Books by David Pratt

Two LGBTQ-themed plays for two actors (The Snow Queen can be expanded for more) and one simple set for each play. The Snow Queen, set in a small New England town in 1968, draws a finely detailed portrait of a boy’s friendship with a lonely, ostracized woman who shows him the kindness and understanding he cannot find anywhere else. Her loneliness and her masculine bearing are never discussed, but the boy recognizes that she and he are somehow alike, and different from everyone else. In the end, barely knowing what they are doing, the boy's parents casually destroy the relationship. The sequel, November Door, takes place in the same town in the fall of 1995. The two unlikely friends from The Snow Queen reunite when the young man seeks absolution for a betrayal of his older friend some years earlier. We see what has become of both characters as they have carried their scars and thwarted desires thirty years forward. A bittersweet reunion concludes with a hard-won grace. The shows are technically simple, with one costume per actor per play and a few musical cues. The Snow Queen is suitable for audiences 12 and up, November Door for 16 and up.

It's been two years since the destruction of both the Gangster Federation, and Lord Magnus, in Saints City. Daniel Stone, better known to the criminal underworld as the Black Mamba, still continues his amoral mercenary profession for both the British Government and independent clients. The Black Mamba's main weapon is modified non-lethal snake neurotoxin, which not only paralyses his victims, but provokes repentance. When the Black Mamba is recruited by MI6 to bring down a Colombian cocaine baron in the Peruvian Amazon, what starts as a simple mission soon becomes extremely complicated, and deadly. The situation is convoluted further with the arrival of a mysterious doppelganger of the Black Mamba, who claims to have been wronged by him in the past, and is now on a determined hunt for revenge. With so many various adversaries, the chances of survival are slim - even for someone as skilled as the Black Mamba.

Every boy needs an ally who will kill for him. And no boy could have a better ally than Todd Sweeney. When Todd's best friend, Toby Ragg, is threatened by guidance counselor Ashford Squeers, Todd swings into action. But he swings just a bit too hard. Enter best pal Nellie Lovett, who has very creative ideas for making the mess disappear. But then Fleet High bad boy Ryan Plouf threatens Toby and Nellie. Suddenly, Ryan is missing, too, and local cop Tarron Littey is asking some very inconvenient questions. Meanwhile, Toby's parents threaten to put him in a gay conversion camp. Can Todd and Nellie save Toby before the cops discover just what happened to Fleet High's worst? To find out, dig in and devour Todd Sweeney. And yes, it's okay to use your hands.

Saints City. An island community where everything appears idyllic. But in the city's underworld, Lord Magnus and the dreaded Gangster Federation spread crime and corruption. Daniel Stone is a teenager grieving for his father, battling the Payne Brothers' Street Gang and trying to impress Kelly Montgomery, heiress to the city's most powerful firm, the Montgomery Corporation. Stone learns how the Montgomery Corporation has developed a pharmaceutical weapon in secret that can alter criminal minds to stop them reoffending. This discovery shapes his destiny and transforms him into the Black Mamba, a professional mercenary who hunts down and brings to justice the worst of society.

A series which is a model of its kind. Edmund King, HistoryThis year's volume continues to demonstrate the vitality of scholarship in this area, across a variety of disciplines. There is a particular focus on the material culture of the Norman Conquest of England and its aftermath, from study of horses and knights to its archaeologies to castle construction and the representation of a chanson de geste on an Italian church facade. The volume also includes papers on royal and private authority in Anglo-SaxonEngland; the relationship between Anglo-Norman rulers and their neighbours; intellectual history; priests' wives; and noble lepers. Contributors: Sabina Flanagan, Hazel Freestone, Sally Harvey, Tom Lambert, Aleksandra McClain, Nicholas Paul, Charlotte Pickard, David Pratt, Richard Purkiss, David Roffe, Nicolas Ruffini-Ronzani, Lucia Sinisi, Linda Stone, Naomi Sykes

Zero in on the answers to your IT project management questions With constrained schedules and anxious stakeholders eager for results, the typical IT project team doesn’t have the luxury of wading through lengthy tomes to find solutions. The IT Project Management Answer Book guides you to the specific answers you need to successfully conduct and complete your IT project. Written in an easy-to-use question-and-answer format, the book covers all aspects of managing an IT project, from initial organizational issues to closeout. Following the classic project management processes, author David Pratt builds on the basics to offer valuable insights not found in other resources, including: • Proven techniques such as the best way to manage defects • How to create performance standards for outside contractors • How to develop a user’s manual For more technically inclined team members, the author’s plain-speak approach presents a refreshing view of the IT world. For those less technically oriented, he describes the tools and solutions for dealing with IT project challenges in an accessible, straightforward way. Let this information-packed resource lead you and your team to IT project success.