The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet

Author: Reif Larsen
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0698148231
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 399

Book Description
A brilliant, boundary-leaping debut novel tracing twelve-year-old genius map maker T.S. Spivet's attempts to understand the ways of the world When twelve-year-old genius cartographer T.S. Spivet receives an unexpected phone call from the Smithsonian announcing he has won the prestigious Baird Award, life as normal-if you consider mapping family dinner table conversation normal-is interrupted and a wild cross-country adventure begins, taking T.S. from his family ranch just north of Divide, Montana, to the museum's hallowed halls. T.S. sets out alone, leaving before dawn with a plan to hop a freight train and hobo east. Once aboard, his adventures step into high gear and he meticulously maps, charts, and illustrates his exploits, documenting mythical wormholes in the Midwest, the urban phenomenon of "rims," and the pleasures of McDonald's, among other things. We come to see the world through T.S.'s eyes and in his thorough investigation of the outside world he also reveals himself. As he travels away from the ranch and his family we learn how the journey also brings him closer to home. A secret family history found within his luggage tells the story of T.S.'s ancestors and their long-ago passage west, offering profound insight into the family he left behind and his role within it. As T.S. reads he discovers the sometimes shadowy boundary between fact and fiction and realizes that, for all his analytical rigor, the world around him is a mystery. All that he has learned is tested when he arrives at the capital to claim his prize and is welcomed into science's inner circle. For all its shine, fame seems more highly valued than ideas in this new world and friends are hard to find. T.S.'s trip begins at the Copper Top Ranch and the last known place he stands is Washington, D.C., but his journey's movement is far harder to track: How do you map the delicate lessons learned about family and self? How do you depict how it feels to first venture out on your own? Is there a definitive way to communicate the ebbs and tides of heartbreak, loss, loneliness, love? These are the questions that strike at the core of this very special debut. Now a major motion picture directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and starring Kyle Catlett and Helena Bonham Carter.

Expedition

Author: Wayne Douglas Barlowe
Publisher: Workman Publishing
ISBN: 9780894806292
Category : Life on other planets
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
In 2358 Wayne Douglas Barlowe joined the first manned flight to Darwin IV, a newly discovered world beyond our solar system. Here he provides naturalistic paintings that vividly capture the alien creatures he encountered. Illustrations, full-color paintings, and maps.

Romeo & Juliet & Vampires

Author: William Shakespeare
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 006201109X
Category : Young Adult Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 210

Book Description
"You are deluded, Romeo. Vampires do not have the capability to love. They are heartless." The Capulets and the Montagues have some deep and essential differences. Blood differences. Of course, the Capulets can escape their vampire fate, and the Montagues can try not to kill their undead enemies. But at the end of the day, their blood feud is unstoppable. So it's really quite a problem when Juliet, a vampire-to-be, and Romeo, the human who should be hunting her, fall desperately in love. What they don't realize is how deadly their love will turn out to be—or what it will mean for their afterlives. . . . This riotous twist on the ultimate tale of forbidden romance is simply to die for.

Viper Wine

Author: Hermione Eyre
Publisher: Hogarth
ISBN: 0553419366
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 463

Book Description
“Using an alchemy all of her own, Eyre’s postmodern take on the 17th century renders it dazzlingly fresh and contemporary.” —Guardian (UK) Venetia Stanley was the great beauty of her day, so dazzling she inspired Ben Jonson to poetry and Van Dyck to painting. But now she is married, the adoration to which she has become accustomed has curdled to scrutiny, and she fears her powers are waning. Her devoted husband, Sir Kenelm Digby—explorer, diplomat, philosopher, alchemist— refuses to prepare a beauty tonic for her, insisting on her continued perfection. Venetia, growing desperate, secretly engages an apothecary to sell her “viper wine”—a strange potion said to bolster the blood and invigorate the skin. The results are instant, glorious, and addictive, and soon the ladies of the court of Charles I are looking unnaturally youthful. But there is a terrible price to be paid, as science clashes with magic, puritans rebel against the decadent monarchy, and England slides into civil war. Based on real events and written with anachronistic verve, Viper Wine is an intoxicating brew of love, longing and vanity, where the 17th and 21st centuries mix and mingle in the most enchanting and mind-bending ways.

3D Cinematic Aesthetics and Storytelling

Author: Yong Liu
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319727427
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 226

Book Description
This book argues that 3D films are becoming more sophisticated in utilising stereoscopic effects for storytelling purposes. Since Avatar (2009), we have seen a 3D revival marked by its integration with new digital technologies. With this book, the author goes beyond exploring 3D’s spectacular graphics and considers how 3D can be used to enhance visual storytelling. The chapters include visual comparisons between 2D and 3D to highlight their respective narrative features; an examination of the narrative tropes and techniques used by contemporary 3D filmmakers; and a discussion of the narrative implications brought by the coexistence of flatness and depth in 3D visuality. In demonstrating 3D cinematic aesthetics and storytelling, Yong Liu analyses popular films such as Hugo (2011), Life of Pi (2012), Gravity (2013), Star Trek Into Darkness (2013, and The Great Gatsby (2013). The book is an investigation into contemporary forms of stereoscopic storytelling derived from a unique, long-existing mode of cinematic illusions.

The Library of Unrequited Love

Author: Sophie Divry
Publisher: MacLehose Press
ISBN: 1623654041
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 50

Book Description
El Pais called The Library of Unrequited Love "a thrilling soliloquy, an exciting breath of love." The librarian, a single, middle-aged woman, a sharply opinionated and thoughtful bookworm, whose ex-boyfriend left her for another woman, discovers one morning a patron who has been locked in over night. Against her quiet nature, she starts to talk to him, what results is a soliloquy of frustrations, observations, and anguish, covering--with wit, pathos, and passion--history, literature, the Dewey Decimal System, love, and loneliness, as well as revealing her unrequited passion for a quiet student-researcher named Martin, whose studiousness, grace, and "beautiful neck" strikes her. Divry's prose is seamless--never laborious--both funny and poignant. The book's compactness offers an immersive reading experience that touches universal emotional experiences from the perspective of a bookworm.

Syria Speaks

Author: Malu Halasa
Publisher: Saqi
ISBN: 0863567924
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 288

Book Description
In Syria, culture has become a critical line of defence against tyranny. Syria Speaks is a celebration of a people determined to reclaim their dignity, freedom and self-expression. It showcases the work of over fifty artists and writers who are challenging the culture of violence in Syria. Their literature, poems and songs, cartoons, political posters and photographs document and interpret the momentous changes that have shifted the frame of reality so drastically in Syria. Moving and inspiring, Syria Speaks is testament to the courage, creativity and imagination of the Syrian people. 'Syria Speaks is a remarkable achievement and a remarkable book – a wise, courageous, imaginative and beautiful response to all that is ugly in human behaviour. This extraordinary anthology gives a voice to those we may have forgotten, or whom we may classify as simply passive and silent victims. The people shown living, dreaming and speaking here are far more than victims and only silent if we refuse to hear them.' A.L. Kennedy 'An extraordinary collection, revealing a dynamic and exciting culture in painful transition – a culture where artists are really making a difference ... You need to read this book.' Brian Eno

Creative Writing Practice

Author: Debra Adelaide
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030736741
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 266

Book Description
Creative Writing Practice: reflections on form and process explores the craft of creative writing by illuminating the practices of writers and writer-educators. Demonstrating solutions to problems in different forms and genres, the contributors draw on their professional and personal experiences to examine specific and practical challenges that writers must confront and solve in order to write. This book discusses a range of approaches to writing, such as the early working out of projects, the idea of experimentation, of narrative time, and of failure. With its strong focus on process, Creative Writing Practice is a valuable guide for students, scholars and practitioners of creative writing.

Immersive 3-D

Author: MR Franz Pagot
Publisher: Perfect Edition the
ISBN: 9780956818072
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 310

Book Description
What makes a beautiful 3-D image? How are the most common mistakes avoided when producing 3-D movies? And what creates a truly immersive experience when watching a 3-D show? Answers to these and many more questions are found in this book written by the award-winning cinematographer, Franz Pagot; who transports us through the intricacies of stereo filmmaking letting us into a few trade secrets that can make the difference between beautifully crafted images and a dreadful experience.

Live Free

Author: DeVon Franklin
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0063031191
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 172

Book Description
The bestselling author returns with his biggest book yet in which he teaches us the secret to living a happier life: get rid of as many expectations as possible—of ourselves, our future, our relationships, our career and our family. Expectations are the secret software, running on the hardware of our minds, controlling our emotions, decisions, and actions. How? Think about your life. How much of the sadness you feel derives from what you think should have happened—than with what actually happened? Think about your career. How much of the discontent you feel comes from your belief about where you’d be at this point—than with the progress you’ve actually made? Think about your relationships. How much of your dissatisfaction with friends, family, significant others, or spouses has to do with your unspoken presumptions—than with the people themselves? Having so many expectations is distorting your perspective, decreasing your happiness and disrupting your joy. You can live a life of true freedom, greater peace and less stress: release as many expectations as possible. This, DeVon Franklin argues, is the secret to a better life now. In a culture obsessed with more, Live Free is a bold counterintuitive book that can start a cultural revolution, Franklin contends. Everyone struggles with unnecessary expectations. But once you learn to let go of them, you can set the stage for the life you’ve always wanted.