Author: Adam Foulds
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 1780228724
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 306
Book Description
From the author of the Man Booker shortlisted The Quickening Maze, a brilliant, touching and funny story about an extraordinary friendship. 'A novel bursting with incident, humour, humanity and literary promise' Sunday Times Saul Dawson-Smith is ten years old. He can memorise the sequence of a shuffled deck of cards in under a minute and is in training for the World Memory Championships. Howard McNamee is twenty-eight: lonely, overweight, poorly educated, and on the run from his memories of a murky Glaswegian childhood. As Howard navigates a bewildering new life in London - including accidentally acquiring a Russian fiancée - he is taken under the wing of Saul's parents, and forms an unlikely friendship with the solitary boy. But as pressure mounts before the Championship, Howard realises he must act to save his small friend from a life of unbearable expectation. And so, he and Saul head out on the strangest road trip of all time - one that will turn both their lives upside down.
The Truth About These Strange Times
Author: Adam Foulds
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 1780228724
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 306
Book Description
From the author of the Man Booker shortlisted The Quickening Maze, a brilliant, touching and funny story about an extraordinary friendship. 'A novel bursting with incident, humour, humanity and literary promise' Sunday Times Saul Dawson-Smith is ten years old. He can memorise the sequence of a shuffled deck of cards in under a minute and is in training for the World Memory Championships. Howard McNamee is twenty-eight: lonely, overweight, poorly educated, and on the run from his memories of a murky Glaswegian childhood. As Howard navigates a bewildering new life in London - including accidentally acquiring a Russian fiancée - he is taken under the wing of Saul's parents, and forms an unlikely friendship with the solitary boy. But as pressure mounts before the Championship, Howard realises he must act to save his small friend from a life of unbearable expectation. And so, he and Saul head out on the strangest road trip of all time - one that will turn both their lives upside down.
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 1780228724
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 306
Book Description
From the author of the Man Booker shortlisted The Quickening Maze, a brilliant, touching and funny story about an extraordinary friendship. 'A novel bursting with incident, humour, humanity and literary promise' Sunday Times Saul Dawson-Smith is ten years old. He can memorise the sequence of a shuffled deck of cards in under a minute and is in training for the World Memory Championships. Howard McNamee is twenty-eight: lonely, overweight, poorly educated, and on the run from his memories of a murky Glaswegian childhood. As Howard navigates a bewildering new life in London - including accidentally acquiring a Russian fiancée - he is taken under the wing of Saul's parents, and forms an unlikely friendship with the solitary boy. But as pressure mounts before the Championship, Howard realises he must act to save his small friend from a life of unbearable expectation. And so, he and Saul head out on the strangest road trip of all time - one that will turn both their lives upside down.
These Are Strange Times, My Dear
Author: Wendy Willis
Publisher: Catapult
ISBN: 1640091521
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 321
Book Description
"In these pointed and wide–ranging essays, Wendy Willis explores everything from personal resistance to the rise of political podcasts, civic loneliness to the exploitation of personal data, public outrage to the opioid crisis—all with a poet's gift for finding the sacred in the mundane, a hope in the dark. One of the country's sharpest observers of politics, art, and the American spirit, Willis returns often to the demanding question posed by Czech writer, activist, and politician Václav Havel: What does it mean to live in truth? Her view is honed by her place as a poet, as a mother, and, when necessary, as an activist. Together, the essays in These Are Strange Times, My Dear work within that largely unmapped place where the heartbreaks and uncertainties of one's inner life brush up against the cruelties and responsibilities of politics and government and our daily lives."
Publisher: Catapult
ISBN: 1640091521
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 321
Book Description
"In these pointed and wide–ranging essays, Wendy Willis explores everything from personal resistance to the rise of political podcasts, civic loneliness to the exploitation of personal data, public outrage to the opioid crisis—all with a poet's gift for finding the sacred in the mundane, a hope in the dark. One of the country's sharpest observers of politics, art, and the American spirit, Willis returns often to the demanding question posed by Czech writer, activist, and politician Václav Havel: What does it mean to live in truth? Her view is honed by her place as a poet, as a mother, and, when necessary, as an activist. Together, the essays in These Are Strange Times, My Dear work within that largely unmapped place where the heartbreaks and uncertainties of one's inner life brush up against the cruelties and responsibilities of politics and government and our daily lives."
These Are Strange Times, My Dear
Author: Wendy Willis
Publisher: Catapult
ISBN: 1640091513
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 321
Book Description
"In these pointed and wide–ranging essays, Wendy Willis explores everything from personal resistance to the rise of political podcasts, civic loneliness to the exploitation of personal data, public outrage to the opioid crisis—all with a poet's gift for finding the sacred in the mundane, a hope in the dark. One of the country's sharpest observers of politics, art, and the American spirit, Willis returns often to the demanding question posed by Czech writer, activist, and politician Václav Havel: What does it mean to live in truth? Her view is honed by her place as a poet, as a mother, and, when necessary, as an activist. Together, the essays in These Are Strange Times, My Dear work within that largely unmapped place where the heartbreaks and uncertainties of one's inner life brush up against the cruelties and responsibilities of politics and government and our daily lives."
Publisher: Catapult
ISBN: 1640091513
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 321
Book Description
"In these pointed and wide–ranging essays, Wendy Willis explores everything from personal resistance to the rise of political podcasts, civic loneliness to the exploitation of personal data, public outrage to the opioid crisis—all with a poet's gift for finding the sacred in the mundane, a hope in the dark. One of the country's sharpest observers of politics, art, and the American spirit, Willis returns often to the demanding question posed by Czech writer, activist, and politician Václav Havel: What does it mean to live in truth? Her view is honed by her place as a poet, as a mother, and, when necessary, as an activist. Together, the essays in These Are Strange Times, My Dear work within that largely unmapped place where the heartbreaks and uncertainties of one's inner life brush up against the cruelties and responsibilities of politics and government and our daily lives."
Strange Times, My Dear
Author: Nahid Mozaffari
Publisher: Skyhorse
ISBN: 1611459729
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 569
Book Description
When Arcade Publishing originally contracted this extraordinary collection of poetry and literature, the Department of the Treasury was attempting to censor the publication of works from countries on America’s “enemies list.” Arcade, along with the PEN American Center, the Association of American Publishers Professional and Scholarly Publishing Division, and the Association of American University Presses, filed a lawsuit in federal court against the United States government. Their landmark case forced the Office of Foreign Assets Control to change their regulations regarding editing and publishing literature in translation, and Arcade is proud to reissue this anthology that showcases the developments in Iranian literature over the past quarter-century. Since the Iranian revolution of 1979, the United States has been virtually cut off from that country’s culture. Despite severe difficulties imposed by social, political, and economic upheavals, as well as war, repression, and censorship, a veritable cultural renewal has taken place in Iran over the past quarter-century, not only in literature, but in music, art, and cinema. Over forty writers from three generations contributed to this rich and varied collection—or, to use the Persian term, golchine, a bouquet—one that provides a much-needed window into a largely undiscovered branch of world literature. In the wake of the Green Revolution and sweeping changes in the region, this particular golchine is more relevant than ever, and will bring literary enjoyment as well as a fuller understanding of a complex and ever-shifting culture.
Publisher: Skyhorse
ISBN: 1611459729
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 569
Book Description
When Arcade Publishing originally contracted this extraordinary collection of poetry and literature, the Department of the Treasury was attempting to censor the publication of works from countries on America’s “enemies list.” Arcade, along with the PEN American Center, the Association of American Publishers Professional and Scholarly Publishing Division, and the Association of American University Presses, filed a lawsuit in federal court against the United States government. Their landmark case forced the Office of Foreign Assets Control to change their regulations regarding editing and publishing literature in translation, and Arcade is proud to reissue this anthology that showcases the developments in Iranian literature over the past quarter-century. Since the Iranian revolution of 1979, the United States has been virtually cut off from that country’s culture. Despite severe difficulties imposed by social, political, and economic upheavals, as well as war, repression, and censorship, a veritable cultural renewal has taken place in Iran over the past quarter-century, not only in literature, but in music, art, and cinema. Over forty writers from three generations contributed to this rich and varied collection—or, to use the Persian term, golchine, a bouquet—one that provides a much-needed window into a largely undiscovered branch of world literature. In the wake of the Green Revolution and sweeping changes in the region, this particular golchine is more relevant than ever, and will bring literary enjoyment as well as a fuller understanding of a complex and ever-shifting culture.
Black Bough Poetry
Author: Matthew M C Smith
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 90
Book Description
Deep Time (volume 2) is a publication by Black Bough poetry, inspired by Robert Macfarlane's 'Underland' (2019). It is one of two volumes dedicated to prehistory, mythologies, geological time and underworlds. publication curate by Matthew M C Smith
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 90
Book Description
Deep Time (volume 2) is a publication by Black Bough poetry, inspired by Robert Macfarlane's 'Underland' (2019). It is one of two volumes dedicated to prehistory, mythologies, geological time and underworlds. publication curate by Matthew M C Smith
The Quickening Maze
Author: Adam Foulds
Publisher: Vintage Canada
ISBN: 0307399117
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 274
Book Description
Based on real events in Epping Forest on the edge of London around 1840, The Quickening Maze centres on the first incarceration of the great nature poet John Clare. After years struggling with alcohol, critical neglect and depression, Clare finds himself in High Beach Private Asylum – an institution run on reformist principles which would later become known as occupational therapy. At the same time another poet, the young Alfred Tennyson, moves nearby and becomes entangled in the life and catastrophic schemes of the asylum's owner, the peculiar, charismatic Dr Matthew Allen. For John Clare, a man who had grown up steeped in the freedoms and exhilarations of nature, who thought ‘the edge of the world was a day’s walk away’, a locked door is a kind of death. This intensely lyrical novel describes his vertiginous fall, through hallucinatory episodes of insanity and dissolving identity, towards his final madness. Historically accurate, but brilliantly imagined, the closed world of High Beach and its various inmates – the doctor, his lonely daughter in love with Tennyson, the brutish staff and John Clare himself – are brought vividly to life. Outside the walls is Nature, and Clare’s paradise: the birds and animals, the gypsies living in the forest; his dream of home, of redemption, of escape. Rapturous yet precise, exquisitely written, rich in character and detail, this is a remarkable and deeply affecting book: a visionary novel which contains a world.
Publisher: Vintage Canada
ISBN: 0307399117
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 274
Book Description
Based on real events in Epping Forest on the edge of London around 1840, The Quickening Maze centres on the first incarceration of the great nature poet John Clare. After years struggling with alcohol, critical neglect and depression, Clare finds himself in High Beach Private Asylum – an institution run on reformist principles which would later become known as occupational therapy. At the same time another poet, the young Alfred Tennyson, moves nearby and becomes entangled in the life and catastrophic schemes of the asylum's owner, the peculiar, charismatic Dr Matthew Allen. For John Clare, a man who had grown up steeped in the freedoms and exhilarations of nature, who thought ‘the edge of the world was a day’s walk away’, a locked door is a kind of death. This intensely lyrical novel describes his vertiginous fall, through hallucinatory episodes of insanity and dissolving identity, towards his final madness. Historically accurate, but brilliantly imagined, the closed world of High Beach and its various inmates – the doctor, his lonely daughter in love with Tennyson, the brutish staff and John Clare himself – are brought vividly to life. Outside the walls is Nature, and Clare’s paradise: the birds and animals, the gypsies living in the forest; his dream of home, of redemption, of escape. Rapturous yet precise, exquisitely written, rich in character and detail, this is a remarkable and deeply affecting book: a visionary novel which contains a world.
Strangers in Their Own Land
Author: Arlie Russell Hochschild
Publisher: The New Press
ISBN: 1620973987
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 305
Book Description
The National Book Award Finalist and New York Times bestseller that became a guide and balm for a country struggling to understand the election of Donald Trump "A generous but disconcerting look at the Tea Party. . . . This is a smart, respectful and compelling book." —Jason DeParle, The New York Times Book Review When Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election, a bewildered nation turned to Strangers in Their Own Land to understand what Trump voters were thinking when they cast their ballots. Arlie Hochschild, one of the most influential sociologists of her generation, had spent the preceding five years immersed in the community around Lake Charles, Louisiana, a Tea Party stronghold. As Jedediah Purdy put it in the New Republic, "Hochschild is fascinated by how people make sense of their lives. . . . [Her] attentive, detailed portraits . . . reveal a gulf between Hochchild's 'strangers in their own land' and a new elite." Already a favorite common read book in communities and on campuses across the country and called "humble and important" by David Brooks and "masterly" by Atul Gawande, Hochschild's book has been lauded by Noam Chomsky, New Orleans mayor Mitch Landrieu, and countless others. The paperback edition features a new afterword by the author reflecting on the election of Donald Trump and the other events that have unfolded both in Louisiana and around the country since the hardcover edition was published, and also includes a readers' group guide at the back of the book.
Publisher: The New Press
ISBN: 1620973987
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 305
Book Description
The National Book Award Finalist and New York Times bestseller that became a guide and balm for a country struggling to understand the election of Donald Trump "A generous but disconcerting look at the Tea Party. . . . This is a smart, respectful and compelling book." —Jason DeParle, The New York Times Book Review When Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election, a bewildered nation turned to Strangers in Their Own Land to understand what Trump voters were thinking when they cast their ballots. Arlie Hochschild, one of the most influential sociologists of her generation, had spent the preceding five years immersed in the community around Lake Charles, Louisiana, a Tea Party stronghold. As Jedediah Purdy put it in the New Republic, "Hochschild is fascinated by how people make sense of their lives. . . . [Her] attentive, detailed portraits . . . reveal a gulf between Hochchild's 'strangers in their own land' and a new elite." Already a favorite common read book in communities and on campuses across the country and called "humble and important" by David Brooks and "masterly" by Atul Gawande, Hochschild's book has been lauded by Noam Chomsky, New Orleans mayor Mitch Landrieu, and countless others. The paperback edition features a new afterword by the author reflecting on the election of Donald Trump and the other events that have unfolded both in Louisiana and around the country since the hardcover edition was published, and also includes a readers' group guide at the back of the book.
These Precious Days
Author: Ann Patchett
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0063092808
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 320
Book Description
The beloved New York Times bestselling author reflects on home, family, friendships and writing in this deeply personal collection of essays. "The elegance of Patchett’s prose is seductive and inviting: with Patchett as a guide, readers will really get to grips with the power of struggles, failures, and triumphs alike." —Publisher's Weekly “Any story that starts will also end.” As a writer, Ann Patchett knows what the outcome of her fiction will be. Life, however, often takes turns we do not see coming. Patchett ponders this truth in these wise essays that afford a fresh and intimate look into her mind and heart. At the center of These Precious Days is the title essay, a surprising and moving meditation on an unexpected friendship that explores “what it means to be seen, to find someone with whom you can be your best and most complete self.” When Patchett chose an early galley of actor and producer Tom Hanks’ short story collection to read one night before bed, she had no idea that this single choice would be life changing. It would introduce her to a remarkable woman—Tom’s brilliant assistant Sooki—with whom she would form a profound bond that held monumental consequences for them both. A literary alchemist, Patchett plumbs the depths of her experiences to create gold: engaging and moving pieces that are both self-portrait and landscape, each vibrant with emotion and rich in insight. Turning her writer’s eye on her own experiences, she transforms the private into the universal, providing us all a way to look at our own worlds anew, and reminds how fleeting and enigmatic life can be. From the enchantments of Kate DiCamillo’s children’s books (author of The Beatryce Prophecy) to youthful memories of Paris; the cherished life gifts given by her three fathers to the unexpected influence of Charles Schultz’s Snoopy; the expansive vision of Eudora Welty to the importance of knitting, Patchett connects life and art as she illuminates what matters most. Infused with the author’s grace, wit, and warmth, the pieces in These Precious Days resonate deep in the soul, leaving an indelible mark—and demonstrate why Ann Patchett is one of the most celebrated writers of our time.
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0063092808
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 320
Book Description
The beloved New York Times bestselling author reflects on home, family, friendships and writing in this deeply personal collection of essays. "The elegance of Patchett’s prose is seductive and inviting: with Patchett as a guide, readers will really get to grips with the power of struggles, failures, and triumphs alike." —Publisher's Weekly “Any story that starts will also end.” As a writer, Ann Patchett knows what the outcome of her fiction will be. Life, however, often takes turns we do not see coming. Patchett ponders this truth in these wise essays that afford a fresh and intimate look into her mind and heart. At the center of These Precious Days is the title essay, a surprising and moving meditation on an unexpected friendship that explores “what it means to be seen, to find someone with whom you can be your best and most complete self.” When Patchett chose an early galley of actor and producer Tom Hanks’ short story collection to read one night before bed, she had no idea that this single choice would be life changing. It would introduce her to a remarkable woman—Tom’s brilliant assistant Sooki—with whom she would form a profound bond that held monumental consequences for them both. A literary alchemist, Patchett plumbs the depths of her experiences to create gold: engaging and moving pieces that are both self-portrait and landscape, each vibrant with emotion and rich in insight. Turning her writer’s eye on her own experiences, she transforms the private into the universal, providing us all a way to look at our own worlds anew, and reminds how fleeting and enigmatic life can be. From the enchantments of Kate DiCamillo’s children’s books (author of The Beatryce Prophecy) to youthful memories of Paris; the cherished life gifts given by her three fathers to the unexpected influence of Charles Schultz’s Snoopy; the expansive vision of Eudora Welty to the importance of knitting, Patchett connects life and art as she illuminates what matters most. Infused with the author’s grace, wit, and warmth, the pieces in These Precious Days resonate deep in the soul, leaving an indelible mark—and demonstrate why Ann Patchett is one of the most celebrated writers of our time.
The Stranger Times
Author: C. K. McDonnell
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1473577306
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 341
Book Description
'Wonderfully dark, extremely funny' proclaimed ADAM KAY, author of the No.1 bestselling This is Going to Hurt 'A filmic romp with great characters, a jet-propelled plot, and a winning premise' said the GUARDIAN JASON MANFORD thinks it's 'Hilarious. You'll never look at Manchester the same way again.' The Chronicles of St Mary's series author JODI TAYLOR declared 'I loved this . . . great premise - great story - great characters . . . hugely enjoyable.' And THE TIMES called it 'ripping entertainment from start to finish.' There are dark forces at work in our world (and in Manchester in particular), so thank God The Stranger Times is on hand to report them . . . A weekly newspaper dedicated to the weird and the wonderful (but mostly the weird), it is the go-to publication for the unexplained and inexplicable. At least that's their pitch. The reality is rather less auspicious. Their editor is a drunken, foul-tempered and foul-mouthed husk of a man who thinks little of the publication he edits. His staff are a ragtag group of misfits. And as for the assistant editor . . . well, that job is a revolving door - and it has just revolved to reveal Hannah Willis, who's got problems of her own. When tragedy strikes in her first week on the job The Stranger Times is forced to do some serious investigating. What they discover leads to a shocking realisation: some of the stories they'd previously dismissed as nonsense are in fact terrifyingly real. Soon they come face-to-face with darker forces than they could ever have imagined. The Stranger Times is the first novel from C.K. McDonnell, the pen name of Caimh McDonnell. It combines his distinctive dark wit with his love of the weird and wonderful to deliver a joyous celebration of how truth really can be stranger than fiction. Readers love The Stranger Times: ***** 'A delight from start to finish - laugh out loud funny yet with plenty of thrills.' ***** 'Full of wit and humour, and knows how to keep the reader hooked.' ***** 'You'll soon fall in love . . . fans of Pratchett, Gaiman, Aaronovich will be blown away.'
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1473577306
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 341
Book Description
'Wonderfully dark, extremely funny' proclaimed ADAM KAY, author of the No.1 bestselling This is Going to Hurt 'A filmic romp with great characters, a jet-propelled plot, and a winning premise' said the GUARDIAN JASON MANFORD thinks it's 'Hilarious. You'll never look at Manchester the same way again.' The Chronicles of St Mary's series author JODI TAYLOR declared 'I loved this . . . great premise - great story - great characters . . . hugely enjoyable.' And THE TIMES called it 'ripping entertainment from start to finish.' There are dark forces at work in our world (and in Manchester in particular), so thank God The Stranger Times is on hand to report them . . . A weekly newspaper dedicated to the weird and the wonderful (but mostly the weird), it is the go-to publication for the unexplained and inexplicable. At least that's their pitch. The reality is rather less auspicious. Their editor is a drunken, foul-tempered and foul-mouthed husk of a man who thinks little of the publication he edits. His staff are a ragtag group of misfits. And as for the assistant editor . . . well, that job is a revolving door - and it has just revolved to reveal Hannah Willis, who's got problems of her own. When tragedy strikes in her first week on the job The Stranger Times is forced to do some serious investigating. What they discover leads to a shocking realisation: some of the stories they'd previously dismissed as nonsense are in fact terrifyingly real. Soon they come face-to-face with darker forces than they could ever have imagined. The Stranger Times is the first novel from C.K. McDonnell, the pen name of Caimh McDonnell. It combines his distinctive dark wit with his love of the weird and wonderful to deliver a joyous celebration of how truth really can be stranger than fiction. Readers love The Stranger Times: ***** 'A delight from start to finish - laugh out loud funny yet with plenty of thrills.' ***** 'Full of wit and humour, and knows how to keep the reader hooked.' ***** 'You'll soon fall in love . . . fans of Pratchett, Gaiman, Aaronovich will be blown away.'
Strange Times
Author: Tom DeLonge
Publisher: To The Stars
ISBN: 1943272220
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 205
Book Description
From the imagination of blink-182’s award-winning author Tom DeLonge, the Strange Times crew first debuted in the graphic novel Strange Times: The Curse of Superstition Mountain. Now teamed-up with Geoff Herbach, also an award-winning author of the Felton Reinstein Trilogy, DeLonge tells the hilarious and haunting adventure that originally forced five outcast jerks to band together or give up the ghost. Charlie Wilkins has it all. Pitcher on the baseball team, point guard on the basketball team, good jock friends and girls who just love him. Then his U.S. Air Force dad goes M.I.A. during a secret mission and Charlie falls into darkness. He quits basketball, pushes away his old friends who all seem so stupid. He stops talking. Nobody knows what he’s going through, because the government has forbidden the family from disclosing Dad’s predicament. Charlie turns into a loner, until an Earth Science assignment forces him to join a new, messed-up team. Wiz has a brain for science, a love for steampunk, and a total disgust for most human beings. Heavy-set, picked-on Riley has a home life Harry Potter wouldn’t trade for. Mouse and Mattheson are skateboard slackers with a keen interest in tacos and in building a model volcano that looks like a butt. With zero chemistry between them, Charlie can’t see how he’s going to pass this class. Will he be stuck, suffering, in eighth grade forever? The earth shifts. It seems impossible. A ghost girl reaches out to Charlie through the terrified skater boys. She’s being stalked by a vengeful spirit that shares a past with Charlie’s family. It soon becomes clear that the spirit is coming for him. He has to save the ghost girl and save himself. His only hope? The nerd Wiz, the loser Riley, the skaters Mouse and Mattheson who want to hook-up with the girl. But, seriously, she’s a ghost. Strange Times indeed...
Publisher: To The Stars
ISBN: 1943272220
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 205
Book Description
From the imagination of blink-182’s award-winning author Tom DeLonge, the Strange Times crew first debuted in the graphic novel Strange Times: The Curse of Superstition Mountain. Now teamed-up with Geoff Herbach, also an award-winning author of the Felton Reinstein Trilogy, DeLonge tells the hilarious and haunting adventure that originally forced five outcast jerks to band together or give up the ghost. Charlie Wilkins has it all. Pitcher on the baseball team, point guard on the basketball team, good jock friends and girls who just love him. Then his U.S. Air Force dad goes M.I.A. during a secret mission and Charlie falls into darkness. He quits basketball, pushes away his old friends who all seem so stupid. He stops talking. Nobody knows what he’s going through, because the government has forbidden the family from disclosing Dad’s predicament. Charlie turns into a loner, until an Earth Science assignment forces him to join a new, messed-up team. Wiz has a brain for science, a love for steampunk, and a total disgust for most human beings. Heavy-set, picked-on Riley has a home life Harry Potter wouldn’t trade for. Mouse and Mattheson are skateboard slackers with a keen interest in tacos and in building a model volcano that looks like a butt. With zero chemistry between them, Charlie can’t see how he’s going to pass this class. Will he be stuck, suffering, in eighth grade forever? The earth shifts. It seems impossible. A ghost girl reaches out to Charlie through the terrified skater boys. She’s being stalked by a vengeful spirit that shares a past with Charlie’s family. It soon becomes clear that the spirit is coming for him. He has to save the ghost girl and save himself. His only hope? The nerd Wiz, the loser Riley, the skaters Mouse and Mattheson who want to hook-up with the girl. But, seriously, she’s a ghost. Strange Times indeed...