Download or read book Alistair Grim s Odditorium written by Gregory Funaro and published by Hachette+ORM. This book was released on 2014-06-10 with total page 423 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Grubb, age twelve (or thereabouts), has never known anything beyond his miserable existence as a chimney sweep, paid only in insults and abuse by his cruel master. All of that changes the day he stows away in the coach belonging to a mysterious guest at the inn that he is tasked with cleaning. Grubb emerges from Alistair Grim's trunk and into the wondrous world of the Odditorium. Fueled by a glowing blue energy that Grubb can only begin to understand, the Odditorium is home to countless enchanted objects and an eccentric crew that embraces Grubb as one of their own. There's no time for Grubb to settle into his new role as apprentice to the strange, secretive Mr. Grim. When the Odditorium comes under attack, Grubb is whisked off on a perilous adventure. Only he can prevent the Odditorium's magic from falling into evil hands???and his new family from suffering a terrible fate. Grubb knows he's no hero. He's just a chimney sweep. But armed with only his courage and wits, Grubb will confront the life-or-death battle he alone is destined to fight.
Download or read book The Odditorium written by David Bramwell and published by Nicholas Brealey. This book was released on 2017-10-17 with total page 387 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'I LOVE THE BOOK... A BRILLIANT READ' Chris Evans, Radio 2 Breakfast Show 'This book, that I approached with caution, turns out to be magnificent. Tested it with the Moondog entry. Passed A+' Danny Baker, Radio 5Live A CELEBRATION OF CURIOSITY AND OBSESSION Step into a world of gloriously unpredictable characters such as Ivor Cutler, Quentin Crisp, Joe Orton, Reginald Bray, Ken Campbell, Screaming Lord Sutch, Sun Ra, Buckminster Fuller, Timothy Leary and Ayn Rand. The Odditorium is a playful re-telling of history, told not through the lens of its victors, but through the fascinating stories of a wealth of individuals who, while lesser-known, are no less remarkable. Throughout its pages you'll learn about the antics and adventures of tricksters, eccentrics, deviants and inventors. While their stories range from heroic failures to great hoaxes, one thing unites them - they all carved their own path through life. Each protagonist exemplifies the human spirit through their dogged determination, willingness to take risks, their unflinching obsession and, often, a good dollop of eccentricity. Learn about Reginald Bray (1879-1939), a Victorian accountant who sent over 30,000 singular objects through the mail, including himself; Muriel Howorth (1886-1971), the housewife who grew giant peanuts using atomic energy; and Elaine Morgan (1920-2013), a journalist who battled a tirade of prejudice to pursue an aquatic-based theory of human evolution, which is today being championed by David Attenborough. While many of us are content to lead a conventional life, with all of its comfort and security, The Odditorium reminds us of the characters who felt compelled to carve their own path, despite risking ostracism, failure, ridicule and madness. Outsider artists, linguists, scientists, time travellers and architects all feature in The Odditorium, each of whom risked ostracism, ridicule and even madness in pursuit of carving their own esoteric path, changing the world in wonderful ways. 'BRAMWELL CLEARLY HAS AN EYE FOR THE ODDBALL AND ARCANE' The Guardian
Download or read book The Odditorium written by David Bramwell and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2016-10-06 with total page 387 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'I LOVE THE BOOK... A BRILLIANT READ' Chris Evans, Radio 2 Breakfast Show 'This book, that I approached with caution, turns out to be magnificent. Tested it with the Moondog entry. Passed A+' Danny Baker, Radio 5Live A CELEBRATION OF CURIOSITY AND OBSESSION Step into a world of gloriously unpredictable characters such as Ivor Cutler, Quentin Crisp, Joe Orton, Reginald Bray, Ken Campbell, Screaming Lord Sutch, Sun Ra, Buckminster Fuller, Timothy Leary and Ayn Rand. The Odditorium is a playful re-telling of history, told not through the lens of its victors, but through the fascinating stories of a wealth of individuals who, while lesser-known, are no less remarkable. Throughout its pages you'll learn about the antics and adventures of tricksters, eccentrics, deviants and inventors. While their stories range from heroic failures to great hoaxes, one thing unites them - they all carved their own path through life. Each protagonist exemplifies the human spirit through their dogged determination, willingness to take risks, their unflinching obsession and, often, a good dollop of eccentricity. Learn about Reginald Bray (1879-1939), a Victorian accountant who sent over 30,000 singular objects through the mail, including himself; Muriel Howorth (1886-1971), the housewife who grew giant peanuts using atomic energy; and Elaine Morgan (1920-2013), a journalist who battled a tirade of prejudice to pursue an aquatic-based theory of human evolution, which is today being championed by David Attenborough. While many of us are content to lead a conventional life, with all of its comfort and security, The Odditorium reminds us of the characters who felt compelled to carve their own path, despite risking ostracism, failure, ridicule and madness. Outsider artists, linguists, scientists, time travellers and architects all feature in The Odditorium, each of whom risked ostracism, ridicule and even madness in pursuit of carving their own esoteric path, changing the world in wonderful ways. 'BRAMWELL CLEARLY HAS AN EYE FOR THE ODDBALL AND ARCANE' The Guardian
Download or read book Alistair Grim s Odd Aquaticum written by Greg Funaro and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2016-01-04 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Dive head-, feet-, or face-first into this delicious danger." -- Kirkus Reviews, starred review When Grubb, an orphan and runaway chimney sweep, entered the wondrous world of the Odditorium, his life changed forever. Apprenticed to the mechanical marvel's strange proprietor, Alistair Grim, Grubb unfortunately must settle into his new position on the lam, as all of England is convinced that Alistair Grim is a villain. Grim, however, has come up with a plan to expose the real villain: Prince Nightshade, a wicked necromancer who wants the Odditorium's power source for himself. With the evil prince hot on their trail, Grim, Grubb and the rest of the Odditorium's crew embark on a perilous adventure to find the legendary sword Excalibur: the only weapon capable of penetrating Nightshade's magical suit of armor. As expected, their quest turns out to be anything but ordinary. Not only can the Odditorium fly, but it can also swim! And so the crew battens down the hatches and sets off on an underwater voyage to the otherworldly realm of Avalon, home to Excalibur. Along the way, they must battle a banshee assassin, sea monsters, and a witch who seeks revenge on Alistair Grim for stealing her magical objects. But that's not all. Unbeknownst to Grubb and the others, their fate has been written in an ancient Avalonian prophecy-a prophecy that holds the key to a destiny not even Alistair Grim could have imagined.
Download or read book Ripley s Believe it Or Not Virtual Odditorium written by Katherine Gleason and published by Nancy Hall Incorporated. This book was released on 2006-01-01 with total page 19 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contains: envelope with letter, removable photographs, deck of cards, 3D glasses.
Download or read book Watch Hollow written by Gregory Funaro and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2019-02-12 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New York Times bestselling author Gregory Funaro brings us into a world where magic exists, monsters roam in the shadows, and wooden animals come to life. Deep within the enchanted woods in the town of Watch Hollow stands the once-grand Blackford House, whose halls hold a magical secret: a giant cuckoo clock that does much more than tell time. But when the clock’s gears cease to turn, an evil presence lurking among the trees begins to come out of the shadows. When Lucy and Oliver Tinker arrive in Watch Hollow, they have no idea that anything is wrong. A mysterious stranger has made their father an offer that’s too good for him to refuse. All Mr. Tinker needs to do is fix the clock at Blackford House and fistfuls of gold coins are his to keep. It doesn’t take long, however, for the children to realize that there is more to Blackford House than meets the eye. And before they can entirely understand the strange world they’ve stumbled into, Lucy and Oliver must join forces with a host of magical clock animals to defeat the Garr—a vicious monster that not only wants Blackford House for itself, but also seeks to destroy everything the Tinkers hold dear.
Download or read book Spirit Seizures written by Melissa Pritchard and published by University of Georgia Press. This book was released on 2011-10-01 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In these stories by Melissa Pritchard, the past brushes up against the present, the voices of both the sane and the obsessed are heard, and the spirits speaking unbidden through the mouths of some spurn others who desire them most. Some of the men and women in Spirit Seizures dwell contentedly on the surface of life, even making a science or an art of what they see around them. But many of the characters in these stories see—sometimes calmly, sometimes with agitation—beneath life's surface, beyond sun's light. The title story tells of a psychic women, pregnant with her second child, who welcomes over her farmer husband's objections the visits of an older couple desiring a séance with the spirit of their dead daughter. Spirits are also summoned in "Rocking on Water, Floating in Glass," when a woman consults the shade of Sarah Bernhardt to help her decide whether to leave her refuge in a dark antique shop and reenter the world of the living. The husband in "Ramon; Souvenirs" recalls his wife's obsession with pueblo culture and her ambitious courtship of the impotent Indian elder who she hopes will initiate her into native spiritual mysteries. But the greatest desire of La Bête, a spectacularly obese model painted by the French impressionists, is to herself become a perfect object, viewed and adored for her form, not her crude essence. Mrs. Grant in "With Wings Cross Water" is painfully isolated from the surface of her family's life by her fears of terminal illness, of what lies beneath her skin. And Mrs. Gump, the reverend's housekeeper, prays and cleans the house furiously, hoping to obliterate all traces of the worldly beauty that distracts her employer and her artist son from the hereafter. Written with humor but often poignant when they reveal the veins of longing that run through men and women, the stories in Spirit Seizures follow the elusive currents that link us to the eternal, the fluid boundaries that wash between love and mourning.
Download or read book The Train of Dark Wonders written by Alex Bell and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2024-08-06 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jump aboard for a journey to strange and spectacular lands… The magical must-read middle-grade novel from the bestselling author of THE POLAR BEAR EXPLORERS’ CLUB and FROZEN CHARLOTTE. Bess has always loved her grandfather’s collection of curiosities. So she’s delighted when she’s handed the keys to his Odditorium. But unless she finds a way to draw in the crowds, she’ll have to close its doors for good. When a mysterious train pulls into town, bound for The Land of Halloween Sweets, Bess hatches a plan and sneaks onboard. She is soon discovered by Beau the puppeteer, Louie the violinist and Maria the fire witch. Eager to join their adventure, Bess sets out to search for the rarest sweet of all – the ghostly gobstopper. But the land is ruled by the fearsome Candymaker. And beneath the sugary surface, things are more dangerous than they first appear...
Download or read book Fangs written by Sarah Andersen and published by Andrews McMeel Publishing. This book was released on 2024-10-24 with total page 107 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times bestselling love story between a vampire and a werewolf by Sarah Andersen, the creator of the enormously popular Sarah's Scribbles comics. Elsie the vampire is three hundred years old, but in all that time, she has never met her match. This all changes one night in a bar when she meets Jimmy, a charming werewolf with a wry sense of humor and a fondness for running wild during the full moon. Together they enjoy horror films and scary novels, shady strolls, fine dining (though never with garlic), and a genuine fondness for each other’s unusual habits, macabre lifestyles, and monstrous appetites. First featured as a webcomic series on Tapas, Fangs chronicles the humor, sweetness, and awkwardness of meeting someone perfectly suited to you but also vastly different. This edition of Fangs features 25 exclusive comics not previously seen online. Filled with Sarah Andersen’s beautiful gothic illustrations and relatable relationship humor, Fangs has all the makings of a cult classic.
Download or read book R Murray Schafer written by L. Brett Scott and published by Scarecrow Press. This book was released on 2019-01-21 with total page 389 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: R. Murray Schafer: A Creative Life is the authoritative exploration of the life and work of this preeminent Canadian composer, artist, educator, and activist. Working closely with the composer and his family, L. Brett Scott has created the most up-to-date and accurate exploration of Schafer. Scott draws on many public and private sources, including the composer’s own journals and correspondence, which have not been previously available to researchers. Scott discusses Schafer’s extensive writings, including his research writings on Ezra Pound and E. T. A. Hoffmann, and his multiple works of fiction. The volume also includes a detailed summary of Schafer’s work in the field of acoustic ecology and recognition of his role as founder of the World Soundscape Project as well as an overview of his writings on creative music education. With complete discussions of his theater works, choral compositions, compositions for voice, chamber pieces, orchestral compositions, and early and transitional works and a chronological list of compositions and select discography, this volume presents the most comprehensive study of Schafer and his enduring legacy.
Download or read book Mysterium written by David Bramwell and published by Nicholas Brealey. This book was released on 2018-10-16 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A CATALOGUE OF THE EXTRAORDINARY, THE STRANGE AND THE DOWNRIGHT CREEPY... Discover the unexplained mysteries and unsettling oddities of the modern world, from a beach in British Columbia awash with human feet, to the 'tulpamaneers' who claim to be channeling the living spirit of My Little Pony. Ponder terrifying thought experiments (can you think yourself to death?), and reflect on life's great questions (was the Garden of Eden located in Bedford?). In THE MYSTERIUM David Bramwell and Jo Keeling (authors of THE ODDITORIUM), present a user guide to the strange and unexplained corners of modern life. THE MYSTERIUM catalogues a host of bizarre, funny and intriguing stories for a post-Nessie generation still fascinated by the unknowable. Drawing on contemporary folklore, unsolved mysteries, and unsettling phenomena from the dark corners of the internet, this book celebrates the joy of asking questions and the thrill of finding answers which stop you dead in your tracks. Featuring a group of men who scared themselves to death, Space's version of the Bermuda Triangle, a cat who can sniff out the dying and the tale of Slenderman, the monster who stepped out of Photoshop and into our nightmares, this fascinating book is a catalogue of the extraordinary, the strange, the mysterious and the downright creepy. Includes a Foreword by Dan Schreiber, comedian and host of the No Such Thing As A Fish podcast.
Download or read book Alistair Grim s Odd Aquaticum written by Greg Funaro and published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. This book was released on 2016-01-04 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Dive head-, feet-, or face-first into this delicious danger." -- Kirkus Reviews, starred review When Grubb, an orphan and runaway chimney sweep, entered the wondrous world of the Odditorium, his life changed forever. Apprenticed to the mechanical marvel's strange proprietor, Alistair Grim, Grubb unfortunately must settle into his new position on the lam, as all of England is convinced that Alistair Grim is a villain. Grim, however, has come up with a plan to expose the real villain: Prince Nightshade, a wicked necromancer who wants the Odditorium's power source for himself. With the evil prince hot on their trail, Grim, Grubb and the rest of the Odditorium's crew embark on a perilous adventure to find the legendary sword Excalibur: the only weapon capable of penetrating Nightshade's magical suit of armor. As expected, their quest turns out to be anything but ordinary. Not only can the Odditorium fly, but it can also swim! And so the crew battens down the hatches and sets off on an underwater voyage to the otherworldly realm of Avalon, home to Excalibur. Along the way, they must battle a banshee assassin, sea monsters, and a witch who seeks revenge on Alistair Grim for stealing her magical objects. But that's not all. Unbeknownst to Grubb and the others, their fate has been written in an ancient Avalonian prophecy-a prophecy that holds the key to a destiny not even Alistair Grim could have imagined.
Download or read book Freak Show Legacies written by Gary S. Cross and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-05-06 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Society has long been fascinated with the freakish, shocking and strange. In this book Gary Cross shows how freakish elements have been embedded in modern popular culture over the course of the 20th century despite the evident disenchantment with this once widespread cultural outlet. Exploring how the spectacle of freakishness conflicted with genteel culture, he shows how the condemnation of the freak show by middle-class America led to a transformation and merging of genteel and freak culture through the cute, the camp and the creepy. Though the carnival and circus freak was marginalised by the 1960s and had largely disappeared by the 1980s, forms of freakish culture survived and today appear in reality TV, horror movies, dark comedies and the popularity of tattoos. Freak Show Legacies will focus less on the individual 'freak' as 'the other' in society, and more on the audience for the freakish and the transformation of wonder, sensibility and sensitivity that this phenomenon entailed. It will use the phenomenon of 'the freak' to understand the transformation of American popular culture across the 20th century, identify elements of 'the freak' in popular culture both past and present, and ask how it has prevailed despite its apparent unpopularity.
Download or read book Oddball Florida written by Jerome Pohlen and published by Chicago Review Press. This book was released on 2003-11-01 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This entertaining guide directs travelers to the off-the-wall and offbeat destinations in Florida, home of gator wrestlers, school bus demolition derbies, Hemingway wannabes, the Fountain of Youth, the Nudist Hall of Fame, and a utopian community based on the premise that the earth is not round, but concave. Additional oddball attractions include a graveyard for roosters, the world's largest strawberry, the world's smallest police station, and museums dedicated to seashells, hamburgers, oranges, teddy bears, sponges, air conditioning, and one very old petrified cat. Documenting local oddities and forgotten history, this travel guide covers Florida in six regions with maps and detailed directions for each site as well as phone numbers, hours, web sites, and various photographs.
Download or read book The Best of Uncle John s Bathroom Reader written by Bathroom Readers' Institute and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-11-01 with total page 485 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Find out what millions of trivia lovers already know: Uncle John is your #1 source when it comes to throne-room reading entertainment. This book celebrates the very best articles from the BRI’s first ten years--plus 150 all-new pages! As always, the contents are divided by length: short articles for the reader on the go, medium articles if you have a few minutes to spare, and the extended sitting section for those truly leg-numbing experiences. Read about . . . * The origin of Twinkies * Who invented the Hula Hoop * The untold history of the Three Stooges * Space toilets: where no man has gone before * 1876: the year they stole the presidency * The FBI’s "Ten Most Wanted" list * How to start your own country * Celebrity imposters And much, much more!
Download or read book Cash and Carry written by Jim Reisler and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2009-01-22 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: C.C."Cash and Carry" Pyle made several fortunes representing professional football and tennis players--before losing everything and disappearing into history's dustbin. This work reevaluates Pyle's fast life and times while analyzing his extraordinary and enduring legacy. In 1925, Pyle rocked the sports world by inducing Red Grange to abandon the leafy confines of the University of Illinois for pro football, in essence thumbing his nose at protesting academics who insisted the move would irreparably harm both the college game and Grange's career. The book continues through all of Pyle's successes, and more than a few of his failures, including his signing of controversial French tennis star Suzanne Lenglen and his near-bankruptcy following losses incurred staging the short-lived annual Bunion Derby, as newspaper columnists dubbed the notorious 3,470-mile transcontinental footrace first held in 1928.
Download or read book Odditorium written by Hob Broun and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2013-10-29 with total page 440 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: DIVDIVA pro softball player, an alcoholic husband, a drug deal out of town, and buried treasure—the postmodern and vibrantly pulpy debut novel from Hob Broun/divDIV The heroine of Odditorium is Tildy Soileau, a professional softball player stuck in a down-and-out marriage in South Florida. Leaving her husband to his own boozy inertia, she jumps at the chance to travel to New York with Jimmy Christo, only recently released from a mental institution, and make some much-needed cash on a drug deal./divDIV Adventure is just as much a motivating force, though, and Tildy quickly gets involved with a charismatic drug dealer; meanwhile, in carrying out business, Jimmy is dangerously sidetracked in Tangier. By the time the two are back in Florida, a financial boon greets them, but here, too, trouble is in the wings. Formally daring and full of jolts of the unexpected, Odditorium is an addictive romp through shady realms./div/div