Author: Peter Sellers
Publisher: Mosaic Press
ISBN: 1771614269
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 120
Book Description
In settings as diverse as a struggling advertising agency, a book store, and a large computer company, the protagonists in Kickback and Other Stories find duplicity, betrayal, and sudden violence. As so often in life, there are no heroes, and it's often hard to tell who is the greater villain. A four-time nominee for the Crime Writers of Canada's Arthur Ellis Award for Best Short Story, and winner of the 2001 Ellery Queen Readers' Award, Sellers' stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Down & Out Magazine and numerous anthologies. "Closing Doors", which appears in this collection and originally appeared in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, recently was awarded the 2020 Arthur Ellis Best Crime Short Story Award. Don Hutchison, acclaimed author of Great Pulp Heroes, said of Peter Sellers' stories: "A typical Sellers story there is usually one bad decision made, and on that hangs the plot—as well as the perpetrator."
Kickback and Other Stories
Kickback
Author: David Montero
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0698139585
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 306
Book Description
An investigation into corporate bribery around the world and how it undermines democracy and the free market system The World Bank estimates that rich multinational corporations pay hundreds of billions of dollars in bribes every year to officials overseas. The perpetrators are not a handful of rogue companies, but many members of the Fortune 500. Kickback is a sweeping, global investigation into corporate bribery around the world and how backdoor financial transactions undermine democracy and the free market system by lining the pockets of some of the world's worst dictators and criminals. Ultimately, this system affects billions of people by creating conditions that lead to poverty, violence, environmental disaster, and political instability in countries like Nigeria, Bahrain, Costa Rica, and Iraq. Kickback traces the origins of corporate bribery from the reign of the British East India Company to the methods by which it is carried out today. Traveling across four continents and interviewing police and intelligence officials, convicted criminals, business executives, and corruption experts, David Montero takes an inside look at bribery's pernicious effects. He examines its ramifications at both the individual and national levels--from the murder of a young activist in Bangladesh to a Texas billionaire's dealings with Saddam Hussein, from pharmaceutical firms' payoffs in China to how the entrenched culture of bribery helped destroy the Greek economy. Montero also examines the countermeasures that have been introduced to combat these practices, such as the Justice Department's efforts to halt them and attempts to identify and provide restitution to victims. Given the new era of profound uncertainty we are entering--the strength of the European Union founders, the power of China rises, the global economy continues on a path of perilous flux, and allegations mount that President Donald Trump and his associates are possibly tainted by bribery themselves--the stakes for eradicating corporate bribery have never been higher.
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0698139585
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 306
Book Description
An investigation into corporate bribery around the world and how it undermines democracy and the free market system The World Bank estimates that rich multinational corporations pay hundreds of billions of dollars in bribes every year to officials overseas. The perpetrators are not a handful of rogue companies, but many members of the Fortune 500. Kickback is a sweeping, global investigation into corporate bribery around the world and how backdoor financial transactions undermine democracy and the free market system by lining the pockets of some of the world's worst dictators and criminals. Ultimately, this system affects billions of people by creating conditions that lead to poverty, violence, environmental disaster, and political instability in countries like Nigeria, Bahrain, Costa Rica, and Iraq. Kickback traces the origins of corporate bribery from the reign of the British East India Company to the methods by which it is carried out today. Traveling across four continents and interviewing police and intelligence officials, convicted criminals, business executives, and corruption experts, David Montero takes an inside look at bribery's pernicious effects. He examines its ramifications at both the individual and national levels--from the murder of a young activist in Bangladesh to a Texas billionaire's dealings with Saddam Hussein, from pharmaceutical firms' payoffs in China to how the entrenched culture of bribery helped destroy the Greek economy. Montero also examines the countermeasures that have been introduced to combat these practices, such as the Justice Department's efforts to halt them and attempts to identify and provide restitution to victims. Given the new era of profound uncertainty we are entering--the strength of the European Union founders, the power of China rises, the global economy continues on a path of perilous flux, and allegations mount that President Donald Trump and his associates are possibly tainted by bribery themselves--the stakes for eradicating corporate bribery have never been higher.
Kickback
Author: David Lloyd
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
ISBN: 9781593076597
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 104
Book Description
When you're a cop on the take in Franklin City, the only question you need to ask yourself is, 'How much can I make?' But that's only if you can bury the feelings of guilt that claw their way into your skull as you keep bowing your head to the crime lords. And only if you can stand by and watch your buddies get cut down in the streets as the bond between gangs and gangbusters frays and splits and falls into bloody shreds all around you. And only if you can ignore the recurring nightmares of powerlessness and terror that haunt your sleep.
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
ISBN: 9781593076597
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 104
Book Description
When you're a cop on the take in Franklin City, the only question you need to ask yourself is, 'How much can I make?' But that's only if you can bury the feelings of guilt that claw their way into your skull as you keep bowing your head to the crime lords. And only if you can stand by and watch your buddies get cut down in the streets as the bond between gangs and gangbusters frays and splits and falls into bloody shreds all around you. And only if you can ignore the recurring nightmares of powerlessness and terror that haunt your sleep.
Robert B. Parker's Kickback
Author: Ace Atkins
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0698161211
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 306
Book Description
PI Spenser, knight-errant of the Back Bay, takes on corruption in the justice system in this stellar New York Times bestselling thriller in Robert B. Parker’s series. What started out as a joke landed seventeen-year-old Dillon Yates in a lockdown juvenile facility in Boston Harbor. When he set up a prank Twitter account for his vice principal, he never dreamed he could be brought up on criminal charges, but that’s exactly what happened. This is Blackburn, Mass., where zero tolerance for minors is a way of life. Leading the movement is tough-as-nails judge Joe Scali, who gives speeches about coming down hard on today’s wild youth. But Dillon’s mother, who knows other Blackburn kids who are doing hard time for minor infractions, isn’t buying Scali’s line. She hires Spenser to find the truth behind the draconian sentencing. From the Harbor Islands to a gated Florida community, Spenser and trusted ally Hawk follow a trail through the Boston underworld with links to a shadowy corporation that runs New England’s private prisons. They eventually uncover a culture of corruption and cover-ups in the old mill town, where hundreds of kids are sent off to for-profit juvie jails.
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0698161211
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 306
Book Description
PI Spenser, knight-errant of the Back Bay, takes on corruption in the justice system in this stellar New York Times bestselling thriller in Robert B. Parker’s series. What started out as a joke landed seventeen-year-old Dillon Yates in a lockdown juvenile facility in Boston Harbor. When he set up a prank Twitter account for his vice principal, he never dreamed he could be brought up on criminal charges, but that’s exactly what happened. This is Blackburn, Mass., where zero tolerance for minors is a way of life. Leading the movement is tough-as-nails judge Joe Scali, who gives speeches about coming down hard on today’s wild youth. But Dillon’s mother, who knows other Blackburn kids who are doing hard time for minor infractions, isn’t buying Scali’s line. She hires Spenser to find the truth behind the draconian sentencing. From the Harbor Islands to a gated Florida community, Spenser and trusted ally Hawk follow a trail through the Boston underworld with links to a shadowy corporation that runs New England’s private prisons. They eventually uncover a culture of corruption and cover-ups in the old mill town, where hundreds of kids are sent off to for-profit juvie jails.
Kick Back
Author: Val McDermid
Publisher: Bywater Books
ISBN: 1932859195
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 217
Book Description
Manchester's answer to Kinsey Millhone investigates what happens when an Englishman's home is not
Publisher: Bywater Books
ISBN: 1932859195
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 217
Book Description
Manchester's answer to Kinsey Millhone investigates what happens when an Englishman's home is not
Kids for Cash
Author: William Ecenbarger
Publisher: The New Press
ISBN: 1595586849
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 290
Book Description
When thirteen-year-old Matthew appeared in front of Judge Mark Ciavarella for throwing a piece of steak at his mother's boyfriend, he was sentenced to seven weeks at PA Child Care, a private, for-profit juvenile detention center in northeastern Pennsylvania. Angelia was fourteen when she and a friend scrawled "Vote for Michael Jackson" on five stop signs. Charged with vandalism and defacing public property, Angelia was sent by Ciavarella to PA Child Care without her epilepsy medication and suffered a grand mal seizure her second night. Fifteen-year-old Charlie, arrested for unknowingly purchasing a stolen motorbike, was convicted of a felony and sent to PA Child Care for six weeks. Matthew, Angelia, and Charlie are just three children among the thousands who appeared in Ciavarella's courtroom between 2003 and 2008 and were sent away--often with no attorney present and after only cursory hearings--to a detention facility in which, it later came to light, Ciavarella had a personal financial stake. As Kids for Cash reveals, this miscarriage of justice underscores a multitude of problems with our juvenile justice system, which too often criminalizes standard adolescent behavior, treats adolescents more harshly than if they were adults, and denies them their most fundamental constitutional rights. William Ecenbarger, a Pulitzer Prize and George Polk Award-winning investigative journalist who covered the case for the Philadelphia Inquirer, now gives us the first book-length account of this shocking story. In the tradition of true-crime legal thrillers from The Executioner's Song to A Civil Action, Ecenbarger exposes a deeply corrupt and broken system that ruined the lives of many children and ultimately led to the judge's conviction on charges of racketeering, fraud, tax violations, money laundering, extortion, and bribery. Fastidiously researched and utterly propulsive, Kids for Cash takes us deep inside a profoundly flawed legal system, revealing the twisted and haunting realities of America's juvenile justice system.
Publisher: The New Press
ISBN: 1595586849
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 290
Book Description
When thirteen-year-old Matthew appeared in front of Judge Mark Ciavarella for throwing a piece of steak at his mother's boyfriend, he was sentenced to seven weeks at PA Child Care, a private, for-profit juvenile detention center in northeastern Pennsylvania. Angelia was fourteen when she and a friend scrawled "Vote for Michael Jackson" on five stop signs. Charged with vandalism and defacing public property, Angelia was sent by Ciavarella to PA Child Care without her epilepsy medication and suffered a grand mal seizure her second night. Fifteen-year-old Charlie, arrested for unknowingly purchasing a stolen motorbike, was convicted of a felony and sent to PA Child Care for six weeks. Matthew, Angelia, and Charlie are just three children among the thousands who appeared in Ciavarella's courtroom between 2003 and 2008 and were sent away--often with no attorney present and after only cursory hearings--to a detention facility in which, it later came to light, Ciavarella had a personal financial stake. As Kids for Cash reveals, this miscarriage of justice underscores a multitude of problems with our juvenile justice system, which too often criminalizes standard adolescent behavior, treats adolescents more harshly than if they were adults, and denies them their most fundamental constitutional rights. William Ecenbarger, a Pulitzer Prize and George Polk Award-winning investigative journalist who covered the case for the Philadelphia Inquirer, now gives us the first book-length account of this shocking story. In the tradition of true-crime legal thrillers from The Executioner's Song to A Civil Action, Ecenbarger exposes a deeply corrupt and broken system that ruined the lives of many children and ultimately led to the judge's conviction on charges of racketeering, fraud, tax violations, money laundering, extortion, and bribery. Fastidiously researched and utterly propulsive, Kids for Cash takes us deep inside a profoundly flawed legal system, revealing the twisted and haunting realities of America's juvenile justice system.
Yellow Bird
Author: Sierra Crane Murdoch
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
ISBN: 0399589171
Category : True Crime
Languages : en
Pages : 402
Book Description
PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST • The gripping true story of a murder on an Indian reservation, and the unforgettable Arikara woman who becomes obsessed with solving it—an urgent work of literary journalism. “I don’t know a more complicated, original protagonist in literature than Lissa Yellow Bird, or a more dogged reporter in American journalism than Sierra Crane Murdoch.”—William Finnegan, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Barbarian Days In development as a Paramount+ original series WINNER OF THE OREGON BOOK AWARD • NOMINATED FOR THE EDGAR® AWARD • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • NPR • Publishers Weekly When Lissa Yellow Bird was released from prison in 2009, she found her home, the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota, transformed by the Bakken oil boom. In her absence, the landscape had been altered beyond recognition, her tribal government swayed by corporate interests, and her community burdened by a surge in violence and addiction. Three years later, when Lissa learned that a young white oil worker, Kristopher “KC” Clarke, had disappeared from his reservation worksite, she became particularly concerned. No one knew where Clarke had gone, and few people were actively looking for him. Yellow Bird traces Lissa’s steps as she obsessively hunts for clues to Clarke’s disappearance. She navigates two worlds—that of her own tribe, changed by its newfound wealth, and that of the non-Native oilmen, down on their luck, who have come to find work on the heels of the economic recession. Her pursuit of Clarke is also a pursuit of redemption, as Lissa atones for her own crimes and reckons with generations of trauma. Yellow Bird is an exquisitely written, masterfully reported story about a search for justice and a remarkable portrait of a complex woman who is smart, funny, eloquent, compassionate, and—when it serves her cause—manipulative. Drawing on eight years of immersive investigation, Sierra Crane Murdoch has produced a profound examination of the legacy of systematic violence inflicted on a tribal nation and a tale of extraordinary healing.
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
ISBN: 0399589171
Category : True Crime
Languages : en
Pages : 402
Book Description
PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST • The gripping true story of a murder on an Indian reservation, and the unforgettable Arikara woman who becomes obsessed with solving it—an urgent work of literary journalism. “I don’t know a more complicated, original protagonist in literature than Lissa Yellow Bird, or a more dogged reporter in American journalism than Sierra Crane Murdoch.”—William Finnegan, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Barbarian Days In development as a Paramount+ original series WINNER OF THE OREGON BOOK AWARD • NOMINATED FOR THE EDGAR® AWARD • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • NPR • Publishers Weekly When Lissa Yellow Bird was released from prison in 2009, she found her home, the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota, transformed by the Bakken oil boom. In her absence, the landscape had been altered beyond recognition, her tribal government swayed by corporate interests, and her community burdened by a surge in violence and addiction. Three years later, when Lissa learned that a young white oil worker, Kristopher “KC” Clarke, had disappeared from his reservation worksite, she became particularly concerned. No one knew where Clarke had gone, and few people were actively looking for him. Yellow Bird traces Lissa’s steps as she obsessively hunts for clues to Clarke’s disappearance. She navigates two worlds—that of her own tribe, changed by its newfound wealth, and that of the non-Native oilmen, down on their luck, who have come to find work on the heels of the economic recession. Her pursuit of Clarke is also a pursuit of redemption, as Lissa atones for her own crimes and reckons with generations of trauma. Yellow Bird is an exquisitely written, masterfully reported story about a search for justice and a remarkable portrait of a complex woman who is smart, funny, eloquent, compassionate, and—when it serves her cause—manipulative. Drawing on eight years of immersive investigation, Sierra Crane Murdoch has produced a profound examination of the legacy of systematic violence inflicted on a tribal nation and a tale of extraordinary healing.
Cherubimbo and Other Stories
Author: Gabriel S. de Anda
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1462847331
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 190
Book Description
Few writers can create worlds so rich and fully-realized the reader immediately feels at home, even when the concepts have not yet been fully laid out. Fewer still can do so with language so rich and lyrical it is a joy to read, with details so rooted in the human experience that one cannot help but be absorbed into the story. Gabriel de Anda is such a writer. Whether delineating the struggles of a law firm dealing with the demands of an ex-partner --- about as ex as one can get --- or the dichotomy of rich and poor spreading out among the galaxies or even musing on the irrelevance of a classic icon which somehow makes it seem more relevant than ever de Anda nails it. Readers, you are in for a treat.
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1462847331
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 190
Book Description
Few writers can create worlds so rich and fully-realized the reader immediately feels at home, even when the concepts have not yet been fully laid out. Fewer still can do so with language so rich and lyrical it is a joy to read, with details so rooted in the human experience that one cannot help but be absorbed into the story. Gabriel de Anda is such a writer. Whether delineating the struggles of a law firm dealing with the demands of an ex-partner --- about as ex as one can get --- or the dichotomy of rich and poor spreading out among the galaxies or even musing on the irrelevance of a classic icon which somehow makes it seem more relevant than ever de Anda nails it. Readers, you are in for a treat.
Little Pink House
Author: Jeff Benedict
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
ISBN: 0446544442
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 325
Book Description
In Little Pink House, award-winning investigative journalist Jeff Benedict takes us behind the scenes of this case—indeed, Suzette Kelo speaks for the first time about all the details of this inspirational true story as one woman led the charge to take on corporate America to save her home. Suzette Kelo was just trying to rebuild her life when she purchased a falling down Victorian house perched on the waterfront in New London, CT. The house wasn't particularly fancy, but with lots of hard work Suzette was able to turn it into a home that was important to her, a home that represented her new found independence. Little did she know that the City of New London, desperate to revive its flailing economy, wanted to raze her house and the others like it that sat along the waterfront in order to win a lucrative Pfizer pharmaceutical contract that would bring new business into the city. Kelo and fourteen neighbors flat out refused to sell, so the city decided to exercise its power of eminent domain to condemn their homes, launching one of the most extraordinary legal cases of our time, a case that ultimately reached the United States Supreme Court. "Passionate...a page-turner with conscience." —Publishers Weekly "Catherine Keener nails the combination of anger, grace, and attitude that made Susette Kelo a nationally known crusader." —Deadline Hollywood
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
ISBN: 0446544442
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 325
Book Description
In Little Pink House, award-winning investigative journalist Jeff Benedict takes us behind the scenes of this case—indeed, Suzette Kelo speaks for the first time about all the details of this inspirational true story as one woman led the charge to take on corporate America to save her home. Suzette Kelo was just trying to rebuild her life when she purchased a falling down Victorian house perched on the waterfront in New London, CT. The house wasn't particularly fancy, but with lots of hard work Suzette was able to turn it into a home that was important to her, a home that represented her new found independence. Little did she know that the City of New London, desperate to revive its flailing economy, wanted to raze her house and the others like it that sat along the waterfront in order to win a lucrative Pfizer pharmaceutical contract that would bring new business into the city. Kelo and fourteen neighbors flat out refused to sell, so the city decided to exercise its power of eminent domain to condemn their homes, launching one of the most extraordinary legal cases of our time, a case that ultimately reached the United States Supreme Court. "Passionate...a page-turner with conscience." —Publishers Weekly "Catherine Keener nails the combination of anger, grace, and attitude that made Susette Kelo a nationally known crusader." —Deadline Hollywood
Story Engineering
Author: Larry Brooks
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1599632810
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 288
Book Description
What makes a good story or a screenplay great? The vast majority of writers begin the storytelling process with only a partial understanding where to begin. Some labor their entire lives without ever learning that successful stories are as dependent upon good engineering as they are artistry. But the truth is, unless you are master of the form, function and criteria of successful storytelling, sitting down and pounding out a first draft without planning is an ineffective way to begin. Story Engineering starts with the criteria and the architecture of storytelling, the engineering and design of a story--and uses it as the basis for narrative. The greatest potential of any story is found in the way six specific aspects of storytelling combine and empower each other on the page. When rendered artfully, they become a sum in excess of their parts. You'll learn to wrap your head around the big pictures of storytelling at a professional level through a new approach that shows how to combine these six core competencies which include: • Four elemental competencies of concept, character, theme, and story structure (plot) • Two executional competencies of scene construction and writing voice The true magic of storytelling happens when these six core competencies work together in perfect harmony. And the best part? Anyone can do it!
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1599632810
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 288
Book Description
What makes a good story or a screenplay great? The vast majority of writers begin the storytelling process with only a partial understanding where to begin. Some labor their entire lives without ever learning that successful stories are as dependent upon good engineering as they are artistry. But the truth is, unless you are master of the form, function and criteria of successful storytelling, sitting down and pounding out a first draft without planning is an ineffective way to begin. Story Engineering starts with the criteria and the architecture of storytelling, the engineering and design of a story--and uses it as the basis for narrative. The greatest potential of any story is found in the way six specific aspects of storytelling combine and empower each other on the page. When rendered artfully, they become a sum in excess of their parts. You'll learn to wrap your head around the big pictures of storytelling at a professional level through a new approach that shows how to combine these six core competencies which include: • Four elemental competencies of concept, character, theme, and story structure (plot) • Two executional competencies of scene construction and writing voice The true magic of storytelling happens when these six core competencies work together in perfect harmony. And the best part? Anyone can do it!