Neon Screams

Neon Screams
Author: Kit Mackintosh
Publisher: Watkins Media Limited
Total Pages: 160
Release: 2021-08-10
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1913462471

Examining new genres from the UK and across the Atlantic, including mumble rap, Brooklyn drill, UK drill, trap dancehall and Afrobeats, Neon Screams explores the dystopias and dissociative transcendence offered by this boundary-pushing music. With a foreword by Simon Reynolds, Neon Screams explores the plethora of new street genres that have emerged at the turn of the 2020s. Neon Screams is a manifesto, a rallying cry for the new musical futurism. Taking street music’s embrace of Auto-Tune in the late 2000s as his starting point, Kit Mackintosh launches you through a whirlwind tour of the last decade of cutting-edge music, championing the modern genres still uncovering the sonic impossible, from mumble rap to drill to Afrobeats, bashment and beyond. Beginning where most future music chronicles end, Mackintosh establishes a new pantheon of pioneers and innovators. Offering dizzying insights into the likes of Future, Young Thug, Migos and Vybz Kartel, Neon Screams is conceptual weaponry to use against all those who say music isn’t what it used to be. Part polemic, part synesthetic possession, Neon Screams is essential reading for everyone eager to uncover the new frontiers of future music.

The Last Kids on Earth: June's Wild Flight

The Last Kids on Earth: June's Wild Flight
Author: Max Brallier
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2020-04-07
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0593117182

A Netflix Original Series! The New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling Last Kids on Earth series—now with over 7 million copies in print—presents June Del Toro in her very own adventure! Told from June's point of view—and set between the shattering events of The Midnight Blade and The Skeleton Road—June's Wild Flight brings new characters, high-stakes action, and stunning revelations in an adventure that could only be June's. An essential Last Kids story that readers won't want to miss! The Midnight Blade ended with a shocking twist: a long-missing villain has returned and now has an army of the dead at his command! Jack, June, Quint, and Dirk have battled the worst kind of monsters, zombies, and cosmic servants, but an endless horde of animated skeletons is next-level. While the kids plan their next move, an unexpected threat emerges and June gets separated from her friends, dragged miles away from Wakefield to a town overgrown with monstrous vines and never-before-seen creatures. Drawing on her post-apocalyptic survival and action skills--and with the help of some odd new companions--June attempts to make her way back home. But not before she uncovers critical information about the mysterious "Tower." Information that the future of our world may hinge upon . . . Told in a mixture of text and black-and-white illustration, this is the perfect series for any kid who's ever dreamed of starring in their own comic book or video game.

The Bright Sessions

The Bright Sessions
Author: Lauren Shippen
Publisher: Tor Teen
Total Pages: 808
Release: 2024-06-04
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 1250379121

This ebundle includes: The Infinite Noise, A Neon Darkness, and Some Faraway Place. Instead of becoming a superhero, a teenager with superpowers copes with his unusual gifts through therapy in The Bright Sessions series, based on the award-winning podcast by creator and writer Lauren Shippen. “The Infinite Noise is a marvelous book about love, mental health, and connection. Lauren Shippen writes with a clean and honest warmth that is deeply refreshing, and her sharp representation of depression and anxiety rings true.”— Hugo Award winning author Sarah Gailey The Infinite Noise: Caleb Michaels is a sixteen-year-old champion running back. Other than that his life is pretty normal. But when Caleb starts experiencing mood swings that are out of the ordinary for even a teenager, his life moves beyond “typical.” Caleb is an Atypical, and his ability is extreme empathy—he feels the emotions of everyone around him. Being an empath in high school would be hard enough, but Caleb's life becomes even more complicated when he keeps getting pulled into the emotional orbit of one of his classmates, Adam. Adam's feelings are big and all-consuming, but they fit together with Caleb's feelings in a way that he can't quite understand. Caleb's therapist, Dr. Bright, encourages Caleb to explore this connection by befriending Adam. As he and Adam grow closer, Caleb learns more about his ability, himself, his therapist—who seems to know a lot more than she lets on—and just how dangerous being an Atypical can be. A Neon Darkness: Robert Gorham always gets what he wants. But the power of persuasion is as potent a blessing as it is a curse. Robert is alone until a group of strangers who can do impossible things—produce flames without flint, conduct electricity with their hands, and see visions of the past—welcome him. They call themselves Unusuals and they give Robert a new name too: DAMIEN. Finally, finally he belongs. As long as he can keep his power under control. But control is a sacrifice he might not be willing to make. Some Faraway Place: Everyone else in Rose's family is Atypical, which means they manifested an ability that defies the limits of the human experience. At nineteen, well past the average age of manifestation, Rose is stuck defending her decision not to go to college and instead work in the kitchen of a local restaurant. Until she starts falling asleep mid-conversation, and finds herself in other peoples' dreams. Rose should be happy—diving into dreams makes her a part of her family in the way she's always wanted. But the more time she spends in the dreamworld, the more complicated her ability becomes. This is the story of Atypical Rose, who discovers that dreams coming true isn’t always a good thing. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Last Days

Last Days
Author: Andy Dickenson
Publisher: eBook Partnership
Total Pages: 405
Release: 2012-11-03
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1909270741

At the end of the world who's left to blame? Tucker and Six are two teenagers living in the last city on earth, a city full of odd characters, each with a different theory of how the world ended. Together they uncover a murder and begin to realise that, not just one, but all these theories could be true.... A future fantasy written for adults and young adults alike. "e;Captivatingly visual, cunningly intoxicating and perfectly picking through and living off the pop cultural scraps of our dying society, The Last Days seamlessly blends the exotic fantasy of the X-Men or Avengers with TV's Heroes, and taps into the moody best of British Doomsday scenarists like John Wyndam, Christopher Priest and J.G. Ballard."e; Now Read This! "e;Dickenson has created a thrilling and visceral piece of writing that will have you twisting and turning all they way till the end... Highly recommended."e; Giles Paley-Phillips, author The Fearsome Beastie

Futuromania

Futuromania
Author: Simon Reynolds
Publisher: Hachette Books
Total Pages: 333
Release: 2024-05-07
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0306833794

A collection of writing by Simon Reynolds, centered on music that seemed, in its moment, to prefigure the Future Simon Reynolds's first book in eight years is a celebration of music that feels like a taste of tomorrow. Sounds that prefigure pop music's future—the vanguard genres and heroic innovators whose discoveries eventually get accepted by the wider mass audience. But it's also about the way music can stir anticipation for a thrillingly transformed world just around the corner: a future that might be utopian or dystopian, but at least will be radically changed and exhilaratingly other. Starting with an extraordinary chapter on Giorgio Moroder and Donna Summer, taking in illuminating profiles of Ryuichi Sakamoto, Boards of Canada, Burial, and Daft Punk, and arguing for Auto-Tune as the defining sound of 21st century pop, Futuromania shapes over two dozen essays and interviews into a chronological narrative of machine-music from the 1970s to now. Reynolds explores the interface between pop music and science fiction's utopian dreams and nightmare visions, always emphasizing the quirky human individuals abusing the technology as much as the era-defining advances in electronic hardware and digital software. A tapestry of the scenes and subcultures that have proliferated in that febrile, sexy, and contested space where man meets machine, Futuromania is an enthused listening guide that will propel readers towards adventures in sound. There is a lifetime of electronic listening here.

Status and Culture

Status and Culture
Author: W. David Marx
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 369
Release: 2022-09-06
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0593296702

"Subtly altered how I see the world." —Michelle Goldberg, New York Times “[Status and Culture] consistently posits theories I'd never previously considered that instantly feel obvious.” —Chuck Klosterman, author of The Nineties “Why are you the way that you are? Status and Culture explains nearly everything about the things you choose to be—and how the society we live in takes shape in the process.” —B.J. Novak, writer and actor Solving the long-standing mysteries of culture—from the origin of our tastes and identities, to the perpetual cycles of fashions and fads—through a careful exploration of the fundamental human desire for status All humans share a need to secure their social standing, and this universal motivation structures our behavior, forms our tastes, determines how we live, and ultimately shapes who we are. We can use status, then, to explain why some things become “cool,” how stylistic innovations arise, and why there are constant changes in clothing, music, food, sports, slang, travel, hairstyles, and even dog breeds. In Status and Culture, W. David Marx weaves together the wisdom from history, psychology, sociology, anthropology, economics, philosophy, linguistics, semiotics, cultural theory, literary theory, art history, media studies, and neuroscience to demonstrate exactly how individual status seeking creates our cultural ecosystem. Marx examines three fundamental questions: Why do individuals cluster around arbitrary behaviors and take deep meaning from them? How do distinct styles, conventions, and sensibilities emerge? Why do we change behaviors over time and why do some behaviors stick around? The answers then provide new perspectives for understanding the seeming “weightlessness” of internet culture. Status and Culture is a book that will appeal to business people, students, creators, and anyone who has ever wondered why things become popular, why their own preferences change over time, and how identity plays out in contemporary society. Readers of this book will walk away with deep and lasting knowledge of the often secret rules of how culture really works.

Cutting Edge

Cutting Edge
Author: Margaret Atwood
Publisher: Akashic Books
Total Pages: 173
Release: 2019-11-05
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1617757853

A chilling noir collection featuring fifteen crime and mystery tales and six poems from female authors. Joyce Carol Oates, a queen-pin of the noir genre, has brought her keen and discerning eye to the curation of an outstanding anthology of brand-new top-shelf short stories (and poems by Margaret Atwood!). While bad men are not always the victims in these tales, they get their due often enough to satisfy readers who are sick and tired of the gendered status quo, or who just want to have a little bit of fun at the expense of a crumbling patriarchal society. This stylistically diverse collection will make you squirm in your seat, stay up at night, laugh out loud, and inevitably wish for more. With stories by: Joyce Carol Oates, Margaret Atwood (poems), Valerie Martin, Aimee Bender, Edwidge Danticat, Sheila Kohler, S.A. Solomon, S.J. Rozan, Lucy Taylor, Cassandra Khaw, Bernice L. McFadden, Jennifer Morales, Elizabeth McCracken, Livia Llewellyn, Lisa Lim, and Steph Cha. Praise for Cutting Edge “The indefatigable Joyce Carol Oates gathers a strong list of names . . . . Emerging and established authors provide attention-grabbing short works: especially notable are Edwidge Danticat's story on the quotidian horror of domestic violence, Bernice L. McFadden’s comic take on the appropriation of racial friendship, and Lisa Lim’s illustrations of a grotesque marriage.” —Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine “But of course, in the end, it isn't the themes or the innovations on the format of the short story anthology that make the tales collected in Cutting Edge most “feel” as if you were reading Joyce Carol Oates herself. It is the writing. The tight plots and fresh, flowing prose that go about their business until—snap!—the story’s well-oiled mousetrap does its job.” —New York Journal of Books “The 15 stories and six poems in this slim yet weighty all-original noir anthology . . . are razor-sharp and relentless in their portrayal of life, offering snapshots of dysfunction, everyday toil, and brief joy. It is unusual, however, in its scope, zeroing in not only on what the female characters endure but what they dish out . . . . Each story sears but does not cauterize, leaving protagonists and readers raw . . . . Fans of contemporary crime fiction won’t want to miss this one.” —Publishers Weekly

Touch of Evil

Touch of Evil
Author: C.T. Adams
Publisher: Tor Paranormal Romance
Total Pages: 334
Release: 2007-04-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1429910186

Action, adventure, romance, and thrills--everything readers love from USA Today bestselling authors C.T. Adams and Cathy Clamp who are also Cat Adams, creator of the Blood Singer series--are all on display in Touch of Evil, the first volume in the Thrall series! Kate Reilly has a hard time trusting people. Six years ago, the love of her life turned her over to the vampire parasites who call themselves the Thrall. Katie survives the powerful bite of the master parasite only to discover that the Thrall's venom, coupled with her own natural psychic ability, has transformed her. Now she is next in line to be the Thrall Queen--and each day might be her last as a human. Tom, a handsome firefighter, arouses all of Katie's dormant senses, but her heart shies away. After Dylan's betrayal, how can she trust any man--even a seemingly perfect and terribly sexy werewolf? Tom's sincerity--and sex appeal--begins to wear down Katie's defenses. But his increasingly insistent charm hides a potentially deadly secret: his werewolf pack is hiding the one person who can stop the Thrall from completing Katie's transformation into Queen--and they won't give her up. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Messages: A National Poetry Day Book

Messages: A National Poetry Day Book
Author: Gaby Morgan
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Total Pages: 59
Release: 2016-10-03
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 1509851755

A poetry book to celebrate National Poetry Day 2016 with poems on the theme of messages from Matt Goodfellow, Rachel McCrum, Deborah Alma, Brian Moses, Liz Brownlee, Michaela Morgan, Jan Dean, Paul Cookson, Roger Stevens, Joseph Coelho, Joshua Seigal, Rachel Rooney, Sophie Herxheimer and Sally Crabtree. National Poetry Day is the annual mass celebration of poetry and all things poetical, a special day on which all are invited to discover and share the enjoyment of poems. We hope that the poems in this book - all inspired by this year's National Poetry Day theme of messages - will kindle an enthusiasm for poetry that continues to grow long after the day itself, Thursday 6 October 2016, has passed.

Drawing Blood

Drawing Blood
Author: Poppy Brite
Publisher: Dell
Total Pages: 417
Release: 2010-11-24
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0307768295

Poppy Z. Brite re-imagines the haunted house novel, creating a fresh, sensual, and totally original reading experience. IT'S A PASSION. IT'S AN ART. IT'S THE ONLY WAY OUT. . . In the house on Violin Road he found the bodies of his brother, his mother, and the man who killed them both—his father. From the house on Violin Road, in Missing Mile, North Carolina, Trevor McGee ran for his sanity and his soul, after his famous cartoonist father had exploded inexplicably into murder and suicide. Now Trevor is back. In the company of a New Orleans computer hacker on the run from the law, Trevor has returned to face the ghosts that still live on Violin Road, to find the demons that drove his father to murder his family—and worse, to spare one of his sons. . . . But as Trevor begins to draw his own cartoon strip, he loses himself in a haze of lines and art and thoughts of the past, the haunting begins. Trevor and his lover plunge into a cyber-maze of cartoons, ghosts, and terror that will lead either to understanding—true understanding—or to a blood-raining repetition of the past. . . . Praise for Drawing Blood “Electrifying . . . explosive lyricism . . . [a] soul-sucking antagonist . . . rich background descriptions. That there is a Brite future never doubt.”—Kirkus Reviews “Exotica . . . disaffected youth . . . a spicy gumbo of sub-cultural hipness simmered in a cauldron of modern horror fiction.”—Fangoria “Darker and more exotic than Anne Rice, more cerebral than Stephen King . . . Horror is rarely this good.”—Echo