When a valuable Nazi SS Skull Head ring - one of the most sought-after World War II collectables - is mistakenly left behind at his new Savannah business, Freemason military historian Jake Tununda sets out to Sapelo Island, Georgia to find its owner. He meets Doctor Blackbeard - the Hoodoo root doctor, Buffalo Soldier, Prince Hall Mason, and legendary Saltwater Geechee moonshine king. Jake's good intentions soon backfire as he's thrust into a deadly domestic situation involving an abusive guardian and the pilfering of sacred land belonging to slave descendants. His moral compass is sent spinning after he finds out the skull ring is evidence of a dark military program kept secret since the final days of the war: Operation Overcast and the human smuggling of Nazis back to America. From author Michael Karpovage comes another brilliantly-plotted and meticulously-researched novel meshing historical fact with an adventurous treasure hunt. Skull of Disguises is centered around a mysterious 1945 German U-boat buried deep in the maritime forest of a remote Georgia barrier island. Coupled with a manhunt for the ruthless master thief Phoenix and a showdown with brutal Sinaloa cartel drug smugglers, Jake must overcome several deadly confrontations before he and his team can make the perilous trek to find the German U-boat. And what lurks inside.

Disguise devices figure in many early modern English plays, and an examination of them clearly affords an important reflection on the growth of early theatre as well as on important aspects of the developing nation. In this study Peter Hyland considers a range of practical issues related to the performance of disguise. He goes on to examine various conceptual issues that provide a background to theatrical disguise (the relation of self and "other", the meaning of mask and performance). He looks at many disguise plays under three broad headings. He considers moral issues (the almost universal association of disguise with "evil"); social issues (sumptuary legislation, clothing, and the theatre, and constructions of class, gender and national or racial identity); and aesthetic issues (disguise as an emblem of theatre, and the significance of disguise for the dramatic artist). The study serves to examine the significant ways in which disguise devices have been used in early modern drama in England.

Making and Manipulating Marionettes is a comprehensive guide to the design, construction and control of string puppets, a craft and performance art that has fascinated audiences for over two thousand years. Topics covered include: An introduction to the marionette tradition and the principles and practicalities of marionette design Advice on materials and methods for carving, modelling and casting puppet parts Step-by-step instructions for the construction of human and animal marionettes using traditional techniques and latest materials Detailed explanations for marionette control, stringing and manipulation Secrets for achieving a wide range of special effects and traditional acts, tricks and transformations

The young American Lynn Blake is the assistant to the famous photographer Arno Leonardi. She accompanys him to Venice for a photo shoot. Suddenly her boss disappears under mysterious circumstances. Lynn meets a charming man, but he seems suspicious. Did he have anything to do with the kidnapping? Lynn is not satisfied with the Italian police work, so she searches for her boss herself - and soon finds herself in trouble. She finds clues in the glorious Venetian past and goes to a party during the famous Venetian carneval. There she runs into a billionaire, who could be an important witness - or the killer of Arno Leonardi ...

A story of imagination and adventure from the acclaimed author of The Misadventures of Frederick, Ben Manley, and Daddy Long Legs illustrator Aurélie Guillerey. Who will Albert be next? A fearless mountaineer, a brilliant mechanical engineer or a galactic megalord? Anything is possible with an imagination like Albert's as he powers through his day. As a boy, Albert is nervous in a swimming lesson, but as Zandrian Delaclair, Antarctic Submariner and slayer of vampire cuttlefish, he's as brave and bold as can be. Show and Tell in front of the whole class can be a bit scary, but by imagining himself to be Professor Octavius Pickleswick he's proud to show off his greatest invention yet. A brilliantly funny story, full of exciting things to look at, about the joys of being whoever you want to be . . . and the comfort of sometimes just being yourself.

In this ground-breaking and provocative book, Roy Grundmann contends that Andy Warhol's notorious 1964 underground film, Blow Job, serves as rich allegory as well as suggestive metaphor for post-war American society's relation to homosexuality. Arguing that Blow Job epitomizes the highly complex position of gay invisibility and visibility, Grundmann uses the film to explore the mechanisms that constructed pre-Stonewall white gay male identity in popular culture, high art, science, and ethnography. Grundmann draws on discourses of art history, film theory, queer studies, and cultural studies to situate Warhol's work at the nexus of Pop art, portrait painting, avant-garde film, and mainstream cinema. His close textual analysis of the film probes into its ambiguities and the ways in which viewers respond to what is and what is not on screen. Presenting rarely reproduced Warhol art and previously unpublished Ed Wallowitch photographs along with now iconic publicity shots of James Dean, Grundmann establishes Blow Job as a consummate example of Warhol's highly insightful engagement with a broad range of representational codes of gender and sexuality. Roy Grundmann is Assistant Professor of Film Studies at Boston University and a contributing editor of Cineaste.