Romantic entanglements and handcrafted murder tie the Black Sheep knitters in knotswhen the local farmers’ market becomes a haven for a killer . . . Phoebe Myers, Black Sheep Knitting Shop’s assistant manager, finally comes out from behind the counter to sell her own creations—Socks by Phoebe—at the Plum Harbor Farmers’ and Crafts Market, a lively, colorful venue that draws shoppers from miles around. But her excitement cools when she learns the previous tenant of her booth, farmer Jimmy Hooper, committed suicide. She’s barely raised her Grand Opening banner when Hooper’s death is upgraded to murder. Phoebe worries that her stall is jinxed when things go from bad to worse. The last person she wants to see, her ex-boyfriend Harry “The Potter” McSweeney, appears in the stall across the aisle to sell his wares. The Black Sheep advise Phoebe to be strong and resist the handsome artist’s spell. But romantic sparks and tempers explode in a very public scene—and a pile of broken pottery. Before Phoebe can get back to business, her stall is trashed, her Facebook page hacked, and another vendor is found dead. The Black Sheep worry for Phoebe’s safety, especially when Harry becomes the prime suspect in both crimes. Phoebe refuses to believe he’s a killer and is determined to prove him innocent. Her friends are not convinced, but for Phoebe’s sake—and her safety—the Black Sheep puts their wits together to catch the crafty marketplace killer who’s hiding in plain sight . . .

Authoritative and original, Dreams of the Hmong Kingdom is among the first works of its kind, exploring the influence that French colonialism and Hmong leadership had on the Hmong people's political and social aspirations.

An exploration of the wild spirits that once roamed the lands and inhabited the waters and the pagan rites used to gain their good will • Explores medieval stories and folk traditions of brownies, fairies, giants, dragons, will-o’-the-wisps, and demons • Explains the specific rites performed to negotiate with the local spirits and ensure their permission before building on new land • Shows how these beliefs carried through to modern times, especially in architecture Our pagan ancestors knew that every forest has brownies and fairies, every spring its lady, and every river malevolent beings in its depths. They told tales of giants in the hills, dragons in the lakes, marshes swarming with will-o’-the-wisps, and demons and wild folk in the mountains who enjoyed causing landslides, avalanches, and floods. They both feared and respected these entities, knowing the importance of appeasing them for safe travel and a prosperous homestead. Exploring medieval stories, folk traditions, spiritual place names, and pagan rituals of home building and site selection, Claude Lecouteux reveals the multitude of spirits and entities that once inhabited the land before modern civilization repressed them into desert solitude, impenetrable forests, and inaccessible mountains. He explains how, to our ancestors, enclosing a space was a sacred act. Specific rites had to be performed to negotiate with the local spirits and ensure proper placement and protection of a new building. These land spirits often became the household spirit, taking up residence in a new building in exchange for permission to build on their territory. Lecouteux explores Arthurian legends, folk tales, and mythology for evidence of the untamed spirits of the wilderness, such as giants, dragons, and demons, and examines the rites and ceremonies used to gain their good will. Lecouteux reveals how, despite outright Church suppression, belief in these spirits carried through to modern times and was a primary influence on architecture, an influence still visible in today’s buildings. The author also shows how our ancestors’ concern for respecting nature is increasingly relevant in today’s world.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1863.

In Microdramas, John H. Muse argues that plays shorter than twenty minutes deserve sustained attention, and that brevity should be considered a distinct mode of theatrical practice. Focusing on artists for whom brevity became both a structural principle and a tool to investigate theater itself (August Strindberg, Maurice Maeterlinck, F. T. Marinetti, Samuel Beckett, Suzan-Lori Parks, and Caryl Churchill), the book explores four episodes in the history of very short theater, all characterized by the self-conscious embrace of brevity. The story moves from the birth of the modernist microdrama in French little theaters in the 1880s, to the explicit worship of speed in Italian Futurist synthetic theater, to Samuel Beckett’s often-misunderstood short plays, and finally to a range of contemporary playwrights whose long compilations of shorts offer a new take on momentary theater. Subjecting short plays to extended scrutiny upends assumptions about brief or minimal art, and about theatrical experience. The book shows that short performances often demand greater attention from audiences than plays that unfold more predictably. Microdramas put pressure on preconceptions about which aspects of theater might be fundamental and about what might qualify as an event. In the process, they suggest answers to crucial questions about time, spectatorship, and significance.