Historic house museums--one of the most prevalent types of history museums in the country--have long depicted the owners of the house and their families, but representing the servants has introduced a unique set of challenges. While museum professionals have increasingly incorporated women, immigrants, African Americans, and other minorities into portrayals of the past, these portrayals often show an idealistic world without class antagonisms or ethnic conflict. Exploring the domestic conflicts that may have existed between mistress and servant often creates a more vivid and believable experience for guests. Through her examination of the pitfalls of interpretation, Pustz offers advice for museum professionals on programming accurate and compelling depictions of those who lived their lives in the back stairs and kitchen rather than in the parlor. Based on extensive surveys of historians at historic house museums, this informative study presents examples of successful interpretation programs, including those that have made the kitchen and servants' quarters the most popular stops on the tour. Pustz encourages museum curators to look beyond the archives of their own institution and explore other era-appropriate sources, including advertising and housekeeping guides, when trying to create a complete picture of the house's servants, who often left behind few records.

The Vampire Nation goes to war with the United States military. Caught in the crossfire is Major Ursula Carlson, whose attempt to change the military's perspective on the use of vampires in military operations is largely ignored. Since the military feels they can't trust the vampires, they intend to destroy them. Denied a promotion to head an elite force, Ursula is on the run for attempting to stop the slaughter. Solomon and a handful of vampires, along with Ursula, are the only ones standing between the human race and the vampire nation.

All the Lost Voices is a first-person narrative that vacillates between the narrator’s present condition in a Mexico City brothel and his past experiences growing up fast and frightened in the unforgiving landscape of his hometown, Paterson, New Jersey. The parallel story lines are artfully interwoven creating a sometimes furious, sometimes apologetic exposition that encompasses not only a glimpse into the current psychosis of the protagonist, Tony De Felice, but a rearward view of the process that has brought this madness to surface. Alcoholism, violence, thieving, murder, exile, the imprisonment of his father, the loss of a fragile youth—all are addressed in drunken rants and gentle, often philosophical appeals to the reader, a tempestuous marriage of form and content offset by unexpectedly funny bits of wisdom and hilarious scenes of youthful indiscretion. The novel advances in several directions at once, from Nuevo Laredo to Mexico City to Tuxpan in the present tense, and from Paterson to Florida to Oregon to any and all points of the American map in the past tense, via car, train, plane, and bus. Yet in spite of this motion, the narrator remains emotionally frozen, bound to his past and locked within the parameters of his mind, feverishly writing his way towards an elusive understanding of himself.

This early work by the Booker Prize-winning author Barry Unsworth chronicles one of his literary obsessions the corruption of innocence and forms it into a compelling contemporary narrative set in the rambling, overgrown grounds of an English estate. There, relying on his rich sister Audrey's beneficence, Simon obsessively digs a secret system of tunnels from which to spy on others. When Josh, a good-looking naif, becomes a gardener at Audrey's home, the two women of the household, Audrey and her distant relative and housekeeper, Marion, find Josh's strength and seeming innocence a potent spell, and his response escalates unacknowledged tensions between them. Meanwhile, Simon, worried about Josh, takes steps to prevent the exposure of his underground labyrinth. The explosive chemistry between the characters will eventually rip apart and rearrange all their lives.

One night, when Ethan reaches under his bed for a toy truck, he finds this note instead: "Monsters! Meet here for final test." Ethan is sure his parents are trying to trick him into staying under the covers, until he sees five colorful sets of eyes blinking at him from beneath the bed. Soon, a colorful parade of quirky, squeaky little monsters compete to become Ethan's monster. But only the little green monster, Gabe, has the perfect blend of stomach-rumbling and snorting needed to get Ethan into bed and keep him there so he falls asleep—which as everyone knows, is the real reason for monsters under beds. With its perfect balance of giggles and shivers, this silly-spooky prequel to the award-winning I Need My Monster and Hey, That's MY Monster! will keep young readers entertained.

Seventeen-year-old twins Sadie and Mason Peabody deal regularly with the usual teenage drama: school, friends, and parents. But bright and intuitive as they are, neither could have guessed just what destiny has in store for them. Centuries before, an intricate plan was laid by the Originals, a group of witches and warlocks who struggled to maintain the balance between light and dark magic. Their efforts set into motion an eternal battle that threatens to entomb the world in a maze of power, ambition, and fear. These powerful magic users knew that they needed some insurance against oblivion, so they devised a way to secretly transfer their magic through their lineage. Sadie and Mason are suddenly forced into the family business, a world of magic they cant hope to understand, let alone control. The twins must now find a way to navigate their strange new existence. As the old world collides with the new, the bizarre becomes their new normal. As a force more powerful than even the Originals is unleashed, the newest witch and warlock in the family will have to dig deep to survive, let alone save the world.

Meet the operatives of the Carnacki Institute—JC Chance: the team leader, brave, charming, and almost unbearably arrogant; Melody Chambers: the science geek who keeps the antisupernatural equipment running; and Happy Jack Palmer: the terminally gloomy telepath. Their mission: Do Something About Ghosts. Lay them to rest, send them packing, or just kick their nasty ectoplasmic arses… In a quiet London suburb, four university students participating in an experiment inside a reputed haunted house hold a séance that goes terribly wrong. What—or who—ever they summoned has taken their minds away, leaving them empty shells. Enter the Ghost Finders, ready to confront an enraged poltergeist for the students’ very souls. All in a day’s work—except the team doesn’t know that in another part of the city, a different entity has also breached the threshold between worlds. And this time what is at stake is not four lives—but the very existence of all humanity.