Working the Homicide squad, Alexis Bianco believes she’s seen every way a life can be taken. Then she meets the mysterious Lola and finds out she’s wrong. More weapon than woman, Lola pursues a predator with a method of murder like no other. The Tormenta. If you think you’ve never encountered Tormenta, think again. You’re friends with one. Have worked for one. Maybe even fallen in love with one. They walk amongst us—looking like us, talking like us. Coercing our subconscious with their actions. Like the long-legged beauty who seduces the goofy geek only to break his heart, causing him to break his own neck in a noose. Or the rock star whose every song celebrates self-harm, inspiring his devoted fans to press knives to their own throats. The pusher who urges the addict toward one more hit, bringing him a high from which he’ll never come down. The tyrannical boss, crushing an assistant’s spirit until a bridge jump brings her low. We call it a suicide. Tormenta call it a score, their demonic powers allowing them to siphon off the unspent life span of those who harm themselves. To Bianco, being a cop is about right and wrong. Working with Lola is about this world and the next . . . and maybe the one after that. Because everything is about to change. The coming of a mighty Tormenta is prophesied, a dark messiah known as the Mosca. To stop him, Bianco and Lola must fight their way through a cryptic web of secret societies and powerful legends and crack an ancient code that holds the only answer to the Mosca’s defeat. If this miscreant rises before they can unmask him, darkness will reign and mankind will fall in a storm of suicides. Nobody’s safe. Everyone’s a threat. *** TORMENTA: THE FACTS Walking amongst us—looking, sounding, and acting just like us—is a type of demon called Tormenta. And, as demons go, they are particularly . . . fiendish. *** A hand locked hard around her neck and the muzzle of her own Magnum, impossibly pulled from its holster, twitched an inch from her chin. “Do I have your attention, Detective?” Alexis Bianco found herself staring at a swath of cropped blond hair, the only feature of her assailant visible in the darkness. She mustered a nod. “Then listen good.” Lola’s voice was no more than a whisper but it seemed twisted tight, sinking like a needle into her ear. “Humans are born with a predetermined life span, an allotted number of years to live. Some consume their spans and pass away. Some have their spans prematurely snatched from them by murder or mishap. But some surrender their lives by choice. Humans call it suicide. Tormenta call it opportunity. From their method comes their name. They torment their human prey into giving up their lives.” Bianco swallowed, attempted to speak, but no words came. She licked her lips, easing a path, and tried again. “You—you say these Tormenta walk amongst us . . . in plain sight.” “They are everywhere.” “I’ve never seen one.” “Weren’t you listening?”
Homicide squad detective Alexis Bianco reluctantly teams with the mysterious Lola in a case involving a demonic killer who uses exploitative seduction and crushing psychological torment to push victims into suicide.
Working the Homicide squad, Alexis Bianco believes she’s seen every way a life can be taken. Then she meets the mysterious Lola and finds out she’s wrong. More weapon than woman, Lola pursues a predator with a method of murder like no other. The Tormenta. If you think you’ve never encountered Tormenta, think again. You’re friends with one. Have worked for one. Maybe even fallen in love with one. They walk amongst us—looking like us, talking like us. Coercing our subconscious with their actions. Like the long-legged beauty who seduces the goofy geek only to break his heart, causing him to break his own neck in a noose. Or the rock star whose every song celebrates self-harm, inspiring his devoted fans to press knives to their own throats. The pusher who urges the addict toward one more hit, bringing him a high from which he’ll never come down. The tyrannical boss, crushing an assistant’s spirit until a bridge jump brings her low. We call it a suicide. Tormenta call it a score, their demonic powers allowing them to siphon off the unspent life span of those who harm themselves. To Bianco, being a cop is about right and wrong. Working with Lola is about this world and the next . . . and maybe the one after that. Because everything is about to change. The coming of a mighty Tormenta is prophesied, a dark messiah known as the Mosca. To stop him, Bianco and Lola must fight their way through a cryptic web of secret societies and powerful legends and crack an ancient code that holds the only answer to the Mosca’s defeat. If this miscreant rises before they can unmask him, darkness will reign and mankind will fall in a storm of suicides. Nobody’s safe. Everyone’s a threat. *** TORMENTA: THE FACTS Walking amongst us—looking, sounding, and acting just like us—is a type of demon called Tormenta. And, as demons go, they are particularly . . . fiendish. *** A hand locked hard around her neck and the muzzle of her own Magnum, impossibly pulled from its holster, twitched an inch from her chin. “Do I have your attention, Detective?” Alexis Bianco found herself staring at a swath of cropped blond hair, the only feature of her assailant visible in the darkness. She mustered a nod. “Then listen good.” Lola’s voice was no more than a whisper but it seemed twisted tight, sinking like a needle into her ear. “Humans are born with a predetermined life span, an allotted number of years to live. Some consume their spans and pass away. Some have their spans prematurely snatched from them by murder or mishap. But some surrender their lives by choice. Humans call it suicide. Tormenta call it opportunity. From their method comes their name. They torment their human prey into giving up their lives.” Bianco swallowed, attempted to speak, but no words came. She licked her lips, easing a path, and tried again. “You—you say these Tormenta walk amongst us . . . in plain sight.” “They are everywhere.” “I’ve never seen one.” “Weren’t you listening?”
The Long Eighteenth Century was the Age of Revolutions, including the first sexual revolution. In this era, sexual toleration began and there was a marked increase in the discussion of morality, extra-marital sex, pornography and same-sex relationships in both print and visual culture media. William Gibson and Joanne Begiato here consider the ways in which the Church of England dealt with sex and sexuality in this period. Despite the backdrop of an increasingly secularising society, religion continued to play a key role in politics, family life and wider society and the eighteenth-century Church was still therefore a considerable force, especially in questions of morality. This book integrates themes of gender and sexuality into a broader understanding of the Church of England in the eighteenth century. It shows that, rather than distancing itself from sex through diminishing teaching, regulation and punishment, the Church not only paid attention to it, but its attitudes to sex and sexuality were at the core of society's reactions to the first sexual revolution.
This book provides both trainees in perinatal psychiatry and the generalist who wishes to know more with an up-to-date overview of the subject. In addition, it is a useful resource for other professionals working in the field such as nurses, psychologists, obstetricians, midwives and health visitors. The chapters address historical and classification issues, the management of both new onset and existing mental disorders (including substance misuse) presenting in pregnancy and the postpartum period, prescribing and physical treatments during pregnancy and breast feeding. Also covered are issues for children and families, screening for and prevention of mental disorders in relation to childbirth, service provision and transcultural issues.
This book offers an innovative perspective on Muslim family life in British society. It explores key issues including diverse forms of family, gender, generation, race, ethnicity and class, informing solutions for inequalities. It demonstrates how a better understanding of Muslim family life can inform policies to address inequalities.
For several decades, social work and child protection systems have been subject to accelerating cycles of crisis and reform, with each crisis involving intense media and political scrutiny. In understanding the nature and causes of this cycle, little attention has been paid to the importance of collective emotions. Using a range of cases from the UK, and also considering cases from the Netherlands, the US and New Zealand, this book introduces the concept of emotional politics. It shows how collective emotions, such as anger, shame, fear and disgust, are central to constructions of risk and blame, and are generated and reflected by official documents, politicians and the media. The book considers strategies for challenging these ‘emotional politics’, including identifying models for a more politically engaged stance for the social work profession.
Over the past few decades there have been intense debates in education surrounding children’s literacy achievement and ways to promote reading, particularly that of boys. The Harry Potter book series has been received enthusiastically by very many children, boys and girls alike, but has also been constructed in popular and media discourses as a children’s, particularly a boys’, literacy saviour. Children’s Literacy Practices and Preferences: Harry Potter and Beyond provides empirical evidence of young people’s reported literacy practices and views on reading, and of how they see how the Harry Potter series as having impacted their own literacy. The volume explores and debunks some of the myths surrounding Harry Potter and literacy, and contextualizes these within children’s wider reading.
This wide-ranging text challenges a range of ideas about domestic culture. It examines how the meanings of domestic life are produced across a range of discourses and practices, from architecture, lifestyle media and advertising to home decoration, cooking and watching television.
Based on vivid court records and newspaper advertisements, this 2003 book is a pioneering account of the expectations and experiences of married life among the middle and labouring ranks in the long eighteenth century. Its original methodology draws attention to the material life of marriage, which has long been dominated by theories of emotional shifts or fashionable accounts of spouses' gendered, oppositional lives. Thus it challenges preconceptions about authority in the household, by showing the extent to which husbands depended upon their wives' vital economic activities: household management and child care. Not only did this forge co-dependency between spouses, it undermined men's autonomy. The power balance within marriage is further revised by evidence that the sexual double standard was not rigidly applied in everyday life. The book also shows that ideas about adultery and domestic violence evolved in the eighteenth century, influenced by new models of masculinity and femininity.
‘A new classic’ in a new edition! Fully revised and updated throughout New sections on antimicrobials From journal reviews of the previous edition: ‘Drawing on their wealth of experience and knowledge in this field, the authors, who are without doubt among the finest minds in pharmacognosy today, provide useful and fascinating insights into the history, botany, chemistry, phytotherapy and importance of medicinal plants in some of today's health care systems. This is a landmark textbook, which carefully brings together relevant data from numerous sources and provides in an authoritative and exhaustive manner, cutting edge information that is relevant to pharmacists, pharmacognocists, complementary practitioners, doctors and nurses alike.’ The Pharmaceutical Journal ‘This is the first book that I have encountered which combines the compounds and plants found in standard pharmacognosy textbooks, i.e. those used in orthodox Western medicine, with the 'new phytopharmaceuticals' which have become established in Western culture over the last 20 years. The medical establishment in this environment is finally catching up with the practices of the general population and so this book is an excellent choice for those who wish to investigate which of the many plants available have some scientific credence. I shall be adding this book to the Essential Reading list for all of the undergraduate students on our pharmacy degree course and would encourage all those involved in teaching pharmacy students to do the same." P.J. Houghton, Department of Pharmacy, King's College London, Journal of Ethnopharmacology ‘Educated pharmacists no doubt equate Pharmacognosy with hours spent hunched over a microscope identifying vegetable drugs. Many probably consider it as a subject with little importance in a modern pharmacy curriculum. How wrong they are! ... This book is designed to give an overview at an easy-to-understand level of a broad subject area... For students of science and of the healthcare professions it is a useful text and the authors are to be commended for their work.’ Irish Pharmacy Journal From customer reviews: ‘A new classic. This is an excellent publication both for science students and the non scientific who have an interest in phytotherapy. The layout is logical and clearly set out. I love the chemical structural diagrams, and the explanations of even complex sequences are easy to understand with very little jargon. It is encouraging to see pharmacognosy being given a prominent place in a modern textbook, and interesting to see both hand drawings and chemical structures on the same page!’ ‘I can recommend this to anyone who is interested in the science behind herbal products and medicines; especially if you are interested in plants. It's quite simple to follow and very concise! Good for pharmacy students.’ ‘This is an ultimate textbook in this subject and a boon for students of M Pharmacy (Pharmacognosy) as well as undergraduates students of Pharmacy. Besides them, it is really suitable for every course comprising a study of plants and their medicinal use.’ ‘Excellent reference book. As an editor, I instantly found the answers to various questions I had regarding botanical descriptions. And it even answered questions that I hadn't gotten around to asking. Highly recommended!’
This is a book for audiences. It is a book about audiences. It is a book for anyone who watches, is watched, and all the spaces in between. Introducing the idea of performance as a shared transformative experience, this engaging book will help you make sense of the performer/audience interaction in a landscape where boundaries are collapsing. Drawing on themes of performance, exchange and the body, it offers an accessible entry into the philosophy of spectatorship.
Written by experts in the fields of pharmacognosy, phytochemistry, phytopharmacy, clinical herbal medicines, phytopharmacovigilance and regulation of herbal medicinal products, Herbal Medicines is an invaluable reference text for pharmacists and other healthcare professionals who require evidence-based information on herbal medicines used for treatment and prevention of health problems.
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