Tony Williams – författare

In this comprehensive portrait of horror's definitive director, Tony Williams ties George A. Romero's films to the development of literary naturalism and American culture, expanding the artist's creative footprint beyond his mastery of the "splatter movie" genre. Williams locates Romero's influences in the work of Emile Zola, the Entertainment Comics of the 1950s, and the novels of Stephen King, revealing the interdisciplinary depth of his seminal films Night of the Living Dead (1968), Creepshow (1982), Monkey Shines (1988), and The Dark Half (1992). For this second edition, Williams reads Romero's Bruiser (2000) against his more recent Land of the Dead (2005) and takes a fresh look at Diary of the Dead (2007) and Survival of the Dead (2009), two overlooked films that feature Romero's greatest achievements yet.

In this comprehensive portrait of horror's definitive director, Tony Williams ties George A. Romero's films to the development of literary naturalism and American culture, expanding the artist's creative footprint beyond his mastery of the "splatter movie" genre. Williams locates Romero's influences in the work of Emile Zola, the Entertainment Comics of the 1950s, and the novels of Stephen King, revealing the interdisciplinary depth of his seminal films Night of the Living Dead (1968), Creepshow (1982), Monkey Shines (1988), and The Dark Half (1992). For this second edition, Williams reads Romero's Bruiser (2000) against his more recent Land of the Dead (2005) and takes a fresh look at Diary of the Dead (2007) and Survival of the Dead (2009), two overlooked films that feature Romero's greatest achievements yet.

An efficient and cost-effective HR function is essential to the successful running of any organization. And yet for many businesses it is impossible or costly to have HR staff in every office. This is particularly true for companies who have many branches, such as banks and building societies. So what are they to do? Increasingly they are turning to shared services by creating a unit within the organization that typically undertakes personnel administration and basic operational support. This may be delivered to managers and employees through some combination of call centre, personal contact or intranet. Creating a shared services centre enables the HR function to redefine its relationship with its stakeholders. It can become more of a strategic player and make a more business-focused contribution. This book explains what shared services are and what they look like for the HR function. It describes why organizations opt for shared services and what activities are included. It sets out the relationship between shared services and the other HR activities, and between HR and line management. How To Get Best Value From HR outlines the process of introducing shared services, from identifying customer needs through designing the structure to implementation and monitoring. It also outlines the likely pitfalls and, importantly, offers possible solutions. In particular the book highlights the big design issues, including whether to outsource services, where a shared services centre should be located, how services should be delivered and organized, including through the option of e-HR. Crucially it features an extended case study of the Royal Bank of Scotland's experience of introducing HR shared services, providing a unique insight into the reality of this new way of working.

HR has sought to reposition itself as a strategic contributor to organizations. To facilitate this, it has restructured, bringing in shared services, business partners and centres of expertise, simplifying, automating and rationalising processes, and devolving some activities to managers, whilst outsourcing others. HR has yet to give sufficient attention to the capability of the function to deliver against the added value promise. This book looks at the developments that have brought HR to its present position. It sets out a vision of where HR might be headed, including a definition of its role and activities. It identifies a number of challenges that HR will have to face if it is to be effective. These include not just skills, but problems with structures and relationships with stakeholders, be they line managers or employees. The authors also highlight ways of monitoring HR performance and of demonstrating its value. It all adds up to an authoritative reference guide for all HR directors seeking to define their role and future aims, for those new to the function on the challenges they will face, and for senior executives on what they should expect the added value to be from their HR function.

Now in a revised edition, this book is the only published study devoted to Larry Cohen and his significance as a great American filmmaker. The first edition is long out of print and often sought after. This edition covers all the director's films, television work and screenplays, and contains an updated interview with the director as well as interviews with his colleagues Janelle Webb Cohen, Michael Moriarty and James Dixon. The filmography and bibliography are also updated.

As global cinema becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish, characterizations of horror films from various geographical and cultural locations seem more fluid and transitional than ever before. However, this does not mean denying the existence of national features that affect and are reflected in horror films, whether from an artistic or a reception standpoint. Horror is one of the most studied genres in cinema, yet none of the many books on the subject focus on films or traditions outside the United States or the United Kingdom. While Italian, Japanese, Mexican, German, and Hong Kong horror films have received a modicum of critical recognition, the areas of Egyptian, Romanian, Belgian, Dutch, New Zealand, and Thai horror all still need - in fact, demand - some attention. Horror International seeks to rectify this by giving the global perspectives and cross-cultural dynamics of world horror cinema its due. This groundbreaking collection of eighteen original essays examine a myriad of films, showing how each draws from Hollywood horror conventions and also local cinematic traditions, local folklore, and national historical and cultural concerns. The production, marketing, and reception of various national cinemas are also addressed, demonstrating how these films are understood by different audiences worldwide. This in turn sheds new light on the original cultural production of many works and their subsequent ""translations"" and meanings in different national contexts. The diverse and highly informative essays in Horror International will engross both scholars and fans of horror films and finally illuminate the distinct multicultural factors of this exciting cinematic genre.

The Midlands by is the second collection by Tony Williams, following his much-acclaimed debut The Corner of Arundel Lane and Charles Street in inimitable and lyrical style. Beginning in the Midlands themselves, with the 'unfound grave of a Mercian king under wurzels, new housing and out-of-town Asdas', his poems compose a tragi-comic paean to vanishing hinterlands and fine-tuned weirdness, to domestic relics, to dog walks, dust and phantoms.Williams' absolute delight in word play and tomfoolery belies a darker, stranger undertow between rhyme and reasoning. Strange forces are at work in the heartlands, where we find ourselves travellers in perpetual motion, stopping only to gather our disappointment at the OK Café on the A1 and wonder if our 'boots might rise from the earth and pursue' us.Tony Williams is a poet and short-story writer based in North-East England. His first full collection, The Corner of Arundel Lane and Charles Street, was published by Salt in 2009 and was shortlisted for the Aldeburgh First Collection Prize and the Portico Prize for Literature. He teaches creative writing at Northumbria University

HR has sought to reposition itself as a strategic contributor to organizations. To facilitate this, it has restructured, bringing in shared services, business partners and centres of expertise, simplifying, automating and rationalising processes, and devolving some activities to managers, whilst outsourcing others. HR has yet to give sufficient attention to the capability of the function to deliver against the added value promise. This book looks at the developments that have brought HR to its present position. It sets out a vision of where HR might be headed, including a definition of its role and activities. It identifies a number of challenges that HR will have to face if it is to be effective. These include not just skills, but problems with structures and relationships with stakeholders, be they line managers or employees. The authors also highlight ways of monitoring HR performance and of demonstrating its value. It all adds up to an authoritative reference guide for all HR directors seeking to define their role and future aims, for those new to the function on the challenges they will face, and for senior executives on what they should expect the added value to be from their HR function.

The HR function is having to adjust itself to the implications of the globalisation of business activity. This has meant adjusting its philosophy, policies and practices to fit new organisational imperatives, as well as creating its own refashioned service delivery model. Peter Reilly and Tony Williams's Global HR explores the key issues of building an international brand, culture and talent pool, whilst contributing to business and functional transformation, drawing on examples from multinationals in telecoms, fast-moving consumer goods, manufacturing, software, services and commodities. In doing so, they offer insights into managing people and businesses that no organization can ignore.

An efficient and cost-effective HR function is essential to the successful running of any organization. And yet for many businesses it is impossible or costly to have HR staff in every office. This is particularly true for companies who have many branches, such as banks and building societies. So what are they to do? Increasingly they are turning to shared services by creating a unit within the organization that typically undertakes personnel administration and basic operational support. This may be delivered to managers and employees through some combination of call centre, personal contact or intranet. Creating a shared services centre enables the HR function to redefine its relationship with its stakeholders. It can become more of a strategic player and make a more business-focused contribution. This book explains what shared services are and what they look like for the HR function. It describes why organizations opt for shared services and what activities are included. It sets out the relationship between shared services and the other HR activities, and between HR and line management. How To Get Best Value From HR outlines the process of introducing shared services, from identifying customer needs through designing the structure to implementation and monitoring. It also outlines the likely pitfalls and, importantly, offers possible solutions. In particular the book highlights the big design issues, including whether to outsource services, where a shared services centre should be located, how services should be delivered and organized, including through the option of e-HR. Crucially it features an extended case study of the Royal Bank of Scotland's experience of introducing HR shared services, providing a unique insight into the reality of this new way of working.

The HR function is having to adjust itself to the implications of the globalisation of business activity. This has meant adjusting its philosophy, policies and practices to fit new organisational imperatives, as well as creating its own refashioned service delivery model. Peter Reilly and Tony Williams's Global HR explores the key issues of building an international brand, culture and talent pool, whilst contributing to business and functional transformation, drawing on examples from multinationals in telecoms, fast-moving consumer goods, manufacturing, software, services and commodities. In doing so, they offer insights into managing people and businesses that no organization can ignore.

This fifth edition of Rugby Skills, Tactics and Rules has earned a reputation as the best book for learning the fundamental skills of rugby union.It provides an attractive, easy-to-read and straightforward discussion of the key components of the game, from player positions and tactics to different kinds of set plays, passes and moves. This great-looking book cuts through the jargon and tells coaches and players what they really need to know. Key features include:- Colour photos of top players from around the world- Sections on the tactics and strategies needed to win the game, including the basic skills of running, passing and tackling- Specially created diagrams to explain critical aspects of moves and tactics- Drill variations- A user-friendly glossaryThis is essential reading for anyone looking to get the most from their game.

The first comprehensive collection on the subject of Hong Kong neo-noir cinema, this book examines the way Hong Kong has developed its own unique and culturally specific version of the neo-noir genre, while at the same time drawing on and adapting existing international noir cinemas. With a range of contributions from established and emerging scholars, this book illuminates the origins of Hong Kong neo-noir, its styles and contemporary manifestations, and its connection to mainland China. Case studies include classics such as The Wild Wild Rose (1960) and more recent films like Full Alert (1997) and Exiled (2007), as well as an in-depth look at the careers of iconic figures like Johnnie To and Jackie Chan. By examining at its past and its contemporary development, Hong Kong Neo-Noir also points towards the genre’s possible future development.

The first comprehensive collection on the subject of Hong Kong neo-noir cinemaThe first comprehensive collection on Hong Kong neo-noir cinema, this book examines the way Hong Kong has developed its own unique version of noir since the late 1940s, while drawing upon and enriching global neo-noir cinemas. With a range of contributions from established and emerging scholars, this book illuminates the origins of Hong Kong neo-noir, its styles and contemporary manifestations, and its connection to mainland China before and after the 1997 Handover.Case studies include classics such as 'The Wild, Wild Rose' (1960) and more recent films like 'Full Alert' (1997), 'Exiled' (2007) and 'Shinjuku Incident' (2008). It provides a fresh look at the careers of iconic figures Johnnie To, Jackie Chan and Fruit Chan. By examining the films of emigre Shanghai directors, the cool women killers, the hybrids and noir cityscapes, 'Hong Kong Neo-Noir' explores the complex connections between a vibrant cinema and global noir.ContributorsAdam Bingham, Edge Hill UniversityJinhee Choi, King's College LondonDavid Desser, University of IllinoisKenneth E. Hall, East Tennessee State UniversityLaw Kar, Hong Kong Film ArchiveKwai-Cheung Lo, Hong Kong Baptist UniversityGina Marchetti, University of Hong KongLisa Odham Stokes, Seminole State College in Central FloridaJulian Stringer, University of NottinghamKristof Van den Troost, Chinese University of Hong KongTony Williams, Southern Illinois University, CarbondaleEsther C. M. Yau, University of Hong Kong

The award-winning, smash Broadway hit, Hamilton: An American Musical,continues to captivate sold-out audiences and has sparked unprecedented interest in its historical protagonist. In Hamilton: An American Biography, Tony Williams provides readers with a concise biography that traces the events and values that enabled Hamilton to rise from his youth as a dispossessed orphan to Revolutionary War hero and Founding Father, a life uniquely shaped by America and who, in turn, contributed to the creation of the American regime of liberty and self-government. He was one of key leaders in the American Revolution, a chief architect of America’s constitutional order of self-government, and the key figure in Washington’s administration creating the institutions that governed America. Williams expertly weaves together biography with historical events to place Hamilton as one of the most important founding fathers.For readers just discovering Hamilton for the first time or those with an insatiable appetite for books on the Founders and the American Founding, Hamilton: An American Biography will shed new light on this American icon now experiencing a remarkable second act.

George A. Romero (b. 1940) has achieved a surprising longevity as director since his first film, Night of the Living Dead (1968). After recently relocating to Canada, he shows no signs of slowing up: his recent film, Survival of the Dead (2009), is discussed in a new interview conducted by Tony Williams for this volume, and still other films are awaiting release. Although commonly known as a director of zombie films, a genre he himself launched, Romero's films often transcend easy labels. His films are best understood as allegorical commentaries on American life that just happen to appropriate horror as a convenient vehicle. Romero's films encompass works as different as The Crazies, Hungry Wives, Knightriders, and Bruiser.The interviews in this collection cover a period of over forty years. In whatever format they originally appeared-the printed page, the internet, or the video interview-these discussions illustrate both the evolution of Romero's chosen forms of technology and the development of his thinking about the relationship between cinema and society. They present Romero as an independent director in every sense of the word.

Hearths of Darkness: The Family in the American Horror Film traces the origins of the 1970s family horror subgenre to certain aspects of American culture and classical Hollywood cinema. Far from being an ephemeral and short-lived genre, horror actually relates to many facets of American history from its beginnings to the present day. Individual chapters examine aspects of the genre, its roots in the Universal horror films of the 1930s, the Val Lewton RKO unit of the 1940s, and the crucial role of Alfred Hitchcock as the father of the modern American horror film. Subsequent chapters investigate the key works of the 1970s by directors such as Larry Cohen, George A. Romero, Brian De Palma, Wes Craven, and Tobe Hooper, revealing the distinctive nature of films such as Bone, It's Alive, God Told Me To, Carrie, The Exorcist, Exorcist 2, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, as well as the contributions of such writers as Stephen King. Williams also studies the slasher films of the 1980s and 1990s, such as the Friday the 13th series, Halloween, the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Nightmare on Elm Street, exploring their failure to improve on the radical achievements of the films of the 1970s.After covering some post-1970s films, such as The Shining, the book concludes with a new postscript examining neglected films of the twentieth and early twenty-first century. Despite the overall decline in the American horror film, Williams determines that, far from being dead, the family horror film is still with us. Elements of family horror even appear in modern television series such as The Sopranos. This updated edition also includes a new introduction.

Hearths of Darkness: The Family in the American Horror Film traces the origins of the 1970s family horror subgenre to certain aspects of American culture and classical Hollywood cinema. Far from being an ephemeral and short-lived genre, horror actually relates to many facets of American history from its beginnings to the present day. Individual chapters examine aspects of the genre, its roots in the Universal horror films of the 1930s, the Val Lewton RKO unit of the 1940s, and the crucial role of Alfred Hitchcock as the father of the modern American horror film. Subsequent chapters investigate the key works of the 1970s by directors such as Larry Cohen, George A. Romero, Brian De Palma, Wes Craven, and Tobe Hooper, revealing the distinctive nature of films such as Bone, It's Alive, God Told Me To, Carrie, The Exorcist, Exorcist 2, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, as well as the contributions of such writers as Stephen King. Williams also studies the slasher films of the 1980s and 1990s, such as the Friday the 13th series, Halloween, the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Nightmare on Elm Street, exploring their failure to improve on the radical achievements of the films of the 1970s.After covering some post-1970s films, such as The Shining, the book concludes with a new postscript examining neglected films of the twentieth and early twenty-first century. Despite the overall decline in the American horror film, Williams determines that, far from being dead, the family horror film is still with us. Elements of family horror even appear in modern television series such as The Sopranos. This updated edition also includes a new introduction.

Read Regional 2019 – ‘Discover brilliant Northern writers’Aidan Wilson’s misfortune is to be hard as nailsIn this darkly hilarious and seriously horrifying book Williams tells the story of Aidan, a vigilante and young offender from one of Sheffield’s roughest estates. At breakneck speed, we see Aidan’s world unravel as he goes from hero to outlaw, fighting against all-comers and the circumstances he can’t escape. But is he a victim or architect of his own demise? A brutal and breathtaking account of living with violence in the English city.There are lots of crime novels, but Nutcase is something different: a novel about crime which isn’t interested in the conventions of crime fiction. The novel is based on a specific Icelandic saga: the Saga of Grettir the Strong.Nutcase explores the lives of people who live with violence on a day-to-day basis – how it shapes and distorts their lives, and ultimately becomes part of the normality that they live with.

Gardens, grotesqueries, historical landscapes, destruction and darkness, all collide in Tony Williams’ explosive new collectionTony Williams is roaming the earth. The poems in Hawthorn City record the tales we tell ourselves to make a home in the lives we find ourselves living. They are songs to family, to stone and outlawry and refusal, and to the fevered memory which reaches back beyond birth, past early modern witches and shepherds’ songs, past medieval chronicles and Icelandic sagas, to the ancient city-states, homely and hellish, which part of the modern imagination still inhabits. Travelling darker and deeper towards the state which is both origin and grave, this grotesque comedy of a book intensifies into a bizarre, baroque vision of the world and our place in it.

The orphan Cole wanders the world, seeking the fabled Underground City which he has promised his love Sigrid he will find. Somewhere else entirely, Niven sits in a palace garden taking lessons in astronomy and architecture, dreaming up ways to escape being married off to one of her father’s friends.Cole’s story is pieced together from folk songs and fragments as he travels ever onwards towards his destiny: a new life even stranger than the one before. Niven too will learn what it means to leave the garden of childhood. Their world is one of witchcraft and wishing, wisdom and regret, as they slowly learn how much it is possible to love, and suffer for the sake of love.Comic, grotesque, lyrical, and immensely readable, Tony Williams’s fantasy picaresque is a reader’s delight. A sweeping yarn through the darkest of ages, filled with rogues, lovers, murderers, swindlers, and saints.

This book argues for the importance of Gothic in understanding one of the key elements within the films of Sam Peckinpah (1925-1984). Although occasionally noted in the past, the Gothic has been generally overlooked when most critics consider the work of Sam Peckinpah with the exception of the Freudian based Crucified Heroes (1979) by Terence Butler. This work not only examines the films made after that date, especially the often dismissed The Osterman Weekend (1983) and the two music videos he made for Julian Lennon, but also places the director within the context of the developing work on Gothic that has since appeared.Peckinpah has been identified as the director of one undisputed masterpiece, The Wild Bunch (1969). By focussing on the key role Gothic plays in most of the director’s work, this book offers a way to see Peckinpah beyond The Wild Bunch and the Western, viewing him as a director who had the potential of evolving further, had circumstances permitted, to continue his critique of American life within the developing lens of the Gothic.

This book argues for the importance of Gothic in understanding one of the key elements within the films of Sam Peckinpah (1925-1984). Although occasionally noted in the past, the Gothic has been generally overlooked when most critics consider the work of Sam Peckinpah with the exception of the Freudian based Crucified Heroes (1979) by Terence Butler. This work not only examines the films made after that date, especially the often dismissed The Osterman Weekend (1983) and the two music videos he made for Julian Lennon, but also places the director within the context of the developing work on Gothic that has since appeared.Peckinpah has been identified as the director of one undisputed masterpiece, The Wild Bunch (1969). By focussing on the key role Gothic plays in most of the director’s work, this book offers a way to see Peckinpah beyond The Wild Bunch and the Western, viewing him as a director who had the potential of evolving further, had circumstances permitted, to continue his critique of American life within the developing lens of the Gothic.

Winner of the 2013 Saboteur Award for Best Short Story CollectionWho are the stars of these brief lives? A boy who steals a trundlewheel. An astronaut. A betrayed wife. A man jealous of his lover’s chickens. Commuters. Glampers. Psychotic twins. What do they have in common? Nothing – except the funny-haha and funny-strange conditions of their lives that bring them joy or misery and make us laugh at them and pity them and love them too. What happens when you lose both your eyes to squash accidents? When you inherit a shop full of curios? When you fall for the spirit of a famous murderer? When your son’s a tramp? When the one you love is about to kill herself? Or has the Ganges delta in her bloodshot eye? When your butcher doesn’t know anything about meat? Discovering the answers to these questions will knock you sideways – and show that the more we understand about people’s oddity, the more we come to appreciate their essential humanity.In these tiny stories, written over a period of a few short months, Tony Williams pushes the limits of prose fiction, homing in on the moments that sum up lifetimes and their complicated, bittersweet emotions. Each story crams a whole world into a couple of pages – you can sneak them one at a time whenever you have a spare minute, or gobble the lot – with a cast of hundreds – in a single day.