Zeitlin's study centers on the seventeenth century, one of the most interesting and creative periods of Chinese literature and politically one of the most traumatic, witnessing the overthrow of the Ming, the Manchu conquest, and the subsequent founding of the Qing. Drawing on fiction, drama, poetry, medical cases, and visual culture, the author departs from more traditional literary studies, which tend to focus on a single genre or author. Ranging widely across disciplines, she integrates detailed analyses of great literary works with insights drawn from the history of medicine, art history, comparative literature, anthropology, religion, and performance studies. The Phantom Heroine probes the complex literary and cultural roots of the Chinese ghost tradition. Zeitlin is the first to address its most remarkable feature: the phenomenon of verse attributed to phantom writers - that is, authors actually reputed to be spirits of the deceased. This book should appeal to readers interested in Chinese studies, gender studies, comparative literature, performance studies, the history of religion, and of course, ghost stories and the occult

A doctor and a reformed bad-boy vampire struggle with danger and their desires in this New York Times–bestselling paranormal romantic suspense novel. Dr. Melanie Lipton is no stranger to the supernatural. She knows immortals better than they know themselves, right down to their stubborn little genes. So although a handsome rogue immortal seems suspicious to her colleagues, Sebastien Newcombe intrigues Melanie. His history is checkered, his scars are impressive, and his ideas are daring. But it's not his ideas that have Melanie fighting off surges of desire… Bastien is used to being the bad guy. In fact, he can't remember the last time he had an ally he could trust. But Melanie is different—and under her calm, professional exterior he senses a passion beyond anything in his centuries of experience. Giving in to temptation is out of the question—he can't put her in danger. But she isn't asking him… RT Book Reviews“With this excellent entry, rising star Duvall is fast proving to be a major player in paranormal romance!”— “With a deeply emotional love story, two beautiful, complex main characters, and a pulse-pounding adventure that won’t let up, this book was haunting and addictive.”—The Romance Reviews

Megan Carey was ready to embark on a trip to Europe, finally taking time to do something purely for herself, but when she finds her father on the brink of suicide, her plans go out the window. Her father is being blackmailed by a reclusive genius who’s demanded TK Carey show up to answer for his crimes. Panicked, Megan volunteers to go in his place. Ethan Winslowe is a brilliant, eccentric architect with a grudge. In his odd, rambling mansion, he waits for Megan’s father to enact his revenge, but when Megan comes in his stead, Ethan has a new prisoner to answer for the crimes. At first, Megan is afraid of the strange, dark man who tormented her father with threats of public ruin. Ethan is mysterious and deeply secretive, refusing to allow himself to be seen in the light of day. But soon, Megan’s fear is replaced by curiosity and a desire to see the man who haunts her dreams, and even as she’s kept prisoner she’s drawn to him, obsessed by him, on the edge of falling in love with a phantom. Is there any way she can learn to trust a creature of darkness before the outside forces of evil destroy them both?

In this book the author examines how women detectives are portrayed in film, in literature and on TV. Chapters examine the portrayal of female investigators in each of these four genres: the Gothic novel, the lesbian detective novel, television and film.

Twin brothers discover their new home is also a portal--for an hour a day--to a parallel dimension in this spine-chilling middle-grade adventure, perfect for fans of The Mysterious Benedict Society Twelve-year-old twins Colm and Mal might look identical, but they’re different in just about every other way. The one thing they can agree on is that neither brother wants to move to Chicago for a fresh start with their mom two years after their dad’s death. The boys soon discover that their new apartment building, Brunhild Tower, is full of strange quirks: a mysterious Princess who warns them not to wander the building at midday, eerie sounds coming from the walls, and an elevator that’s missing a button for the thirteenth floor. Then one afternoon, that button appears, catapulting the brothers and their inquisitive new neighbor, Tamika, into a parallel dimension and a twin building stuck in time, where the spirits of all the former residents of Brunhild Tower live on, trapped by an ancient curse. Now, Colm, Mal, and Tamika must race against time to solve the mystery of the phantom tower—or risk spending an eternity as ghosts themselves.

Politics and paradigm shifts underlying contemporary retellings of fantastic traditional Chinese tales. Contemporary Chinese film and literature often draw on time-honored fantastical texts and tales which were founded in the milieu of patriarchy, parental authority, heteronormativity, nationalism, and anthropocentrism. Author Cathy Yue Wang examines the processes by which modern authors and filmmakers reshape these traditional tales to develop new narratives that interrogate the ingrained patriarchal paradigm. Through a rigorous analysis, Wang delineates changes in both content and narrative that allow contemporary interpretations to reimagine the gender politics and contexts of the tales retold. With a broad transmedia approach and a nuanced understanding of intertextuality, this work contributes to the ongoing negotiation in academic and popular discourse between past and present, traditional and contemporary, and text and reality in a globalized and postmodern world. Snake Sisters and Ghost Daughtersoffers an engaging interdisciplinary investigation of issues at the heart of these traditional tales such as gender and status hierarchy, marriage and family life, and in-group/out-group distinction. Beyond the content of these individual stories, Wang ties these narratives together across time using cognitive literary criticism, especially affective narratology, to shed new light on the adaptation of literary and cultural texts and their sociopolitical contexts.

A woman who earns her living on Oregon's treacherous Columbia River Bar... Bar pilot Jo Henderson knows all the myths and legends of her native Astoria, but her knowledge of the undercurrents in local events proves more deadly than she thought possible when an explosion dumps her into the Columbia's icy winter waters. Though she survives her first "accident," she's unknowingly become the target of a ruthless killer. A man sworn to save lives at the risk of his own... When Bostonian John MacFallon took the job of Astoria's police chief, he left evil behind-he thought for good. But with the suspicious "accidents" piling up, Mac uncovers a plot that threatens to cripple the regional economy and destroy the woman who has quickly become far too important to him.