Unprepared To Die

Unprepared To Die
Author: Paul Slade
Publisher: Soundcheck Books
Total Pages: 151
Release: 2015-11-01
Genre: Music
ISBN: 099294807X

The Gory Stories Behind The Murder Ballads Cheerfully vulgar, revelling in gore, and always with an eye on the main chance, murder ballads are tabloid newspapers set to music, carrying word of the latest ‘orrible murders to an insatiable public. Victims are bludgeoned, stabbed or shot in every verse and killers often hanged, but the songs themselves never die. Instead, they mutate – morphing to suit local place names as they criss cross the Atlantic and continue to fascinate each generation’s biggest musical stars. Paul Slade traces this fascinating genre’s history through eight of its greatest songs. Stagger Lee’s “biographers” alone include Duke Ellington, James Brown, Bob Dylan, Dr John, The Clash and Nick Cave. No two tell his story in quite the same way. Covering eight classic murder ballads, including “Knoxville Girl”, “Tom Dooley” and “Frankie & Johnny”, Slade investigates the real-life murder which inspired each song and traces its musical development down the decades. Billy Bragg, The Bad Seeds’ Mick Harvey, Laura Cantrell, Rennie Sparks of The Handsome Family and a host of other leading musicians add their own insights.

The Swallow: A Ghost Story

The Swallow: A Ghost Story
Author: Charis Cotter
Publisher: Tundra Books
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2017-09-05
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1770495924

A classic ghost story with twists and turns: a spooky house, a malevolent spirit and two plucky heroines. In 1960s Toronto, two girls retreat to their attics to escape the loneliness and isolation of their lives. Polly lives in a house bursting at the seams with people, while Rose is often left alone by her busy parents. Polly is a down-to-earth dreamer with a wild imagination and an obsession with ghosts; Rose is a quiet, ethereal waif with a sharp tongue. Despite their differences, both girls spend their days feeling invisible and seek solace in books and the cozy confines of their respective attics. But soon they discover they aren't alone--they're actually neighbors, sharing a wall. They develop an unlikely friendship, and Polly is ecstatic to learn that Rose can actually see and talk to ghosts. Maybe she will finally see one too! But is there more to Rose than it seems? Why does no one ever talk to her? And why does she look so ... ghostly? When the girls find a tombstone with Rose's name on it in the cemetery and encounter an angry spirit in her house who seems intent on hurting Polly, they have to unravel the mystery of Rose and her strange family... before it's too late.

Mars Being Red

Mars Being Red
Author: Marvin Bell
Publisher: Copper Canyon Press
Total Pages: 97
Release: 2013-06-15
Genre: Poetry
ISBN: 1619320029

“Marvin Bell has the largest heart since Walt Whitman.”—Harvard Review In a recent interview Marvin Bell said, “I’ve been trying for thirty years to figure out how best to put the news into poems—what other people would call politics. But there are some hairy aesthetic questions connected to overtly political poems.” Mars Being Red is the most political book of Bell’s storied career—and one of his most beautiful. Infuriated by our country’s military aggression and destructive politics, Bell asks, What shall we do, we who are at war but are asked / to pretend we are not? What Bell has done is craft a book of urgency and insight, anger and action: . . . I am, like you, a witness to the coffins that were Viet Nam and Iraq, to a political machine that came up three lemons . . . I am the big ears and the wide eyes to whom time happened. I lived in stormy weather writing songs of love because, tell me if you know, who can help it? Marvin Bell served on the faculty at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop for over thirty years. He is the first and current poet laureate of Iowa.

Chintz ‘n China, Books 1–3: Ghost of a Chance, Legend of the Jade Dragon, Murder Under A Mystic Moon

Chintz ‘n China, Books 1–3: Ghost of a Chance, Legend of the Jade Dragon, Murder Under A Mystic Moon
Author: Yasmine Galenorn
Publisher: Nightqueen Enterprises LLC
Total Pages: 893
Release: 2019-04-11
Genre: Fiction
ISBN:

For the first time, here are the first three books in the Chintz 'n China paranormal cozy mystery series, collected together into one volume. Book One — Ghost of a Chance: Emerald O'Brien is the owner of the Chintz 'n China Tea Room where guests are served the perfect blend of teas and tarot readings. She never set out to be a detective, but once word gets out that she can communicate with the dead, there's no turning back... When the ghost of Susan Mitchell asks for Emerald's help in convicting her own murderer, Emerald can't refuse. Along with her friends-an ex-supermodel and a cop-and her new love interest, Emerald must search for clues to put the killer behind bars, and Susan's tortured soul to rest. Book Two — Legend of the Jade Dragon: Tarot cards seldom lie. So when they predict chaos and bad luck for her last client of the day, Emerald gets more than a little worried. He leaves behind a charming jade statue of a dragon--but promptly dies in a hit-and-run accident outside of her shop. When other terrible things begin to plague Em and her family, the only explanation is the jade dragon. To thwart its evil spell, she'll have to follow a trail of heartache all the way back to China's Ming Dynasty--and its ancient--and sometimes harsh--mysteries. Book Three — Murder Under A Mystic Moon: With her teenaged daughter's birthday on the horizon and the town's autumn festival in full swing, Emerald has her hands full with party preparations and teashop specials. But a request from her friend Jimbo has her using her abilities to look into the disappearance of his friend. In the woods surrounding the Klickavail Valley enclave, Emerald senses a strange energy manifesting itself-before literally stumbling across the body of Jimbo's friend. While the police are willing to blame the death on a cougar attack, Emerald knows there's something else wandering the forest-something that resembles the Klakatat monster of legend, but may actually be a monster of a more human kind. Additional books continuing the series that are not included in this set: A Harvest of Bones (book 4) One Hex of a Wedding (book 5) Holiday Spirits (book 6) Keywords: Paranormal mystery, cozy mystery, cats, ghosts, Kickass women, tea, china, magic, formidable foes, bikers, Pacific North West, single mother, Tea shop, small town, strong women, strange happenings, amazing best friends, strong relationships, magical items, amateur detective, paranormal, relatable mc

The Outlook

The Outlook
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 1034
Release: 1899
Genre: United States
ISBN:

The Haunted Mask (Goosebumps Most Wanted)

The Haunted Mask (Goosebumps Most Wanted)
Author: R. L. Stine
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Total Pages: 178
Release: 2012-07-01
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0545415187

For the first time ever, Goosebumps is in hard cover! Catch the series' most notorious characters--undead or alive... For the first time ever, Goosebumps is in hard cover! Catch the series' most notorious characters--undead or alive...From horror master R.L. Stine come two new chilling stories in one spooky standalone:Lu-Ann Franklin usually loves Halloween. Not this year. Her best friend, Devin O'Bannon, is going away for the week. And she has to go to a boring party where nothing exciting could ever happen. But when Lu-Ann comes face-to-face with The Haunted Mask, major trouble lies ahead.Devin O'Bannon didn't want to leave his best friend Lu-Ann Franklin behind on Halloween. He didn't ask to go on this trip. And that was before he heard the strange scratching on his windows and saw the shadows moving around in the fields. Something is out there and it doesn't seem to want Devin around!