The crime-loving Crims are back in the second installment of this hilarious trilogy, perfect for fans of Lemony Snicket and Pseudonymous Bosch!Imogen Crim has moved back home with her family and resumed her commitment to crime. But coming back to Blandington isn’t quite so easy.Between Big Nana’s crime theory assignments, regular schoolwork, and keeping up with her new archenemy Ava Gud, Imogen can’t find a spare moment to participate in the family’s new Crime Directive. And the Crims have even been bumped from the top spot on Blandington’s Most Wanted list! Oh, the injustice!Then various Crims start disappearing without a trace, and Big Nana is convinced that the Kruk family is behind the kidnappings. Imogen will need to use all her shadiest and shiftiest skills if she’s ever to see her family again…

The scientist who has been dubbed the “Father of Intelligent Design” and author of the groundbreaking book Darwin’s Black Box contends that recent scientific discoveries further disprove Darwinism and strengthen the case for an intelligent creator. In his controversial bestseller Darwin’s Black Box, biochemist Michael Behe challenged Darwin’s theory of evolution, arguing that science itself has proven that intelligent design is a better explanation for the origin of life. In Darwin Devolves, Behe advances his argument, presenting new research that offers a startling reconsideration of how Darwin’s mechanism works, weakening the theory’s validity even more. A system of natural selection acting on random mutation, evolution can help make something look and act differently. But evolution never creates something organically. Behe contends that Darwinism actually works by a process of devolution—damaging cells in DNA in order to create something new at the lowest biological levels. This is important, he makes clear, because it shows the Darwinian process cannot explain the creation of life itself. “A process that so easily tears down sophisticated machinery is not one which will build complex, functional systems,” he writes.In addition to disputing the methodology of Darwinism and how it conflicts with the concept of creation, Behe reveals that what makes Intelligent Design unique—and right—is that it acknowledges causation. Evolution proposes that organisms living today are descended with modification from organisms that lived in the distant past. But Intelligent Design goes a step further asking, what caused such astounding changes to take place? What is the reason or mechanism for evolution? For Behe, this is what makes Intelligent Design so important.

或许你读过这样一个故事：身无分文的孤儿简 · 爱开始了她在 Thornfield Hall 当家庭教师的新生活，在那里她遇到了阴郁忧郁的罗切斯特先生，两人产生了感情...等等，展开可能与你想的不一样，这一部对名著《简·爱》的一次浪漫、荒诞、恶作剧式的改写，准备好一次全新的冒险吧。 Move over, Charlotte Bront?. The authors of the New York Times bestselling My Lady Jane are back with an irreverent spin on Jane Eyre—a tale of mischief, romance, and supernatural mayhem perfect for fans of The Princess Bride or A Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue. You may think you know the story. Penniless orphan Jane Eyre begins a new life as a governess at Thornfield Hall, where she meets one dark, brooding Mr. Rochester—and, Reader, she marries him. Or does she?Prepare for an adventure of Gothic proportions, in which all is not as it seems, a certain gentleman is hiding more than skeletons in his closets, and one orphan Jane Eyre, aspiring author Charlotte Bronte, and supernatural investigator Alexander Blackwood are about to be drawn together on the most epic ghost hunt this side of Wuthering Heights.

Fans of Danielle Paige, Marissa Meyer, and Alex Flinn will devour New York Times bestselling author Meagan Spooner’s next fierce fairy tale-inspired story, which Illuminae author Amie Kaufman calls “a kick-ass, gender-flipped feminist retelling.”Robin of Locksley is dead. Maid Marian doesn’t know how she’ll go on, but the people of Locksley town, persecuted by the Sheriff of Nottingham, need a protector. And the dreadful Guy of Gisborne, the Sheriff’s right hand, wishes to step into Robin’s shoes as Lord of Locksley and Marian’s fiancé. Who is there to stop them? Marian never meant to tread in Robin’s footsteps—never intended to stand as a beacon of hope to those awaiting his triumphant return. But with a sweep of his green cloak and the flash of her sword, Marian makes the choice to become her own hero: Robin Hood.

Step through loading GIS data, creating GIS data, styling GIS and making maps with QGIS following a simple narrative that will allow you to build confidence as you progress. Key Features * Work with GIS data, a step by step guide from creation to making a map * Perform geoprocessing tasks and automate them using model builder * Explore a range of features in QGIS 3.4, discover the power behind open source desktop GIS Book Description QGIS is a user friendly, open source geographic information system (GIS). The popularity of open source GIS and QGIS, in particular, has been growing rapidly over the last few years. This book is designed to help beginners learn about all the tools required to use QGIS 3.4. This book will provide you with clear, step-by-step instructions to help you apply your GIS knowledge to QGIS. You begin with an overview of QGIS 3.4 and its installation. You will learn how to load existing spatial data and create vector data from scratch. You will then be creating styles and labels for maps. The final two chapters demonstrate the Processing toolbox and include a brief investigation on how to extend QGIS. Throughout this book, we will be using the GeoPackage format, and we will also discuss how QGIS can support many different types of data. Finally, you will learn where to get help and how to become engaged with the GIS community. What you will learn * Use existing data to interact with the canvas via zoom/pan/selection * Create vector data and a GeoPackage and build a simple project around it * Style data, both vector and raster data, using the Layer Styling Panel * Design, label, save, and export maps using the data you have created * Analyze spatial queries using the Processing toolbox * Expand QGIS with the help of plugins, model builder, and the command line Who this book is for If you know the basic functions and processes of GIS, and want to learn to use QGIS to analyze geospatial data and create rich mapping applications, then this is the book for you.

Your one stop guide to automating infrastructure security using DevOps and DevSecOps Key Features * Secure and automate techniques to protect web, mobile or cloud services * Automate secure code inspection in C++, Java, Python, and JavaScript * Integrate security testing with automation frameworks like fuzz, BDD, Selenium and Robot Framework Book Description Security automation is the automatic handling of software security assessments tasks. This book helps you to build your security automation framework to scan for vulnerabilities without human intervention. This book will teach you to adopt security automation techniques to continuously improve your entire software development and security testing. You will learn to use open source tools and techniques to integrate security testing tools directly into your CI/CD framework. With this book, you will see how to implement security inspection at every layer, such as secure code inspection, fuzz testing, Rest API, privacy, infrastructure security, and web UI testing. With the help of practical examples, this book will teach you to implement the combination of automation and Security in DevOps. You will learn about the integration of security testing results for an overall security status for projects. By the end of this book, you will be confident implementing automation security in all layers of your software development stages and will be able to build your own in-house security automation platform throughout your mobile and cloud releases. What you will learn * Automate secure code inspection with open source tools and effective secure code scanning suggestions * Apply security testing tools and automation frameworks to identify security vulnerabilities in web, mobile and cloud services * Integrate security testing tools such as OWASP ZAP, NMAP, SSLyze, SQLMap, and OpenSCAP * Implement automation testing techniques with Selenium, JMeter, Robot Framework, Gauntlt, BDD, DDT, and Python unittest * Execute security testing of a Rest API Implement web application security with open source tools and script templates for CI/CD integration * Integrate various types of security testing tool results from a single project into one dashboard Who this book is for The book is for software developers, architects, testers and QA engineers who are looking to leverage automated security testing techniques.

Leverage the power of Java and deep learning to build production-grade Computer Vision applications Key Features * Build real-world Computer Vision applications using the power of neural networks * Implement image classification, object detection, and face recognition * Know best practices on effectively building and deploying deep learning models in Java Book Description Although machine learning is an exciting world to explore, you may feel confused by all of its theoretical aspects. As a Java developer, you will be used to telling the computer exactly what to do, instead of being shown how data is generated; this causes many developers to struggle to adapt to machine learning. The goal of this book is to walk you through the process of efficiently training machine learning and deep learning models for Computer Vision using the most up-to-date techniques. The book is designed to familiarize you with neural networks, enabling you to train them efficiently, customize existing state-of-the-art architectures, build real-world Java applications, and get great results in a short space of time. You will build real-world Computer Vision applications, ranging from a simple Java handwritten digit recognition model to real-time Java autonomous car driving systems and face recognition models. By the end of this book, you will have mastered the best practices and modern techniques needed to build advanced Computer Vision Java applications and achieve production-grade accuracy. What you will learn * Discover neural networks and their applications in Computer Vision * Explore the popular Java frameworks and libraries for deep learning * Build deep neural networks in Java * Implement an end-to-end image classification application in Java * Perform real-time video object detection using deep learning * Enhance performance and deploy applications for production Who this book is for This book is for data scientists, machine learning developers and deep learning practitioners with Java knowledge who want to implement machine learning and deep neural networks in the computer vision domain. You will need to have a basic knowledge of Java programming.

Your one-stop guide to learning and implementing artificial neural networks with Keras effectively Key Features * Design and create neural network architectures on different domains using Keras * Integrate neural network models in your applications using this highly practical guide * Get ready for the future of neural networks through transfer learning and predicting multi network models Book Description Neural networks are used to solve a wide range of problems in different areas of AI and deep learning. Hands-On Neural Networks with Keras will start with teaching you about the core concepts of neural networks. You will delve into combining different neural network models and work with real-world use cases, including computer vision, natural language understanding, synthetic data generation, and many more. Moving on, you will become well versed with convolutional neural networks (CNNs), recurrent neural networks (RNNs), long short-term memory (LSTM) networks, autoencoders, and generative adversarial networks (GANs) using real-world training datasets. We will examine how to use CNNs for image recognition, how to use reinforcement learning agents, and many more. We will dive into the specific architectures of various networks and then implement each of them in a hands-on manner using industry-grade frameworks. By the end of this book, you will be highly familiar with all prominent deep learning models and frameworks, and the options you have when applying deep learning to real-world scenarios and embedding artificial intelligence as the core fabric of your organization. What you will learn * Understand the fundamental nature and workflow of predictive data modeling * Explore how different types of visual and linguistic signals are processed by neural networks * Dive into the mathematical and statistical ideas behind how networks learn from data * Design and implement various neural networks such as CNNs, LSTMs, and GANs * Use different architectures to tackle cognitive tasks and embed intelligence in systems * Learn how to generate synthetic data and use augmentation strategies to improve your models * Stay on top of the latest academic and commercial developments in the field of AI Who this book is for This book is for machine learning practitioners, deep learning researchers and AI enthusiasts who are looking to get well versed with different neural network architecture using Keras. Working knowledge of Python programming language is mandatory.

Write efficient, reusable scripts to build custom characters, game environments, and control enemy AI Key Features * Build captivating multiplayer games using Unreal Engine and C++ * Incorporate existing C++ libraries into your game to add extra functionality such as hardware integration * Practical solutions for memory management, error handling, inputs, and collision for your game codebase Book Description Unreal Engine 4 (UE4) is a popular and award-winning game engine that powers some of the most popular games. A truly powerful tool for game development, there has never been a better time to use it for both commercial and independent projects. With more than 100 recipes, this book shows how to unleash the power of C++ while developing games with Unreal Engine. This book takes you on a journey to jumpstart your C++ and UE4 development skills. You will start off by setting up UE4 for C++ development and learn how to work with Visual Studio, a popular code editor. You will learn how to create C++ classes and structs the Unreal way. This will be followed by exploring memory management, smart pointers, and debugging your code. You will then learn how to make your own Actors and Components through code and how to handle input and collision events. You will also get exposure to many elements of game development including creating user interfaces, artificial intelligence, and writing code with networked play in mind. You will also learn how to add on to the Unreal Editor itself. With a range of task-oriented recipes, this book provides actionable information about writing code for games with UE4 using C++. By the end of the book, you will be empowered to become a top-notch developer with UE4 using C++ as your scripting language! What you will learn * Create C++ classes and structs that integrate well with UE4 and the Blueprints editor * Discover how to work with various APIs that Unreal Engine already contains * Utilize advanced concepts such as events, delegates, and interfaces in your UE4 projects * Build user interfaces using Canvas and UMG through C++ * Extend the Unreal Editor by creating custom windows and editors * Implement AI tasks and services using C++, Blackboard, and Behavior Trees * Write C++ code with networking in mind and replicate properties and functions Who this book is for If you are really passionate game developer looking for solutions to common scripting problems, then this is the book for you. Understanding of the fundamentals of game design and C++ is expected to get the most from this book.

A practical guide to getting the most out of Excel, using it for data preparation, applying machine learning models (including cloud services) and understanding the outcome of the data analysis. Key Features * Use Microsoft's product Excel to build advanced forecasting models using varied examples * Cover range of machine learning tasks such as data mining, data analytics, smart visualization, and more * Derive data-driven techniques using Excel plugins and APIs without much code required Book Description We have made huge progress in teaching computers to perform difficult tasks, especially those that are repetitive and time-consuming for humans. Excel users, of all levels, can feel left behind by this innovation wave. The truth is that a large amount of the work needed to develop and use a machine learning model can be done in Excel. The book starts by giving a general introduction to machine learning, making every concept clear and understandable. Then, it shows every step of a machine learning project, from data collection, reading from different data sources, developing models, and visualizing the results using Excel features and offerings. In every chapter, there are several examples and hands-on exercises that will show the reader how to combine Excel functions, add-ins, and connections to databases and to cloud services to reach the desired goal: building a full data analysis flow. Different machine learning models are shown, tailored to the type of data to be analyzed. At the end of the book, the reader is presented with some advanced use cases using Automated Machine Learning, and artificial neural network, which simplifies the analysis task and represents the future of machine learning. What you will learn * Use Excel to preview and cleanse datasets * Understand correlations between variables and optimize the input to machine learning models * Use and evaluate different machine learning models from Excel * Understand the use of different visualizations * Learn the basic concepts and calculations to understand how artificial neural networks work * Learn how to connect Excel to the Microsoft Azure cloud * Get beyond proof of concepts and build fully functional data analysis flows Who this book is for This book is for data analysis, machine learning enthusiasts, project managers, and someone who doesn't want to code much for performing core tasks of machine learning. Each example will help you perform end-to-end smart analytics. Working knowledge of Excel is required.

Use Ansible to configure your systems, deploy software, and orchestrate advanced IT tasks Key Features * Get familiar with the fundamentals of Ansible 2.7 * Understand how to use Ansible Tower to scale your IT automation * Gain insights into how to develop and test Ansible playbooks Book Description Ansible is an open source automation platform that assists organizations with tasks such as application deployment, orchestration, and task automation. With the release of Ansible 2.7, even complex tasks can be handled much more easily than before. Learning Ansible 2.7 will help you take your first steps toward understanding the fundamentals and practical aspects of Ansible by introducing you to topics such as playbooks, modules, and the installation of Linux, Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD), and Windows support. In addition to this, you will focus on various testing strategies, deployment, and orchestration to build on your knowledge. The book will then help you get accustomed to features including cleaner architecture, task blocks, and playbook parsing, which can help you to streamline automation processes. Next, you will learn how to integrate Ansible with cloud platforms such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) before gaining insights into the enterprise versions of Ansible, Ansible Tower and Ansible Galaxy. This will help you to use Ansible to interact with different operating systems and improve your working efficiency. By the end of this book, you will be equipped with the Ansible skills you need to automate complex tasks for your organization. What you will learn * Create a web server using Ansible * Write a custom module and test it * Deploy playbooks in the production environment * Troubleshoot networks using Ansible * Use Ansible Galaxy and Ansible Tower during deployment * Deploy an application with Ansible on AWS, Azure and DigitalOcean Who this book is for This beginner-level book is for system administrators who want to automate their organization's infrastructure using Ansible 2.7. No prior knowledge of Ansible is required

Understand, design, and create cognitive applications using Watson’s suite of APIs. Key Features * Develop your skills and work with IBM Watson APIs to build efficient and powerful cognitive apps * Learn how to build smart apps to carry out different sets of activities using real-world use cases * Get well versed with the best practices of IBM Watson and implement them in your daily work Book Description Cognitive computing is rapidly infusing every aspect of our lives riding on three important fields: data science, machine learning (ML), and artificial intelligence (AI). It allows computing systems to learn and keep on improving as the amount of data in the system grows. This book introduces readers to a whole new paradigm of computing – a paradigm that is totally different from the conventional computing of the Information Age. You will learn the concepts of ML, deep learning (DL), neural networks, and AI through the set of APIs provided by IBM Watson. This book will help you build your own applications to understand, plan, and solve problems, and analyze them as per your needs. You will learn about various domains of cognitive computing, such as NLP, voice processing, computer vision, emotion analytics, and conversational systems, using different IBM Watson APIs. From this, the reader will learn what ML is, and what goes on in the background to make computers "do their magic," as well as where these concepts have been applied. Having achieved this, the readers will then be able to embark on their journey of learning, researching, and applying the concept in their respective fields. What you will learn * Get well versed with the APIs provided by IBM Watson on IBM Cloud * Learn ML, AI, cognitive computing, and neural network principles * Implement smart applications in fields such as healthcare, entertainment, security, and more * Understand unstructured content using cognitive metadata with the help of Natural Language Understanding * Use Watson’s APIs to create real-life applications to realize their capabilities * Delve into various domains of cognitive computing, such as media analytics, embedded deep learning, computer vision, and more Who this book is for This book is for beginners and novices; having some knowledge about artificial intelligence and deep learning is an advantage, but not a prerequisite to benefit from this book. We explain the concept of deep learning and artificial intelligence through the set of tools IBM Watson provides.

Leverage Docker to unlock efficient and rapid container deployments to improve your development workflow Key Features * Reconfigure Docker hosts to create a logging system with the ElasticSearch-Logstash-Kibana (ELK) stack * Tackle the challenges of large-scale container deployment with this fast-paced guide * Benchmark the performance of your Docker containers using Apache JMeter Book Description Docker is an enterprise-grade container platform that allows you to build and deploy your apps. Its portable format lets you run your code right from your desktop workstations to popular cloud computing providers. This comprehensive guide will improve your Docker work?ows and ensure your application's production environment runs smoothly. This book starts with a refresher on setting up and running Docker and details the basic setup for creating a Docker Swarm cluster. You will then learn how to automate this cluster by using Chef Server and Cookbook. After that, you will run the Docker monitoring system with Prometheus and Grafana, and deploy the ELK stack. You will also learn some tips for optimizing Docker images. After deploying containers with the help of Jenkins, you will then move on to a tutorial on using Apache JMeter to analyze your application's performance. You will learn how to use Docker Swarm and NGINX to load-balance your application and how common debugging tools in Linux can be used to troubleshoot Docker containers. By the end of this book, you will be able to integrate all the optimizations that you have learned and put everything into practice in your applications. What you will learn * Automate provisioning and setting up nodes in a Docker Swarm cluster * Configure a monitoring system with Prometheus and Grafana * Use Apache JMeter to create workloads for benchmarking the performance of Docker containers * Understand how to load-balance an application with Docker Swarm and Nginx * Deploy strace, tcdump, blktrace, and other Linux debugging tools to troubleshoot containers * Integrate Docker optimizations for DevOps, Site Reliability Engineering, CI, and CD Who this book is for If you are a software developer with a good understanding of managing Docker services and the Linux file system and are looking for ways to optimize working with Docker containers, then this is the book for you. Developers fascinated with containers and workflow automation with benefit from this book.

The life of William Shakespeare, arguably the most significant figure in the Western literary canon, is relatively unknown. Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1565, possibly on the 23rd April, St. George's Day, and baptised there on 26th April. Little is known of his education and the first firm facts to his life relate to his marriage, aged 18, to Anne Hathaway, who was 26 and from the nearby village of Shottery. Anne gave birth to their first son six months later. Shakespeare's first play, The Comedy of Errors began a procession of real heavyweights that were to emanate from his pen in a career of just over twenty years in which 37 plays were written and his reputation forever established. This early skill was recognised by many and by 1594 the Lord Chamberlain's Men were performing his works. With the advantage of Shakespeare's progressive writing they rapidly became London's leading company of players, affording him more exposure and, following the death of Queen Elizabeth in 1603, a royal patent by the new king, James I, at which point they changed their name to the King's Men. By 1598, and despite efforts to pirate his work, Shakespeare's name was well known and had become a selling point in its own right on title pages. No plays are attributed to Shakespeare after 1613, and the last few plays he wrote before this time were in collaboration with other writers, one of whom is likely to be John Fletcher who succeeded him as the house playwright for the King's Men. William Shakespeare died two months later on April 23rd, 1616, survived by his wife, two daughters and a legacy of writing that none have since yet eclipsed.

The partnership between William Schwenck Gilbert and Arthur Seymour Sullivan and their canon of Savoy Operas is rightly lauded by all lovers of comic opera the world over. Gilbert's sharp, funny words and Sullivan's deliciously lively and hummable tunes create a world that is distinctly British in view but has the world as its audience. Both men were exceptionally talented and gifted in their own right and wrote much, often with other partners, that still stands the test of time. However, together as a team they created Light or Comic Operas of a standard that have had no rivals equal to their standard, before or since. That's quite an achievement. To be recognised by the critics is one thing but their commercial success was incredible. The profits were astronomical, allowing for the building of their own purpose built theatre - The Savoy Theatre. Beginning with the first of their fourteen collaborations, Thespis in 1871 and travelling through many classics including The Sorcerer (1877), H.M.S. Pinafore (1878), The Pirates of Penzance (1879), The Mikado (1885), The Gondoliers (1889) to their finale in 1896 with The Grand Duke, Gilbert & Sullivan created a legacy that is constantly revived and admired in theatres and other media to this very day.

John Galsworthy was born at Kingston Upon Thames in Surrey, England, on August 14th 1867 to a wealthy and well established family. His schooling was at Harrow and New College, Oxford before training as a barrister and being called to the bar in 1890. However, Law was not attractive to him and he travelled abroad becoming great friends with the novelist Joseph Conrad, then a first mate on a sailing ship. In 1895 Galsworthy began an affair with Ada Nemesis Pearson Cooper, the wife of his cousin Major Arthur Galsworthy. The affair was kept a secret for 10 years till she at last divorced and they married on 23rd September 1905. Galsworthy first published in 1897 with a collection of short stories entitled "e;The Four Winds"e;. For the next 7 years he published these and all works under his pen name John Sinjohn. It was only upon the death of his father and the publication of "e;The Island Pharisees"e; in 1904 that he published as John Galsworthy. His first play, The Silver Box in 1906 was a success and was followed by "e;The Man of Property"e; later that same year and was the first in the Forsyte trilogy. Whilst today he is far more well know as a Nobel Prize winning novelist then he was considered a playwright dealing with social issues and the class system. Here we publish Villa Rubein, a very fine story that captures Galsworthy's unique narrative and take on life of the time. He is now far better known for his novels, particularly The Forsyte Saga, his trilogy about the eponymous family of the same name. These books, as with many of his other works, deal with social class, upper-middle class lives in particular. Although always sympathetic to his characters, he reveals their insular, snobbish, and somewhat greedy attitudes and suffocating moral codes. He is now viewed as one of the first from the Edwardian era to challenge some of the ideals of society depicted in the literature of Victorian England. In his writings he campaigns for a variety of causes, including prison reform, women's rights, animal welfare, and the opposition of censorship as well as a recurring theme of an unhappy marriage from the women's side. During World War I he worked in a hospital in France as an orderly after being passed over for military service. He was appointed to the Order of Merit in 1929, after earlier turning down a knighthood, and awarded the Nobel Prize in 1932 though he was too ill to attend. John Galsworthy died from a brain tumour at his London home, Grove Lodge, Hampstead on January 31st 1933. In accordance with his will he was cremated at Woking with his ashes then being scattered over the South Downs from an aeroplane.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born on February 27th, 1807 in Portland, Maine. As a young boy, it was obvious that he was very studious and he quickly became fluent in Latin. He published his first poem, "e;The Battle of Lovell's Pond"e;, in the Portland Gazette on November 17th, 1820. He was already thinking of a career in literature and, in his senior year, wrote to his father: "e;I will not disguise it in the least... the fact is, I most eagerly aspire after future eminence in literature, my whole soul burns most ardently after it, and every earthly thought centers in it...."e; After graduation travels in Europe occupied the next three years and he seemed to easily absorb any language he set himself to learn. On September 14th, 1831, Longfellow married Mary Storer Potter. They settled in Brunswick. His first published book was in 1833, a translation of poems by the Spanish poet Jorge Manrique. He also published a travel book, Outre-Mer: A Pilgrimage Beyond the Sea. During a trip to Europe Mary became pregnant. Sadly, in October 1835, she miscarried at some six months. After weeks of illness she died, at the age of 22 on November 29th, 1835. Longfellow wrote "e;One thought occupies me night and day... She is dead - She is dead! All day I am weary and sad"e;. In late 1839, Longfellow published Hyperion, a book in prose inspired by his trips abroad. Ballads and Other Poems was published in 1841 and included "e;The Village Blacksmith"e; and "e;The Wreck of the Hesperus"e;. His reputation as a poet, and a commercial one at that, was set. On May 10th, 1843, after seven years in pursuit of a chance for new love, Longfellow received word from Fanny Appleton that she agreed to marry him. On November 1st, 1847, the epic poem Evangeline was published. In 1854, Longfellow retired from Harvard, to devote himself entirely to writing. The Song of Haiwatha, perhaps his best known and enjoyed work was published in 1855. On July 10th, 1861, after suffering horrific burns the previous day. In his attempts to save her Longfellow had also been badly burned and was unable to attend her funeral. He spent several years translating Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. It was published in 1867. Longfellow was also part of a group who became known as The Fireside Poets which also included William Cullen Bryant, John Greenleaf Whittier, James Russell Lowell, and Oliver Wendell Holmes Snr. Longfellow was the most popular poet of his day. As a friend once wrote to him, "e;no other poet was so fully recognized in his lifetime"e;. Some of his works including "e;Paul Revere's Ride"e; and "e;The Song of Haiwatha"e; may have rewritten the facts but became essential parts of the American psyche and culture. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow died, surrounded by family, on Friday, March 24th, 1882. He had been suffering from peritonitis.

Edgar Rice Burroughs was born on September 1, 1875, in Chicago, Illinois. His early career was unremarkable. After failing to enter West Point he enlisted in the 7th Calvary but was discharged after heart problems were diagnosed. A series of short term jobs gave no indication as to a career path but finally, in 1911, married and with two young children, he turned his hand to writing. He aimed his works squarely at the very popular pulp serial magazines. His first effort 'Under The Moons Of Mars' ran in Munsey's Magazine in 1912 under the pseudonym Norman Bean. With its success he began writing full time. A continuing theme of his work was to develop series so that each character had ample opportunities to return in sequels. John Carter was in the Mars series and there was another on Venus and one on Pellucidar among others. But perhaps the best known is Tarzan. Indeed Burroughs wanted so much to capitalise upon the brand that he introduced a syndicated Tarzan comic strip, movies and merchandise. He purchased a large ranch north of Los Angeles, California, which he named "e;Tarzana."e; The surrounding communities outside the ranch voted in 1927 to adopt the name as their own. By 1932 Burroughs set up his own company to print his own books. Here we publish 'The Efficiency Expert' somewhat different to what the title might suggest in the hands of an ordinary writer but in the hands of Edgar Rice Burroughs the title is just the beginning.....

Edgar Rice Burroughs was born on September 1, 1875, in Chicago, Illinois. His early career was unremarkable. After failing to enter West Point he enlisted in the 7th Calvary but was discharged after heart problems were diagnosed. A series of short term jobs gave no indication as to a career path but finally, in 1911, married and with two young children, he turned his hand to writing. He aimed his works squarely at the very popular pulp serial magazines. His first effort 'Under The Moons Of Mars' ran in Munsey's Magazine in 1912 under the pseudonym Norman Bean. With its success he began writing full time. A continuing theme of his work was to develop series so that each character had ample opportunities to return in sequels. John Carter was in the Mars series and there was another on Venus and one on Pellucidar among others. But perhaps the best known is Tarzan. Indeed Burroughs wanted so much to capitalise upon the brand that he introduced a syndicated Tarzan comic strip, movies and merchandise. He purchased a large ranch north of Los Angeles, California, which he named "e;Tarzana."e; The surrounding communities outside the ranch voted in 1927 to adopt the name as their own. By 1932 Burroughs set up his own company to print his own books. Here we publish 'The Girl From Hollywood' a gentle title that in the hands of an ordinary writer might be just so but in the hands of Edgar Rice Burroughs the title is just the beginning.....

John Webster is known primarily for his two Jacobean tragedies, The Duchess of Malfi and The White Devil. Much of the detail and chronology of his life that led to these two pivotal works is, however, unknown. His father, a carriage maker also named John Webster, married a blacksmith's daughter, Elizabeth Coates, on November 4th, 1577, and it is likely that Webster was born within a year or two in or near London. The family lived in St. Sepulchre's parish. Both his father and his uncle, Edward Webster, were Freemen of the Merchant Taylors' Company and Webster attended Merchant Taylors' School in Suffolk Lane, London. Some accounts say he began to study law but nothing is certain although there are some legal aspects to his later works to suggest this may have been so. By 1602, Webster was employed working as part of various teams of playwrights on history plays, though unfortunately most were never printed and therefore do not survive. These include a tragedy Caesar's Fall (written with Michael Drayton, Thomas Dekker, Thomas Middleton and Anthony Munday), and a collaboration with Thomas Dekker; Christmas Comes but Once a Year (1602). This factory line assembly of plays may seem rather odd to us today but plays then ran for much shorter durations and consequently a steady supply had to be assured. Webster's relationship with Dekker seems to have been a good one. Together they wrote Sir Thomas Wyatt, printed in 1607, although it is thought first performed in 1602 and two city comedies, Westward Ho! in 1604 and Northward Ho! in 1605. It seems Webster also adapted, in 1604, John Marston's The Malcontent for staging by the King's Men. On March 18th, 1606 Webster married the 17-year-old Sara Peniall at St Mary's Church, Islington. Sara was 7 months pregnant and marrying during Lent required the issuing of a special permit, hence the certainty of the date. Their first child, John, was baptised at the parish of St Dunstan-in-the-West on March 8th, 1606. Records show that on the death of a neighbour, who died in 1617, several bequests were made to the Webster family and it is therefore thought that other children were born to the couple. Despite his ability to write comedy, and to collaborate with others, Webster is remembered best for his sole authorship on two brooding English tragedies based on Italian sources. The White Devil, retells the intrigues involving Vittoria Accoramboni, an Italian woman assassinated at the age of 28. It was performed at the open-air Red Bull Theatre in 1612 but was unsuccessful, perhaps being too high brow for a working-class audience. In 1614 The Duchess of Malfi was first performed by the King's Men, most probably in the indoor Blackfriars Theatre and to a more high-brow audience. It proved to be more successful. The play Guise, based on French history, was also written but him but no text has survived. Webster wrote one more play on his own: The Devil's Law Case (c. 1617-1619), a tragicomedy. He continued to write thereafter but always in collaboration and usually city comedies; Anything for a Quiet Life (c. 1621), with Thomas Middleton, and A Cure for a Cuckold (c. 1624), with William Rowley. In 1624, he also co-wrote a topical play about a recent scandal, Keep the Widow Waking (with John Ford, Rowley and Dekker). The play itself is lost, although its plot is known from a court case. There is also some certainty that he contributed to the tragicomedy The Fair Maid of the Inn with John Fletcher, John Ford, and Phillip Massinger. His Appius and Virginia, was probably written with Thomas Heywood, and is of uncertain date. It is believed, mainly from Thomas Heywood's Hierarchie of the Blessed Angels (licensed 7 November 1634) that speaks of him in the past tense that John Webster had died at some point in that year of 1634.

Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, OM, was born in Kirriemuir, Angus the ninth of ten children on May 9th, 1860. From early formative experiences, Barrie knew that he wished to follow a career as an author. His family wished otherwise and sought to persuade him to choose a profession, such as the ministry. The compromise was that he would attend university to study literature at the University of Edinburgh. He graduated with an M.A. on April 21st, 1882. His first job was as a staff journalist for the Nottingham Journal. The London editor of the St. James's Gazette "e;liked that Scotch thing"e; in Barrie's short stories about his mother's early life. They also served as the basis for his first novels. Barrie though was increasingly drawn to working in the theatre. His first play, a biography of Richard Savage, was only performed once and critically panned. Undaunted he immediately followed this with Ibsen's Ghost in 1891, a parody of Ibsen's plays Hedda Gabler and Ghosts. Barrie's third play, Walker, London, in 1892 led to an introduction to his future wife, a young actress by the name of Mary Ansell. The two became friends, and she helped his family to care for him when he fell very ill in 1893 and 1894. Barrie proposed and they were married, in Kirriemuir, on July 9th, 1894. By some accounts the relationship was unconsummated and indeed the couple had no children. The story of Peter Pan had begun to formulate when Barrie became acquainted with the Llewelyn Davis family in 1897, meeting George, Jack and baby Peter with their nanny in London's Kensington Gardens. In 1901 and 1902, Barrie had back-to-back theatre successes with Quality Street and The Admirable Crichton. The character of "e;Peter Pan"e; first appeared in The Little White Bird in 1902. This most famous and enduring of his works; Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up had its first stage performance on December 27th, 1904. Peter Pan would overshadow everything written during his career. He continued to write for the rest of his life contributing many other fine and important works. Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, OM, died of pneumonia on June 19th,1937 and was buried at Kirriemuir next to his parents and two of his siblings.