Michael Adams

The end of the world happened quickly. The sun still shone, there was no explosion - just a tsunami-sized wave of human thought drowning the world in telepathic noise as everyone's inner-most secrets became audible. Everyone's thoughts, that is, except sixteen-year-old Danby. 'Everyone looked like bad actors in a poorly dubbed movie. Their expressions didn't match their emotions and their lips didn't sync with what they were saying. But they were all so loud. 'God-he-looks-hot-Can't-she's-my-best-friend-How'd-she-lose-that-weight-No-don't-you-dare-Oh-no-please-' When The Snap happens, everyone can instantly hear everything that everyone else is thinking. As secrets and lies are laid bare, suburbs and cities explode into insanity and violence. What might have been an evolutionary leap for humanity instead threatens the end of the world. Sixteen-year-old Danby Armstrong's telepathy works very differently. She can tune into other people but they can't tune into her. With only this slender defence, Danby must protect her little brother and reach the safety of her mother's mountain retreat. But it's 100 kilometres away and the highways are blocked by thousands of cars and surrounded by millions of people coming apart at the psychic seams. Danby's escape is made even more dangerous by another cataclysm that threatens our extinction. Her ability to survive this new world will be tested by a charismatic young man whose power to save lives may be worse than death itself.

The Last Girl

When President Obama signed the affordable health care act in 2009, the Vice President was overheard to utter an enthusiastic "This is a big f****** deal!" A town in Massachusetts levies $20 fines on swearing in public. Nothing is as paradoxical as our attitude toward swearing and "bad language": how can we judge profanity so harshly in principle, yet use it so frequently in practice? Though profanity is more acceptable today than ever, it is still labeled as rude, or at best tolerable only under specific circumstances. Cursing, many argue, signals an absence of character, or poor parenting, and is something to avoid at all costs. Yet plenty of us are unconcerned about the dangers of profanity; bad words are commonly used in mainstream music, Academy Award-winning films, books, and newspapers. And of course, regular people use them in conversation every day. In In Praise of Profanity, Michael Adams offers a provocative, unapologetic defense of profanity, arguing that we've oversimplified profanity by labeling it as taboo. Profanity is valuable, even essential, both as a vehicle of communication and an element of style. As much as we may deplore it in some contexts, we should celebrate it in others. Adams skillfully weaves together linguistic and psychological analyses of why we swear-for emotional release, as a way to promote group solidarity, or to create intimate relationships -- with colorful examples of profanity in literature, TV, film, and music, such as The Sopranos, James Kelman's How Late It Was, How Late, or the songs of Nellie McKay. This breezy, jargon-free book will challenge readers to reconsider the way they think about swearing.

In Praise of Profanity

In its seven years on television, Buffy the Vampire Slayer earned critical acclaim and a massive cult following among teen viewers. One of the most distinguishing features of the show is the innovative way its writers play with language--fabricating new words, morphing existing ones, and throwing usage on its head. The result has been a strikingly resonant lexicon that reflects the power of both youth culture and television in the evolution of American slang. Using the show to illustrate how new slang is formed, transformed, and transmitted, Slayer Slang is one of those rare books that combines a serious explanation of a pop culture phenomenon with an engrossing read for Buffy fans, language mavens, and pop culture critics. Noted linguist Michael Adams offers a synopsis of the program's history, an essay on the nature and evolution of the show's language, and a detailed glossary of slayer slang, annotated with actual dialogue. Introduced by Jane Espenson, one of the show's most inventive writers (and herself a linguist), Slayer Slang offers a quintessential example of contemporary youth culture serving as a vehicle for slang.

A Buffy the Vampire Slayer Lexicon

Slayer Slang:A Buffy the Vampire Slayer Lexicon

Enter the DARE awards . . . make your dreams come true! The seven winners of the inaugural DARE awards are thrust together on a life-changing journey, to cross seven continents in seven days. But on the eve of their adventure, they receive The First Sign. Before they can solve the puzzle of the mysterious symbols, a deadly attack throws one of them into a terrifying fight for life. Soon, all seven are battling an epic seven-day countdown to destruction. Can they stand together and solve The Seven Signs before their time is up? Seven teenagers. Seven signs. Seven days to save the world!

Skyfire

Philip Hurtado

Think Like a Super-GM

the people's poetry

Slang

One missing, presumed dead.Two in trouble with the law.Only four remain to solve the Second Sign. The DARE Award winnersYasmin, Zander, Andy, Dylan, JJ, Isabel and Milahave been caught in a deadly battle of wits with a mysterious enemy who isnt afraid to kill. Too late, they learned that the First Sign predicted catastrophic attacks which have left Egypt in chaos. Yasmin is missing. Many more lives are at stake.With Andy and Dylan in police custody in LA, can the remaining four DARE winners unravel the Second Signseven new symbolsand stop The Signmakers destructive plan before the countdown ends? If you could be a hero, would you DARE? Seven Signs. Seven days to save the world.

Carnage

Exploding oil wells. Millions of cars out of control. Two DARE winners in mortal danger. After Andy and Dylan are caught in a fiery explosion, Zander, JJ, Yasmin, Mila and Isabel realise their only chance to stop the next attack is to get one step ahead of The Signmaker.But the evil mastermind is far from their only problem, with the DARE winners now on the run from police, government agents and sinister suited thugs.Nowhere is safe. No-one can be trusted.Can they stay free long enough to decode the Third Sign, stop the next attack and reveal The Signmakers true identity? If you could be a hero, would you DARE?Seven Signs. Five days left to save the world.

Wipeout

RoboWorld's robots are strong, armed and perfectly safe... until now. Now, they're deadly weapons, with one thing on their minds... 'Defend, destroy!' While Zander lies dying on the ground, the rest of the DARE Seven are left to defend themselves with only small zap guns against a massive swarm of crazed robot animals-monkeys, tigers, growling lions, wolves, gorillas, and more. It sounds like an awesome video game... except that it's real. With the increasing intensity of The Signmaker's sinister scheme, the next sign will lead to something even more dangerous than facing a pack of deadly robots. It will take the DARE winners into the heart of a jungle to face Bogota's most despicable villain. If you could be a hero, would you DARE? Seven Signs. Three days left to save the world.

Crimewave

Trapped in a cargo plane. High over the jungle. The DARE winners have no choice. They must jump! If they can get off the plane alive, and survive an attack by the remnants of Marco Bravo's army, the DARE winners will have to confront Felix Scott with all the evidence they have that he is The Signmaker. What will their enemy do if he's backed into a corner? From Bogota, Colombia, to Sydney, Australia, the DARE winners have to risk everything to get to the truth and stop The Signmaker's plan for world destruction-before time is up. But it's not just the clock that's against them. The tide is turning and they're about to face their most deadly challenge yet. If you could be a hero, would you DARE? Seven Signs. Two days left to save the world.

#6 Terrortide

Seven Signs

"From award-winning author Michael Adams, Could It Happen Here? draws on groundbreaking new social research to show whether Canadian society is at risk of the populist forces afflicting the rest of the world. In vote after shocking vote, Western publics have pushed their anger to the top of their countries' political agendas. The votes have varied in their particulars, but their unifying feature has been rejection of moderation, incrementalism, and the status quo. Britons opted to leave the European Union. Americans elected Donald Trump. Far-right, populist politicians channeling anger at out-of-touch "elites" are gaining ground across Europe. Amid this roiling international scene, Canada appears placid, at least on its surface. As other societies retrench, the international media have taken notice of Canada's welcome of Syrian refugees, its half-female federal cabinet, its acceptance of climate science and mixed efforts to limit its emissions, the absence of a prominent hard-right ethno-nationalist movement. After a year in power, the centrist federal government continues to enjoy majority approval, suggesting an electorate not as bitterly split as the ones to the south or in Europe. As sceptics point out, however, Brexit and a Trump presidency were unthinkable until they happened. Could it be that Canada is not immune to the same forces of populism, social fracture, and backlash that have afflicted other parts? Our largest and most cosmopolitan city elected Rob Ford. Conservative Party leadership hopeful Kellie Leitch proposes a Canadian test for immigrants and has called the Trump victory "exciting." Anti-tax demonstrators in Alberta chanted "lock her up" in reference to Premier Rachel Notley, an elected leader accused of no wrongdoing, only policy positions the protesters disliked. In Could It Happen Here?, pollster and social values researcher Michael Adams takes Canadians into the examining room to see whether we are at risk of coming down with the malaise affecting other Western democracies. Drawing on major social values surveys of Canadians and Americans in 2016--as well as decades of tracking data in both countries--Adams examines our economy, institutions, and demographics to answer the question: could it happen here?"--

Canada in the Age of Trump and Brexit

Could It Happen Here?

A city in chaos. Seven in a desperate battle for survival. Billions across the world on the brink of apocalypse. The DARE Seven face danger from all sides: violent criminals are hunting them down, trigger-happy police suspect them of murder and The Signmaker keeps changing the rules of the game. As the clock keeps ticking towards the Fourth Sign, can Zander, Yasmin, Dylan, Andy, Isabel, Mila and JJ reach the next target and prevent the deadliest attack yet? Or will they fall victim as The Signmaker becomes ever more ruthless? If you could be a hero, would you DARE? Seven Signs. Four days left to save the world..

Killswitch

Bill Adams

Development of a Grandmaster

Anne Curzan

Contours of English assesses the state of English Language Studies, a thriving discipline located primarily in English departments and English curricula, at the beginning of the 21st century. Chapter by chapter, it is a book about aspects of English — aspects that, in their own right, will fascinate readers of various disciplines, not only English and linguistics, but also American culture, history, sociology, education, and information sciences. Section by section and as a whole, the book considers ways in which the study of English language intersects with other concerns of the English curriculum (i.e., teaching and research in Anglophone literature and culture) as well as with the related public discourses and policy interventions. Contours of English and English Language Studies is organized into four parts representing four particularly active and interesting fields central to English Language Studies. The four parts in this book include American Dialects, the History of English, English Lexicography, and English and Education. Each part is structured neither miscellaneously nor as a debate, but rather as an unfolding disciplinary conversation, and includes three chapters by leading scholars in the relevant subfield marked by different perspectives, methods, and material, as well as a response to those chapters by another leading scholar in the field. The responses are significant essays in themselves, not formulaic end-pieces to the sections; they point toward the future of English Language Studies, bearing the chapters in mind.

Contours of English and English Language Studies

A major introductory language/linguistics textbook written specifically for English and Education majors, "How English Works" is an engaging introduction to the structure of English, general theories in linguistics, and important issues in sociolinguistics. This accessible text provides more extensive coverage of issues of particular interest to English and Education majors. Tapping into our natural curiosity about language, it invites all students to connect academic linguistics to everyday use of the English language and to become active participants in the construction of linguistic knowledge. The second edition provides updated examples of current language change, including new slang, as well as new research findings on American dialects, language acquisition, language evolution, eggcorns, English and the Internet, and much more. FEATURESo Focuses on issues especially important to English and Education majors, such as American dialects, descriptive and prescriptive approaches to English grammar, the social and political issues surrounding the English language, English spelling, stylistics, language attitudes, and language education. o Provides current examples that tie the linguistic material to students' everyday experiences with the English language. Each chapter opens with a scenario that highlights key issues covered in the chapter. o Includes engaging exercises that allow students to be active investigators of the English language, connect linguistic study to literary examples, and ask students to apply material to teaching situations. o Features a building block approach, beginning with an introduction to the foundations of systematic language study and the relationship of language and authority and then progressing up through the levels of language structure, from phonology through syntax and semantics to discourse and sociolinguistics. In the second edition, each chapter even more clearly shows how these levels are interrelated. o Provides a history of English throughout the text, which culminates in two final chapters focused on the past and future of English. o Includes a wealth of useful pedagogical material, clarifying or detailing text topics and prompting student participation: Questions to Discuss, Scholar Profile, and Language Change and Language Variation at Work boxes; end-of-chapter exercises; suggested readings; and a glossary of linguistic terminology. Visit us at www.pearsonhighered.com

A Linguistic Introduction

How English Works

Les gagnants du concours OSER – Yasmin, Zander, Andy, Dylan, JJ, Isabel et Mila – ont été entraînés dans un mortel combat des esprits avec un ennemi mystérieux qui n’a pas peur de tuer. Ils ont découvert trop tard que le premier signe prédisait des attaques catastrophiques qui ont laissé l’Égypte dans le chaos. Yasmin est manquante. Plusieurs autres vies sont en jeu. Alors qu’Andy et Dylan sont sous détention policière à LA, est-ce que les quatre gagnants OSER restants pourront résoudre le deuxième signe, avec sept nouveaux symboles, et arrêter le plan destructeur du créateur de signe avant que le compte à rebours se termine? Si vous pouviez être un héros, vous iriez jusqu’à OSER?

Returning home to participate in his country's most celebrated national holiday, the young war hero desperately needed rest. After two grueling years as a field commander, he is now torn by the dilemma which awaits. Will he choose to become the leader his father, the king envisions, by tempering his ferocity in battle with fairness and sound judgment? Or will his strong desire for revenge go unchecked in response to a ruthless massacre and the murder of his best friend? The hero struggles to reconcile his growing popularity among the masses with loyalty to his less popular father. He is slowly and inevitably pulled into a crucible of political intrigue which threatens his father's reign and his own future. Set in the fictitious medieval land of Carremere, The Door Keeper entertains its readers with fast-paced action, while provoking serious consideration in son and fathers, alike, as they wrestle with the challenges of virtuous manhood.

The Doorkeeper: a Medieval Adventure

Charles Dickens

A guide to reading "Hard Times" with a critical and appreciative mind encouraging analysis of plot, style, form, and structure. Also includes background on the author's life and times, sample tests, term paper suggestions and a reading list.

Charles Dickens's Hard Times

Christopher Mayhew

The Middle East Cover-up

Publish it Not

Sixteen-year-old Danby has survived the telepathic outbreak that ravaged humanity, but now she's caught in a desperate battle for her own survival - and for the future of the world.

Michael Adams

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