New Releases by Jay Black

Pubescent short story writer Drew has two dreams: to become a New York Times bestselling novelist and to convince his single, 30-something neighbor Sasha to tutor him in the intimate arts. When an aged, terminally ill neighbor offers Drew the cash fortune stashed in the walls of her house, he enlists Sasha to assist with its post-mortem extraction. Pressed by the looming arrival of the deceased''s estranged adult children, both eager to inherit her estate, Drew and Sasha bank on their shared promise to keep secrets neither can afford to have exposed. Set in a mid-sized Canadian city in 1976, this tragicomic novelette is at once an exercise in implicit metafiction often identified with postmodern prose and a reminiscence of the enthusiasm, sincerity, and hope found in modernist literature. Playful yet serious, Loom in the Loft offers readers a firm push on the metamodern literary swing.

A steam train, a murder, eight suspects . . . When an old acquaintance invites Ruth Morgan and her grandson to take a working trip on board the Finsbury Flyer-a modern steam train with Victorian charms-Ruth is excited to look over the chef''s menu and give advice where needed. However, before she''s had the chance to step foot inside the kitchen, a murder derails the relaxing getaway and turns it into a tragedy. It''s clear there''s a sinister plan in full swing. With Ruth''s reputation threatening to veer off the tracks, she must use her amateur sleuthing skills to solve several puzzling conundrums: How did the killer reach the victim unseen? Who is the most likely suspect? And why has a seemingly innocent person copped to the crime? A series of light-hearted and absorbing whodunnits with a fun amateur sleuth. For fans of modern British mysteries, cozy settings, and female detectives.

A remote island, an impossible riddle, a determined killer . . . Ready for some family catch-up time before her next food consulting job, Ruth Morgan arrives at Ivywick Island. But no sooner does she step foot off the boat, than her sister asks for help locating a missing will. Without it, Margaret and her husband are about to lose their home and everything they''ve worked for. Ruth agrees, not only out of loyalty, but for the chance to atone for past mistakes where she put her love of solving mysteries before family. However, there''s far more at play than a simple document, and things take a nasty turn when Ruth finds their beloved butler murdered. With a riddle obscuring the will''s hiding place, and every choice Ruth makes bringing her family closer to danger, can she solve the puzzles before the killer strikes again? A series of light-hearted and absorbing whodunnits with a fun amateur sleuth. For fans of modern British mysteries, cozy settings, and female detectives.

Musically gifted tween Trevor Swain wants two things: a date with his first crush Hope, and rock ''n'' roll stardom. Trevor''s desires take a sudden back seat to shock when his family dies in an auto accident. Now the legal ward of his music teacher Miss Kobrina, he is trained in domestic service and groomed for traffic to women clientele. Jacqueline, his favourite jane, wants him all to herself. An elite attorney, divorcée, and narcissist, she kidnaps and confines him to the luxury home she shares with her three teenage daughters. There, Trevor strains to satisfy their demands for intimacy, keep up with his daily chores, and find enough time to practice his guitar. Will young Trevor break free of his captors'' clutches to realize his dreams? Find out in Jay Black''s transgressive tragicomedy, A#m. ----- This book contains mature language and explicit content. It is not suitable for minors, and may not be for all adults. Reader discretion is advised. Content warnings: alcohol and drug use, child abuse, classism, death of a prominent character, deceased family members, forced captivity, human trafficking, kidnapping, mental illness, racist language, slavery, and suicide. ----- In 2008, Vancouver''s McCreary Centre Society conducted Canada''s largest study into the sexual exploitation of street kids and runaways. The study drew results from interviews with 1,845 youth, some as young as twelve, in province-wide surveys between 2000 and 2006. 79 percent of sexually exploited boys under 19 reported exchanging sex for money or goods-drugs, gifts, food, services, shelter, transportation, or anything similar-with a woman. "I must admit, it wasn''t something we expected," said lead investigator Elizabeth Saewyc of the University of British Columbia''s School of Nursing. Victoria Times-Colonist Staff (2008, May 29). 79% of homeless boys exploited by women. Victoria Times-Colonist. https: //www.timescolonist.com/archive/79-of-homeless-boys-exploited-by-women-4592049

A quaint village, a missing artist, a deadly secret... An unexpected detour forces Ruth Morgan, food consultant extraordinaire, to spend a few days in a picturesque village, and although she''s keen to get moving again, she sets out to enjoy some quality downtime. However, when a young artist goes missing, and the landlady of the local bed and breakfast tumbles down a flight of stairs to her death, Ruth suspects foul play. With the stakes rising quicker than the bistro''s pastries, and the mysteries piling up, Ruth must embrace her amateur sleuthing skills. She hopes to locate the missing artist before he becomes the latest victim, but has she bitten off more than she can chew? The second in a series of absorbing whodunnits with a fun amateur sleuth. Another light-hearted escape for fans of modern British mysteries and female detectives, plus authors like M.C. Beaton, Faith Martin, and Richard Osman.

One cruise ship, six passengers, no escape . . . As a freelance food consultant, Ruth Morgan travels Britain, advising restaurants, cafes, and hotels on their menus and recipes. So when she''s hired to work on board the Ocean Odyssey, she looks forward to gaining her sea legs. However, when someone throws the captain overboard on the first night, Ruth and five other mysterious passengers discover they''ve sailed into a death trap, and it''s clear the killer won''t stop. On a ship now adrift in the middle of the ocean, with no way to call for help, the dire situation forces Ruth to dust off her amateur sleuthing skills. She wants to help her fellow guests survive through the next three days, but can she unmask the killer before she becomes their next victim? The first in a series of absorbing whodunnits with a fun amateur sleuth. A light-hearted escape for fans of modern British mysteries and female detectives, plus authors like M.C. Beaton, Faith Martin, and Richard Osman.

Gone Back Inside Alien Game. NEED HELP! Leo finishes writing about his previous space adventure and is ready to return to the game world. Once inside, he''ll complete a secret mission and convince his grandmother to finally come home. However, Grandpa John goes in alone, and when he doesn''t return in an instant, Leo knows something has gone horribly wrong. Desperate to find a way into the game and ask his friends (the crew of the Last Horizon) for their help, Leo searches Grandpa John''s office. There he discovers a holographic message from Ayesha: "Kraythons have captured your grandparents." To win them back Leo has no choice but to complete a quest against the clock. If he succeeds, he can exchange a Class One artifact for their lives. Therefore, losing is not an option. . .

"How do you think your dad''s going to react when he finds out the heroin in the shot that nearly killed you came from the same place your brother was killed?" Vancouver, 2008. Retired police detective Thomas "Poppy" Popoff has been struck by personal tragedy, his son David killed while fighting with the Canadian military in Afghanistan. At the same time, his other son, Danny, a lifelong heroin addict, nearly dies from a lethal dose of heroin, with a Honduran drug dealer and illegal immigrant the primary suspect. Drawn into the police investigation into Danny''s near-murder, Poppy is pulled into a web of intrigue and corruption reaching up to the highest echelons of Canadian society. Blood Poppy is a thrilling and poignant look at drug addiction, gang crime, and social dissolution in Canada and North America. Jay Black''s sophomore novel takes aim at the role of the Afghan War in perpetuating heroin trafficking, examining timeless themes such as fatherhood and duty while offering a critical commentary on one of the key problems of modern society.

The second edition of Doing Ethics in Media continues its mission of providing an accessible but comprehensive introduction to media ethics, with a grounding in moral philosophy, to help students think clearly and systematically about dilemmas in the rapidly changing media environment. Each chapter highlights specific considerations, cases, and practical applications for the fields of journalism, advertising, digital media, entertainment, public relations, and social media. Six fundamental decision-making questions—the "5Ws and H" around which the book is organized—provide a path for students to articulate the issues, understand applicable law and ethics codes, consider the needs of stakeholders, work through conflicting values, integrate philosophic principles, and pose a "test of publicity." Students are challenged to be active ethical thinkers through the authors’ reader-friendly style and use of critical early-career examples. While most people will change careers several times during their lives, all of us are life-long media consumers, and Doing Ethics in Media prepares readers for that task. Doing Ethics in Media is aimed at undergraduate and graduate students studying media ethics in mass media, journalism, and media studies. It also serves students in rhetoric, popular culture, communication studies, and interdisciplinary social sciences. The book’s companion website—doingethicsin.media, or www.doingmediaethics.com—provides continuously updated real-world media ethics examples and collections of essays from experts and students. The site also hosts ancillary materials for students and for instructors, including a test bank and instructor’s manual.

Who do the Mob turn to when they have a murder to solve? When the fiancée of a London crime boss turns up dead in a rival gang''s warehouse, Emma, the daughter of both families, promises to assist Nightshade, an eccentric private detective, with the investigation. As Emma and Nightshade piece together a series of cryptic clues, they uncover an ingenious plot and line up the suspects. However, another murder of a high-ranking family member derails their progress and threatens civil war. Now dragged into a world she''s fought hard to avoid, and with time running out, Emma must do everything she can to help Nightshade catch the killer. Book One in a gripping, fast-paced Crime Thriller series with murder, mystery, and unexpected twists. Nightshade: A Private Detective Working for the Mob

Set against the backdrop of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Guttersnipe is a piercing examination of progressivism, multiculturalism, and white male entitlement.

Trapped Inside Alien Video Game. SEND HELP! When a British teenager moves to Colorado, he has no idea what secrets he''s about to uncover. Leo''s grandpa is one in a million; warm, kind, and hiding a UFO beneath his hilltop observatory. Grandma Alice vanished the night of the crash. The world thinks she went hiking in the woods and never returned. The truth is far stranger-she fell into an alien video game. Grandpa John has searched for her ever since, played levels, completed tasks, all to no avail. While his grandfather is away, Leo sneaks into the game himself, alone, determined to solve the mystery, believing he''s the hero who will reunite their family. However, in a universe filled with technology and magic, with real danger and disaster at every turn, nothing will be so simple, and the smallest misstep could mean losing everything...

Canada is home to some of the world''s most spectacular parks. Lists of the finest rightly include such treasures as Algonquin Provincial Park, and Banff, Jasper, and Pacific Rim National Parks. Municipal parks, unfortunately, rarely make the grade. Vancouver''s Queen Elizabeth Park has been a popular destination for local residents and tourists for more than eight decades. Its landscaped beauty and manicured gardens attract millions of visitors each year, but its sensory charms are radiant enough to blind even the most perceptive to the many secrets encoded in its design. In Queen Elizabeth Park - Vancouver''s Axis Mundi, Jay Black advances techniques pioneered by architect Scott Onstott, the late geographic information systems specialist Kevin McMahon, and author and geomancer Cort Lindahl to decode the park''s multi-layered mysteries. His application of the experimental method to test the hypothesis that the park acts as city''s sacred centre, and his esoteric interpretation of its features and follies, will widen the eyes of mystics and scientists alike. This interdisciplinary study will delight lay researchers, academics, and professionals in such fields as astronomy, geography, geology, geometry, history, landscape architecture, metaphysics, metrology, mysticism, mythology, psychology, and religion. Queen Elizabeth Park - Vancouver''s Axis Mundi is recommended for all who believe that science and religion are not mutually exclusive realms of experience, that the empirical and the mythical can and do inform each other, and that we ignore their relationship to our own peril.

Wildwood Dark : Sombre forêt vierge is a bilingual (English and French) screenplay adapted for short film from a poem written by the author and previously published in the prestigious Parisian literary journal Poésie sur Seine. Ideally suited for film school students on tight budget. Included in the text are the original poem in both languages, its background, the Canadian screenwriter''s cinematic vision, log line and scene-based screenplay.

Die Welt soll gerechter werden! Sie wollen die Welt gerechter machen, indem sie den Armen geben, was sie den Reichen nehmen: fünf Kids, die als die »Street Warriors« in einem Geheimversteck im Londoner Untergrund leben. Alle fünf sind Experten auf ihrem Gebiet: Jack hackt jeden Code, Charlie versteht Technik wie niemand sonst, für Slink ist keine Fassade zu hoch, Wren ist eine Meisterin der Täuschung, und dank Obi sind alle überall und jederzeit miteinander vernetzt. Als sie auf den Supercomputer P.R.O.T.E.U.S. stoßen, vor dem kein Geheimnis dieser Welt mehr sicher ist, ist den Street Warriors schlagartig klar: Dieser Rechner darf niemals in die falschen Hände geraten ... Diese Reihe ist unter dem Titel »City Heroes« erstmals erschienen.

The purpose of this research is to contribute to the discussion regarding the role that the fight against poverty should play in the mission of the evangelical movement. It will consider evangelical history and trace the changes that occurred to evangelical focus that separated the proclamation of the gospel from holistic mission that cared for the poor. The Epistle of James Chapter 2 will be examined according to socio-rhetorical interpretive techniques to see how the structure of the arguments remains a force that was just as impactful then as it is now in defining appropriate, faith-motivated living. Faith that is not evidently displayed through corresponding works is not living faith. Dualism is a significant theme. The division between faith and life, public and private, physical and spiritual was evident in the early church as will be seen in the faith/works discussion of James 2. It continues to preclude the evangelical movement and individual Christ followers from a holistic understanding of mission and ministry. The epistemological basis of this research is from within the evangelical tradition in an effort to engage its theological paradigm. Two interdependent models will be enlisted to structure this research: the socio-rhetorical model developed from James 2 and the theological model using Christopraxis as a guide for ministry. Human Scale Development methodology will be used as a framework for demonstrating a church-based model for community engagement. The research concludes that the evangelical movement has a responsibility to fight poverty in response to historical precedent and Scriptural mandate.

The Urban Outlaws have been infected! Hector Del Sarto used them to spread the deadly Medusa virus and now the whole of London is in lockdown. Only Hector and his father have the antidote. Can Jack, Charlie, Obi, Slink and Wren work together to bring down the Del Sartos once and for all? The whole city depends on them! The Urban Outlaws face their toughest challenge yet in the final book of this high-octane adventure series for fans of Robert Muchamore, Anthony Horowitz and Alex Scarrow. urbanoutlawsbunker.com

Die City Heroes sind geschlagen – zumindest glaubt das Computer-Ass Hector, der den zerstörerischsten Virus aller Zeiten gestohlen hat. Aber um Jack und sein Team auszuschalten, muss sich der Bösewicht schon mehr einfallen lassen, als einfach nur über den Atlantik zu verschwinden. Natürlich sind ihm die City Heroes dicht auf den Fersen. In den USA wollen sie Hector endgültig zur Strecke bringen. Doch jetzt ist höchste Konzentration und schnelles Handeln gefragt, denn wenn Hector den Virus als Hacking-Tool nutzt, wird das die ganze Welt erschüttern! Ob es ihnen auch diesmal gelingt, einen genialen Coup zu landen?

The Urban Outlaws face their biggest challenge yet. They have to break into the Facility and find the ultimate weapon – Medusa – before Hector does. But there are five levels of security to crack and a mystery room that has Jack sweating whenever he thinks about it. But the clock is ticking. Hector is determined to have the weapon and release doomsday, and it is down to the Urban Outlaws to stop him. Can Jack come up with a plan in time? The tension is high and the shocks are breathtaking in the fourth book of this high-octane adventure series for fans of Robert Muchamore, Anthony Horowitz and Alex Scarrow. urbanoutlawsbunker.com

When an ally betrays the Urban Outlaws and steals a dangerous computer virus, the kids have no choice but to team up with a shadowy figure known as "The Shepherd" to take down their foe. Even though the kids aren''t sure who to trust, their jobs--and more importantly, their lives--are at stake if they don''t take a chance. To track the virus, the Outlaws venture from London to the United States. As they explore the unfamiliar streets and secret passageways of New York City and Los Angeles, they once again risk everything to save themselves . . . and the world. Reviewers have compared the Urban Outlaws series to Alex Rider, James Bond, and a modern day Robin Hood. This latest middle-grade adventure is filled with non-stop action and is not to be missed.

"The world''s most destructive computer virus has been unleashed, and it''s up to the Urban Outlaws--five tough kids dedicated to bringing justice to their city--to destroy it"--

The first in a brand new middle-grade series, this nonstop, gadget-filled adventure is sure to capture fans of Alex Rider and NERDS alike.

On a fateful and problem-plagued journey across Canada, the futures of team drivers Angus MacTavish and Jack Jackson are permanently altered. As co-owners of a long-distance moving van, they doggedly make their way west. Neither violent storms nor brushes with the law impede their progress. Brutal fights and breakdowns are only minor deterrents. Theyre men of the road, conditioned to conquer whatever comes their way. Calamity, however, will find its way through a hair-line crack. After a visit in Winnipeg with an old comrade of Jackos, relations began to deteriorate. Mountain roads, criminal activity, and poor judgment claim one miserable life and shred an innocent one to ribbons. Months of hospitalization and rehabilitation slowly put whats left of the body back together, but years of wrongful confinement eat away at whats left of the spirit. Fortunately, the conclusion is a happy one. An angel stands by her man and slowly restores him back to health and happiness!