Close Encounters of the Nerd Kind! When student Sam wakes up in the house of a group of obsessive sci-fi fans, she becomes their reluctant new housemate after their home gets transformed into a piece of misfiring trans-dimensional technology! Now they can travel to places where no 2-up 2-down terraced house has gone before. Armed only with their wits (and Star Wars trivia) the group of misfits must survive in whatever horrifying dimension or alternate reality they find themselves in! An affectionate parody of Sci-Fi and Fantasy tropes, this quirky comedy adventure features steampunks, Dark Lords, cuddly Lovecraftian horrors and the occasional dysfunctional lightsaber!

André-François Bourbeau turned his passion for the outdoors into a celebrated career as a ground-breaking researcher and teacher of primitive wilderness survival. These are his first-hand stories, always informative, gritty, and sometimes hilarious. What emerges is one man's everlasting love of the wilderness.

The Essential Cult TV Reader is a collection of insightful essays that examine television shows that amass engaged, active fan bases by employing an imaginative approach to programming. Once defined by limited viewership, cult TV has developed its own identity, with some shows gaining large, mainstream audiences. By exploring the defining characteristics of cult TV, The Essential Cult TV Reader traces the development of this once obscure form and explains how cult TV achieved its current status as legitimate television. The essays explore a wide range of cult programs, from early shows such as Star Trek, The Avengers, Dark Shadows, and The Twilight Zone to popular contemporary shows such as Lost, Dexter, and 24, addressing the cultural context that allowed the development of the phenomenon. The contributors investigate the obligations of cult series to their fans, the relationship of camp and cult, the effects of DVD releases and the Internet, and the globalization of cult TV. The Essential Cult TV Reader answers many of the questions surrounding the form while revealing emerging debates on its future.

The Geek Gap is thoroughly original, virtually unique, of paramount importance and, on top of ALL that, a 'great read.' Bill Pfleging and Minda Zetlin deserve a giant 'Hats off' for this wonderful piece of work. --Tom PetersBusiness managers (suits) and technology professionals (geeks) have become warring camps in too many companies. While both groups have no trouble following the lingo of their own specialties, when they have to communicate with each other, neither side fully understands-or wants to understand-the other. And that's a big problem in an increasingly technology-dependent business environment where success depends on the smooth integration of both business savvy and technological expertise.Bill Pfleging-a respected computer and Web consultant-and Minda Zetlin-a veteran business writer-explore, in this insightful, witty, and very instructive book, the culture clash that pervades nearly every business-technology interaction. The Geek Gap provides members of both camps a practical guide to working together effectively. Using many real-world examples, the authors vividly illustrate the consequences in time, money, careers, and even lives when these separate cultures fail to communicate. By far the most serious example was the Challenger space shuttle disaster, which was likely the direct result of an internal clash and lack of communication between NASA's managers and engineers.The authors provide practical solutions for building trust between business and computer professionals. The book is filled with tips aimed at geeks and suits to help each group understand the other, communicate in what amounts to a foreign language, and get what they need to do their jobs effectively. The authors profile companies and individual executives who have successfully bridged the gap by conducting events that bring the two groups together, switching jobs from one area to the other, creating whole new careers as go-betweens, and much, much more.This is the first book to directly address issues of communication and understanding between business and technology people. The Geek Gap-in identifying this problem and providing numerous practical and workable solutions-is an indispensable guide for all.Bill Pfleging (Woodstock, NY) is a computer and Web consultant who writes a regular technology column for the Woodstock Times. With computer experience going back to the early 1970s at IBM, he has also worked for Tripod.com and Lycos Network.Minda Zetlin (Woodstock, NY) is a longtime business writer whose work has appeared in Crain's New York Business, Success!, Management Review, and other publications. She is also the author of Telecommuting for Dummies and co-author of The ASJA Guide to Freelance Writing.