This master's thesis approaches the heroes in George R. R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire", analyzing the journeys of Eddard Stark, Quentyn Martell, Jon Snow, and Daenerys Targaryen. The application of Campbell's famous Monomyth, or Hero's Journey, did not prove particularly successful when it comes to this series, which leads to a series of ponderations about its universality and the role point of view plays in this debate. "A Song of Ice and Fire" is a masterpiece of fantasy literature that helps scholars to rethink axioms they have been taking for granted for decades, and there is still much more to be said about it.

Sherlock Holmes: The Hero With a Thousand Faces ambitiously takes on the task of explaining the continued popularity of Arthur Conan Doyle's famous detective over the course of three centuries. In plays, films, TV shows, and other media, one generation after another has reimagined Holmes as a romantic hero, action hero, gentleman hero, recovering drug addict, weeping social crusader, high-functioning sociopath, and so on. In essence, Sherlock Holmes has become the blank slate upon which we write the heroic formula that best suits our time and place. Volume One looks at the social and cultural environment in which Sherlock Holmes came to fame. Victorian novelists like Anthony Trollope and William Thackeray had pointedly written "novels without a hero," because in their minds any well-ordered and well-mannered society would have no need for heroes or heroic behavior. Unfortunately, this was at odds with a reality in which criminals like Jack the Ripper stalked the streets and people didn't trust the police, who were generally regarded as corrupt and incompetent. Into this gap stepped the world's first consulting detective, an amateur reasoner of some repute by the name of Sherlock Holmes, who shot to fame in the pages of The Strand Magazine in 1891. When Conan Doyle proceeded to kill Holmes off in 1893, it was American playwright, director, and actor William Gillette who brought the character back to life in his 1899 play Sherlock Holmes, creating a sensation on both sides of the Atlantic with his romantic version of Holmes, and cementing his place as the definitive Sherlock Holmes until the late 1930s. By that point, Sherlock Holmes had developed a cult following who facetiously maintained that Holmes was a real person, formed clubs like The Baker Street Irregulars, and introduced the idea of cosplay to the embryonic world of fandom. These well-educated fanboys subsequently became the self-assigned protectors of Sherlock Holmes, anxious that their version of the character not be besmirched or defamed in any way. In spite of this, there was considerable besmirching and defaming to be seen in the early silent films featuring Sherlock Holmes, which effectively turned him into an action hero due to the lack of sound. When sound films took the industry by storm in the late 1920s, there were a numbers of pretenders who reached for the Sherlock Holmes crown, including Clive Brook, Reginald Owen, and Raymond Massey, but it took more than a decade before a new definitive Sherlock Holmes would be crowned in 1939 in the person of Basil Rathbone.

Defining Hybrid Heroes: The Leadership Spectrum from Scoundrel to Saint defines the hero (and his or her journey) from a hybrid perspective, exploring the spectrum from scoundrel to saint. It utilizes a more dynamic and situational outlook, regarding heroism not only as a personal characteristic, but also as a series of heroic acts within a given situation. The book examines the hybrid hero from several distinctive points of view, e.g. through lenses dominated by fiction, business, politics and psychology, and paints a new, more complex portrait that takes full advantage of the authors’ varied backgrounds. Inge Brokerhof has an academic background in psychology and has studied the impact of narrative fiction on workplace variables, such as career identity, employability and moral leadership. Stephan Sonnenburg has studied Joseph Campbell and the impact of the hero’s journey on creativity and innovation management. Greg Stone is a communications consultant who teaches executives and professors how to explain their work in clear and compelling language.

THE PARADOXES OF GANGSTER LOVE Admiration and sexual attraction to men who commit all kinds of crimes is a behavior that leaves no one indifferent, and when some women imbued with passion decide to have a relationship with a criminal, the subject arouses even greater interest among people. These women are driven by heightened feelings, they trace obsessive trajectories, something that drives them, makes them lose their fear, leads to changes in behavior and sometimes even reverses values. Most of the time, there is no stopping these women. And who sparks this passion? About them, stories of the difficulties and differences in the lives of these people who, even deprived of freedom, influence our environment and, above all, arouse great devotions. Hybristophilia – A behavioral issue with paradoxes between ethical and moral boundaries.

This book sheds light on gender politics and structures of power that can be found in new media, as a single structure that can be found in any game. This book brings to the public an academic dissertation, that was written to grant a Master's Degree to its author. It aims to produce knowledge regarding the modern video game medium by analyzing the narrative pertaining to one such game. To be written, a game was played and replayed to its whole extension, and analyzed throughout. The game is used as a contemporary example of the cultural form. The dissertation focuses on the narrative structure of the text using the theoretical work of Vladimir Propp and the ideas he develops in Morphology of Folktale (1968). This book argues that the morphology identified by Propp as being present in traditional folk narratives can also be found in a contemporary electronic cultural text. It also identifies and discusses issues regarding character development, the relationships between archetypes and categories, the allocation of tasks to the players within the story-as-game, the characteristics of the temporal development of the narrative, the significance and roles of the main characters, and the extent to which gender politics informs the narrative of this contemporary video game. "The thing women have yet to learn is nobody gives you power. You just take it. ― Roseanne Barr

With the rise of digital technology, educators must adapt quickly, especially in higher education. "Pedagogical Resilience, from Class to Digital Room" examines how Brazilian educators addressed technology adoption during the pandemic. It sheds light on their experiences, challenges, and innovative strategies for integrating technology into higher education during COVID-19. The book provides insights into local and international educational landscapes by placing Brazil in the global discussion. The research reveals how educators' preferences, subject matter, and institutional policies influence technology adoption. These aspects help us understand how pedagogy and technology intersect in different contexts and open for discussion about how decision-makers may impact students' development. This research also led to the development of the "Inverted Mirror" instrument. This tool helps visualize comparisons and uncover hidden aspects in qualitative and comparative studies. Initiated at Stockholm University as part of a master's degree in International and Comparative Education, the research received support from professors who confirmed the instrument's relevance. A dedicated section in the book explains the "Inverted Mirror" instrument's functionalities and components. This book invites readers to learn from Brazilian educators' experiences and explore how technology is changing teaching methods.