Anna Elizabeth Draeger’s book Crystal Play is a treat for beaders who are captivated by the versatility of crystals in jewelry. Stitchers will explore even more combinations of crystals, new crystal shapes, seed beads, and even some new bead shapes like Tila and peanut beads. Anna showcases these crystals using techniques that include plenty of favorite stitches such as peyote, St. Petersburg chain, herringbone, and right-angle weave. But Anna also includes a few surprise alternatives, like crossweave, fringe technique, and easy wireworking. The projects include many bracelets (which readers love as they are quick and satisfying), a few necklaces, and many bonus design variations (earrings, rings, pendants). Anna’s playful, imaginative look is what truly sets this book apart!

In this exhilarating and often hilarious book, David Crystal examines why we devote so much time and energy to language games, how professionals make a career of them, and how young children instinctively take to them. Crystal makes a simple argument-that since playing with language is so natural, a natural way to learn language is to play with it-while he discusses puns, crosswords, lipograms, comic alphabets, rhymes, funny voices taken from dialect and popular culture, limericks, anagrams, scat singing, and much more.

Refining Sound is a practical roadmap to the complexities of creating sounds on modern synthesizers. As author, veteran synthesizer instructor Brian K. Shepard draws on his years of experience in synthesizer pedagogy in order to peel back the often-mysterious layers of sound synthesis one-by-one. The result is a book which allows readers to familiarize themselves with each individual step in the synthesis process, in turn empowering them in their own creative or experimental work. The book follows the stages of synthesis in chronological progression, starting readers at the raw materials of sound creation and ultimately bringing them to the final "polishing" stage. Each chapter focuses on a particular aspect of the synthesis process, culminating in a last chapter that brings everything together as the reader creates his/her own complex sounds. Throughout the text, the material is supported by copious examples and illustrations as well as by audio files and synthesis demonstrations on a related companion website. Each chapter contains easily digestible guided projects (entitled "Your Turn" sections) that focus on the topics of the corresponding chapter. In addition to this, one complete project will be carried through each chapter of the book cumulatively, allowing the reader to follow - and build - a sound from start to finish. The final chapter includes several sound creation projects in which readers are given types of sound to create as well as some suggestions and tips, with final outcomes is left to readers' own creativity. Perhaps the most difficult aspect of learning to create sounds on a synthesizer is to understand exactly what each synthesizer component does independent of the synthesizer's numerous other components. Not only does this book thoroughly illustrate and explain these individual components, but it also offers numerous practical demonstrations and exercises that allow the reader to experiment with and understand these elements without the distraction of the other controls and modifiers. Refining Sound is essential for all electronic musicians from amateur to professional levels of accomplishment, students, teachers, libraries, and anyone interested in creating sounds on a synthesizer.

Diane Whiting presents the idea that convertibility isn’t just about using pieces in multiple ways; it is also about using your skills and creativity in multiple ways. Using ever-popular, sparkling crystals, Diane showcases design elements through various techniques, for fun, easy, fashionable jewelry. With 25 projects, the reader can choose from bracelets, necklaces, and earrings that match any outfit or style.

The reader, as the intrepid Doctor Who, must discover what power is eroding the barriers between time and space on the planet Gathwyr by confronting the dark lord of the Vortex Crystal

The Fatherhood By: Mark Reinhardt The Fatherhood is a suspense-filled crime novel about the horrors and realities of drug-dealing and using – what happens when good people go bad and the ways fathers can shape their children for better or for worse. Greg Johnson, the loving father of Brad, opens the novel in his quest for the drug dealer who sold his son the drugs that ended his life. The story then launches into that drug dealer’s story, Patrick Landoff, the university football prodigy who crushes his knee and turns to opiates. He gets involved with unsavory characters in his quest to feed his addiction, mixing with drug kingpins, double-dealing minions, and loose women. This book is unique in that it humanizes the drug dealers while impressing upon readers the seriousness of the crimes they’re committing. Brad Johnson’s father will not rest until he finds justice for his son and readers are treated to a wild ride on the journey with him.