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Interviews | June 19, 2009

Dave: IMG Jim Lynch Makes Landscape Art... Out of Text



jimlynchIf Carl Hiaasen set one of his novels on a residential stretch of boundary line between British Columbia and Washington, or if Richard Russo's characters had relatives in the Pacific Northwest, the result might be something like Jim Lynch's Border Songs. Continue »
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    Border Songs

    Jim Lynch

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1 Hawthorne Mythology- General


Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid: The Book of Scary Urban Legends

by Jan Harold Brunvand

Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid: The Book of Scary Urban Legends Cover

ISBN13: 9780393326130
ISBN10: 0393326136
Condition: Standard
All Product Details

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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

URBAN LEGENDS are those strange, but seemingly credible tales that always happen to a friend of a friend. For the first time, Professor Jan Harold Brunvand, "who has achieved almost legendary status" "(Choice), has collected the creepiest, most terrifying urban legends, many that nave spooked you since your childhood and others that you believe really did occur--even if it was one town over to some poor hapless coed who left a party early only to be followed by a man who just got loose from a mental hospital. From the classic hook-man story told around many a campfire to "Saved by a Cell Phone," these spine-tingling urban legends will give you goose bumps, even when you know they can't be true. Still, you'll continue to check the backseat of your car at gas stations and look under your bed at night before praying for sleep.

Review:

"Rum flavored by a dead man in the cask; black widow spiders nesting in beehive hairdos; women's intestines broiled by tanning booths; teenage couples menaced by men with hooks for hands: if these are the sorts of tales that thrill and chill you, this an anthology worth picking up. Folklorist Brunvand (The Vanishing Hitchhiker) assembles a creepy cornucopia of urban legends, organizing them by theme ('Chills Up Your Spine,' 'Accidents') and considering them in a surprisingly sedate manner. The result is a blend of 'primary text' urban legends (transcribed from field interviews, collected from e-mails or reprinted from local newspapers) and more reflective introductions that consider the motifs and variations of each urban legend. Some tales are old chestnuts, familiar to anyone who's been to a camp or a slumber party in the past 50 years, but others indicate more contemporary fears: stories of vacationers waking in unfamiliar hotel rooms, groggy and minus a kidney, or rumors of sexual predators who purposefully spread HIV to their unsuspecting partners. Brunvand traces most of these legends to their roots and debunks some of the more widespread ones, but he never lets his skepticism dampen his enthusiasm for the stories themselves." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Synopsis:

In this volume, Brunvand has collected the creepiest, most terrifying urban legends, many that have spooked readers since childhood from the classic hook-man story to "Saved by a Cell Phone."

Product Details

ISBN:
9780393326130
Subtitle:
The Book of Scary Urban Legends
Author:
Brunvand, Jan Harold
Publisher:
W. W. Norton & Company
Subject:
United states
Subject:
Legends
Subject:
Folklore & Mythology - Folklore
Subject:
Urban folklore -- United States.
Subject:
Legends -- United States.
Publication Date:
October 2004
Binding:
Paperback
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Y
Pages:
256
Dimensions:
8.38x5.56x.68 in. .51 lbs.

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