A powerful century-old soldier returns to Earth from the Otherworld and attempts to reclaim his former life in this thrilling fantasy novel. For 130 years, Kreig Wiedermann has fought: first, as a teenage recruit for the Holy Order; then, as a soldier for the Empire; and most recently, as an immortal godlike warrior devoted only to avenging himself. The lust of combat is all he knows—until a portal opens on the battlefield and brings him back to the world from which he came. Despite the decades Kreig has survived in the Otherworld, only ten short years have passed on Earth, which means the life he considered lost forever might still be waiting for him. But rejoining humankind won't be easy. For one thing, the International Otherworld Combat and Research Organization isn't about to let a monstrous stranger with an unfathomably high level just wander around without first making sure he won't wreak havoc on the planet. For another, Kreig has been tortured, imprisoned, betrayed, and hunted for years; he's got his own demons to confront before he can reunite with his family and take up a normal life. Plus, there's the little problem that not everyone thinks Kreig should be allowed to even dream of rehabilitation. And no matter how much he tries to leave his past behind, there are forces threatening to drag him back into his bloody legacy . . . A bold and clever twist on a classic isekai tale, Returning to No Applause, Only More of the Same is a dramatic, character-driven fantasy that proves the old adage "There's no place like home." The hit LitRPG fantasy—with more than a million views on Royal Road—now available on Audible and wherever ebooks are sold!

From 1881 to 1932, vaudeville was at the heart of show business in the UnitedStates. This volume explores the many ways in which vaudeville's story is thestory of show business in America.

A seriously funny look at the roots of American Entertainment When Groucho Marx and Charlie Chaplin were born, variety entertainment had been going on for decades in America, and like Harry Houdini, Milton Berle, Mae West, and countless others, these performers got their start on the vaudeville stage. From 1881 to 1932, vaudeville was at the heart of show business in the States. Its stars were America's first stars in the modern sense, and it utterly dominated American popular culture. Writer and modern-day vaudevillian Trav S.D. chronicles vaudeville's far-reaching impact in No Applause--Just Throw Money. He explores the many ways in which vaudeville's story is the story of show business in America and documents the rich history and cultural legacy of our country's only purely indigenous theatrical form, including its influence on everything from USO shows to Ed Sullivan to The Muppet Show and The Gong Show. More than a quaint historical curiosity, vaudeville is thriving today, and Trav S.D. pulls back the curtain on the vibrant subculture that exists across the United States--a vast grassroots network of fire-eaters, human blockheads, burlesque performers, and bad comics intent on taking vaudeville into its second century.

In Bob and Ray, Keener than Most Persons, " David Pollock, with the full cooperation of Bob Elliott and of Ray Goulding's widow, Liz, and with the insights of numerous colleagues, traces the origins and development of the unique sensibility that defined their dozens of local and network radio and television series, later motion picture roles, Carnegie Hall performances, and hit Broadway show, Bob and Ray: The Two and Only. Bob and Ray's many parodies, including "Mary Backstayge, Noble Wife" and "Mr. Trace, Keener than Most Persons, " and storehouse of recurring characters, such as ace reporter Wally Ballou, cowboy singer Tex Blaisdell, and book reviewer Webley Webster, were known and adored by millions, but the twosome deflected all intrusions into the personalities behind their many masks and the dynamics of their relationship, and rarely elaborated on their career trajectory of methodology. Bob and Ray were a team for 43 years, longer than Laurel and Hardy, Burns and Allen, Abbott and Costello, and Martin and Lewis. "Bob and Ray, Keener than Most Persons" explores the craft and culture behind that longevity and behind the laughter they brought into millions of American homes. - Publisher.

To the other passengers aboard a transatlantic ocean liner, Katharine Monahan might seem like a typical sixteen-year-old American girl on her way to study in a Junior-Year-Abroad program. What they dont know is that her family physician has given her only a year to live. Desperate to realize every dream shes ever had, she has left family, school, and friends in New Orleans to live in the only place she believes she truly belongs: Paris, France. But the Paris of 1986 proves not to be the Paris of Piaf, Chevalier, and Colette. Language and cultural barriers, hard as they may be, will prove the least of the crises she will face. Lonely and alienated in her newly adopted home, she finds solace and companionship with a congregation of expatriate American artists and misfits at Lost Generation Bookstore. Shadowed by the consciousness of her own mortality and driven by a panic-stricken desire to drink up as much experience as she can leads her into a number of bizarre relationships and even dangerous situations which challenge every moral, religious, and political belief she has ever held, but also expose the political and moral hypocrisy of those with whom she is involved. Among these is an expatriate American with heavy Marxist-Leninist leanings as well as a questionable past; a fashion designer with an equally questionable sexuality; a wealthy American businessman, who knows only how to wield power but is incapable of love, and a spoiled art student, whose immediate family prove to be a sample of French bourgeoisie life at its worst. Strengthened by her ordeals, she is suddenly overcome by a tragic new set of circumstances she cannot handle. Fleeing to the south of France, she is taken into the home of a wealthy Riviera couple, whose hospitality is inspired by motives less disinterested than they at first seem. A pilgrimage to Lourdes in the company of a kind yet worldly-wise young nun seems to promise a way out of her predicament. But upon her return to Paris, she encounters new pressures which eventually force her to make the most critical decision of her life: the choice between the ways of the world or the ways of the spirit.

SCREEN WORLD VOLUME 58: THE FILMS OF 2006