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Designing Healthy Buildings and Communities: Shaping a Climate-Resilient Future (Urban Sustainability)
by Jian Zuo Ali Cheshmehzangi Ayyoob Sharifi Rongpeng Zhang Abbas Ziafati Bafarasat Jie ZhaoThis book aims to explore and showcase global case studies focused on creating buildings and communities that promote health while enhancing climate resilience. In an era where climate change increasingly impacts urban environments, there is a critical need for innovative solutions that go beyond conventional practices. This book compiles a diverse range of examples, drawing on real-life projects and potential paradigm shifts that emphasise novel ideas and advanced methodologies. The featured case studies span various aspects of building and community design, including architectural design directions, technology integration, and technical methods. Each contribution provides practical examples that illustrate the implementation of these concepts in real-world settings. By highlighting innovative approaches, the book challenges the status quo and encourages a shift from business-as-usual scenarios to forward-thinking strategies that prioritise both human health and environmental sustainability. Key themes include the integration of green building technologies, the adoption of sustainable materials, and the incorporation of nature-based solutions in community design. Additionally, the book delves into community-driven initiatives that foster social cohesion and climate-resilience, demonstrating how collaborative efforts can lead to more robust and adaptable cities. Through detailed analyses and comprehensive discussions, this book serves as a vital resource for architects, urban planners, policymakers, and researchers. It provides insights into cutting-edge practices and offers inspiration for future projects aimed at creating a healthier and more sustainable future. By bringing together these global perspectives, the book highlights the importance of innovation and adaptability in the face of climate challenges, ultimately contributing to the development of sustainable and thriving urban landscapes.
Adapting Nations: National Resilience Between Contemporary Statehood and Identity
by Carlo Pala Alon HelledNations adapt. Nations are resilient both within and outside the boundaries of statehood. Yet scholarship tends to downplay nationhood, as it focuses on the polity. As a consequence, the investigation of modern societies, though usually articulated around the nation-state model, falls into state-centrism, whilst neglecting the other side of the coin. This book initiates an interdisciplinary debate that encourages research in a field that has largely been overlooked in European social and political sciences. The analysis, offered by the authors, reinstates the concept of the 'nation' beyond the traditional, and somewhat dichotomous, schools of thought, hence neither judging the nation as a mere invention nor as a deterministic product of history. The book provides those interested in nationalism with new approaches to exploring national identity and its connection to statehood. By using concepts inspired by political science and sociology, namely habitus, survival unit, polity, hysteresis, and so forth, the different chapters of the volume revitalise the inquiry of the dimensions and features in which the nation and the identification they engender become tools of adaptation in relation to the transformative reality of our own contemporaneity. The authors thus contextualise the latter via the mid-range concept of national resilience at both meso- and macro-levels.
A Brief Excursion into Human Cognition: The Evolving Influence of Social Media & Artificial Intelligence
by Hans KankamThis book offers a concise exploration of human cognition, charting its historical development and revealing how disciplines such as neuroscience, linguistics, anthropology, the social sciences, and behavioral economics shape our understanding. Structured as a condensed handbook, it examines the core principles defining cognition while reflecting on how these insights influence AI advancements and social media interactions. Subsequent sections highlight how evolving cognitive research, combined with rapid AI growth, is driving a paradigm shift in how we perceive ourselves and our world. Drawing on interdisciplinary perspectives, the book also explores the possible unintended consequences of integrating such knowledge into everyday life. By illuminating emerging trends and potential future directions, it equips both specialists and non-specialists with a fresh lens on how cognition shapes—and is shaped by—technology and society.
Proceedings of 1st International Conference on Petroleum, Hydrogen and Decarbonization: ICPHD 2023 (Lecture Notes on Multidisciplinary Industrial Engineering)
by Sumit Kumar Pankaj Tiwari Anugrah Singh Abhijit KakatiThis book presents the select proceedings of the International Conference on Petroleum, Hydrogen and Decarbonization (ICPHD 2023). It offers a comprehensive overview of the research and advancement in traditional fossil fuel, hydrogen energy and imperative of decarbonization. The topics covered in book include petroleum exploration and production, petroleum reservoir engineering, enhanced oil recovery, hydrogen generation, transportation, storage and usage, carbon capture, utilization and storage, corrosion management for petroleum, hydrogen and decarbonization. This book will serve as a valuable resource for researchers, policymakers and industry professionals, offering diverse perspectives and insights into the ongoing efforts to transform the petroleum industry, integrate hydrogen technologies, and achieve global decarbonization goals.
Ecological and Digital Transition in Cities: Measuring Ecosystem Services for Urban Planning and Design (Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems #1272)
by Carmelina Bevilacqua Francesca Moraci Pasquale PizzimentiThis open access book delves into the intersection of ecological, technological, and social dynamics at the core of urban transition and the relevance of urban planning and design in addressing the pressing challenges faced by cities and regions in the 21st century. This book is held at “Networks, Markets & People” Communities, Institutions and Enterprises toward post-humanism epistemologies and AI challenges, May 22–25, 2024, Reggio Calabria, Italy. The papers included in the book follow two main drivers. The first is dedicated to discussing the concept of ecosystem services exploring the role of policy and governance mechanisms in promoting the integration of ecosystem services into urban planning and design practices. The second presents various data-driven perspectives, methodologies, frameworks, and case studies for measuring ecosystem services in cities, ranging from traditional methods to cutting-edge digital mapping and modeling techniques. The book primarily targets academics, researchers, and students (undergraduate, postgraduates, Ph.D. students) providing interesting insights on the topic that can be useful for urban planning and design course in the urban studies, architecture, and engineering fields. It targets also policymakers, experts, professionals, and consultants active in the urban planning and design field involved in managing the transition of regions and cities
Federated Learning Systems: Towards Privacy-Preserving Distributed AI (Studies in Computational Intelligence #832)
by Mohamed Medhat Gaber Muhammad Habib ur RehmanThis book dives deep into both industry implementations and cutting-edge research driving the Federated Learning (FL) landscape forward. FL enables decentralized model training, preserves data privacy, and enhances security without relying on centralized datasets. Industry pioneers like NVIDIA have spearheaded the development of general-purpose FL platforms, revolutionizing how companies harness distributed data. Alternately, for medical AI, FL platforms, such as FedBioMed, enable collaborative model development across healthcare institutions to unlock massive value. Research advances in PETs highlight ongoing efforts to ensure that FL is robust, secure, and scalable. Looking ahead, federated learning could transform public health by enabling global collaboration on disease prevention while safeguarding individual privacy. From recommendation systems to cybersecurity applications, FL is poised to reshape multiple domains, driving a future where collaboration and privacy coexist seamlessly.
The British Civil Service: Current Issues and Future Challenges
by Janice MorphetTaking account of its evolution in recent decades, this book provides an up-to-date account of the role of the Civil Service in the UK. The book offers a much-needed re-examination of the function and role of the Civil Service and considers the ways in which it has changed in response to today’s pressures. It examines the changing relationships between ministers, civil servants and special advisers (spADs), as well as investigating challenges to the principles of the Civil Service such as service outsourcing, COVID-19 responses and Brexit. Asking whether the practices of the past are effective for the future, this book is a vital resource for undergraduate and postgraduate students of UK politics, public administration and public sector management.
Girls, Power and International Development: Agency and Activism in the Global North and South (Gender, Sexuality and Global Politics)
by Rosie WaltersThe United Nations Foundation’s Girl Up campaign has been critiqued for depoliticising global and gender inequalities, portraying girls from the Global South as responsible for lifting entire communities out of poverty and encouraging girls in the Global North to see themselves as the saviours of their Southern counterparts. Drawing on focus groups with Girl Up members from the UK, US and Malawi, this book demonstrates how girls reflect critically on the Girl Up discourse, reject its individualistic vision of girls’ empowerment and interact with their Northern/Southern counterparts in a spirit of mutual learning and respect. Its analysis demonstrates how the girls use participation in the campaign to develop their own more complex, radical and collective visions of girls’ empowerment.
The Antidote: How People-Powered Movements Can Renew Politics, Policy and Practice
by Peter BeresfordThe gap between personal and formal politics has been widening globally and locally. As personal politics have become more inclusive and egalitarian inspired by new social movements, neoliberal ideologies have undermined democracy, increasing isolation, inequality, poverty, disease and environmental threat. Yet this paradox may also offer a path to transformation. Using international evidence and examples, The Antidote explores what we can learn from the equalisation of personal roles and relationships that’s been taking place, to help us reconnect with ourselves and each other and make possible more participatory and liberatory policy and politics. It sets out the barriers we face and offers a route map to bring an end to the destructive effects of unfettered neoliberal ideology, economics, policy and politics.
Now You See the Sky
by Catharine H. MurrayThis memoir — the first release on best-selling author Ann Hood’s Gracie Belle imprint — about the fathomless loss of a beloved child reveals how tragedy can transform us and make us more fully alive. “Murray’s lucid meditations and living-in-the-moment attitude — e.g., providing simple pleasures like a favorite food to a sick child — serve as useful reminders to all of us that life is precious and fleeting and must be enjoyed to the fullest. It’s a simple message but an important one. As much a eulogy to Chan as a testament to the joy of life, the book is a heartwarming tale of dealing with life-altering loss . . . A tender, love-filled story of how one woman dealt with the loss of a young child.” —Kirkus Reviews “An extraordinary memoir. Forthright, honest and haunting . . . Murray’s memoir is wise and enlightened.” —Portland Press Herald Now You See the Sky is a memoir about love, motherhood, and loss. When Catharine H. Murray travels to a small town on the banks of the Mekong River to work at a refugee camp, she falls in love and marries a local man with whom she has three sons. When their middle son is diagnosed with cancer at age five, their pursuit of a cure takes them from Thailand to Seattle, before they eventually return to Thailand, settling on a remote mountaintop. Full of honesty and grace, Now You See the Sky — the debut selection in Ann Hood’s new Gracie Belle imprint — allows the reader to witness the fathomless loss of a child and learn how tragedy can transform us, expand our vision, and make us more fully alive. Now You See the Sky is the debut selection of Ann Hood’s new nonfiction imprint with Akashic, Gracie Belle. Modeled after her experience writing the memoir Comfort: A Journey Through Grief, and named after her daughter, Grace, Hood’s imprint reaffirms for authors and readers that none of us is alone in our journeys.
Home Girl
by Alex WheatleWhen Naomi, a fourteen-year-old white girl, is placed with a black foster care family, her life takes some dramatic twists and turns. “Another powerful and poignant novel deftly created by one of the most prolific master novelists on either side of the pond. Home Girl is a page-turner, with not a dull moment. Loved it from the rooter to the tooter.” —Eric Jerome Dickey, New York Times best-selling author of Before We Were Wicked New from the best-selling black British author Alex Wheatle, Home Girl is the story of Naomi, a teenage girl growing up fast in the foster care system. It is a wholly modern story which sheds a much-needed light on what can be an unsettling life—and the consequences that follow when children are treated like pawns on a family chessboard. Home Girl is fast-paced and funny, tender, tragic, and full of courage—just like Naomi. This is Alex Wheatle’s most moving and personal novel to date.
Necropolis
by Avtar SinghA gorgeously written and tightly plotted mystery novel that brings the city of Delhi alive, in ways both enchanting and provocative. “Someone is cutting off victims’ fingers in New Delhi and vampires and lycans are suspects in this ambitious mix of detection and the supernatural from Singh.” —Publishers Weekly Necropolis follows Sajan Dayal, a detective in pursuit of a serial (though nonlethal) collector of fingers. He encounters would-be vampires and werewolves, and a woman named Razia who may or may not be centuries old. Guided by Singh’s gorgeous and masterful writing, the novel peels back layers of a city in thrall to its past, hostage to its present, and bitterly divided as to its future. Delhi went from being an imperial capital to provincial backwater in a few centuries: the journey back to exploding commercial metropolis has been compressed into a few decades. Combining elements of crime, fantasy, and noir, Necropolis tackles the questions of origin, ownership, and class that such a revolution inevitably raises. The world of Delhi, the sweep of its history—its grandeur, grimness, and criminality—all of it comes alive in Necropolis.
Chicago Noir: The Classics (Akashic Noir #0)
by Joe MenoNelson Algren, Richard Wright, and Patricia Highsmith are just three of the iconic authors included in this outstanding volume. “In this superior entry in Akashic’s noir series, Meno offers nearly a century of Chicago crime fiction. . . . Familiar bylines abound: Max Allan Collins, Richard Wright, Nelson Algren, Sherwood Anderson, Fredric Brown, Patricia Highsmith (with an excerpt from her novel The Price of Salt), Stewart M. Kaminsky, Sara Paretsky. Others may be less familiar to mystery specialists, but all turn in impressive performances.” —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review “Richard Wright, Nelson Algren, and Sandra Cisneros are not crime-fiction writers, and yet their Chicago certainly embodies the individual-crushing ethos endemic to noir. Meno also includes stories from writers who could easily have been overlooked (Percy Spurlark Parker, Hugh Holton) to ensure that diverse voices, and neighborhoods, are represented. Add in smart and essential choices from Fredric Brown, Sara Paretsky, and Stuart Kaminsky, and you have not an anthology not for crime-fiction purists, perhaps, but a thought-provoking document all the same.” —Booklist Although Los Angeles may be considered the most quintessentially “noir” American city, this volume reveals that pound-for-pound, Chicago has historically been able to stand up to any other metropolis in the noir arena. Classic reprints from: Harry Stephen Keeler, Sherwood Anderson, Max Allan Collins, Richard Wright, Nelson Algren, Fredric Brown, Patricia Highsmith, Barry Gifford, Stuart M. Kaminsky, Libby Fischer Hellmann, Sara Paretsky, Percy Spurlark Parker, Sandra Cisneros, Hugh Holton, and Stuart Dybek. From the introduction by Joe Meno: More corrupt than New York, less glamorous than LA, Chicago has more murders per capita than any other city its size. With its sleek skyscrapers bisecting the fading sky like an unspoken threat, Chicago is the closest metropolis to the mythical city of shadows as first described in the work of Chandler, Hammett, and Cain. Only in Chicago do instituted color lines offer generation after generation of poverty and violence, only in Chicago do the majority of governors do prison time, only in Chicago do the dead actually vote twice. Chicago—more than the metropolis that gave the world Al Capone, the Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre, the death of John Dillinger, the crimes of Leopold and Loeb, the horrors of John Wayne Gacy, the unprecedented institutional corruption of so many recent public officials, more than the birthplace of Raymond Chandler—is a city of darkness. This darkness is not an act of over-imagination. It’s the unadulterated truth. It’s a pointed though necessary reminder of the grave tragedies of the past and the failed possibilities of the present. Fifty years in the future, I hope these stories are read only as fiction, as somewhat distant fantasy. Here’s hoping for some light.
Death of a Rainmaker: A Dust Bowl Mystery
by Laurie LoewensteinA classic murder mystery set in the 1930s Dust Bowl that portrays the era with great beauty, tenderness, and sorrowful authenticity. —Finalist for the 2019 Oklahoma Book Awards, Fiction “This striking historical mystery . . . is brooding and gritty and graced with authenticity.” —NPR, One of the Best Books of 2018 selected by Maureen Corrigan “The murder investigation allows Loewenstein to probe into the lives of proud people who would never expose their troubles to strangers. People like John Hodge, the town’s most respected lawyer, who knocks his wife around, and kindhearted Etha Jennings, who surreptitiously delivers home-cooked meals to the hobo camp outside town because one of the young Civilian Conservation Corps workers reminds her of her dead son. Loewenstein’s sensitive treatment of these dark days in the Dust Bowl era offers little humor but a whole lot of compassion.” —New York Times Book Review When a rainmaker is bludgeoned to death in the pitch-blackness of a colossal dust storm, small-town sheriff Temple Jennings shoulders yet another burden in the hard times of the 1930s Dust Bowl. The killing only magnifies Temple’s ongoing troubles: a formidable opponent in the upcoming election, the repugnant burden of enforcing farm foreclosures, and his wife’s lingering grief over the loss of their eight-year-old son. As the sheriff and his young deputy investigate the murder, their suspicions focus on a teenager, Carmine, serving with the Civilian Conservation Corps. The deputy, himself a former CCCer, struggles with remaining loyal to the corps while pursuing his own aspirations as a lawman. When the investigation closes in on Carmine, Temple’s wife, Etha, quickly becomes convinced of his innocence and sets out to prove it. But Etha’s own probe soon reveals a darker web of secrets, which imperil Temple’s chances of reelection and cause the husband and wife to confront their long-standing differences about the nature of grief.
Loving Donovan
by Bernice L. McFaddenA long-awaited reissue of this deeply thoughtful novel about hope, forgiveness, and the cost of loving Donovan, a complex man with a shattered history “Bernice L. McFadden was one of the best writers to emerge in the post–Waiting to Exhale explosion that introduced at least a dozen Black female novelists. Loving Donovan has generated near-cult status among readers. After more than a decade since it appeared, Donovan is being reissued. How fitting that Terry McMillan has written a new introduction. If you’ve read Donovan before, you will fall in love all over again. And if this is your first time, prepare yourself for an intense romance between an enigmatic antihero and a heroine who will feel like your homegirl.” —Essence Magazine “Loving Donovan firmly establishes McFadden among the ranks of those few writers of whom you constantly beg for more.” —Black Issues Book Review With a new introduction by Terry McMillan. The first section of McFadden’s unconventional love story belongs to Campbell. Despite being born to a brokenhearted mother and a faithless father, Campbell still believes in the power of love . . . if she can ever find it. Living in the same neighborhood, but unknown to Campbell until a chance meeting brings them together, is Donovan, the “little man” of a shattered home—a family torn apart by anger and bitterness. In the face of daunting obstacles, Donovan dreams of someday marrying, raising a family, and playing in the NBA. But deep inside, Campbell and Donovan live with the histories that have shaped their lives. What they discover—together and apart—forms the basis of this compelling, sensual, and surprising novel.
Game World
by C.J. FarleyLaunching Akashic’s Black Sheep YA imprint, an adventure novel in a video game turned reality, with giant spiders, malevolent hummingbirds, a not-quite-yellow-brick road, and preteen children learning how to be heroes! “The Narnia for the Social Media Generation.” —The Wall Street Journal “Drawn from both video gaming culture and the rich tapestry of Jamaican myth and folklore, blending pointed social satire and mystical philosophy, this exuberant, original hero’s journey is a real trip . . . Exhilarating, thought-provoking and one of a kind.” —Kirkus Reviews Part of Akashic’s Black Sheep YA imprint. Dylan Rudee’s life is an epic fail. He’s bullied at school and the aunt who has raised him since he was orphaned as a child just lost her job and their apartment. Dylan’s one chance to help his family is the only thing he’s good at: video games. The multibillion-dollar company Mee Corp. has announced a televised tournament to find the Game-Changers: the forty-four kids who are the best in the world at playing Xamaica, a role-playing fantasy game that’s sweeping the planet. If Dylan can win the top prize, he just might be able to change his life. It turns out that Dylan is the greatest gamer anyone has ever seen, and his skills unlock a real-life fantasy world inside the game. Now actual monsters are trying to kill him, and he is swept up into an adventure along with his too-tall genius sister Emma, his hacker best friend Eli, and Ines Mee, the privileged daughter of Mee Corp.’s mysterious CEO and chief inventor. Along the way they encounter Nestuh, a giant spider who can spin a story but not a web; Baron Zonip, a hummingbird king who rules a wildly wealthy treetop kingdom; and an enchantress named Nanni who, with her shadow army, may be bent on conquering Xamaica and stealing its magic. In order to save his sister and his friends, Dylan must solve a dangerous mystery in three days and uncover secrets about Xamaica, his family, and himself. But will he discover his hidden powers before two worlds—Xamaica and Earth—are completely destroyed?
In Search of the Lost Chord: 1967 and the Hippie Idea
by Danny GoldbergThis paperback edition of Goldberg’s highly acclaimed homage to 1967 includes a new afterword and twenty beautiful and evocative photographs. “Antiwar radicals, recoiling from soullessness, challenged the church of technocratic rationality. Taking this challenge seriously, recovering the mood of an extended moment, requires beginning earlier and ending later than 1968. Cultural upheaval cannot be confined by the calendar. At least one contribution to the literature, the music industry executive Danny Goldberg’s In Search of the Lost Chord, treats 1967 as the defining moment when ‘the hippie idea’ still held transformational promise, and countercultural protest had not yet succumbed to police violence, undercover provocateurs, or media caricature—while 1968, in contrast, was a dark time of assassinations, riots, and the resurgence of the right.” —New York Review of Books “[Goldberg’s] newest book, In Search of the Lost Chord: 1967 and the Hippie Idea, explores and fuses together the musical, political, and spiritual revolutions of the time into a narrative about a moment when ‘there was an instant sense of tribal intimacy one could have even with a stranger.'” —Rolling Stone In Search of the Lost Chord is a subjective history of 1967, the year Danny Goldberg graduated from high school. It is also a refreshing and new analysis of the era; by looking at not only the political causes, but also the spiritual, musical, and psychedelic movements, Goldberg provides a unique perspective on how and why the legacy of 1967 lives on today. 1967 was the year of the release of the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and of debut albums from the Doors, the Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, and Janis Joplin, among many others. 1967 was also the year of the Summer of Love; the year that millions of now-illegal LSD tabs flooded America; Muhammad Ali was convicted of avoiding the draft; Martin Luther King Jr. publicly opposed the war in Vietnam; Stokely Carmichael championed Black Power; Israel won the Six-Day War; and Che Guevara was murdered. It was the year that hundreds of thousands of protesters vainly attempted to levitate the Pentagon. It was the year the word “hippie” peaked and died, and the Yippies were born. Exhaustively researched and informed by interviews and conversations with Allen Ginsberg, Timothy Leary, Ram Dass, Tom Hayden, Cora Weiss, Grace Slick, and others, In Search of the Lost Chord is a mosaic of seminal moments in the psychedelic, spiritual, rock-and-roll, and political protest cultures of 1967. This paperback edition includes a brand-new afterword by the author, along with twenty photographs by Peter Simon.
Ziggy Marley and Family Cookbook: Delicious Meals Made With Whole, Organic Ingredients from the Marley Kitchen
by Ziggy MarleyA cookbook inspired by the food of Ziggy's upbringing in the household of Bob and Rita Marley. “[Ziggy’s] first collection of recipes pays homage to the flavors of his youth and the food he loves to cook for his wife and five children.” —People “The easy directions will have you heading to the kitchen to try these recipes yourself.” —San Francisco Chronicle Eight-time Grammy winner, author, philanthropist, and reggae icon Ziggy Marley’s first cookbook, Ziggy Marley and Family Cookbook: Delicious Meals Made with Whole, Organic Ingredients from the Marley Kitchen, is inspired by the Jamaican meals Ziggy enjoyed while growing up—with an updated healthy spin. Ziggy was raised with both traditional Jamaican food and the more natural “ital” food of his family’s Rastafari culture. The cookbook, including fifty-four recipes, features contributions from family members including Ziggy’s wife Orly, sister Karen, and daughter Judah, as well as several renowned chefs. Many of the recipes are vegetarian, vegan and/or gluten-free, from delicious and savory egg dishes, to healthy, nourishing juices, soups, and salads, to classic Jerk Chicken and fish recipes. The Ziggy Marley and Family Cookbook brings new organic and nutritious recipes to kitchens around the world, intended to promote healthy living with a touch of culture, comfort, and love.
Lost Canyon
by Nina RevoyrIn Revoyr's best novel to date, four backpackers in the Sierra Nevada find more adventure than they ever imagined. —One of the San Francisco Chronicle‘s 100 Recommended Books of 2015 “Los Angeles is home to many great storytellers, but Nina Revoyr is one of its finest scribes. . . . [Lost Canyon] pulses with both beauty and terror, and the struggles of these characters, their physical and mental reckonings, are enough to make readers sweat without getting off the couch.” —Los Angeles Times “What makes this latest from Revoyr (The Age of Dreaming) more than a suspenseful tale of survival and personal growth is the slowly worked out differences of race and class, well articulated throughout. . . . An absorbing read with good social context.” —Library Journal Four people on a backpacking trip in the Sierra Nevada find more adventure than they ever imagined. They are drawn to the mountains for reasons as diverse as their own lives. Gwen Foster, a counselor for at-risk youth, is struggling with burnout from the demands of her job and with the loss of one of her teens. Real estate agent Oscar Barajas is adjusting to the fall of the housing market and being a single parent. Todd Harris, an attorney, is stuck in a lucrative but unfulfilling career—and in a failing marriage. They are all brought together by their trainer, Tracy Cole, a former athlete with a taste for risky pursuits. When the hikers start up a pristine mountain trail that hasn’t been traveled in years, all they have to guide them is a hand-drawn map of a remote, mysterious place called Lost Canyon. At first, the route past high alpine lakes and under towering, snowcapped peaks offers all the freedom and exhilaration they’d hoped for. But when they stumble onto someone who doesn’t want to be found, the group finds itself faced with a series of dangerous conflicts, moral dilemmas, confrontations with nature, and an all-out struggle for survival. Moving effortlessly between city and wilderness, Lost Canyon explores the ways that race, class, and culture shape experience and perception. It examines the choices good people must face in desperate situations. Set in the grand, wild landscape of California’s mountains, Lost Canyon is a story of brewing social tensions and breathtaking adventure that will keep readers on the edge of their seats.
I Love You Too
by Ziggy MarleyBob Marley’s first and most famous son, Ziggy, extends his devotion to youth with his debut children’s book. “A sweetly affectionate ode to togetherness and love.” —Publishers Weekly “Lyrics inspired by an exchange with Marley’s 3-year-old daughter are set to bright paintings of a multicultural cast of children and adults enjoying each other’s company indoors and out . . . The art will draw and hold young children’s attention.” —Kirkus Reviews Released simultaneously with Ziggy Marley’s new album, Fly Rasta. A debut children’s book by reggae icon Ziggy Marley with illustrations by Ag Jatkowska. A beautifully illustrated, multicultural children’s picture book based on one of Ziggy Marley’s most beloved songs, I Love You Too. The book explores a child’s relationship with parents, nature, and the unstoppable force of love. This is Ziggy’s first book, though his foray into children’s music is extensive and very well known. He is the singer of Believe in Yourself, the popular theme song of the hit TV show, Arthur. Marley has been a long-time fixture in the children’s entertainment arena. In 2004, he played the role of Ernie, the mischievous jellyfish in the Dreamworks animated smash, Shark Tale, and has made appearances on multiple family and children’s shows including Sesame Street, Dora the Explorer, the 2009 “Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade,” and A Family Is a Family Is a Family: A Rosie O’Donnell Celebration on HBO. In 2009, Ziggy, along with his wife, children, and mother Rita Marley, joined President Barack Obama for the 131st annual White House Easter Egg Roll celebration. More recently, he has crafted the theme song for HBO’s Saving My Tomorrow, is featured in the GRAMMY Museum / Cal Science Center’s Exhibit “Saving the Earth with Music” and lent his voice to the PupStar franchise. Marley is also an honorary member of the board of directors for Little Kids Rock, an organization that provides free musical instruments and free lessons to children in public schools throughout the United States. From the introduction by Ziggy Marley: “One day I was in my kitchen making breakfast with my then three-year-old daughter Judah. She looked at me and said, ‘I love you.’ I spontaneously replied to her, ‘I love you too.’ From that came the song and now the book based on the lyrics. I hope you share and enjoy this with your loved ones as I have with mine. I love you too.” *A coproduction of Akashic Books and Tuff Gong Worldwide
H.N.I.C.
by Albert "Prodigy" JohnsonProdigy, from the legendary hip-hop group Mobb Deep, launches Infamous Books with a story of loyalty, vengeance, and greed. “Simultaneously a fast-paced crime drama and an engrossing, unsentimental moral tale, H.N.I.C. peers into the dark heart that underpins the codes of loyalty and friendship, betrayal and vengeance.” —Brooklyn Daily Eagle Pappy tries to break out of the game before the head of his crew, Black, gets them all killed. Against his better judgment Pappy agrees to do one last job, but only because it’s the price of his freedom. He knows Black can’t be trusted. He knows his “brother” would rather see him dead than let him walk away. Yet he still agrees to do the job because Black isn’t the only one who can’t be trusted. Sometimes you have to kill for what you want. Further developing the stark realism and uncompromising streetwise narratives of his lyrics, H.N.I.C. cements Prodigy’s position as one of the foremost chroniclers of contemporary urban life. Simultaneously a fast-paced crime drama and an engrossing, unsentimental moral tale, H.N.I.C. peers into the dark heart that underpins the codes of loyalty and friendship, betrayal and vengeance.
Atlanta Noir (Akashic Noir #0)
by Tayari JonesThis much-anticipated and long-overdue installment in Akashic’s Noir Series reveals many sides of Atlanta only known to its residents. “Atlanta has its share, maybe more than its share, of prosperity. But wealth is no safeguard against peril . . . Creepy as well as dark, grim in outlook . . . Hints of the supernatural may make these tales . . . appealing to lovers of ghost stories.” —Kirkus Reviews Akashic Books continues its award-winning series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir. Each book comprises all new stories, each one set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the respective city. This much-anticipated and long-overdue installment in Akashic’s Noir Series reveals many sides of Atlanta known only to its residents. Brand-new stories by: Tananarive Due, Kenji Jasper, Tayari Jones, Dallas Hudgens, Jim Grimsley, Brandon Massey, Jennifer Harlow, Sheri Joseph, Alesia Parker, Gillian Royes, Anthony Grooms, John Holman, Daniel Black, and David James Poissant. From the introduction by Tayari Jones: Atlanta itself is a crime scene. After all, Georgia was founded as a de facto penal colony and in 1864, Sherman burned the city to the ground. We might argue about whether the arson was the crime or the response to the crime, but this is indisputable: Atlanta is a city sewn from the ashes and everything that grows here is at once fertilized and corrupted by the past . . . These stories do not necessarily conform to the traditional expectations of noir . . . However, they all share the quality of exposing the rot underneath the scent of magnolia and pine. Noir, in my opinion, is more a question of tone than content. The moral universe of the story is as significant as the physical space. Noir is a realm where the good guys seldom win; perhaps they hardly exist at all. Few bad deeds go unrewarded, and good intentions are not the road to hell, but are hell itself . . . Welcome to Atlanta Noir. Come sit on the veranda, or the terrace of a high-rise condo. Pour yourself a glass of sweet tea, and fortify it with a slug of bourbon. Put your feet up. Enjoy these stories, and watch your back.
Like This Afternoon Forever
by Jaime ManriqueTwo Catholic priests fall in love amid deadly conflicts in the Amazon between the Colombian government, insurgent groups, and drug cartels. “Manrique’s drama of a dangerous love affair in a world of blood, terror, displacement, and desperation grapples with profound and persistent conflicts.” —Booklist For the last fifty years, the Colombian drug cartels, various insurgent groups, and the government have fought over the control of the drug traffic, in the process destroying vast stretches of the Amazon, devastating Indian communities, and killing tens of thousands of homesteaders caught in the middle of the conflict. Inspired by these events, Jaime Manrique’s sixth novel, Like This Afternoon Forever, weaves in two narratives: the shocking story of a series of murders known internationally as the “false positives,” and the related story of two gay Catholic priests who become lovers when they meet in the seminary. Lucas (the son of farmers) and Ignacio (a descendant of the Barí indigenous people) enter the seminary out of a desire to help others and to get an education. Their visceral love story undergoes stages of passion, indifference, rage, and a final commitment to stay together until the end of their lives. Working in a community largely composed of people displaced by the war, Ignacio stumbles upon the horrifying story of the false positives, which will put the lives of the two men in grave danger.
Primus, Over the Electric Grapevine: Insight into Primus and the World of Les Claypool
by Greg Prato PrimusAn oral history of the legendary band Primus, with a star-studded cast of interviewees (Tom Waits, Phish front man Trey Anastasio, etc.) It’s a wild ride that’s vividly captured in Greg Prato’s excellent oral history . . . . —Bass Player Magazine “A book about the highly strange San Franciscans Primus has been overdue for years, so Greg Prato’s excellent oral history of the band is welcome—doubly so, given that the key band members, Les Claypool, Larry Lalonde and Tim Alexander, are involved. . . . Great stuff.” —Record Collector Magazine Usually when the “alternative rock revolution” of the early 1990s is discussed, Nirvana’s Nevermind is credited as the recording that led the charge. Yet there were several earlier albums that helped pave the way, including the Pixies’s Doolittle, the Red Hot Chili Peppers’s Mother’s Milk, Jane’s Addiction’s Nothing’s Shocking, and especially Primus’s 1991 album Sailing the Seas of Cheese. This fascinating and beautifully curated oral history tells the tale of this truly one-of-a-kind band. Compiled from nearly fifty all-original interviews—including Primus members past and present and many more fellow musicians—conducted by journalist/author Greg Prato. This book is sure to appeal to longtime fans of the band, as well as admirers of the musicians interviewed for the book. Interviewees include: Tim Alexander, Trey Anastasio (Phish), Matthew Bellamy (Muse), Les Claypool, Stewart Copeland (The Police), Chuck D (Public Enemy), Kirk Hammett (Metallica), Larry LaLonde, Geddy Lee (Rush), Mickey Melchiondo (Ween), Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine), Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Matt Stone (South Park), Tom Waits, and many more.
Gathering of Waters: Gathering Of Waters, Glorious, The Warmest December, And Nowhere Is A Place
by Bernice L. McFaddenFollowing her best-selling, award-winning novel Glorious, McFadden produces a fantastical historical novel featuring the spirit of Emmett Till. —One of Essence’s "Best Books of the Decade" —A New York Times Notable Book of 2012 —Gathering of Waters was a finalist for a Phillis Wheatley Fiction Book Award. “McFadden works a kind of miracle—not only do [her characters] retain their appealing humanity; their story eclipses the bonds of history to offer continuous surprises . . . Beautiful and evocative, Gathering of Waters brings three generations to life . . . The real power of the narrative lies in the richness and complexity of the characters. While they inhabit these pages they live, and they do so gloriously and messily and magically, so that we are at last sorry to see them go, and we sit with those small moments we had with them and worry over them, enchanted, until they become something like our own memories, dimmed by time, but alive with the ghosts of the past, and burning with spirits.” —Jesmyn Ward, New York Times Book Review, Editors’ Choice “Read it aloud. Hire a chorus to chant it to you and anyone else interested in hearing about civil rights and uncivil desires, about the dark heat of hate, about the force of forgiveness.” —Alan Cheuse, All Things Considered, NPR Gathering of Waters is a deeply engrossing tale narrated by the town of Money, Mississippi—a site both significant and infamous in our collective story as a nation. Money is personified in this haunting story, which chronicles its troubled history following the arrival of the Hilson and Bryant families. Tass Hilson and Emmet Till were young and in love when Emmett was brutally murdered in 1955. Anxious to escape the town, Tass marries Maximillian May and relocates to Detroit. Forty years later, after the death of her husband, Tass returns to Money and fantasy takes flesh when Emmett Till’s spirit is finally released from the dank, dark waters of the Tallahatchie River. The two lovers are reunited, bringing the story to an enchanting and profound conclusion. Gathering of Waters mines the truth about Money, Mississippi, as well as the town’s families, and threads their history over decades. The bare-bones realism—both disturbing and riveting—combined with a magical realm in which ghosts have the final say, is reminiscent of Toni Morrison’s Beloved.