Entertainment Science

Alex Lockerby’s father once told him that it’s the simple jobs that take the longest, and finding missing things is about as simple a job as Alex can get. When wealthy socialites hire him to track down their wayward daughter, finding her is easy, but that’s just the beginning of his problems.

The Disneyland Story: The Unofficial Guide to the Evolution of Walt Disney's Dream is the story of how Walt Disney's greatest creation was conceived, nurtured, and how it grew into a source of joy and inspiration for generations of visitors. Despite his successors' battles with the whims of history and their own doubts and egos, Walt's vision maintained momentum, thrived, and taught future generations how to do it Walt Disney's way.

Bond and the Beatles present us with opposing values, visions of the British culture, and ideas about sexual identity. Love and Let Die is the story of a clash between working class liberation and establishment control, and how it exploded on the global stage. It explains why James Bond hated the Beatles, why Paul McCartney wanted to be Bond, and why it was Ringo who won the heart of a Bond Girl in the end.

Forged in the stress of early motherhood, The Mother Artist explores the fraught yet generative ties between caregiving and creative practice. As a young mother working at a museum, essayist Catherine Ricketts began asking questions about the making of motherhood and the making of art. Now, with incantatory prose and an intuitive gaze, she twines intimate meditations on parenthood with studies of the work and lives of painters, writers, dancers, musicians, and other creatives.

When a madman starts robbing banks the really old-fashioned way - by blowing holes in them with magical explosives - the police want Alex to catch him before he kills and robs again. Alex splits his time between chasing the homicidal bomber and helping Danny figure out what happened to a dead writer who was basing her book on Broadway’s most famous murder. While the bomber continues to elude Alex, he becomes convinced that the writer was killed by someone who wanted the old murder to remain unsolved.

When a bizarre string of locked-room murders terrorize New York, the police have no leads, no suspects, and only one place to turn. Now private detective Alex Lockerby will need every magical trick in his book to catch a killer who can walk through walls and leaves no trace. Unfortunately Alex's magic hasn't been working very well. He can't even manage to track down several truckloads of stolen goods, including one belonging to New York's preeminent sorcerer, Andrew Barton.

Bolstered by his new allies, Noel aims to join the regalia, the seven greatest Seeker clans. He learns that in a year's time, one of the most powerful beast lords in history, a Valiant, will manifest and terrorize the world. Before catastrophe strikes, Noel has to defeat the Dantalion, a deadly psychic monster, and free the falsely imprisoned Puppeteer Hugo. What ingenious plot will he hatch to achieve all this and clinch his spot at the top?

Nora has survived the dark caves, and emerged with Hunter by her side. But her escape is quickly tainted as she realizes the biggest danger still lies ahead.... She has been transformed, and powers she has never known begin to manifest themselves within her body. As she struggles to gain control, how long will she be able to restrain herself - and her new bloodlust - from taking over?

Believe it or not, America's fascination with celebrity culture was thriving well before the days of TMZ, Perez Hilton, Charlie Sheen's breakdown, and allegations against Woody Allen. And the stars of yesteryear? They weren't always the saints that we make them out to be. Part biography, part cultural history, the stories contained in this book cover the stuff that films are made of: love, sex, drugs, illegitimate children, illicit affairs, and botched cover-ups.

Dive into the moral philosophy at the heart of all four seasons of NBC's The Good Place, guided by academic experts, including the show's philosophical consultants Pamela Hieronymi and Todd May, and featuring a foreword from creator and showrunner Michael Schur.

The Ultimate History of the '80s Teen Movie goes behind the scenes of a genre where cult hits mingled with studio blockbusters, where giants like Spielberg and Coppola rubbed shoulders with baby-faced first-timers, and where future superstars Sean, Demi, and Tom all got their big break. Music, comedy, and politics all play a part in the surprisingly complex history of the '80s teen movie. And while the films might have been aimed primarily at adolescents, the best tackle universal issues and remain relevant to all ages.

Long before drag queens dominated the media, before gender-bending, before punk, even before Stonewall, there was Jayne County. From the 60s to the 90s she was the craziest, the most extreme queen ever to hit a rock 'n' roll stage. She's known and worked with Warhol, Bowie, and Derek Jarman, been an actress, a singer and a prostitute. She's the world's original rock 'n' roll trans star, crossing the genders in the full glare of publicity.

The King of the Trees is an imaginative and inspirational tale that blends the allegorical richness of C. S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia with the creative depth and realism of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. What do an old wooden box, a jeweled pendant and some mysterious, green-garbed strangers have in common? Solving this riddle takes Rolin, son of Gannon, worlds beyond the walls of his little log cabin.

Bawdy and exotic, Tales from the Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night features the wily, seductive Scheherazade, who saves her own life by telling tales of magical transformation, genies and wishes, flying carpets and fantastical journeys, terror and passion to entertain and appease the brutal King Shahryar.

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.

When the FBI wants to sweep the murder of a US Senator under the rug, Alex Lockerby must navigate the halls of political power and corruption in order to catch a professional killer and uncover dark conspiracy that threatens the very foundations of government. Hired by the widow of a murdered US Senator, Alex Lockerby is shocked to find out that she’s the only one who seems to want the crime solved.

Lief, Barda, and Jasmine are desperately searching for the three parts of the fabled Pirran Pipe, their only hope of saving the thousands of Deltorans held captive by the evil Shadow Lord. As their loved ones left behind in Del struggle in a thickening web of rumour, suspicion and treachery, the companions move on to the mysterious island of Auron. They have been warned that terrible dangers await them. But nothing can prepare them for the reality of what is to come.

Dominion ghosts epitomize the height of terran evolution and physical conditioning. Augmented by technologies that harness their innate psionic potential, these lethal operatives use telepathy and other superhuman powers to isolate and destroy the enemies of the Dominion. But when the hunters become the hunted and ghosts start disappearing without a trace, even the most dangerous human soldiers in the Koprulu sector have something to fear....

Answers and vengeance are so close that Absalom Scryne can almost taste them. Perhaps if his consciousness had been transferred to a pair of shoes instead of a hat, he would've had the necessary tongue to do so . . . Having made it through the Badlands by the skin of his crooked yellow teeth, Ig the kobold celebrated the achievement by blowing everyone up. Now, separated from the unhygienic scalp of his apprentice, Absalom must navigate the pitch-black underworld.

What would happen to international politics if the dead rose from the grave and started to eat the living? Daniel Drezner's groundbreaking book answers the question that other international relations scholars have been too scared to ask. Addressing timely issues with analytical bite, Drezner looks at how well-known theories from international relations might be applied to a war with zombies.