Straight from the cutting room floor of The Nacelle Company's hit documentary series on The History Channel comes The Center Seat companion book, full of content that almost made it in! From the complete and uncut Leonard Nimoy interview that is widely believe to be his last, to Kirstie Alley's only official interview on her Trek experience, this sweeping history of Star Trek covers everything from its origins with Lucille Ball and Desilu Studios to the real reason Enterprise was cancelled. If you're looking for a comprehensive exploration of the full legacy of Star Trek told in the words of those who made it, look no further than The Center Seat: 55 Years of Star Trek. Read more

Star Wars exploded onto our cinema screens in 1977, and the world has not been the same since. After watching depressing and cynical movies throughout the early 1970s, audiences enthusiastically embraced the positive energy of the Star Wars galaxy as they followed moisture farmer Luke Skywalker on his journey through a galaxy far, far away, meeting extraordinary characters like mysterious hermit Obi-Wan Kenobi, space pirates Han Solo and Chewbacca, loyal droids C-3PO and R2-D2, bold Princess Leia Organa and the horrific Darth Vader, servant of the dark, malevolent Emperor.Writer, director, and producer George Lucas created the modern monomyth of our time, one that resonates with the child in us all. He formed Industrial Light & Magic to develop cutting-edge special effects technology, which he combined with innovative editing techniques and a heightened sense of sound to give audiences a unique sensory cinematic experience.In this first volume, made with the full cooperation of Lucasfilm, Lucas narrates his own story, taking us through the making of the original trilogy―Episode IV A New Hope, Episode V The Empire Strikes Back, and Episode VI Return of the Jedi―and bringing fresh insights into the creation of a unique universe. Complete with script pages, production documents, concept art, storyboards, on-set photography, stills, and posters, this is the authoritative exploration of the original saga as told by its creator.About the seriesTASCHEN is 40! Since we started our work as cultural archaeologists in 1980, TASCHEN has become synonymous with accessible publishing, helping bookworms around the world curate their own library of art, anthropology, and aphrodisia at an unbeatable price. Today we celebrate 40 years of incredible books by staying true to our company credo. The 40 series presents new editions of some of the stars of our program―now more compact, friendly in price, and still realized with the same commitment to impeccable production. Read more

Masterful Suspenseful Genius WorkBuy Your Copy of this 3-Book Collection from Ingersoll Lockwood Today!Travels and Adventures of Little Baron Trump and His Wonderful Dog Bulger was written by Ingersoll Lockwood and Published in 1889.Baron Trumps Marvellous Underground Journey was written by Ingersoll Lockwood and Published in 1893.1900, Or The Last President was written by Ingersoll Lockwood and Published in 1896.Buy Your Copy Today! Read more

La primera fue un desastre.La segunda fue una derrota.La tercera será imposible.En un futuro Puerto Rico postapocalíptico, todo se ha perdido.La tecnología.La civilización.La historia.Diego, un joven obsesionado con el pasado, anhela descubrir todos los secretos que el tiempo ha enterrado. Desesperado por respuestas, comete un crimen para adentrarse a las ruinas de la civilización avanzada. Y respuestas encuentra, pero jamás las que él se hubiese imaginado.Su inocente expedición toma un giro inesperado cuando un suceso terrible lo condena a un doloroso camino de venganza, violencia y autorreflexión.Arrastrado a una cíclica guerra entre una tribu de rebeldes y unos invasores que buscan dominar la isla, el destino de una nación olvidada quedará en sus manos.Mezcla fascinante de intriga, herencia taína, acción y aventura, La tercera rebelión es el inicio de una saga épica que busca cautivar una nueva generación de lectores para impulsar el sci-fi y la fantasía del Caribe. Read more

Celebrate Star Trek: The Original Series and the show’s distinctive Midcentury modern design that would change design– and television–forever. Star Trek: The Original Series (1966-1969) was the first installment of one of the most successful and longest-running television franchises of all time. Today, Trek fans champion its writing, progressive social consciousness, and aesthetic. Designing the Final Frontier is a unique, expert look at the mid-century modern design that created and inspired that aesthetic. From Burke chairs to amorphous sculptures, from bright colors to futuristic frames, Star Trek TOS is bursting with mid-century modern furniture, art, and design elements—many of them bought directly from famous design showrooms. Together, midcentury modern design experts Dan Chavkin and Brian McGuire have created an insider’s guide to the interior of original starship Enterprise and beyond, that is sure to attract Star Trek’s thriving global fan base. Read more

The classic Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, collected under one cover, include notes from Martin Gardner on the meanings behind the words and solutions to the riddles buried in the famous text. Read more

* Where did Sinbad Sail?* Who Fired the Phoenix?* The Boy Who Cried Werewolf* The Great Rough Beast* Postscript on Prester John* The Secret of Hyperborea* What Gave All Those Mammoths Cold Feet? And many more--fictional? authoritative? fantastic? deadpan?--investigations into the real, the true…and the things that should be true PREFACE BY PETER S. BEAGLEILLUSTRATED BY GEORGE BARR "Although the wombat is real and the dragon is not, nobody knows what a wombat looks like and everyone knows what a dragon looks like." Not a novel, not a book of short stories, Adventures in Unhistory is a book of the fantastic--a compendium of magisterial examinations of Mermaids, Mandrakes, and Mammoths; Dragons, Werewolves, and Unicorns; the Phoenix and the Roc; about places such as Sicily, Siberia, and the Moon; about heroic, sinister, and legendary persons such as Sindbad, and Aleister Crowley, and Prester John; and--revealed at last--the Secret of Hyperborea. The facts are here, the foundations behind rumors, legends, and the imaginations of generations of tale-spinners. But far from being dry recitals, these meditations, or lectures, or deadpan prose performances are as lively, as crazily inventive, as witty as the best fiction of the author, a writer praised by Gardner Dozois as "one of the great short story writers of our times." Who, on the subject of Dragons, could write coldly, dispassionately, guided only by logic? Certainly not Avram Davidson. Certain facts, these facts, deserve more than recitation; they deserve flourish, verve, gusto, style--the late, great Avram Davidson's unique voice. That prose which, in the words of Peter S. Beagle's Preface to this volume, "cries out to be read aloud." Read more

Uncover the twisted tales that inspired the big screen's greatest screams.Which case of demonic possession inspired The Exorcist? What horrifying front-page story generated the idea for A Nightmare on Elm Street? Which film was based on the infamous skin-wearing murderer Ed Gein?Unearth the terrifying and true tales behind some of the scariest Horror movies to ever haunt our screens, including the Enfield poltergeist case that was retold in The Conjuring 2 and the serial killers who inspired Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs.Behind the Horror dissects these and other bizarre tales to reveal haunting real-life stories of abduction, disappearance, murder, and exorcism. Read more

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The second part of The History of The Lord of the Rings, an enthralling account of the writing of the Book of the Century which contains many additional scenes and includes the unpublished Epilogue in its entirety.The Treason of Isengard continues the account of the creation of The Lord of the Rings started in the earlier volume, The Return of the Shadow.It races the great expansion of the tale into new lands and peoples south and east of the Misty Mountains: the emerence of Lothlorien, of Ents, of the Riders of Rohan, and of Saruman the White in the fortress of Isengard.In brief outlines and pencilled drafts dashed down on scraps of paper are seen the first entry of Galadriel, the earliest ideas of the history of Gondor, and the original meeting of Aragorn and Eowyn, its significance destined to be wholly transformed.The book also contains a full account of the original map which was to be the basis of the emerging geography of Middle-earth. Read more

Given the current moment—polarized populations, increasing climate fears, and decline of supranational institutions in favor of a rising tide of nationalisms—it is easy to understand the proliferation of apocalyptic and dystopian elements in popular culture. Infected Empires examines one of the most popular figures in contemporary apocalyptic film: the zombie. This harbinger of apocalypse reveals bloody truths about the human condition, the wounds of history, and methods of contending with them. Infected Empires considers parallels in the zombie genre to historical and current events on different political, theological and philosophical levels, and proposes that the zombie can be read as a figure of decolonization and an allegory of resistance to oppressive structures that racialize, marginalize, disable, and dispose of bodies. Studying films from around the world, including Latin America, Asia, Africa, the US, and Europe, Infected Empires presents a vision of a global zombie that points toward a posthuman and feminist future.   Read more

While the success of J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings is remarkable, it's certainly no mystery. In a culture where truth is relative and morality is viewed as "old-fashioned," we eagerly welcome the message of these tales: we have free will, our choices matter, and truth can be known. Matthew Dickerson investigates the importance of free will and moral choices in Tolkien's Middle Earth, where moral victory, rather than military success, is the "real" story. He explores Christian themes throughout, including salvation, grace, and judgment. Following Gandalf will delight veteran Tolkien fans and offer new fans an impressive introduction to his major works. Engaging and theologically thought-provoking, it will interest pastors, students, seminarians, and layreaders. Read more

The murder of John Lennon on December 8, 1980, sent shockwaves around the world. The most acclaimed singer/songwriter of his generation, first a Beatle and then a boundary-pushing solo artist, was senselessly silenced forever at age forty; immediately, his final musical statement, an intimate, pop-infused collection called Double Fantasy, released only weeks before his death, skyrocketed to #1 worldwide, as did its poignantly titled single, "(Just Like) Starting Over." His first studio recording since 1975’s Rock ’n’ Roll—and his first musical endeavor of any kind since taking a much-needed hiatus to raise Sean, his son with Yoko Ono—Double Fantasy represents more than a comeback album to Lennon fans and music critics alike. It captures a cultural icon at the pinnacle of his creative success and personal fulfillment; thirty years later it remains a musical touchstone and an affecting reminder of what could have been. Starting Over is an oral history of the making of Double Fantasy and the definitive account of John Lennon’s last days. From early demos to sessions at New York City’s The Hit Factory, from the electrifying chemistry of the studio band to keeping the project under wraps to the album’s release and critical reception, here is fascinating, insightful commentary from all of the key players involved in its extraordinary creation: Yoko Ono, David Geffen, producer Jack Douglas, engineers, arrangers, session musicians, music journalists, and even Lennon himself via archival interviews. Featuring never-before-seen photos of John and Yoko in the studio, candid images taken by David M. Spindel and Roger Farrington, Starting Over is the essential portrait for anyone who hears both a beginning and ending in the tracks of Double Fantasy. Read more

When C. S. Lewis published The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe he created one of Christendom's most cherished allegories. Viewers of the movie, as well as readers of the book will come away deeply moved by what they have encountered in Narnia.They will have countless questions such as: How did the Witch take over Narnia? Why couldn't Edmund resist temptation? Why did the Lion have to die? And they will find the answers in this wonderful book written for Christians and non-Christians alike. Read more

Empire of Magic offers a genesis and genealogy for medieval romance and the King Arthur legend through the history of Europe's encounters with the East in crusades, travel, missionizing, and empire formation. It also produces definitions of "race" and "nation" for the medieval period and posits that the Middle Ages and medieval fantasies of race and religion have recently returned.Drawing on feminist and gender theory, as well as cultural analyses of race, class, and colonialism, this provocative book revises our understanding of the beginnings of the nine hundred-year-old cultural genre we call romance, as well as the King Arthur legend. Geraldine Heng argues that romance arose in the twelfth century as a cultural response to the trauma and horror of taboo acts―in particular the cannibalism committed by crusaders on the bodies of Muslim enemies in Syria during the First Crusade. From such encounters with the East, Heng suggests, sprang the fantastical episodes featuring King Arthur in Geoffrey of Monmouth's chronicle The History of the Kings of England, a work where history and fantasy collide and merge, each into the other, inventing crucial new examples and models for romances to come. After locating the rise of romance and Arthurian legend in the contact zones of East and West, Heng demonstrates the adaptability of romance and its key role in the genesis of an English national identity. Discussing Jews, women, children, and sexuality in works like the romance of Richard Lionheart, stories of the saintly Constance, Arthurian chivralic literature, the legend of Prester John, and travel narratives, Heng shows how fantasy enabled audiences to work through issues of communal identity, race, color, class and alternative sexualities in socially sanctioned and safe modes of cultural discussion in which pleasure, not anxiety, was paramount. Romance also engaged with the threat of modernity in the late medieval period, as economic, social, and technological transformations occurred and awareness grew of a vastly enlarged world beyond Europe, one encompassing India, China, and Africa. Finally, Heng posits, romance locates England and Europe within an empire of magic and knowledge that surveys the world and makes it intelligible―usable―for the future.Empire of Magic is expansive in scope, spanning the eleventh to the fifteenth centuries, and detailed in coverage, examining various types of romance―historical, national, popular, chivalric, family, and travel romances, among others―to see how cultural fantasy responds to changing crises, pressures, and demands in a number of different ways. Boldly controversial, theoretically sophisticated, and historically rooted, Empire of Magic is a dramatic restaging of the role romance played in the culture of a period and world in ways that suggest how cultural fantasy still functions for us today. Read more

Book 5 of the Harry Potter series was released in 2003 and more than 5 million copies were sold within the first 24 hours. There's no doubt the hype surrounding the July 16th release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will be unequaled. And as fans wait and media airwaves become saturated with talk of Harry Potter, Heroes and Wizards: A Harry Potter Companion is the perfect book to satisfy their appetite. Heroes and Wizards is the second Potter companion book by George Beahm, following his Muggles and Magic (Hampton Roads 2004). Heroes and Wizards gives "Potter maniacs" even more inside information on the making of the blockbuster series and the boy wizard everyone is reading and talking about. Read more