In his riveting debut Marquise Thompson unveils a creative tale that sheds ligh on the hidden pains that we all experience in life. As he seeks to stomp out the ignorance that exists in his lifestyle, he is forced to confront the inner struggle and turmoil that comes along with such a journey of self exploration. While following Thompson as he undertakes this expedition, we are introduced to a young man who also faces considerable hardships of his own. Santino Brown attempts to navigate the tough terrains of the Tree Port Projects while simultaneously managing the quotidian stresses of being an African American male. Travel with Thompson as he uses Santino to illustrate the life lessons he has learned thus far.

THE HILLS ARE ALIVE...WITH THE SOUND OF SUCKING Maria von Trapp is sweet, innocent, and can sing like an angel. Oh, and she's also a bloodthirsty vampire. When Maria is kicked out of the zombie-infested abbey where she's been residing for the past 612 years, she's forced to take care of the family Von Trapp, a rowdy clan in need of some serious discipline... or vampirification. After Maria turns the Von Trapp children into children of the night and marries the Von Trapp patriarch, the family seems destined for eternal (really, really eternal) bliss. But the Nazi Undeath Squads are on the march, intent on ridding Europe of bloodsuckers. And Maria will have to do everything in her power—supernatural or otherwise—to save her vampire brood. Sixteen going on seventeen members of our legal team have instructed us to tell you, even though it should be obvious, that My Favorite Fangs was not prepared, authorized, licensed, approved, or endorsed by any person or entity involved in the creation or production of The Sound of Music film, or any version of the stage musical. That seventeenth wouldn't take our call because he was too busy drinking his tea—a drink with jam and bread—to weigh in.

In Refusal, her searing new collection of poetry, Jenny Molberg draws on elements of the uncanny—invented hospitals, the Demogorgon of Dungeons & Dragons, an Ophelia character who refuses suicide—to investigate trauma, addiction, and forces of oppression. Exposing the effects of widespread toxic misogyny, this confrontational volume examines societal, cultural, and personal gaslighting in situations of domestic abuse. As Molberg writes in “Loving Ophelia Is,” “love and hate simultaneously is the trick of abuse / and the trick of abuse is a vexation of the mind.” A sequence of epistolary poems looks to friendship as a safe haven from violent romantic relationships, while another series on a mother’s struggle with addiction captures the complicated nature of a parent-child relationship affected by alcoholism. Refusal seeks to break silences and to interrogate a cultural misogyny that weighs heavily on a woman’s position in the world.

Paid work is absolutely central to the culture and politics of capitalist societies, yet today’s work-centred world is becoming increasingly hostile to the human need for autonomy, spontaneity and community. The grim reality of a society in which some are overworked, whilst others are condemned to intermittent work and unemployment, is progressively more difficult to tolerate. In this thought-provoking book, David Frayne questions the central place of work in mainstream political visions of the future, laying bare the ways in which economic demands colonise our lives and priorities. Drawing on his original research into the lives of people who are actively resisting nine-to-five employment, Frayne asks what motivates these people to disconnect from work, whether or not their resistance is futile, and whether they might have the capacity to inspire an alternative form of development, based on a reduction and social redistribution of work. A crucial dissection of the work-centred nature of modern society and emerging resistance to it, The Refusal of Work is a bold call for a more humane and sustainable vision of social progress.

The inspiring, relatable, and sometimes outrageous true story of how one man used 100 days of rejection therapy to overcome fear and dare to live more boldly “Rejection Proof smashes fear in the face with a one-two punch. You’ll laugh out loud at Jia’s crazy social experiments, but you’ll also go away thinking differently about what you can accomplish.”—Chris Guillebeau, New York Times bestselling author of The Happiness Pursuit Jia Jiang’s TEDx Talk, “What I learned from 100 days of rejection,” has amassed over ten million views! Jia Jiang came to the United States with the dream of being the next Bill Gates. But despite early success in the corporate world, his first attempt to pursue his entrepreneurial dream ended in rejection. Jia was crushed and spiraled into a period of deep self-doubt. Jia realized that his fear of rejection was a bigger obstacle than any single rejection would ever be; he needed to find a way to cope with being told “no” that wouldn’t destroy him. Inspired by rejection therapy, which uses similar modalities as exposure therapy to desensitize you to the effects of being rejected, he undertook the “100 days of rejection” experiment, during which he willfully sought out rejection on a daily basis—from requesting a lesson in sales from a car salesman (no) to asking a flight attendant if he could make an announcement on the loud speaker (yes) to his famous request to get Krispy Kreme donuts in the shape of Olympic rings (yes, with a viral video to prove it). Over the course of one hundred rejection attempts, Jia realized that even the most preposterous wish might be granted if you ask the right way. He learned the secrets to making successful requests, tactics for picking the right people to approach at the right time, and strategies for converting an initial no into something positive. More important, Jia discovered ways to steel himself against rejection and live more fearlessly—skills that can’t be derailed by a single setback. The changes Jia experienced from his rejection therapy experiment went far beyond becoming more successful in business; he realized that he could apply these techniques to get more out of his relationships with friends, family, and even casual encounters with strangers. Filled with great stories and valuable insight, Rejection Proof shares the secrets of Jia’s rejection journey, distilling each lesson into a strategy that can be used in any negotiation or pitch.

Hundreds of Israeli soldiers, called up to take part in controversial campaigns like the 1982 invasion of Lebanon or policing duties in the Palestinian territories today, have refused orders. Many of these 'refuseniks' have faced prison sentences rather than take part in what they regard as an unjust occupation in defence of illegal Jewish settlements. In this inspirational book, Peretz Kidron, himself a refusenik, gives us the stories, experiences, viewpoints, even poetry, of these courageous conscripts who believe in their country, but not in its actions beyond its borders. We read about the cautious, even embarrassed, response of the authorities. And we see the wider implications of the philosophy of selective refusal - which is not the same thing as pacifism -- for conscientious citizens in every country where conscription still exists. Here is a real model for the peace movement in Israel and worldwide.