Entertainment Science

Hiro and the gang get dragged into rescuing the daughters of an elf patriarch and receive a warm welcome from the elven home planet. The elves here are nothing like Hiro imagined--they know nothing of modern science and rely on magic rather than technology. As Hiro and the girls sample local delicacies, enjoy the sights, and get a crash course in elven fashion, they find that Hiro seems to wield a power much like the elves' magic...

In 1939, 50 million Americans went to the movies every week, Louis B. Mayer was the highest-paid man in the country, and Hollywood produced 530 feature films a year. One decade and five thousand movies later, the studios were faltering....

Seth Grahame-Smith delivers the definitive, essential guide to making it through a horror movie in one piece. As hilarious as it is useful (if you’re trapped in a scary flick, that is), How to Survive a Horror Movie covers all the bases. Trapped in a haunted house? Check. Stalked by an evil doll? Check. Wandering aimlessly through the remains of the old world as a plague of zombies sweeps over the planet? Check.

Considered by many to be a founder of Afrofuturism, Sun Ra - a.k.a. Herman Blount - was a composer, keyboardist, bandleader, philosopher, entrepreneur, poet, and self-proclaimed extraterrestrial from Saturn. He recorded over 200 albums with his Arkestra, which, dressed in Egypto-space costumes, played everything from boogie-woogie and swing to fusion and free jazz.

The task ahead is clear: it's time for Fate to go to the floating continent of Galia to close the Door to Distant Lands at last. Libra has prepared a ship to take Fate and his friends there, but after boarding, they find Eris has been taken hostage! Even so, they have no choice but to continue on to Galia.

Ah, summer. The perfect time for rest and relaxation. Well, maybe for everyone else, but for Melody, the world's most perfect maid, rest is a four-letter word. Melody's determined to keep her lady taken care of—and a good thing too! Because, to Luciana's dismay, she comes home to find the place in dire straits with wilted crops and a house in disrepair. But with a bit of elbow grease and a few flicks of the wrist, surely there's no rubble Melody can't clear, no chaos she can't bring order to, and no mystery she can't uncover! Don't fret, Luciana—Melody is here to save summer!

The festive season brings good cheer—and new trouble! Taiga's back from suspension and suddenly on her best behaviour, Minori's struggling with softball club and being weird around Ryuuji, and Kitamura, newly christened as a student council president, is planning a Christmas party! With preparations for the celebration going full-steam under these volatile conditions, it looks like stocking stuffers won't be the only surprise in wait before the year is over!

Lief, Barda, and Jasmine are on a perilous quest to find the seven lost gems of the magic belt of Deltora. Only when all the gems have been restored to the belt can Deltora be freed from the tyranny of the evil Shadow Lord. Four gems have been found. Now, though grave news reaches Lief from home, and he longs to return, the quest must continue. To find the fifth stone the heroes must venture almost to the border of the Shadowlands, and plunge into the darkness and terror of the realm of the monstrous toad Gellick - Dread Mountain.

In this book, Michael Smith and Rahul Telang, experts on entertainment analytics, show how the success of House of Cards upended the film and TV industries - and how companies like Amazon and Apple are changing the rules in other entertainment industries, notably publishing and music. We're living through a period of unprecedented technological disruption in the entertainment industries.

Her family dead, alone in a corpse-strewn metropolis, she has no choice but to survive. She needs food, shelter, a safe place to sleep. She discovers that an ordinary girl is capable of extraordinary things, and that she's more resilient than she imagined. Even so, she wishes more than anything that she could just find another survivor. Unfortunately for Scarlett, not everyone who survived the plague is looking for companionship. And she's about to find out just how difficult survival really is.

In this fascinating analysis of how to listen to both contemporary and classical music analytically, eminent American composer Aaron Copland offers provocative suggestions that will bring listeners a deeper appreciation of the most viscerally rewarding of all art forms.

This explosively entertaining memoir abounds in gossip, satire, historical apercus, and trenchant observations. Vidal’s compelling narrative weaves back and forth in time, providing a whole view of the author’s celebrated life, from his birth in 1925 to today, and features a cast of memorable characters - including the Kennedy family, Marlon Brando, Anais Nin, and Eleanor Roosevelt.

Nineteen-year-old second-year quarterback Quentin Barnes has overcome racism and unified his team. He led the Ionath Krakens to a lower-tier championship, a championship that earned them promotion into the meat grinder known as "Tier One." Now, Quentin and his teammates have to compete against the greatest football teams ever assembled, and do far more than just survive each game. As he rebuilds the team in his own image, Quentin's true quest for a Tier One championship begins.

All over the country, a strange phenomenon is happening. Some teenagers who die aren't staying dead. They are coming back to life, but they are no longer the same - they stutter, and their reactions to everything are slower. Termed "living impaired" or "differently biotic," they are doing their best to fit into a society that doesn't want them. Fitting in is hard enough when you don't have the look or attitude, but when almost everyone else is alive and you're not, it's close to impossible.

Monsters, mystery, and magic abound in this stunning, illustrated collection of original fairy tales from the World of Warcraft universe, as told by an all-star cast of best-selling, award-winning storytellers.

Imagine stepping into a fully immersive game, socializing with friends from around the globe in a virtual lounge, or exercising in an environment tailored to your exact preferences—all from the comfort of your home. Smart Entertainment explores the incredible advancements in AR/VR technologies that are turning these fantasies into realities, and reveals the innovative applications that will shape how we relax, connect, and have fun in the future.

In the early '80s, the music industry wrote off hip-hop as a passing fad. Few could or would have predicted that the improvised raps and raw beats busting out of New York City's urban underclass would one day become a multimillion-dollar business and one of music's most lucrative genres. Among those few were two visionaries: Russell Simmons, a young black man from Hollis, Queens, and Rick Rubin, a Jewish kid from Long Island.

Max “the Wolf” is a top-notch Boy Scout, an expert at orienteering, and a master of being prepared. So it is a little odd that he suddenly finds himself, with no recollection of his immediate past, lost in an unfamiliar wood. Even odder still, he encounters a badger named Banderbrock, a black bear named Walden, and McTavish the Monster (who might also be an old barn cat) - all of whom talk - and who are as clueless as Max.

Perhaps all of Jonathan Ames' problems, and the genesis of this hilarious audiobook, can be traced back to the late onset of his puberty. After all, it can't be easy to be 16 with a hairless penis "undistinguishable from that of a five-year-old's".

Emma, test pilot for an experimental mobile knight called Atalanta, heads to the Seventh Weapons Factory for upgrades. But the prototype's development team is visiting, and they seem to have lost faith in Atalanta! When a strange engineer nicknamed the "Mad Genius" warns against piloting the mobile knight, development seems on the verge of grinding to a halt. On top of that, who's behind the mysterious organization pursuing the prototype craft?! Find out in the second volume of a failure's rise to glory!