The ancient Romans quite literally surrounded themselves with the dead: masks of the dead were in the atria of their houses, funerals paraded through their main marketplace, and tombs lined the roads leading into and out of the city. In Roman literature as well, the dead occupy a prominent place, indicating a close and complex relationship between literature and society. The evocation of the dead in the Latin authors of the first century BCE both responds and contributes to changing socio-political conditions during the transition from the Republic to the Empire. To understand the literary life of the Roman dead, The Ghosts of the Past develops a new perspective on Latin literature's interaction with Roman culture. Drawing on the insights of sociology, anthropology, and performance theory, Basil Dufallo argues that authors of the late Republic and early Principate engage strategically with Roman behaviors centered on the dead and their world in order to address urgent political and social concerns. Republican literature exploits this context for the ends of political competition among the clan-based Roman elite, while early imperial literature seeks to restage the republican practices for a reformed Augustan society. Calling into question boundaries of genre and literary form, Dufallo's study will revise current understandings of Latin literature as a cultural and performance practice. Works as diverse as Cicero's speeches, Propertian elegy, Horace's epodes and satires, and Vergil's Aeneid appear in a new light as performed texts interacting with other kinds of cultural performance from which they might otherwise seem isolated.

As seen in the Sony Pictures 2016 film Ghostbusters, the ultimate guide to identifying, understanding, and engaging with any paranormal activity that plagues you Years before they made headlines with the Ghostbusters, Erin Gilbert and Abby L. Yates published the groundbreaking study of the paranormal, Ghosts from Our Past. Once lost to history, this criminally underappreciated book is now updated for the new century. According to Gilbert and Yates, “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence,” and whether you’re a believer or a skeptic, you’ll find the information you’re seeking right here in this extraordinary book, including: • The childhood experiences that inspired Erin and Abby’s lifelong passion for the scientific study of the paranormal • The history of ghosts and other supernatural entities, the science that explains their existence, and profiles of the groundbreaking paranormal researchers who have investigated them • An illustrated guide to Class I through Class VII ghosts • Helpful sidebars like “A Ghost by Any Other Name” and “Ectoplasm Cleanup Tips” • Updates including “The Ghostbusters’ Arsenal” by Jillian Holtzmann and “Haunted History” by Patty Tolan • A new Ghostbusting Resources appendix, featuring the “Paranormal Quickstart Guide”, “Is It a Ghost? A Handy Quiz”, “A Supernatural Stakeout Journal”, “The Devil’s Dictionary: Paraterminology You Need to Know” With this helpful—and hilarious—official Ghostbusters guide in hand, you’ll be prepared for almost any spirit, spook, or spectre that comes your way. As for the rest, you know who to call.

A present contains a monstrous secret. An uninvited guest haunts a Christmas party. A shadow slips across the floor by firelight. A festive entertainment ends in darkness and screams. Who knows what haunts the night at the dark point of the year? This collection of seasonal chillers looks beneath Christmas cheer to a world of ghosts and horrors, mixing terrifying modern fiction with classic stories by masters of the macabre. From Neil Gaiman and M. R. James to Muriel Spark and E. Nesbit, there are stories here to make the hardiest soul quail - so find a comfy chair, lock the door, ignore the cold breath on your neck and get ready to welcome in the real spirits of Christmas.

Despite a number of brushes with the supernatural in her first six months on the job as a journalist for the capital city's favourite tabloid, the London City Observer, Jessica Bannister remains naturally suspicious whenever anyone claims that ghosts and ghouls are responsible for the mysterious goings-on in any given place – and with so many bad actors around, seemingly intent on preying on the superstitions of the locals for their own ends, who can blame her? But when the spectres of the past rear their ugly heads and she discovers there may be more to her dreams and premonitions than she first thought, she's forced to re-evaluate her scepticism and revisit painful memories from her own life as well as having visions of tragedies that happened centuries ago. Yet, in spite of the danger and heartache awaiting her, and even though she often finds herself in isolated locations, cut off from civilisation, she's determined to get to the truth – and write it all down for her readers.

A forgotten African war. A missing treasure worth killing for. German South West Africa 1906, Australian horse trader Cyril Blake is executed in cold blood by the Kaiser’s soldiers. Sydney, the present day. Blake’s great-great nephew, recently widowed Nick Eatwell, is approached by South African journalist Susan Vidler who is investigating his ancestor’s mysterious demise. Intrigued and looking for distraction, Nick discovers a long-lost manuscript which tells how Blake stayed in South Africa after serving in the Anglo Boer War and joined the Nama people in their rebellion against the Germans in South West Africa, modern-day Namibia. In Munich, historian Anja Berghoff, researching the origin of the wild ‘ghost’ horses of Namibia, stumbles across intriguing letters from Irish-German spy Claire Martin, with whom Blake had an affair. As Nick and Anja’s paths cross, they find themselves racing through southern Africa and time on the trail of a legend. But they’re not alone. Someone else is chasing these ghosts of the past, looking for clues to a hidden treasure worth killing for. Ghosts of the Past is based on a true story.

Welcome to Holmestead ~ where a stolen artifact, a voice from the past, and murder haunt this picture postcard village. Maggie and Martin welcome their newest member of the family, and settle into a normal life, all things considered. She is more than happy to hang up her amateur detective hat and become a full-time mother. But when a stranger dies in front of her shop, after warning her that Martin is in danger, she has to find the killer ~ before Martin becomes their next victim.