text:
Top IT programs in Canadian universities

Best Computer Science Universities

Prestigious Canadian universities offer computer science programs at the B.A. and Master's level. Diploma programs are also offered. Top IT programs are offered by the University of Victoria, University of Waterloo, University of British Columbia, and others.

The UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA has one of the top computer science departments, ranking 25th in the world's rankings. Undergraduate students can choose from a wide selection of core courses and electives such as software construction, models of computation, introduction to computer systems, and others. The UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO also offers regular and co-op degrees in Computer Science as well as the option to customize your degree. Students have plenty of opportunities after graduation, ant the list of co-op positions is quite long, including software development engineering, software design and engineering, data management, cloud and mobile development, and so on. Graduates can choose from different career paths such as lead developer, program analyst, product manager, risk modeling analyst, etc. The UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA offers Bachelor, Master's and co-op programs to help students learn how to analyze, interpret, and visualize models and data. The Computer Science department also offers option and interdisciplinary programs such as Health Information Science, Geomatics, and others. The list of curriculum courses includes foundations of computer science, fundamentals of programming, elementary computing, database systems, and many others. The department also offers graduate degrees, including Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy. Students can choose from different focus and research areas, for example, gaming and graphics, systems and software engineering, wireless and wired networks, embedded systems, and many others. There are other institutions of higher educations to look into, including the University of Montreal, University of Toronto, Simson Fraser University, and others.

There are different ways to finance your studies in Canada, including scholarships, grants, working through university, private student loans, government loans, and more. A number of scholarships and bursaries are available to IT students in Canada, among which the Albert Kwong Memorial Prize, A.W. Chisholm Bursary, Aliant Ambassador Scholarship, and Ada Byron Award. Some prizes and scholarships are available to students enrolled in programs across different fields, including information technology, quality surveying, computer science, construction management, and engineering. In addition to prizes and scholarships, students are offered government-sponsored loans and grants, along with repayment assistance. Financial assistance is available to students with permanent disabilities, persons with children and dependents, students who demonstrate financial need (from middle-income and low-income families), and students in part- and full-time programs.

There are other options for students who fail to meet the requirements for government assistance or need additional sources of financing. One option is to apply for a student loan from a local financial institution or one of Canada's big banks. TD Canada Trust and RBC Royal Bank, for example, offer student lines of credit. TD's line of credit is available to graduate and undergraduate students and professionals, including veterinary, medical, dental, and others. Proof of enrollment is required to qualify. The main benefits for borrowers include quick and easy access, interest-only payments until graduation, and competitive interest rates. In addition to loans and scholarships, a student credit card is one option to meet daily and school-related expenses such as meals, school supplies, textbooks, transportation, and so on. Many banks in Canada offer student credit cards, including Scotiabank, CIBC, TD Canada Trust, and others. Scotiabank, for example, features a credit card with money back rewards while CIBC offers different cards with no annual fee, bonus points, cash back, added insurance, and other add-ons and incentives. There is no minimum income requirement to qualify.

Best Canadian Sites/Applications Built with Open Data

Open Maps

There are plenty of unique and useful applications and websites that are built with open data, including data inventories and portals, geospatial services and applications, and a lot more.

Open Maps allow users to analyze, explore, and visualize geospatial data. What is more, users learn how to work with different interfaces and formats, including programming interfaces, geo formats, and structured data (XML, JSON, CSV), etc. There are different geo formats to extract and use metadata information as well. APIs are also being developed to increase public awareness and knowledge and allow users to access data in different ways, including ATI requests, suggested consultations, round table discussions, and data sets, email, and so on.

Open Government across Canada

In addition to open maps, Open Government across Canada offers a wealth of data and toolkits, including information on initiatives and events, events calendar, and maps. Users are free to access open data portals and websites to learn more about municipal boundaries, federal electoral districts, and geopolitical boundaries. Visitors learn about the Exclusive Economic Zone and international boundary, provincial boundaries, aboriginal lands, as well as administrative boundaries. There is a host of geo databases to explore, including databases on the national road network and national hydro network, geographical names, geospatial data, and digital elevation data. Visitors are also offered useful information on mineral assessments and deposits, storage of hazardous materials, population estimates, neighborhood demographics, and a lot more.

The Open Government Portal offers a wealth of information as well, including household spending and population distribution, demographics of individuals, dependents, and taxpayers, guilty cases and youth courts, and accidents involving dangerous goods. There is plenty of information on different topics and themes such as technology and science, environment and nature, politics and government, and industry and economics. Search filters help users to find relevant information by organization, collection type, subject, portal type, and keyword. Different types of collections are available, including publications, geospatial data, open maps, and non-spatial data. Visitors learn plenty about land management, local and isolated communities, boundaries, and more.

Other Open Data Apps and Sites

There are other handy applications to look into, including EatSure, EatSafe, Disclosed, DataTo, My Stops, Libraries Ottawa, and others. Disclosed.ca, for example, is managed by Nurey Networks Inc. to monitor contracts signed by government agencies. Users are free to browse through different contracts, their value and duration, work done, names of vendors, departments and agencies, etc. The Ottawa DogPark Finder was a useful application for dog owners, offering park ratings based on cleanliness, friendliness, and popularity. Unfortunately, the application is closed down. My TTC is a great open data application that helps commuters to plan their route, whether by bus, streetcar, or subway. Ottawa Parks and Recreation is a great app developed by SK8 Wireless Technologies to access information on parks, child care facilities, baseball diamonds, and other recreational facilities. Other applications by SK8 Wireless Technologies offer information on city-run car parking facilities, persons of interest, museums, traffic cameras, bookmobiles and libraries, and so on. There are also open data apps that offer information on alternative fuel locations, taxi services, and charities and retailers that specialize in recycling. Other useful apps to explore include Traffic Ottawa, Toronto Road Restrictions, TaxiCity, and Route411.

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question: What does the text say about how students can secure admission into top universities in Canada that offer IT programs, and what examples of schools offer such programs?

answer: Canada joins the rank of other countries in the world with prestigious universities that offer top IT programs. Examples of such schools in Canada include the University of Waterloo, University of British Columbia, University of Victoria, etc. These schools provide top IT programs such as computer sciences, software development engineering, information technology, etc. However, because these schools rank high in terms of their quality of education and tuition, some IT students are discouraged from applying to these universities or find it hard to access the much-needed assistance they need to qualify for acceptance into such schools. Therefore, students who intend to attend these schools have the option of applying for private or government student loans backed by provable financial needs, scholarships, grants, or even working through university. In Canada, several scholarships and bursaries are available to IT students, such as A.W Chisholm Bursary, Albert Kwong Memorial Prize, Aliant Ambassador Scholarship, and Ada Byron Award.


split: train

text:
So my friend once told me "Write me a letter as if I were far away." So I did.

My dearest Elaine,

Recently, the rooms of our house have begun to bemoan your absence. I read them your letters. Tell them your stories of gypsies and temples and the mountain. Yet everyday the dust lays heavier, the lights yellow, and the chairs stand stalwart against the hollows left in your wake. Its been... I forget how long since they called for you. I only saw so much of the letter...

'Urgent.'
'National Security.'
'Nepal.'

I knew what I was getting into. Told you that if it were 'parts of you or none of you', the choice was simple. Its amazing the things you say for 5 more minutes with such a creature. But now its been three years. Of which we've had nearly two. And I find myself asking where you go.

Sure, I get the postcards. Peru. Antwerp. Mumbai. Paris. But lets not kid ourselves... They wouldn't let you give so much information so simply. So for now, I sit. Digging for patterns in your penmanship. Simple misspellings. Postmarks. A sign. That you're there... and you're trying.

I'm sorry. We promised. I can do my part. I just miss you; Your contrails in the carpet, your relentless fussing with your hair. Most of all your words...

So tell me again about the mountain...

title: Letters

question: Which form is the text in?

answer: It is a letter.

question: Who is the person writing to?

answer: It is unclear what the relationship is, but it seems to be a romantic partner.

question: Why did the other person leave?

answer: They were called upon. It seems to be a matter of national security, but their job is very secretive, so not even the person writing has much information.

question: How does the person writing feel?

answer: Lonely. They miss the other person very much.

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: The text is a letter, in which one person is writing to someone who has been away for a long time, doing a secretive job. It seems to be a romantic partner, and the person writing misses the other person very much.


text:
"What a waste of time." The apathetic voice rattled my conscience as I stood gazing upon the grave of whom such thoughts originated. I was unsure if the sentiment was born out of my memories of Walter while he was alive or the ground itself. Either way, I suppose I was looking for answers to questions I hadn't yet conceived and these five words made me question my presence here tonight.

"Seems appropriate a dead guy would caution the living about time," I replied to precisely no one. The cold night gathered these words inches from my face in a white cloud before they disappeared, along with the ambition that drove me three hours to my late friend's final resting place. Walter responded with a question.

"Why didn't you just tell me?" A valid inquiry. It was at this moment I understood that tonight was not about my questions. Tonight was about providing answers, which I owed Walter even in his death. I took a seat in order to be closer to my dear friend.

"It wouldn't have made a difference." A cop-out. It would have made all the difference. I suppose Walter already knew this. He did not question me to seek information; he questioned me because, even as a corpse, he understood I needed to come clean.

I sat with my eyes closed awaiting a response that never came. After a few minutes I sat up and didn't even bother brushing myself off. The flashlight that led me from my car to Walter's grave with such precision flickered for a few seconds before shutting off completely. Despite this inconvenience my memory was able to lead me back, and I hoped it would serve this function again someday.

Walter was right. What a waste of time.

title: Walter

question: Who is the narrator talking to?

answer: He (she?) talks to himself, addressing Walter in his head.

question: Why does the narrator feel that he owes an explanation to Walter?

answer: The story doesn't explain that.

question: Where does the story take place?

answer: At Walter's grave in an unspecified location.

question: What was the initial reason for the narrator to visit Walter's grave?

answer: He (she?) thought he was looking for answers.

question: Write a ~7 sentence summary.

answer: The narrator visits Walter's grave, initially in search of answers. As he (she?) addresses Walter in his head, he realizes that he owes Walter an explanation. He imagines Walter asking him "Why didn't you tell me?", to which he responds that it wouldn't have changed anything, but he knows his answer is a cop-out. He feels a need to come clean. After sitting for a few minutes with his eyes closed, he gets up and leaves, thinking it was a waste of time.


text:
A MUSEUM SHIP, also called a MEMORIAL SHIP, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public for educational or memorial purposes. Some are also used for training and recruitment purposes, mostly for the small number of museum ships that are still operational and thus capable of regular movement.[1]

Several hundred museum ships are kept around the world, with around 175 of them organised in the Historic Naval Ships Association[2] though many are not naval museum ships, from general merchant ships to tugs and lightships. Many, if not most, museum ships are also associated with a maritime museum.

Significance

[The Russian _Aurora_, one of the few protected cruisers that are preserved, is one of the world's most visited vessels.] [Former crew members of pose for photos after the Anniversary of the End of World War II ceremony.] Relatively few ships are preserved beyond their useful life, due to the high cost of maintaining them against the ravages of the elements. Most are broken up and sold for scrap, while a relative handful are sunk as naval target practice, scuttled to create artificial reefs, and so on. Some survive because of historical significance, but more often due to luck and circumstance. Since an old ship tied up at dockside, without attention, still decays and eventually sinks, the practice of recent years has been to form some sort of preservation society, solicit donations from governments or private individuals, organize volunteer labor from the enthusiasts, and open the restored ship to visitors, usually for a fee.

The restoration and maintenance of museum ships presents problems for historians who are asked for advice, and the results periodically generate some controversy. For instance, the rigging of sailing ships has almost never survived, and so the rigging plan must be reconstructed from various sources. Studying the ships also allows historians to analyze how life on and operation of the ships took place.[3] Numerous scientific papers have been written on ship restoration and maintenance, and international conferences are held discussing the latest developments.[4] Some years ago, the Barcelona Charter was signed by a variety of international owner organizations of traditional vessels, and provides certain accepted minimum criteria for the restoration and operation of traditional watercraft still in operation.[5]

Another consideration is the distinction between a “real” museum ship, and a ship replica. As repairs accumulate over time, less and less of the ship is of the original materials, and the lack of old parts (or even “appropriate” work tools) may lead to the use of modern “short-cuts” (such as welding a metal plate instead of riveting it, as would be the case during the ships' historical period).[6] Visitors without historical background are also often unable to distinguish between a historical museum ship and a (more-or-less historically relevant) ship replica, which may serve solely as a tourist attraction.[7]

Museum usage

[The 17th-century warship on display in the Vasa Museum] Typically the visitor enters via gangplank, wanders around on the deck, then goes below, usually using the original stairways, giving a sense of how the crew got around. The interior features restored but inactivated equipment, enhanced with mementos including old photographs, explanatory displays, pages from the ship's logs, menus, and the like. Some add recorded sound effects, audio tours or video displays to enhance the experience.

In some cases, the ships radio room has been brought back into use, with volunteers operating amateur radio equipment. Often, the callsign assigned is a variation on the original identification of the ship. For example, the submarine , which had the call NBQV, is now on the air as NB9QV. The World War II submarine , berthed at the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, had the wartime call NJVT and is now on the air as NJ6VT. In other cases, such as , a distinctive call (in this case KH6BB) is used. This radio work not only helps restore part of the vessel, but also provides worldwide publicity for the museum ship.

A number of the larger museum ships have begun to offer hosting for weddings, meetings, other events, and sleepovers, and on a few ships still seaworthy, cruises. In the United States, this includes {{-'}}s annual “turnaround”, when the old ship is towed out into the harbor and brought back in facing the other way, so as to weather evenly. A place on the deck is by invitation or lottery only, and highly prized.[8]

Many consider the tourism appeal of an interesting old vessel on the city waterfront strong enough that any port city should showcase one or more museum ships. This may even include building a replica ship at great expense.[9]

Gallery

File:HMSVictoryPortsmouthEngland (version 2).jpg| is the only ship of the line that is preserved. File:Fregatten Jylland total.jpg|_Jylland_ is the only wooden screw frigate that is preserved. File:Averof Today2.jpg| is the only armored cruiser that is preserved File:MIKASA02.jpg| is the only pre-dreadnought battleship that is preserved. File:USS Texas01a.jpg| is the only dreadnought battleship that is preserved. File:Blyskawica l d.jpg|The Polish destroyer is currently preserved as a museum ship in Gdynia. File:U995 2004 1.jpg|German submarine of World War II used as a museum. File:USS Yorktown (CVS-10) panorama 2012.jpg| was the first aircraft carrier converted into a museum. File:Constellation bow.JPG| is a sloop-of-war, the last sail-only warship designed and built by the United States Navy, preserved as a museum ship in Baltimore. File:1914 British Light Cruiser ‘HMS Caroline’ – Belfast (45830550741).jpg|HMS Caroline WW1 light cruiser. File:HMS Belfast with rainbow.jpg| WW2 light cruiser. File:Huascar1.jpg| was one of the earliest ironclad warships to be preserved afloat.

[1] Activities of the Historic Naval Ships Association (the international Historic Naval Ships Association website. Accessed 2008-06-06.)

[2] About The Historic Naval Ships Association (the international Historic Naval Ships Association website. Accessed 2008-06-06.)

[3] _Museum ships built in 1999: Remarks on the reconstruction of historical inland and sea-going vessels_ (abstract) - Ingo Heidbrink, Ingo; Deutsches Schiffahrtsarchiv (DSA) 22, 1999, Page 43–58

[4] Conference Proceedings (from the 'Third International Conference on the Technical Aspects of the Preservation of Historic Vessels' (1997) webpage on the San Francisco Maritime Park Association website)

[5] _The “Barcelona Charter”, European Charter for the Conservation and Restoration of Traditional Ships in Operation_ - Ingo Heidbrink (editor), Bremen (Hauschildt Verlag, 2003

[6] _Conserving Unique and Historic Ships_ - Kearon, John; Head of Shipkeeping, Industrial and Land Transport Conservation, Merseyside Maritime Museum, paper from the Third International Conference on the Technical Aspects of the Preservation of Historic Vessels (1997) webpage on the San Francisco Maritime Park Association website

[7]

[8]

[9] A Proposal to Recreate the Royal Yacht Ha'Aheo o Hawai'i (Pride of Hawaii) (International Historic Watercraft Society, via a website of the USCIS Regional Center Immigrant Investor Program. Accessed 2008-03-26.)

title: Museum ship

question: What is the appeal of the museum ships from a historical perspective?

answer: The article mentions historians being able to learn something about how people lived in these ships. Another useful piece of information would be the construction methods and the design of the ship, which could inform about the advancement of technology over time.

question: Estimate the revenue a ship like this can produce on a busy day of visiting tourists.

answer: The price of admissions would vary greatly depending on where the ship is. However, it can be assumed that it's at least $10, and at most $50. They may get hundreds of visitors per day, which would mean these ships would generate thousands to tens of thousands of dollars per day.


text:
BILLY GILES (3 September 1957, Belfast – 25 September 1998, Belfast) was an Ulster Volunteer Force volunteer who later became active in politics following his release from the Maze Prison in 1997 after serving 14 years of a life sentence for murder.

Family life

Billy Giles was born William Alexander Ellis Giles in Belfast, Northern Ireland on 3 September 1957, and grew up in Island Street, in loyalist east Belfast. His father Sam, worked as a plater in the nearby Harland and Wolff shipyard, and his mother, Lily was a housewife. Giles was the eldest of six children. The Giles family was very religious, the Protestant church having been the centre of their lives. Giles often attended the rallies of Ian Paisley, and was strongly influenced by his sermons.[1] His father, a former soldier in the British Army, was a member of the Orange Order, The Royal Black Preceptory, and The Apprentice Boys of Derry. His brothers also served in the army.[2]

The Troubles

At the age of 14, he witnessed first-hand the events of Bloody Friday on 21 July 1972 when the Provisional IRA exploded 26 bombs across Belfast, killing nine people, and injuring 103. As the years passed, he found himself attending many funerals of friends he had lost and people he had known.[3] In 1975, he joined the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and was trained in the use of weapons and explosives by former military personnel; he had just turned 18 years old.[4] At the outbreak of the republican hunger strike in 1981, Giles had gradually become disassociated from the UVF. Following the deaths of the ten republican prisoners, however, Giles believed that, in the wake of the hunger strike, “there was going to be an uprising and they [Protestants] were all going to be slaughtered” by the IRA.[5] Giles mentally prepared himself to go to war against the IRA and therefore returned as an active member of the UVF.[6]

Killing

On 19 November 1982 in Newtownards, Billy Giles abducted a Roman Catholic married man, Michael Fay, and shot him in the back of the head, killing him instantly. He then stuffed the body in the car's boot. Fay had been Giles' friend and workmate. The killing was in retaliation for the fatal shooting of Karen McKeown, a young Protestant Sunday school teacher by the Irish National Liberation Army two months previously. Giles was arrested by the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and brought to the Castlereagh interrogation centre, where he confessed to the killing. He was found guilty of the murder and sentenced to life imprisonment in the Maze Prison.[7]

Life in the Maze

Giles was housed in the prison's H-Blocks. He spent his time studying and took several GCSEs; he eventually obtained an Open University degree in Social Sciences. He also wrote a play about his childhood in Island Street called _Boy Girl_. It was later performed before a Belfast audience; his parents were present at the performance. Few people present at the performance were aware that it was the work of a UVF prisoner.[8]

It took Giles seven years before he adjusted to life inside The Maze. He gave many interviews to British journalist, Peter Taylor, to whom he confessed his deep remorse at the killing of Michael Fay, saying that he had “never felt like a whole person again” since the fatal shooting.[9]

On two separate occasions, Giles claimed he had saved the lives of prison officers inside the Maze: the first time when he stopped an inmate from cutting an officer's throat and the second time during a prison riot in March 1995 when he persuaded his inmates to stop the wrecking and to allow free passage to the block staff.[10]

Progressive Unionist Party

He was released on 4 July 1997 after serving 14 years of his life sentence. He immediately commenced work with the Progressive Unionist Party also known as PUP, and concentrated on helping released Loyalist prisoners to resettle into the community. At the signing of the Good Friday Agreement on 10 April 1998 at Stormont, Giles was part of PUP's negotiating team. He told Peter Taylor that he felt optimistic about the future of Northern Ireland and his own.[11]

Death

Despite his degree, he was unable to obtain a proper job that paid a decent salary. On the night of 24–25 September after composing a four-page letter of explanation and naming himself a “victim of the Troubles”, Billy Giles hanged himself in his living room.[12] He was 41 years old. Peter Taylor visited Giles' family in east Belfast on the eve of the funeral. He described Giles as lying in the coffin wearing his best suit, and his UVF badge with the inscribed words “For God and Ulster” was pinned to his lapel.[13] One of his last lines in his letter read, “Please let the next generation live normal lives”.[14] This line was quoted during a speech given by Colm Cavanagh, Vice-President of The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland on 3 March 2006 to The Department of Education. His friend and former UVF colleague Billy Mitchell, who was strongly critical of trauma counselling and a psychological approach to former paramilitaries, suggested that Giles' suicide had been prompted by a “trauma workshop” Giles had attended in South Africa. This was in contrast to Taylor, who believed that Giles took his own life because of the remorse he felt about his involvement in UVF violence.[15]

Giles is commemorated, along with other prominent Loyalist paramilitaries, in the controversial UVF song _Battalion of the Dead_.

[1] Taylor, pp.1–2

[2] Taylor, Peter (1999). _Loyalists_. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. pp.1–2

[3] Taylor, p.2

[4] Taylor, pp.2–3

[5] Taylor, p.3

[6] Taylor, p.3

[7] Taylor, pp.4–6

[8] Taylor, p.7

[9] Taylor, pp. 7–8

[10] Taylor, p. 10

[11] Taylor, p.8

[12] Taylor, pp.9–11

[13] Taylor, p.11

[14] Taylor, p.11

[15]

title: Billy Giles

question: What does the text say about the murder Billy Giles committed?

answer: Billy Giles abducted Michael Fay, a man he was friends with and worked with. He shot him in the back of the head, killing him. The murder was a retaliation for the killing of a school teacher two months prior. Giles was sentenced to life in prison for the murder.

question: What does the text say about the Maze Prison?

answer: The Maze Prison is where Giles was sentenced to life in prison. Although he only served 14 years of his sentence, it took him 7 years to adjust to life inside The Maze. While inside the prison, Giles claimed he had saved the lives of prison officers on two separate occasions.


text:
STEPHEN HUNT is a writer best known for a series of fantasy novels with steampunk elements known as the Jackelian series, whose central setting is a nation somewhat resembling Victorian England named the Kingdom of Jackals.

Influences on Hunt's work include Jack Williamson, Stephen Goldin, David Gemmell, Bruce Sterling, Larry Niven and Michael Moorcock.[1]

Publishing history

Hunt's short fiction has appeared in various mainly US and UK-based genre magazines, and some of his earliest works were written in the cyberpunk subgenre of science fiction. The best-known of these was the “Hollow Duellists”, a short story which William Gibson was reported to admire as one of the leading works of the second-wave of cyberpunk fiction, and which later went on to win the 1992 ProtoStellar magazine prize for best short fiction story, a tie with British SF author Stephen Baxter.

Stephen Hunt became the first client of the then-newly established John Jarrold Literary Agency in 2005. Hunt's second novel, _The Court of the Air_, was the subject of an auction held by John Jarrold in late 2005 between the UK's main publishing houses. HarperCollins outbid their competitors to sign Hunt for a three-book deal, later extended to a six-book contract. _The Bookseller_ magazine reported HarperCollins won the auction with a high six-figure sum.

Foreign-language and international editions of the novels of the Jackelian series have been sold to Tor Books (USA), Albin Michel (France), Verlagsgruppe Random House (Germany), Enterbrain Manga and Anime (Japan), Edições Saída de Emergência (Portugal and Brazil), Paidós (Spain), AST (Russia), and the Anhui Literature and Art Publishing House (China).

Works

His first fantasy novel, _For the Crown and the Dragon_, was published in 1994, and introduced a young officer, Taliesin, fighting for the Queen of the United Kingdom in a Napoleonic-period alternative reality, where the wars of Europe were being fought with sorcery and steampunk weapons (airships, clockwork machine guns, and steam-driven trucks called kettle-blacks). The book reviewer Andrew Darlington used Hunt's novel to coin the phrase “Flintlock Fantasy” to describe the subgenre of fantasy set in a Regency or Napoleonic-era period.[2]

Sliding Void series

The Sliding Void sequence is a space opera series from Stephen Hunt published under the Green Nebula imprint. It follows the misadventures of the crew of a commercial tramp freighter called the Gravity Rose, captained by a female Han Solo-like commander, Lana Fiveworlds. The first novel, _Void all the Way Down_ was originally published as three serialised novellas, _Sliding Void_, _Transference Station_, and _Red Sun Bleeding_, before being combined into the novel. A second full-length novel which was not serialised followed called _Anomalous Thrust_.

Sliding Void's main polity is the Triple Alliance (often simply the 'Alliance' or 'TA'), a bureaucratic multi-world confederation of the three dominant species, of which humanity is one. Most of the books' events occur in The Edge, a lawless independent region of free worlds bordering the Alliance. While guest of honour at Toronto's Ad Astra convention, Hunt described how he had written the series as a homage to fill the void left by the cancellation of all of his favourite TV science fiction series: _Star Trek_, _Stargate_, _Firefly_, _Battlestar Galactica_ and _Farscape_ (the void of the series title being both an allusion to this, as well as 'Sliding Void' being used by spacers as slang for sub-warp transit).

The first novel, _Void all the Way Down_, focuses on the inclusion of Calder, an exiled prince from a medieval-level failed colony world, into the ship's crew as they embark on running supplies to an illegal mining operation.

The second novel, _Anomalous Thrust_, finds the crew stranded on a world boycotted by civilisation for its human colonists' enslavement of the local sentient species. Here, they find they can only escape by taking part in a solar sail race to recover valuable alien garbage jettisoned by a moon-sized vessel making a periodic tour of multiple galaxies - a trope inspired by _Rendezvous with Rama_.

Far-called series

The Far-called sequence is a fantasy series from Stephen Hunt set on the world of Pellas. The first book in the series, _In Dark Service_ was published by Gollancz, the science fiction and fantasy imprint of Hachette and Orion Publishing, on 15 May 2014. The second novel in the series, _Foul Tide's Turning_, was released on 21 May 2015. The third novel in the series, _The Stealers' War_, was released on 16 March 2016.

Hunt mentioned at Comic-Con that his books set in Pellas draw on the events of the U.S. Civil War, just as Game of Thrones draw on the feuding of 15th-century England's Wars of the Roses (an idea that came to Hunt after meeting George RR Martin at a party hosted by HarperCollins in the Tower of London during April 2012).

The plot of _In Dark Service_ concerns two central families, the Carnehans and Landors, whose children are kidnapped by slavers from the town of Northhaven in the Kingdom of Weyland. The town launches a rescue expedition to free the taken from captivity, but with little chances of success given the vast scale of the world of Pellas. The first novel focuses on both the adventures of the pursuing towns-people and the slaves' struggle to survive their harsh captivity. While little is revealed of the geophysics enabling a planet the size of Pellas to sustain habitable levels of gravity (aside from occasional references to anti-gravity stones), the geopolitical impacts of such a vast land, where inequitable access to resources causes incredible polarisation of technological progress, are explored through the narrative and the descriptions of a wide range of cultures.

The second book in the series builds tension as the actions of the Carnehan protagonists bring the distant and ruthlessly amoral Vandian Empire into conflict with the far less technologically advanced and economically enriched kingdoms which have ostensibly thrived in a different part of the world. It also begins to reveal undercurrents of a deeper spiritual battle between good and evil.

The third book in the series, _The Stealers' War_, moves towards the trilogy's end-game as the various forces of Vandia and the two sides of Weyland's civil war plays out in a final battle.

Jackelian series

_The Court of the Air_ (published 2007), is a fantasy steampunk novel set in a Victorian-esque world with the addition of magic in various forms and where steam power, rather than oil, drives the economy.

The nation in which the plot is largely set (the Kingdom of Jackals) is recognisably based on Victorian Britain and the main neighbouring country (Quatérshift) is presumably inspired by the Paris Commune and various other communist states . A follow-up of sorts, _The Kingdom Beyond the Waves_ (published 2008), is set in the same world and introduces more races and tells some of the back-story.

_The Court of the Air_ commenced Hunt's Jackelian fantasy series, and was the first of his works to be published by HarperCollins. _The Court of the Air_ was one of the ten books selected by the organisers of the Berlinale Film Festival/Co-Production Market for presentation to US and European film producers. HarperCollins's elevator pitch for _The Court of the Air_ was summarised as Charles Dickens meets _Blade Runner_.[3]

In November 2008, his second book in the Jackelian series, _The Kingdom Beyond the Waves_, was nominated for the long-list of the David Gemmell Legend Award for Fantasy. The second novel continues the misadventures of u-boat privateer Commodore Jared Black, as the commodore goes in search of the ruins of a lost ancient utopia.

The third book in the series, _The Rise of the Iron Moon_, published in the UK in February 2009, features the invasion of the Kingdom of Jackals from the north by a horde called the Army of Shadows. It features the reappearance of the main protagonists from _The Court of the Air_, including Molly Templar, Oliver Brooks, the steamman scientist Coppertracks and Commodore Jared Black. The main new character is Purity Drake, a royalist prisoner of the state.

The fourth book, _Secrets of the Fire Sea_, is a murder mystery set on the island of Jago (in the Fire Sea of the title), and features the consulting detective Jethro Daunt and his steamman assistant Boxiron attempting to uncover the murderer of the island's arch-bishop. Commodore Black ferries the investigators from the kingdom to Jago, and acts as a reluctant foil for the pair's sleuthing. The novel was published in the UK as a hardback in 2010 and as a paperback in 2011.

The fifth novel in the series, _Jack Cloudie_, centres around an airship war between the Kingdom of Jackals and the Empire of Cassarabia in the south. The main characters are Jack Keats, a young thief pressed into service with the Jackelian airship fleet, and Jared Black. The commodore is being blackmailed into helping the high fleet by the Kingdom's secret police, the State Protection Board.

The title of the sixth book, published in February 2012, is _From the Deep of the Dark_. While appearing as guest of honour at the 2010 Forum Fantastico, Portugal's national science fiction convention, Hunt described his sixth book as primarily a spy mystery. It features Dick Tull, an officer of the State Protection Board close to retirement, the consulting detectives Jethro Daunt and Boxiron, and Commodore Jared Black. The characters are investigating the theft of the Jackelian royal sceptre and a series of strange murders and bloodless corpses in the capital, Middlesteel. Thief Charlotte Shades is asked by two mysterious men to steal King Jude's Sceptre from the Parliament vaults. Daunt and Boxiron know there is more to the two men than meets the eye and, with the rescued thief, escape in an ancient submarine captained by Commodore Jethro Black. They encounter resistance from strange underwater races, but human, steam-man, seanore and gillneck must band together to save the kingdom from danger.

While speaking at the Forum Fantastico, Hunt noted the versatility of fantasy as a genre, and described his Jackelian series as quest novel (_The Court of the Air_), adventure novel (_The Kingdom Beyond the Waves_), invasion tale (_The Rise of the Iron Moon_), murder mystery (_Secrets of the Fire Sea_), war story (_Jack Cloudie_) and spy novel (_From the Deep of the Dark_ ).

Online pioneer

Outside of his novels, Hunt is known for his work as one of the pioneers of Web-based content.

His first role with the online world was in 1991 when he worked on the UK rollout of the AppleLink service, Apple's pre-Web equivalent of AOL/Compuserve. In 1997 he launched the web site for the science journal _Nature_ for Macmillan Publishers, as well as their sister titles (_Nature Genetics_, ''Nature Medicine). Nature.com went on to win the first Periodical Publishers Association (PPA) Award for web-based content.

Hunt then became online publisher for the Risk Waters group, in charge of creating an online presence for their stable of magazines. Working at Risk, one of his projects was FinanceWise, a finance-specific search engine created as a joint venture between Risk and IBM. It won the Financial Times Award for Best Web Site in the year of its launch.

Shortly after winning the FT Award, he was hired by the Financial Times to be head of online development for their own magazine arm, where he introduced sites for their media, including Investors Chronicle, The Banker, as well as various channels of the newspaper's main FT.com site.

In 2001, Hunt became research director of the investment bank Almeida Capital, where he founded AltAssets, an online service focused on the venture capital and private equity market.

Bibliography

1.  _For the Crown and the Dragon_ (October 1994, )

The Agatha Witchley Mysteries series

1.  _Secrets of the Moon_ (May 2015, )

The Songs of Old Sol series

1.  _Empty Between The Stars_ (June 2018, )

Jackelian series

1.  _The Court of the Air_ (April 2007, )
    -   Published in the US in June 2008,
2.  _The Kingdom Beyond the Waves_ (May 2008, )
    -   Published in the US July 2009,
3.  _The Rise of the Iron Moon_ (Feb 2009, )
    -   Published in the US March 2011, 978-0765327666
4.  _Secrets of the Fire Sea_ (Feb 2010, )
5.  _Jack Cloudie_ (July 2011, )
6.  _From The Deep of the Dark_ (Feb 2012, )
7.  _Mission to Mightadore_ (May 2015, )

Far-called series

1.  _In Dark Service_ (May 2014, )
2.  _Foul Tide's Turning_ (May 2015, )
3.  _The Stealers' War_ (March 2016, )

Sliding Void

1.  _Void all the Way Down_ (September 2014, )
2.  _Anomalous Thrust_ (May 2016, )
3.  _Hell Fleet_ (December 2018, )

Reviews

-   -

[1]

[2]

[3]

title: Stephen Hunt (author)

question: Why is Hunt working on online and financial investment projects outside of his normal job of writing fantasy fiction?

answer: Unknown; maybe he enjoys doing those jobs or maybe he lacks money and wants to earn more.


text:
FROM RICHES TO RAGS is a 1980 Hong Kong film written and directed by John Woo starring Ricky Hui and Johnny Koo.[1]

Plot

After buying a winning lottery ticket factory workers Ah Ying (Ricky Hui) and Fatso (Johnny Koo) become millionaires overnight however a prediction by a fortune teller and a mix-up with a doctor leads Ah Ying to believe he is going to die from cancer. Not wanting to suffer Ah Ying decides to commit suicide but is afraid of it being painful. While on a rooftop he meets a poor suicidal man whom he gives all his money to under the condition that he hires a hitman to kill him. When Ah Ying realizes he is not going to die after all, he and Fatso tries their best to call off the assassination, and has to tackle not one, but 3 hitmen. The ensuing chase leads all of them to a mental hospital, where they got mixed up with various mental patients in the chaos. In the end, all the hitmen are killed and the police has arrived to deal with the chaos, but Ah Ying and Fatso have become slightly crazy as a result, with both of them starting to befriend the mental patients in the hospital.

Cast

-   Ricky Hui as Ah Ying
-   Johnny Koo as Fatso
-   JoJo Chan Kei-Kei as JoJo
-   Lam Ching-ying as knife killer

[1]

title: From Riches to Rags

question: Who directed From Riches to Rags?

answer: John Woo

question: What year was From Riches to Rags released?

answer: 1980

question: Summarize everything relating to the cast.

answer: Ricky Hui and Johnny Koo star as Ah Ying and Fatso, and JoJo Chan Kei-Kei plays JoJo and Lam Ching-ying plays 'knife killer'.

question: Describe the main characters.

answer: Ah Ying and Fatso are factory workers, presumably in Hong Kong, who become millionaires after winning the lottery. Ah Ying would rather be killed quickly - by suicide or homicide - than die slowly of cancer.

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: From Riches to Rags (1980, dir. John Woo) is a film starring Ricky Hui and Johnny Koo as factory workers who win the lottery and engage in hijinx based on misunderstandings.


text:
”Keep moving,” Melnik said silently, ”the station is just some minutes away!”. The four men kept moving through the dark metro tunnel, walking silently over the dead beasts they had just shot. “Where had they come from?” Oleg said nervously, “this tunnel is supposed to be safe!”, “Stay silent! You know how good they can hear!” Arytom answered. The beasts were as big as dogs, looking like some kind of rats without any hair. With no eyes and sharp teeth, these rats used their ears and nose to track down their prey. The only light in the tunnel came from the flashlights they had taped on the sides of their AK-47s, the light was weak and only lit up a small path ahead. Anything could hide beyond that light, or behind them.

After some minutes Anton said “I think we are safe now, if it was anymore of them they would have shown some sign by now”. “Yeah, maybe you are right” Arytom answered. Then they heard it, steps behind them. They turned around quickly, guns ready, pointing into the darkness. “Who`s there? Show yourself!” Melnik said. More steps joined the first, then more, and then the steps turned into running. “Run! They are too many!” Melnik said, firing some shots blindly in the direction of the running. An inhuman shriek where heard, he had hit something. They started to run, hoping the station was not far away. Rats could run faster than humans, everyone knew that. They were closing in, every second they came closer. Melnik could almost hear they breathing, it was terrifying. Nobody will ever know what happened to them, their bodies would be dragged into the smaller side tunnels, where no sane human ventures. Then, in the distance, they could see some light. A red and weak emergency light over a huge metal gate with no opening, blocking the entire metro tunnel. “There it is! Open up! We are humans! Open!” Oleg screamed, and then they reached the gate. Oleg started to knock like a madman on the gate, “open god damn it! We are humans! Open!”. The other three men turned around and started to fire into the darkness, the beasts started to scream, furiously. “Maybe they are not there? Maybe they have left the station?” Oleg said, “Shut up and start to fire!” Melnik said. He turned around and joined the other men, “They are closing!”. The gate made a loud noise and then started to swing slowly inwards. “Get inside!” Melnik shouted, the men threw them self inside while the gate started to close again. You could just see some of the rats coming into the light before the gate slammed shut. The rats slammed into the gate, screaming like monsters before eventually turning silent and disappearing into the darkness once more.

“Welcome to Smolenskya!” one of the gate guards said with a huge smile, “the greatest station is Moscow!”, “Fuck you” Anton answered back laughing.

title: The Metro

question: What species does Oleg belong to?

answer: Humans.

question: What is pursuing Oleg and the others?

answer: Rats as big as dogs, with no eyes and sharp teeth.

question: Does Oleg and the others have something to defend themselves with?

answer: Yes, AK-47 assault rifles with flashlights tied to it.

question: Does the gate open to let them out of the metro tunnel?

answer: Yes and they are welcomed to Smolenskya.

question: Is the gate guarded?

answer: Yes.

question: Why is the gate out of the metro tunnel locked?

answer: To protect against the beasts.

question: Write a ~9 sentence summary.

answer:
Melnik, Oleg, Anton and Arytom are trapped in a metro tunnel where mutated rats pursue them. They step over the beasts they just shot with their AK-47 assault rifles into the darkness toward the next station. They know the station is close.

Guided only by the narrow beams of their flashlights, they suddenly hear footsteps approaching. The footsteps grow in number and they realize that they are being pursued again.

They run frantically and reach the next station moments before the rats reach them. Oleg knocks on the gate and declares that they are human and ask for the gate to be opened. The others fire shots into the dark to stop the rats.

Eventually the gate opens slowly, the men step through, and the gate guard welcomes them to Smolenskya.


text:
PETER J. DALEY, II (born August 8, 1950) is a former U.S. politician who was a Democratic member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, representing the 49th Legislative District until 2016. Daley decided to retire and not seek an 18th term in 2016. His district included portions of Fayette County and Washington County.

Biography

Daley was born in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, and graduated from California Area High School in 1968.[1] He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in social studies from California University of Pennsylvania in 1972, and then taught at California Area High School for seven years.[2] He was a delegate to the 1972 Democratic National Convention and served as chair of the Washington Young Democrats (1972–75).[3]

In 1973, at age 22, Daley was elected mayor of California Borough.[4] He served in that position until he was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1982.

From 2009-2011, Daley served as the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Commerce Committee Democratic Chairperson. In 2009-10, he also served on the Game & Fisheries Committee and the Intergovernmental Affairs Committee.

Daley served as the Democratic Chair of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Consumer Affairs Committee in 2013 to 2016.[5][6][7]

In 2015-16 legislative session, Daley introduced a number of nonbinding resolutions including:[8]

-   Recognizing the year 2016 as “The Year to Cure Cancer” in Pennsylvania
-   Designating the month of April 2016 as "Pennsylvania 8-1-1 Safe Digging month
-   Recognizing April 5, 2016, as “National Healthy Schools Day”
-   Recognizing the month of March 2016 as "National Social Work Month
-   Recognizing the month of February 2016 as "National Cancer Prevention month
-   A Resolution observing February 12, 2016, as the 207th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States.
-   A Resolution recognizing the importance of finding the cause and cure for multiple sclerosis.
-   A Resolution designating March 13, 2016, as “K9 Veterans and Services Day”.
-   A Resolution designating the month of February 2016 as “Career and Technical Education Month” in Pennsylvania.
-   A Resolution designating the week of February 21 through 27, 2016, as “FFA Week” in Pennsylvania.
-   A Resolution recognizing February 5, 2016, as “National Wear Red Day” in Pennsylvania.
-   A Resolution designating the month of January 2016 as “Financial Aid Awareness Month”.
-   A Resolution recognizing the month of February 2016 as “National Children's Dental Health Month” in Pennsylvania.
-   A Resolution designating January 9, 2016, as “Law Enforcement Appreciation Day”
-   Commemorating the 100th year of the Pennsylvania Farm Show.
-   An Act designating a portion of State Route 51 in the Borough of Coraopolis, Allegheny County, as the Fred A. Trello Memorial Boulevard.

Elections

In 2014, Daley ran against Donald Cook (R). Results: Daley - 8,557 votes or 56.43% of votes cast; Cook - 6,608 votes or 43.57% of votes cast.[9]

In 2012, Daley ran against Richard J Massafra (R). Results: Daley - 12,244 votes or 54.49% of votes cast; Massafra - 10,225 votes or 45.51% of votes cast.[10]

Retirement

Daley announced that he would retire from his position on January 7, 2016.[11]

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

title: Peter Daley

question: What party is Peter Daley a member of?

answer: Daley is a member of the United States Democratic party.

question: When did Daley retire?

answer: Daley retired in 2016.

question: What committees did Daley serve on?

answer: From 2009-2011, Daley served as the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Commerce Committee Democratic Chairperson. In 2009-2010, he served on the Game and Fisheries Committee and the Intergovernmental Affairs Committee.

question: What was Daley's salary over the course of his career?

answer: Not answered.

question: Write a ~3 sentence summary.

answer: Peter Daley is a former United States politician who was a Democratic member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. He was elected mayor of the California Borough in 1973, and was then elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1982. He retired 2016.


text:
[Joe Overstreet, _Hoodoo Mandala,_ 1970, acrylic on canvas with metal grommets and cotton rope, 90 x 89 1/2 inches. Private Collection.] JOE WESLEY OVERSTREET (June 20, 1933 – June 4, 2019[1]) was an African-American painter from Mississippi who lived and worked in New York City for most of his career.[2] In the 1950s and early 1960s he was associated with the Abstract Expressionist movement.

During the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, he became known for works such as _Strange Fruit_ and _The New Jemima_, which reflected his interest in contemporary social issues and the Black Arts Movement. He also worked with Amiri Baraka as the Art Director for the Black Arts Repertory Theatre and School in Harlem, New York. In 1974 he co-founded Kenkeleba House, an East Village gallery and studio. In the 1980s he returned to figuration with his _Storyville_ paintings, which recall the New Orleans jazz scene of the early 1900s. His work draws on a variety of influences, including his own African-American heritage, and has been exhibited in museums and galleries around the world.

Early Life, Family, and Education

Joe Overstreet was born on June 20, 1933 in Conehatta, Mississippi. His father was a mason, whose work exposed him to construction and architecture which was later to influence his three dimensional paintings.[3] His hometown is located in central, rural Mississippi, one of several communities that in 1945 was included in a reservation for the federally recognized Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, who made up the majority of the population. Overstreet's family first settled in Conehatta in 1830 and raised trees for wood pulp.

His family was nomadic, moving five times between 1941 and 1946 before settling in Berkeley, CA.[4] In 1951, Overstreet graduated from Oakland Technical High School in Oakland, California and worked part time for the Merchant Marines. That same year, Overstreet began studying art, first at Contra Costa College and then at the California School of Fine Arts (now the San Francisco Art Institute).[5] He also studied at the California College of Arts and Crafts in 1954.[6] From 1955 to 1957, Overstreet was part of a community of Black artists in Lost Angeles and worked as an animator for Walt Disney Studios.[7]

1950s: From the Bay Area to New York City

In the 1950s Overstreet lived in the North Beach section of San Francisco and was a fixture of the Beat Scene. He published a journal titled _Beatitudes Magazine_ from his studio, and was part of a collective of African-American artists. During the early 1950s he exhibited in galleries, teahouses, and jazz clubs throughout the Bay Area, along with young artists such as James Weeks, Nathan Oliveira, and Richard Diebenkorn.[8]

His Grant Street studio was located near that of Sargent Johnson, a sculptor and painter who became a mentor.[9] Johnson believed in the philosophy of Alain Locke, the so-called “father of the Harlem Renaissance” in New York, who advocated for African-American artists to draw from their ancestral legacy for aesthetic sources and inspiration.[10][11]

In 1958, Overstreet moved to New York City with his friend, Beat poet Bob Kaufman. He designed displays for store windows to earn a living, and lived and had his studio on 85th Street between Columbus and Amsterdam avenues.[12] In New York he met Romare Bearden, who was an inspiration to Overstreet, and he studied painting with Hale Woodruff.[13] He got to know many of the Abstract Expressionist painters from hanging out at Cedar Tavern and felt his real art education came through his relationships with established artists, such as Romare Bearden, Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, Larry Rivers, Hale A. Woodruff, and Hans Hofmann. He knew Hofmann's work from Berkeley.[14] (“I got more out of the Cedar Street Bar than anywhere…”)[15]

Overstreet said, “Looking at Hofmann reminded me of how I saw things naturally, and looking at Pollock reminded me of how I could do things naturally.”[16] De Kooning gave Overstreet some of his works to sell so that the young painter could make it through difficult times. Overstreet also identified with de Kooning's use of house painter's brushes. He began to feel comfortable using cement trowels to apply his paints, in such works as _Big Black_ (1961).[17]

1960s-1970s

In 1962 Overstreet moved downtown and set up his studio at 76 Jefferson Street, in a loft building where jazz musician Eric Dolphy lived. From 1963 to 1973 he lived in the East Village at 186 Bowery. From 1970 to 1973 he moved to the East Bay Area to teach at the University of California at Hayward.[18] Upon his return to New York in 1974, Overstreet met his wife, artist Corrine Jennings.

Art and Career

1950s-1960s

Overstreet's early work of the late 1950s to the mid 1960s assimilates his interests in Abstract Expressionism, jazz, and the painful realities of African-American history, in works such as _The Hawk, For Horace Silver_ (1957), _Carry Back_ (1960), _Big Black_ (1961), and _Janet_ (1964).[19]

His painting _The New Jemima_ (1964/1970) (Menil Collection) subverts the stereotypical black image of Aunt Jemima.[20] Unlike the original character, a domestic servant who exists to please others, Overstreet's Jemima wields a machine gun.

Overstreet recalls of this work:

  “Larry Rivers saw [the Aunt Jemima painting] around 1970, and he said that if I made it larger, he would include it in the Some American History exhibition at Rice University. So I made a kind of wooden armature so that the painting would resemble something like a pancake box. I enlarged it especially for this art project, which was part of the effort in 1971 to desegregate Rice University. Rice had a codicil that blacks could never attend that institution."[21]

In 1964, Overstreet stopped working with oil and began painting in acrylic, which dries faster. This allowed him to focus more on spatial problems. The painting _Strange Fruit_ (c. 1965) can be seen as a watershed work in terms of its organization and the use of rope, which recurs through the decades in his paintings, in various manifestations. The title _Strange Fruit_ refers to the Billie Holiday rendition of Abel Meeropol's poem and song (first recorded in 1940) about lynchings, in which many black men were killed by hanging.[22]

In particular, the painting may refer to the murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner, three civil rights workers who disappeared in July 1964 near Philadelphia, Mississippi, not far from Overstreet's home town. They were later found shot and buried in an earthen dam. In this painting, limp trouser legs dangle vertically, with a rope tautly crossing the painting at a diagonal. The abstracted forms suggest charged symbols like a burning cross and Ku Klux Klan hoods.[23]

Other paintings, such as _One-Eyed Jack_ and _Masks_ are also references to the Civil Rights Movement. In this period Overstreet worked with Amiri Baraka as Art Director of the Black Arts Repertory Theatre and School in Harlem and as a set designer.[24] In 1963 Overstreet met Ishmael Reed, the poet, writer, and political activist, just as Reed was formulating his Hoodoo (Haitian voodoo) aesthetic as a literary method.[25]

Overstreet has been explicit about the socio-political content and sources of his work, but he also discusses the ropes and geometry of his paintings in terms of his desire to open up and change space. Overstreet has cited the book by Jay Hambidge, _The Elements of Dynamic Symmetry,_ as a major influence. In the book, Hambidge notes that the _Harpedonapte_ (rope-stretchers) of Egypt discovered the principles of dynamic symmetry and used them to lay out temple plans.[26] Overstreet also recalls his father being interested in the Egyptian rope stretchers, and how masons used rope lines to determine the perspective, pitch and level of the earth.

Admiring the work of Frank Stella, by 1967 Overstreet began working with shaped canvases, that also referred to politically topical issues (_Agent Orange_ and _North Star_, both 1967). Overstreet also noted his interest in breaking away from western painting, from use of the rectangle and stretcher, and from western art history sources. His sources included the art of North Africa, Islamic mosques, and Mali, and Native American art. Overstreet used wooden dowels shaped with a jigsaw and hand tools to make intricate stretchers, painting figures in patterns drawn from Aztec, Benin, and Egyptian cultures.

In this period he said “I was beginning to look at my art in a different light, not as protest, but as a statement about people. I began to work with the iconography of Native Americans and East Indians, of Oceania and Africa. By 1970 I had broken free from notions that paintings had to be on the wall in rectangular shapes.”[27]

1970s: Flight Pattern Series

Overstreet's best known work are his shaped paintings from the 1970s. These paintings were no longer on stretchers, instead painted canvas was fitted with grommets, rope was used to attach and suspend them from the exhibition space's walls, floors and ceilings.[28] One of his most important bodies of work are the _Flight Pattern_ series of 1971: tarps of canvas are tethered with ropes to the ceiling and floor. Overstreet notes, “I began to make paintings that were tentlike. I was making nomadic art, and I could roll it up and travel. When I showed them, I rolled them up and took them on a plane.” _Power Flight_ (1971) is in the collection of the Brooklyn Museum.[29]

Overstreet studied nomadic cultures and the idea of a double or foreign identity. He said that he wanted to retain the most appealing feature of nomadic structures: “their tendency, like birds in flight, to take off, to lift up, rather than be held down” by the ropes that suspended them.[30] Many of his 1971 paintings drew from mandala imagery and were icon-like in their presence. Overstreet was interested in tantric yoga, as well as Navajo rituals of sand painting. He said, “Art is about the coming together of expression, cultures crossing…”[31]

“I was trying to create a reflection of what in my past I had felt had run parallel: Native Americans, African nomadic people, black people here who had no homes—there was a lot of homelessness in those years. We had survived with our art by rolling it up and moving it all over. So I made this art you could hang any place. I felt like a nomad myself, with all the insensitivity in America,” Overstreet notes.[32] His work, he says, has been “tied up in abstract shape with what blacks have felt and struggled” over the last four decades.[33]

After the 1971 _Flight Pattern_ series, Overstreet continued his explorations of how paintings could break away from traditional, vertical displays. He suspends tarps from ropes in flexible, three-dimensional installations. His _Icarus_ paintings were fields of stippled color, stretched on bent conduit pipes into convex, soft-edged shapes, suggesting airplane wings. In his _Fibonacci_ series, the structural framework is based on the Fibonacci system of arithmetical progressions (1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34).[34]

1980s-2000s

In the 1980s, Overstreet worked on a commission to produce a series of 75 steel and neon panels of public art for the San Francisco International Airport.[35]

For decades, Overstreet has experimented with both the spatial and textural possibilities of painting, and also complex cultural histories. He created his semi-figurative _Storyville_ series, which recalls the New Orleans jazz scene and neighborhood of the early 1900s.[36] While exhibiting at the Dakar Biennale in Senegal in 1992, he visited the House of Slaves at Gorée. Later he produced his series known as _Door of No Return_.[37] Over the next two years he explored the possibilities of paint texture in large, stretched canvas paintings that reflect his interest in sacred geometry.[38]

In his _Silver Screens_ and _Meridian Fields_ of the early 2000s, his interest in transparency led him to paint on steel wire cloth. The dozens of “screen” paintings which Overstreet has made prefigure many of the ways that young contemporary artists are working in the early 21st century. They use fabric, spray paint, and alternative supports to destabilize assumptions and hierarchies of craft, pattern, painting, and modernist art history.[39]

Galleries: Kenkeleba House and Wilmer Jennings Gallery

In 1974, Overstreet, his wife Corrine Jennings, and Samuel C. Floyd established Kenkeleba House at 214 E. 2nd St and, in 1991, a second gallery across the street, Wilmer Jennings Gallery. Both galleries were non-profit spaces that presented exhibitions of work by under-recognized African American artists and artists of color, boasting truly multi-cultural programming.[40] Kenkeleba showed young artists who later found national and international acclaim—among them Rose Piper and David Hammons [41] – and also major historical exhibitions of work by important black painters such as Norman Lewis and Edward Mitchell Bannister.[42]

Exhibitions

Group exhibitions

-   2017: _Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power._ Tate Modern, London. Traveled to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and Brooklyn Museum in 2018.[43][44]
-   2015: _The EY Exhibit: The World Goes Pop._ Tate Modern, London.[45]
-   2011: _Now Dig This!: Art and Black Los Angeles 1960–1980_. Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA.[46]
-   2005: _Water_. Bridgetown Embassy, Barbados. Sponsored by the Art in Embassies Program of the U.S. Department of State.[47]
-   1992-3: _A/CROSS CURRENTS: Synthesis in African American Abstract Painting._ U.S. Representation: Dakar Biennale, Senegal; IFAN Museum, and National Center for Art; French Cultural Center, Libreville, Gabon; GRAFOLIE Festival, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire.
-   1992.4: _DREAM SINGERS, STORYTELLERS: An African-American Presence._ New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, and venues in Japan: Fukui Fine Arts Museum, Tokushima Modern Art Museum, Otani Memorial Art Museum.
-   1989: _The Blues Aesthetic._ Washington Project for the Arts; Circulating exhibition.
-   1986: _U.S. Art Census, 1986: Contemporary Afro-American Artists._ Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA.

Solo exhibitions

-   2019: _Joe Overstreet, Selected Works: 1975-1982_. Eric Firestone Gallery, New York, NY.
-   2018: _Joe Overstreet, Innovation of Flight: Paintings 1967-1972_. Eric Firestone Gallery, New York, NY.
-   2008: _The Storyville Series_. City Gallery East, Atlanta, GA.
-   2003: _Meridian Fields_. Wilmer Jennings Gallery, New York, NY.
-   1996: _(Re) Call and Response._ Everson Museum, Syracuse, NY.
-   1996: _Joe Overstreet: Works from 1957 to 1993._ New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, NJ.
-   1965: Hugo Gallery, New York, NY.
-   1955: Vesuvio Cafe, San Francisco, CA.

Museum Collections

Overstreet's works of art are included in numerous private and public collections around the world, including the Brooklyn Museum, Mississippi Museum of Art, Rose Art Museum,[48] Rennie Museum, and the Menil Collection.[49]

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]  Rehistoricizing The Time Around Abstract Expressionism|url=http://rehistoricizing.org/joe-overstreet-2/%7Caccess-date=2020-07-06%7Clanguage=en-US}}

[5]

[6]  Now Dig This! digital archive {{!}} Hammer Museum|url=https://hammer.ucla.edu/now-dig-this/artists/joe-overstreet/%7Caccess-date=2018-05-08%7Cwebsite=Hammer Museum|language=en}}

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]  Midday on WNYC {{!}} WNYC|language=en|work=WNYC|url=https://www.wnyc.org/story/alain-locke-father-harlem-renaissance/%7Caccess-date=2018-05-08}}

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15] ?

[16]

[17]

[18]

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[20]

[21]  Tate|language=en-GB|work=Tate|url=http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/ey-exhibition-world-goes-pop/artist-interview/joe-overstreet%7Caccess-date=2018-05-08}}

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[43]

[44]

[45]

[46]  Now Dig This! digital archive {{!}} Hammer Museum|website=Hammer Museum|language=en|access-date=2018-03-06}}

[47]

[48]

[49]  Hammer Museum|url=https://hammer.ucla.edu/now-dig-this/art/the-new-jemima%7Caccess-date=2020-07-06%7Cwebsite=hammer.ucla.edu%7Clanguage=en}}

title: Joe Overstreet

question: Summarize Joe Overstreet's notable works in the 1950's 1960's.

answer:
Overstreet's early work of the late 1950s to the mid 1960s assimilates his interests in Abstract Expressionism, jazz, and the painful realities of African-American history.
 - The Hawk, For Horace Silver (1957), Carry Back (1960), Big Black (1961), and Janet (1964).
 - The New Jemima (1964/1970) (Menil Collection) subverts the stereotypical black image of Aunt Jemima.
 - Strange Fruit (c. 1965) is where Overstreet started to use acrylic, in stead of oil, because it dries faster. It can be seen as a watershed work in terms of its organization and the use of rope, which recurs through the decades in his paintings, in various manifestations.
 - One-Eyed Jack and Masks are references to the Civil Rights Movement.

question: Summarize Joe Overstreet's notable works in the 1970's.

answer:
Overstreet's best known work are his shaped paintings from the 1970s.
 - The Flight Pattern series (1971) is one of his most important bodies of work. It consists of tarps of canvas that are tethered with ropes to the ceiling and floor.
 - Power Flight (1971) is in the collection of the Brooklyn Museum.
 - Icarus paintings (post 1971) were fields of stippled color, stretched on bent conduit pipes into convex, soft-edged shapes, suggesting airplane wings.
 - Fibonacci series (also post 1971) consists of pieces where the structural framework is based on the Fibonacci system of arithmetical progressions.

question: Summarize all the information relating to Joe Overstreet's influences.

answer:
His work draws on a variety of influences including his own African-American heritage, and has been exhibited in museums and galleries around the world.
His father's work as a mason later influenced his three dimensional paintings.
Overstreet notes that he was trying to create a reflection of what in his past he had felt had run parallel: Native Americans, African nomadic people, black people here who had no homes—there was a lot of homelessness in those years. They had survived with their art by rolling it up and moving it all over. So he made this art you could hang any place. He felt like a nomad himself, with all the insensitivity in America. His work has been “tied up in abstract shape with what blacks have felt and struggled” over the last four decades.
Overstreet has cited the book by Jay Hambidge, The Elements of Dynamic Symmetry, as a major influence. In the book, Hambidge notes that the Harpedonapte (rope-stretchers) of Egypt discovered the principles of dynamic symmetry and used them to lay out temple plans. Overstreet also recalls his father being interested in the Egyptian rope stretchers, and how masons used rope lines to determine the perspective, pitch and level of the earth.

question: Explain the relationship between Joe Overstreet and Mississippi.

answer: Joe Overstreet was born in Mississippi in 1933. His hometown is in central, rural Mississippi. It was included in a reservation for the federally recognized Mississippi Brand of Choctaw Indians. Strange Fruit (c. 1965) may refer to the murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner, three civil rights workers who disappeared in July 1964 near Philadelphia, Mississippi, not far from Overstreet's home town. Some of Overstreet's art is included in the Mississippi Museum of Art.

question: Explain the relationship between Joe Overstreet and Cedar Tavern.

answer: Overstreet got to know many Abstract Expressionist painters from hanging out at Cedar Tavern. He felt that his real education in art came through his relationships with established artists, such as Romare Bearden, Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, Larry Rivers, Hale A. Woodruff and Hans Hofmann. Cedar Tavern was a gathering place for these artists.

question: Is Joe Overstreet a successful artist?

answer: Yes, it would seem so.

question: Write a ~4 sentence summary.

answer: Joe Overstreet was an African-American painter from Mississippi who lived and worked in New York City. In the 1950s and early 1960s he was associated with the Abstract Expressionist movement. During the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, he became known for works such as Strange Fruit and The New Jemima, which reflected his interest in contemporary social issues and the Black Arts Movement. His work draws on a variety of influences, including his own African-American heritage, and has been exhibited in museums and galleries around the world.


text:
Our story takes place amidst a dreary time, where flies almost conquered the world with their exponential growth and insatiable thirst for blood. But the ingenuity of the plant kingdom ultimately brought the earth a new beginning in a bleak time.

An island at war the inhabitants grew hostile towards the tribes over centuries of aggressively opposing religious debates, it ended in an island slaughtered, thousands of island people lay shore to shore of putrefying flesh.

For the next several months, the already magnitude of flies became the most vile infestation ever, the island was like a giant pulsating maggot teeming with puss.

There was eventually too many flies and the island was not enough to fit them all one atop another, piles of dead flies along the shore and diminished food supply due to increasing demand.

With starvation rampant and their demise eminent, the elder flies devised a plan based upon myths of far off utopias abundant in resources, over the water. The swarm would synchronize as a unit and make the grand excursion.

The magnitude of flies has grown tremendously at this point, reaching a near thousand fold of the forgotten island itself, now enveloped in decay. The swarm departed from the once oasis and left a rancid sore in the middle of the ocean.

For a week the slightly diminished horde of flies battled the waters harsh, salty gusts, feasting upon whatever lofty cadavers they encountered, they saw land and with a sudden burst of vigour they hastily made way.

Victims of the oncoming attack had full suspicion something was awry, for the magnificent, sunny day beset by a sudden absence of flooding warm rays, replaced with a distant buzz, ominously looming.

The ravenous swarm longed for the taste of flesh and was eager to obtain this. A vicious and most painful practice consisted of engulfing a person in a swarm and sucking draining one’s life force from the soul.

Within a fortnight the flies had eradicated all other living creatures, aside from themselves. The heavens obscured with an insurmountable mass of flies that now drape the sky. Flies claimed superiors of the animal kingdom, dominating the others; too vain to admit destroyed any future for themselves and earth. They were now split off in groups scavenging for sustenance.

Throughout this entire ordeal, the silent witness were the plants, which were now dying from lack of sunlight. They communicated and decide it was time for action, time to band together and bring the cursed flies reign to an end.

After much deliberation they decided to make a trap, something to attract all the flies in order to rid them once and for all. All plant life spliced and fused back together, creating a colossal container rimmed with large barbs. They brought a combination of scents of assorted flora, until it produced a putrid aroma, which aroused flies from all around the world to one region.

They drove drown into the trap like a cyclone, as soon as they reached the chamber they all burned in the digestive acids of the newly formed plant. The chemical reaction was so intense the plant erupted, shooting bubbling mess of black viscous liquid, everywhere.

From this repugnant scum that veiled the earth arose a new order of creatures, including our unsung hero, the venus fly trap. The world grew back and regained the glory it once was constant battles between natural forces, trying to keep a steady equilibrium.

title: I called it Evil Flys, heh heh...

question: Describe the swarm of flies.

answer: The swarm grew from and island of thousands of slaughtered people. The swarm grew so large, it needed to leave the island to survive. It traveled, looking for a food source.

question: Are there any main characters of the story?

answer: The fly swarm is the main character.

question: Is there any interaction between the swarm and others?

answer: The swarm overtakes anything living, decimating it.

question: Is there any conflict?

answer: The conflict arises between the swarm and the plants. The swarm gets so large, it blocks the sunlight. Plants struggle to get enough sunlight to thrive; they unite to defeat the swarm. They grow into a plant that lures the swarm and get digested.

question: Write a ~7 sentence summary.

answer: A swarm of flies grew from and island of thousands of slaughtered people. The swarm grew so large, it needed to leave the island to survive. It traveled, looking for a food source. The swarm overtakes anything living, decimating it. The swarm gets so large, it blocks the sunlight. Plants struggle to get enough sunlight to thrive; they unite to defeat the swarm. They grow into a plant that lures the swarm and get digested.


text:
[]

_"The Joker has been released from Arkham Asylum."_

_Joker_ is a 2008 one-shot graphic novel written by Brian Azzarello and illustrated by Lee Bermejo, focusing - just like it says on the tin - on The Joker, everyone's favourite Monster Clown. The story is done in a Darker and Edgier, Film Noir style and is told by a naive young criminal named Jonny Frost who yearns to be a big man in Gotham. So when (for reasons nobody seems to know) The Joker is released from Arkham Asylum and sets out to reclaim the city for himself, Frost decides he wants in. Carnage Ensues! Along the way, they bump into The Riddler, Two-Face, The Penguin, Killer Croc, Harley Quinn and the B-man himself.

There's a lot of visual similarities between this version of the Joker and the one presented in _The Dark Knight_; Word of God chalks this down to coincidence. The original title of the comic was even _Joker: The Dark Knight_ (in the same vein as the partnership's previous graphic novel _Lex Luthor: Man of Steel_, which is a fun companion to this work) but that had to be scrapped for obvious reasons.

If you wanted the page for the character, that's here. See here for the 2019 film.

_Batman: Damned_ is a Stealth Sequel to this story.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

This graphic novel provides examples of:

-   Actually Pretty Funny: Joker suggesting that Killer Croc give him a blowjob makes Croc and the other gangsters laugh.
    -   Croc also lets out a laugh when Joker makes a jab at him for his looks.
-   Armor-Piercing Response: At the climax of the story, Joker is engaged in the usual brawl with Batman. During this, he engages in a "The Reason You Suck" Speech where he attempts to deconstruct Batman dressing up like a monster and inspiring fear. After going on about that, Joker asks why Batman leaves his chin uncovered, allowing a glimpse at the man beneath the suit and thus showing that despite the appearance, Batman isn't a monster. Batman responds, "To _mock_ you." Joker immediately flips out. The response is made more powerful because this is Batman's _only_ line in the whole story.
-   Art Shift: Pages change from a gorgeous painted look (usually for the larger panels) to a lower-quality colouring style continuously.
-   Asskicking Equals Authority: Killer Croc is the leader of his gang due to his strength and intimidation. When Jonny tries to give him orders, Croc quickly puts Jonny in his place by picking him up singlehandedly and then hanging him from a hook.
-   Ax-Crazy: Imagine all the murderous insanity that powered the incarnations of The Joker that Jack Nicholson, Heath Ledger and Mark Hamill played. Now cram it all into one guy. He's that crazy.
-   Bait-and-Switch Gunshot: A cop points a gun at an out-of-ammo Joker, we see a BLAM and The Joker's shocked reaction, then Joker looks down and we see the corpse of the cop, now with a big hole in his head courtesy of Jonny Frost, who'd come up behind Joker just in time.
-   Batman Gambit: The premise is that Joker, somehow, gets out of Arkham through the front gate. It's suggested but never stated that he was legally released. Later, he intimates to the Riddler that this was a sham.

    "The best place to hide, Edward, is _in_ sanity!"

-   Big "SHUT UP!": Joker to Jonny, accompanied by a punch to the face, when he's thoroughly tired of Jonny (but the same statement quickly shifts to their pursuer... Batman).

    "Uh... God. You DISGUST me. You have NO CHARM at all, just... OBVIOUSNESS. Dumb, dull, DISAPPOINTING."

-   Bodyguard Babes: In this story, Harley Quinn serves this role to the Joker. She's never seen speaking on panel, though presumably she can, Jonny just doesn't notice it.
-   Boom, Headshot!: Jonny shoots one of Harvey's cops in the face and saves Joker's life. The perspective makes it look like the hole takes up half his face.
-   Break the Haughty: Jonny, a good way to see it is in the artwork where at the start he is always standing tall next to Joker, smoking a cigarette, pulling his collar, smugly smiling and all but short to flex at people when he enters the room. Near the end he looks scared, aimless and depressed.
-   Break Them by Talking: Joker tries to deliver this lecture to Batman, calling him out on trying to look like a monster but leaving his chiseled, heroic jaw bare for all to see. Batman turns it on its head and sends Joker into an Unstoppable Rage. He did it with just _three_ words: "To mock you."
-   Cardboard Prison: Lampshaded, since no-one understands why the Joker is being released.
-   Cassandra Truth: Harvey Dent sics one of his crooked cops on Jonny to warn him about the Joker, and then calls Jonny to his office to warn him some more: "you are involved with a sick man who will see you die... because for him, death is the punchline." Granted, the Joker's far from laughing by the time he shoots Jonny in the face at point-ouch range but Dent was close enough about the death part.
-   Character Title: This comic is called JOKER. Yeah. As mentioned previously, it was originally going to be subtitled _The Dark Knight_ to continue the theme naming of the previous Azzarello/Bermejo story.
-   Chekhov's Gun: The gun that Jonny gives Joker at their first meeting is the same one Joker uses to shoot Jonny in the face at the end.
-   Comic-Book Movies Don't Use Codenames: Oswald Cobblepot is never addressed by his real name or his criminal identity, The Penguin. Joker only ever refers to him as "Abner" as a sign of disrespect.
-   Cruel and Unusual Death: There were two rather cruel murders Joker committed. The first involved skinning a man alive because he got on the Joker's bad side by insulting his club, eyeing his girl, and then insulting the Clown Prince himself. The second? He shoots a man in the head, while said man is sitting on the toilet. It might not be the most cruel death, but it's certainly embarrassing. Stay classy, Mr. J.
-   Curse Cut Short: A minor example:

    JOKER: "I'd like your crew to run it for me still. They can be trusted, right? 'Cuz I get a whiff of skimmin', it's like my boogers are turned into sh—"

    JOHNNY BANG BANG: "—You ain't gonna smell boo from us."

-   Darker and Edgier: Oh yes. See Deconstruction below.
-   Deconstruction: The series was meant to make the Joker scary again, after all the anti-heroic and idealized traits he'd acquired by fans. Specifically, the book came out soon after _The Dark Knight_ had come out.
-   Death Seeker: Jonny seems to be one as in one scene during the story's midpoint, he is standing on the roof of his apartment building, looking down with a sad expression on his face. He finds it during the story's climax, jumping off a bridge after being shot in the face by the Joker.
-   Dirty Cop: Two-Face has several in his pocket.
-   Downer Ending: Jonny, dying of a bullet to the face, concludes that the Joker represents a disease older than civilization with no cure as Batman and the Joker have a punch-up in the background. Neither of them even notice his death.
-   The Dreaded: Joker. Word of his release travels through all of Gotham quickly, all the other villains fear him, and even the people that work for him are nervous if he isn't happy.
-   Even Evil Has Standards: As usual the supervillains, mob bosses, and Jerkass criminals are just as horrified by the Joker as the good guys are. Two-Face in particular is freaked out by the Joker and convinces Batman to intervene on the gang war when the Joker claims that he'll "kill" one of his personalities.
-   Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: This Joker's brand of humor is way more crass and sick than his usual depiction. Jonny also comments that there are times it's not clear if Joker is laughing or coughing so he might not even be making jokes.
-   Evil vs. Evil: Most of the book is Joker vs. Two Face's criminal empire. Batman doesn't even step in until Harvey Dent, terrified by Joker's threat to "kill" one of his personalities, makes his own Bat-Signal and pleads with Batman to intervene.
-   Establishing Character Moment: When the Joker goes to meet with a bar owner who formerly worked for him, they disappear for a few minutes... before the barman returns, _stripped of all of his skin from the neck down_.
    -   Jonny himself gets one at the start, demonstrating that he's so desperate to make a name for himself in Joker's empire that he offers Joker his gun _without hesitation_. Even _Joker_ is taken aback by this.
-   Excuse Plot: How did the Joker manage to be released from Arkham? It's never explained and the Joker refuses to say, but it doesn't matter. The rest of the comic acts as a character study of the Joker from the perspective of an outsider, even if there is a story.
-   Flaying Alive: Joker pulls this on his lackey Monty, who had taken over the Joker's strip club
-   Flipping the Bird: First thing Joker does in the comicbook. To Gotham City.
-   Film Noir: This is pretty much _GoodFellas_ starring the Joker.
-   First-Person Peripheral Narrator: Jonny Frost, or "Jonny Jonny" to Joker.
-   For the Evulz: The Joker, more gruesomely so than his canon counterpart.
-   Functional Addict: Subverted, it initially seems like Joker is this due to his implied addiction to his pills, but later when he breaks down crying in his room the table is covered with pills.
-   Glasgow Grin: Joker has a particularly nasty-looking one, and Jonny seems to get one when the Joker shoots him in the face.
-   Groin Attack: Joker to Jonny.
-   Hair-Trigger Temper/Mood-Swinger: Anything might make the Joker laugh, anything might make him kick you in the bollocks or knife you or grind the broken end of a glass bottle into your face.
-   Handshake Refusal: Tommy Bang Bang puts out his hand to seal a deal with the Joker and the Joker looks like he's responding, but instead he grabs some scampi. Immediately after leaving the restaurant, he goes back inside and guns Tommy down.
-   Hate Sink: While The Joker is usually a villain who is too funny, laughable and over-the-top to be hated, the same cannot be said of this version. In fact, the author made it clear that this Joker was designed specifically to reverse the most idealized features of the character. This book stands as a harsh rebuke, reminding everyone that despite how "fun" or "cool" the Joker's chaos is, he's _still_ a monster.
-   I'm a Humanitarian: Killer Croc's job includes "disposing of bodies". This is driven home when you see Croc eating what looks like just fried meat, but from Jonny's above view, you see what's on the plate is a human heart. And floating in a nearby boiling pot... a skull.
-   Just for Pun: The Joker owns a strip club called the "Grin and Bare It".
-   Justice by Other Legal Means: Not used, but mentioned gleefully when the Joker discovers that _both_ of Harvey Dent's personalities are married, since, much like Al Capone with tax evasion, Dent could be put away for bigamy.
-   Kick the Dog: For Joker, it's raping Shelly and murdering a completely random couple in their home.
-   Laughing Mad: Jonny ends up laughing deliriously at one point.
-   A Lighter Shade of Black: Two-Face, while a dangerous criminal in his own right, is definitely portrayed as being significantly more sane and a much lesser evil than The Joker.
-   Meaningful Name: Possibly just a coincidence, but the name Jonny Frost is sort of similar to Joe Chill, the man who gunned down Batman's parents.
-   Mood-Swinger: The comic goes to great length to show how dangerous it is to hang around a guy who goes from depressed to cheery to homicidal rage so fast. One moment Joker is drinking with a henchman who organized a party for him, the next he is skinning him alive.
-   Mutually Unequal Relationship: Johnny Frost is a naive getaway driver who thinks being the Joker's Number Two is his ticket to becoming a respected criminal overlord. Actual criminal overlords who know the Joker don't bother hiding their contempt because they know what's in store for him. At one point Frost tries to get Killer Croc to finish eating faster, thinking working for the Joker gives him the Joker's authority. Croc hangs him on a meat hook, letting Frost see what Croc is eating. Frost ends up killed by the Joker shortly after realizing just how little he (or human life in general) means to his boss.
-   The Name Is Bond, James Bond: Jonny introduces himself as "Jonny. Jonny Frost." when he firsts meets Joker. This backfires because it causes Joker to refer to him as "Jonny Jonny" for the entire story.
-   Oh, Crap!: The look on Joker's face when he finds Croc and his men hogtied, indicating that Batman has finally found him, speaks volumes.
    -   The entire city of Gotham gets a collective one when the news spreads that Joker is being released from Arkham.
-   Only Sane Man: Deconstructed with Jonny. Joker admits that he keeps him around because Jonny's more down to earth than he is, but the book goes out of its way to just how absurd it is for a sane man to be around these people.
-   Painting the Medium: Two-Face's Speech Bubble goes wavey to indicate which part of Harvey is talking.
-   Properly Paranoid: Joker always thinks _someone_ is watching him.

    JOKER: "Look out the window, Jonny Jonny... tell me what you see"

    JONNY: "I see lights"

    JOKER: "Lights? Heh heh heh HA HA HA HA! Those lights? They're pin pricks... in the dark. _He's_ out there. You know that Jonny? Right on the other side of this window... watching me."

    -   See Viewers Are Geniuses below. He has good reason.

-   Post-Rape Taunt: After raping Shelly, the Joker says to Jonny that it makes them even for Jonny withholding information.
-   Race Lift: In an odd variant, Killer Croc has always technically been an African-American man, but outside of his earliest appearances he's usually depicted as more reptilian in appearance and nature. Nowadays the norm is to regard him as an evolutionary throwback due to his condition, and to portray him as looking more like a dinosaur than a man. Here, Croc is once again recognizable as simply a black man with a skin condition. He's a strong, cannibalistic gang leader who became Joker's muscle.
-   Rape as Drama: The Joker rapes Shelly, Jonny's ex-wife.
-   Reality Ensues:
    -   Two-Face's goons are suddenly chasing Joker's gang and open fire at them. Jonny goes off-road, crashing the car with him and Joker inside. Jonny even points out that he always thought he'd never go down without a fight, but it turns out that when someone bumps your car and starts shooting at you with a one second notice, you go down easy.
    -   Joker's insanity, while in most continuity it makes him Crazy Awesome who clearly enjoys the mayhem, here it shows just how bad his psyche is and the downside he has, mostly depressions and anger issues, and how he is just as vulnerable as any men.
-   Rewatch Bonus: Notice anything strange about that gargoyle on page five?
-   Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Basically the plot of the story is that the Joker is out to get back his criminal empire and get revenge on those who screwed him out of said empire while he was in Arkham.
-   Sad Clown: This version of the Joker is generally maniac, but has bouts of depression. If he's not laughing hysterically, he's crying in Harley's arms, or having an 'episode' (breakdown).
-   Scary Black Man: Killer Croc is reimagined as a scary, cannibalistic black man with teeth filed down to points and possessing a skin condition. Killer Croc was always depicted as being of African American descent, it's the later renditions of the character that would depict him as more reptilian or dinosaur-like.
-   Shout-Out:
    -   The unexplained briefcase Joker gets from the Riddler is a shout-out to _Pulp Fiction_.
    -   Also featuring a "The End is Nigh" poster on page 30, which is something of a shout-out to former _Batman_ writer Alan Moore and the Watchmen.
-   Slasher Smile: The Joker, of course.
-   Silent Antagonist: Harley Quinn doesn't get a single line despite doing some thoroughly awesome stuff.
-   Small Name, Big Ego: Jonny starts to show signs of this, but gets knocked back down swiftly and painfully both times.
    -   First, he tries to muscle Killer Croc into leaving while Croc is eating. He gets choked and hung from a hook until Croc is ready.
    -   Later, he's late to a meeting with Joker. When he repeats a nonchalant answer that Croc gave to the same issue earlier, Joker splits his uprights.
-   Stealth Sequel: _Batman: Damned_ actually takes place after this story and reveals the body seen falling at the end of _Joker_ is, in fact, the Clown Prince himself, not Jonny.
-   Thematic Series: The story is a companion piece to Azzarello and Bermejo's earlier _Lex Luthor: Man of Steel_ (later rereleased in a collected edition under the title _Luthor_, to reinforce the connection):
    -   Both are rather dark and deconstructive takes on the Batman and Superman universes with their respective arch-nemeses acting as Villain Protagonists.
    -   In both, the superheroes act as rarely-seen threats lurking ominously on the edges.
    -   Both also explore the mindsets of each villain, and the worlds they inhabit. This consequently introduces an element of Unreliable Narrator, as neither villain is a wholly trustworthy source (Luthor's narrative, which initially seems quite utopian, is ultimately warped by his humanist pretensions and paranoid delusions, while the Joker's narrative is naturally drenched in an atmosphere of horrific nihilism and casual sadism from the outset).
    -   Both initially appear to be deconstructing the superhero, only to turn it around and end up revealing exactly how monstrous the villain is and why we shouldn't trust them at all. As an example, both works climax in a confrontation between villain and hero in which the villain launches into a lengthy and deconstructive "The Reason You Suck" Speech about how inadequate the hero is, only for the hero to respond with a brief Shut Up, Hannibal! statement (two sentences for Superman, three _words_ for Batman) that not only refutes everything the villain has tried to claim about the hero, but turns it _back_ on the villain in such a way that drives them to a Villainous Breakdown.
-   The Unreveal: It's never revealed how Joker got out of Arkham via legal means. Also, it's never exactly revealed what thing Riddler steals for Joker.
-   Viewers Are Geniuses: About five pages in, right when the Joker is strolling out of Arkham and looking back at its battlements. Take a look at the gargoyle in panel two. Then again in panel four. Miss something? "Now _there's_ a Batman!"
-   Villain Protagonist: It's a book about the Joker. That said, Johnny Frost, a lackey, is the POV character.
-   Villainous Breakdown: The Joker begins to have one when he realizes that Batman is finally putting a stop to his attempts at rebuilding his criminal empire.

    JOKER: That sonofabitch—Of course not— he doesn't have a funny broken bone in his body. Oh, but he's got his hands on the rug, Jonny. Everything—He's let me...we have to get off the _rug_.

    JONNY: What rug?

    JOKER: Goddammit—can't you feel it _slipping away_?!

-   Villainous Friendship: Killer Croc and the Riddler are the only people Joker seems to get along with. Barely.
-   Walking Shirtless Scene: Croc doesn't bother wearing a shirt. He only wears a vest or sleeveless vest with nothing beneath.
-   Wrong Genre Savvy:
    -   Harvey Dent seems to think he's living in _Casino_ or _GoodFellas_ or some other crime-Noir drama, with himself, naturally, at its head. The Joker cuts his arm open for it.
    -   Jonny has similar delusions. He believes he's the Henry Hill to Joker's Jimmy Conway and realizes too late that he's living with a psychopath who will destroy him the second he feels like it.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

question: Who are Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo?

answer: Azzarello wrote the Joker, a one-shot graphic novel in 2008 and Bermejo illustrated it.

question: What was the graphic novel all about?

answer: The graphic novel focuses on the Joker, everyone's favorite monster clown psychopath, and Batman's arch-enemy.

question: Who is Jonny Frost?

answer: He is a naive young criminal who acts as the narrator in the graphic novel Joker.

question: Who are the other characters in the story?

answer: Batman, The Riddler, The Penguin, Two-Face (Harvey Dent), Harley Quinn, and Killer Croc.

question: Write a ~5 sentence summary.

answer: A new Joker graphic novel from writer Brian Azzarello and illustrator Lee Bermejo is out, showcasing a darker and edgier Gotham using a Film Noir style. The focus of the story is The Joker, everyone's favorite monster clown, and Batman's nemesis. Azzarello shows a very different side of the Joker, not laughing as much, at times manic and depressed, but always extremely violent - a truly insane psychopath. The story is narrated by a young criminal named Jonny Frost, who joins Joker's crew after the latter is released from Arkham Asylum. Batman, The Riddler, The Penguin, Two-Face (Harvey Dent), Harley Quinn, and Killer Croc are also in the novel.