers, a high roller called Freddie Gao. The job seems straightforward but Curry’s crew is anything but. Frank Dormer is a secretive ex-soldier turned private security contractor. Sophia Lekakis is a highly-strung receptionist at the hotel where Gao stays when he visits Surfers Paradise. Amber, Curry’s female housemate, is part of the lure for Gao. Chance knows he can’t trust anyone, but nothing prepares him for what unfolds when Curry’s plan goes wrong. Praise for GUNSHINE STATE: “Part heist novel, part revenge tale, Gunshine State is a searing action story in exotic locales populated by fascinating grifters and unsavory characters. You won’t know where it’s going next but you’ll love getting there. Add this to your must read list.” —Eric Beetner, author of Criminal Economics and The Year I Died Seven Times “A tense, fast-moving, vividly-drawn thriller.” —Garry Disher, author of the Wyatt novels “A gritty slice of Down-Under noir, served lean and mean.” —Wallace Stroby, author of The Devil’s Share and Shoot the Woman First “A phenomenal, hard-as-nails thriller with more tight corners than a maze and a double cross around every one of them. I loved it.” —Timothy Hallinan, award-winning author of the Poke Rafferty and Junior Bender mysteries “A lean, mean, hard-boiled knockout.” —David Whish-Wilson, author of Line of Sight and Zero at the Bone “Gunshine State moves like a bullet. The prose is taught without sacrificing atmosphere, character or psychological depth. Brimming with evocative settings, sharp dialogue and vibrant characters, this novel firmly positions Nette as one of Australia’s leading writers of hard-boiled crime.” —Alex Hammond, author of The Unbroken Line and Blood Witness “Gunshine State is magnificent. Taut, tense-a tremendous thriller.” —Andrew Grant, author of False Positive and Run “Gunshine State is a breakneck ride from first page to last. Nette drags the reader into a sharply drawn world of dark motives and even darker morals. A must for lovers of hard-boiled crime fiction.” —Emma Viskic, author of Resurrection Bay “This brutal, hard-boiled thriller comes at you like a furious street brawler and pins you to the wall with a white-knuckle plot and authentic characters. Like a vicious left hook to the ribs it will leave you breathless.” —Leigh Redhead, author of Peepshow, Rubdown, Cherry Pie and Thrill City

The Last Gun

The Last Gun
Author: Tom Diaz
Publisher: New Press, The
Total Pages: 337
Release: 2013-03-26
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1595588418

Newtown, Connecticut. Aurora, Colorado. Both have entered our collective memory as sites of unimaginable heartbreak and mass slaughter perpetrated by lone gunmen. Meanwhile, cities such as Chicago and Washington, D.C., are dealing with the painful, everyday reality of record rates of gun-related deaths. By any account, gun violence in the United States has reached epidemic proportions. A widely respected activist and policy analyst—as well as a former gun enthusiast and an ex-member of the National Rifle Association—Tom Diaz presents a chilling, up-to-date survey of the changed landscape of gun manufacturing and marketing. The Last Gun explores how the gun industry and the nature of gun violence have changed, including the disturbing rise in military-grade gun models. But Diaz also argues that the once formidable gun lobby has become a "paper tiger," marshaling a range of evidence and case studies to make the case that now is the time for a renewed political effort to attack gun violence at its source—the guns themselves. In the aftermath of Newtown, a challenging national conversation lies ahead. The Last Gun is an indispensable guide to this debate, and essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how we can finally rid America's streets, schools, and homes of gun violence and prevent future Newtowns.

How Children Invented Humanity

How Children Invented Humanity
Author: David F. Bjorklund
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2020-10-30
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 0190066873

Infants and children are the often-ignored heroes when it comes to understanding human evolution. Evolutionary pressures acted upon the young of our ancestors more powerfully than on adults, and changes over the course of development in our ancestors were primarily responsible for the species and the people we have become. This book takes an evolutionary developmental perspective, emphasizing that developmental plasticity--the ability to change our physical and psychological selves early in life--is the creative force in evolution, with natural selection serving as a filter, eliminating novel developmental outcomes that did not benefit survival. This book is about becoming--of becoming human and of becoming mature adults. Bjorklund asks, "How can an understanding of human development help us better understand human evolution?" Then, turning the relation between evolution and development on its head, Bjorklund demonstrates how an understanding of our species' evolution can help us better understand current development and how to better rear successful and emotionally healthy children.

Walking by the Spirit

Walking by the Spirit
Author: George Macgiver
Publisher: M-Y Books Limited
Total Pages: 1213
Release: 2016-02-14
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1911124099

Truth. Is there such a thing? Do newspapers print it? Do televisions air it? Is it preached from pulpits in churches? Is the truth on Facebook, can it be found on Twitter? Can money buy you truth? Will you find truth in love? Is religion the truth? Is it in music? Is it displayed in any museums? Does the mailman post it through your door? Do your friends have it? Do they teach you the truth at school? Does it come from the point of a gun? Can you dig it out of the ground? Do dogs bark it at you? Is it in the sky or in the oceans? Does truth grow on trees? Can you breathe it in? Is it in your pocket? Can you buy it at the supermarket? Does truth come to you in dreams? Is it in the palm of your hand? Is it in your horoscope? Will mystics reveal it to you? Have the communists the truth? Or the freemasons? Do magicians magic it out of their hats? Is it in politics? Is it hiding under a rock? Can you find it on other planets? One thing is for sure, when you find the truth, you will know it. Here it is.

Shooting the Bull

Shooting the Bull
Author: Guy Smith
Publisher: Free Thinkers Media
Total Pages: 194
Release: 2011
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0983240701

In politics, everyone lies. Voters distrust everything they are told by politicians, the media and even their neighbors. Despite universal suspicion of news and opinion makers, very few people understand how political lies are created and thus most folk are unable to dissect spin and discover truth. Shooting the Bull details how all political falsehoods are created, why they work and how to detect them. Nowhere on the political landscape are more lies told than within the churning bowels of the gun control industry. Fighting America's revolutionary reluctance to submit and the public’s continuing fear of criminals not currently incarcerated in Congress, voters have resisted legislative agendas proposed by The Brady Campaign, Violence Policy Center and the Clinton administration. For decades significant victories have eluded their ilk, leaving only one strategy with which to sway voters – lying.Shooting the Bull serves two purposes. First, it catalogs the common canards of politicians and activists. Readers will recognize how they have been psychologically scammed by special interests and deceived by elected sycophants. They will also experience disquieting revelations as they discover forms of fibs they had previously encountered but not recognized. By the end of the book, readers will be infinitely more cynical about politicians and propagandists and be equipped to dissect future electoral effluvium.The second purpose of Shooting the Bull is to document the deceits peddled by the gun control lobby. Each chapter is devoted to at least one major initiative proffered by anti-gun activists, exposing their falsities through dissection of their motives, methods and inconvenient facts. The art and science of political pretense is illustrated through Senator Dianne Feinstein's "assault weapon" ban, the Million Mom March's campaign to register all guns and license all owners, Michael Moore's deluded “documentaries”.

Fatal Sunset

Fatal Sunset
Author: Mark Yoshimoto Nemcoff
Publisher: Glenneyre Press
Total Pages: 84
Release:
Genre: Travel
ISBN: 1934602159

No one ever believes their dream vacation can instantly turn into a tragic nightmare...until it's too late. Some tourists vanish without a trace. Over 170 people have disappeared from cruise ships around the world since 1995, several under very suspicious circumstances. Others have their lives senselessly stolen, like the 8-year old boy sucked into an unprotected pool drain at a major resort, leaving his mother crying out his name as security staff held her at gunpoint. Or 22-year old Nolan Webster, denied proper medical care after being pulled unconscious from a Cancun resort pool, only to have his dead body left in plain view for hours and his parents billed for his room. Vacations are meant to be joyous and fun. Sometimes terrible things happen unexpectedly. A parasailing newlywed plummets hundreds of feet to her death on the last day of her honeymoon when her harness snaps in mid-air. Hikers make a fatal plunge on an improperly-marked Kauai cliffside trail. And of course, there's every mother's nightmare: the disappearance of Natalee Holloway while on a high school graduation trip to Aruba with members of her senior class. FATAL SUNSET, the latest exposé from award-winning and bestselling author Mark Yoshimoto Nemcoff is not meant to do for vacations what "Jaws" did for beaches. "I'm not trying to scare you from going on a trip. I'm revealing these hidden true stories in order to make sure you understand what danger lurks in between the sun and sand and that perfect getaway," explains Nemcoff, the writer behind Kindle bestsellers "The Death of Osama Bin Laden" and "Where's My F*cking Latte?", an insiders look at the world of Hollywood celebrity assistants that was not only featured on Access Hollywood but has spent over four years straight at the top of Amazon's top-selling chart in the categories of "Television" and "Movies." "Sometimes travelers put themselves into situations beyond their limitations or worse, beyond their control," says Nemcoff. "People on vacation tend to engage in riskier activities than they are normally used to. Sometimes things can instantly turn deadly because you made a bad decision or were in the wrong place at the wrong time." In addition to FATAL SUNSET's shocking stories of deadly shark attacks, drownings, suspicious encounters, unfortunate accidents and murder, there is one part of the book that still haunts Nemcoff. "I interviewed Nolan Webster's mom, Maureen. In the book she explains what it was like to get that terrible phone call about her son's death. It's something I think about every day." "There's one piece of advice I've learned researching this book," tells Nemcoff. "Dare to be aware."

The Vigilant Citizen

The Vigilant Citizen
Author: Thijs Jeursen
Publisher: NYU Press
Total Pages: 192
Release: 2023-01-10
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1479816531

"In the context of the hyperviolent and racialized policing of cities across the US today, vigilant citizenship frames everyday policing as matters of personal blame and guilt-as problems of citizens"--

Sticking It to the Man

Sticking It to the Man
Author: Iain McIntyre
Publisher: PM Press
Total Pages: 1154
Release: 2019-11-15
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1629636665

From civil rights and Black Power to the New Left and gay liberation, the 1960s and 1970s saw a host of movements shake the status quo. The impact of feminism, anticolonial struggles, wildcat industrial strikes, and antiwar agitation were all felt globally. With social strictures and political structures challenged at every level, pulp and popular fiction could hardly remain unaffected. Feminist, gay, lesbian, Black and other previously marginalised authors broke into crime, thrillers, erotica, and other paperback genres previously dominated by conservative, straight, white males. For their part, pulp hacks struck back with bizarre takes on the revolutionary times, creating fiction that echoed the Nixonian backlash and the coming conservatism of Thatcherism and Reaganism. Sticking It to the Man tracks the ways in which the changing politics and culture of the 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s were reflected in pulp and popular fiction in the United States, the UK, and Australia. Featuring more than three hundred full-color covers, the book includes in-depth author interviews, illustrated biographies, articles, and reviews from more than two dozen popular culture critics and scholars. Among the works explored, celebrated, and analysed are books by street-level hustlers turned best-selling black writers Iceberg Slim, Nathan Heard, and Donald Goines; crime heavyweights Chester Himes, Ernest Tidyman and Brian Garfield; Yippies Anita Hoffman and Ed Sanders; best-selling authors such as Alice Walker, Patricia Nell Warren, and Rita Mae Brown; and myriad lesser-known novelists ripe for rediscovery. Contributors include: Gary Phillips, Woody Haut, Emory Holmes II, Michael Bronski, David Whish-Wilson, Susie Thomas, Bill Osgerby, Kinohi Nishikawa, Jenny Pausacker, Linda S. Watts, Scott Adlerberg, Maitland McDonagh, Devin McKinney, Andrew Nette, Danae Bosler, Michael A. Gonzales, Iain McIntyre, Nicolas Tredell, Brian Coffey, Molly Grattan, Brian Greene, Eric Beaumont, Bill Mohr, J. Kingston Pierce, Steve Aldous, David James Foster, and Alley Hector.

Expatriates

Expatriates
Author: James Wesley, Rawles
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2014-09-30
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0142181153

Their America is gone forever After the United States suffers a major socio-economic meltdown, a power vacuum sweeps the globe. A newly-radicalized Islamic government has risen in Indonesia and—after invading the Philippines, East Timor, and Papua New Guinea—sets its sights on Australia. No longer protected by American military interests, Australia must repel an invasion alone. In the thick of it all, Peter and Rhiannon Jeffords, American Christian missionaries in the Philippines, and Chuck Nolan, a Texan petroleum engineer in Australia, find themselves adrift in a world in flux. Chronicling the Jeffords’ and Nolan’s fight against Indonesia’s merciless advances, Expatriates is a riveting thriller and a powerful depiction of the authentic skills and techniques needed to survive the collapse of modern civilization.

Tragedy in Aurora

Tragedy in Aurora
Author: Tom Diaz
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2019-10-31
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1538123444

Tragedy in Aurora is about the 2012 murder of budding sports journalist Jessica (Jessi) Redfield Ghawi in a public mass shooting, and the widening circle of pain it inflicted on her family, friends, police, medical first responders, and others. The book is at the same time a deep examination of the causes and potential cures of the quintessential 21st century American sickness—public mass shootings. At the heart of that examination is an unpacking of America’s deep polarization and political gridlock. It addresses head on the question of why? Why is American gun violence so different from other countries? Why does nothing seem to change? The “Parkland kids” inspired hope of change. But the ultimate questions stubbornly remain—what should, what can, and what will Americans do to reduce gun violence? Tragedy in Aurora argues that the answer lies in a conscious cultural redefinition of American civic order. Over recent decades, America has defined a cultural “new normal” about guns and gun violence. Americans express formalistic dismay after every public mass shooting. But many accept gun violence as an inevitable, even necessary, and to some laudable part of what it means to be “American.” Although Americans claim to be shocked with each new outrage, so far they have failed to coalesce around an effective way to reduce gun death and injury. The debate is bogged down in polarized and profoundly ideological political and cultural argument. Meanwhile, America continues to lead the globe in its pandemic levels of gun deaths and injuries. Combined with the cynical “learned helplessness” of its politicians, the result is gridlock and a growing roll of victims of carnage. Is there a path out of this cultural and political gridlock? Tragedy in Aurora argues that if America is to reduce gun violence it must expand the debate and confront the fundamental question of “who are we?” Tom Diaz gives a new understanding of American culture and the potential for change offered by the growing number and ongoing organization of victims and survivors of gun violence. Without conscious cultural change, the book argues, there is little prospect of effective laws or public policy to reduce gun violence in general and public mass shootings in particular.