One of the more central elements of the game is that the Demiurge has disappeared since just before the 20th century, and since then Astaroth, the Archons and the Death Angels have been struggling for power.

Two notable examples are The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, where the narrator is Death, and The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, where a young girl, having been killed, observes, from some after-life vantage point, her family struggling to cope with her disappearance.

At the end of the 13th century, the majority of the town's inhabitants, mainly English, enjoyed some prosperity but the Black Death and the Glyndŵr rebellion had destroyed this and by the end of the 15th century, the now largely Welsh, population lived in a struggling village.

According to the Ellis Nassour biography Patsy Cline, Nelson, who at that time was known as a struggling songwriter by the name of Hugh Nelson, was a regular at Tootsie's Orchid Lounge on Nashville's Music Row, where he frequented with friends Kris Kristofferson and Roger Miller, both unknown songwriters at that time.

However, the Jaguars failed to live up to those expectations, struggling to a 5 – 11 finish, the franchise's worst record since 2003.

It was while living in the countryside, having failed in his attempts to supplement his income as a farmer and struggling with tuberculosis, that Sterne began work on his most famous novel, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, the first volumes of which were published in 1759.

This album, the last one produced by John Farrar, also failed to revive her recording career struggling to No. 124 Pop.

His parents ran a grocery store, but it failed because of his father's poor business practices and the struggling economy of the postwar South.

Thus, while other businesses failed, the popcorn business thrived and became a source of income for many struggling farmers.

As the seven-hour play progresses, Prior is visited by ghosts and an angel who proclaim him to be a prophet ; Joe finds himself struggling to reconcile his religion with his sexuality ; Louis struggles with his guilt about leaving Prior and begins a relationship with Joe ; Harper's mental health deteriorates as she realizes that Joe is gay ; Joe's mother, Hannah, moves to New York to attempt to look after Harper and meets Prior after a failed attempt by Prior to confront Hannah's son ; Harper begins to separate from Joe whom she has depended upon and finds strength she was unaware of ; and Roy finds himself in the hospital, reduced to the companionship of the ghost of Ethel Rosenberg and his nurse, Belize, a former drag queen and Prior's best friend, who meanwhile has to deal with Louis's constant demands for updates on Prior's health.

" The " Pearls " character of Pig also came from a failed strip called The Infirm, about a struggling lawyer.

The following season was to be the last for this incarnation, with the competition left uncompleted as struggling teams failed to fulfil their fixtures.

He lost his life struggling against Hitler's Regime in the failed revolt of German officers on 20 July 1944.

By that point, however, the union was in a shambles, still struggling with the huge debts acquired during the failed strike, fighting expelled local leaders, some of whom had taken their unions out of the ILG, and facing an even more disorganized and piratical industry.

When his first series of short cartoons, the Newman Laugh-O-Grams, failed to recoup production costs, the struggling young producer tried to create other short films hoping that one of them would point the way forward.

Locally nicknamed " Z ", the team was formed in 1997 as a result of the merger of the two local teams: the highly popular Zürcher Schlittschuh Club ( German for " Zürich Skating Club "), who were struggling financially in National League A, and the ice hockey section of Grasshopper Club Zürich who had failed to qualify for promotion from National League B for several years in a row and had a small fan base, but were backed by entrepreneur and millionaire Werner H. Spross.

However, after being declared bankrupt following a failed business venture, divorcing his second wife and struggling with the aftermath of his injury, he became an alcoholic.

The villains of said Earths, sent to stop Krona from viewing the origins of the universe, failed due to squabbling, allowing Krona to see the hands of the Anti-Monitor and the Spectre struggling for domination, which collapsed the current Multiverse.

His third stint at Jomo Cosmos proved to be fruitless. He failed to score a single league goal in a team who weer struggling to find goals to fight off relegation. He did however score a cup goal in a 1 – 0 win over Golden Arrows in a Ned bank Cup Last 32 Round match.

Having failed to established himself in the first team and struggling with a succession of injuries, he made just 12 appearances for Ajax in his first season.

Campeau's business empire was also struggling and after failed expansion attempts in the United States his company collapsed.

When Smith resigned in October 2001 Todd was promoted to manager but he was sacked after just three months having failed to improve the struggling club's form.

Although the show's premise is to help struggling restaurants, a number of establishments have failed shortly after their makeover — sometimes before the episode of the show featuring the restaurant had aired, thus not allowing them to reap the benefits of added exposure.

He failed to make an impact on the 1991-92 away series in Australia after struggling against the Australian bowlers on fast, bouncy pitches.

Svetlana Kuznetsova then won in Miami, her first Tier I title and second biggest overall, after a struggling 2005 season which saw her drop out of the top 10 as she failed to back up her breakthrough in 2004.

After Stricklin failed to find a ride for 1995, he served as a consultant for Kenny Bernstein's rookie driver Steve Kinser, a World of Outlaws Sprint Car champion who was struggling to transition from dirt to pavement.

Sharon Hadrian writes: " It was the first time in over a decade that a lesbian couple had been depicted in the East London drama, lending cautious optimism to the idea that the BBC was finally integrating its traditionally heterosexual soaps [...] Lesbian fans, meanwhile, are struggling to care at all after being led on by the show's failed attempts at writing a decent lesbian story line [...] Despite their troubles, Martin and Sonia got married in 2004 and — given their past — many fans believe they are meant to be together.

All are struggling with ethics, failed relationships and prejudices of those times.

The government is struggling to upgrade education and technical training, to privatize commercial and industrial enterprises, to improve health services, to diversify exports, to promote tourism, and to reduce the high population growth rate.

In his second term as a representative he was elected Speaker of the House, and used his position to promote and support industrialization, commercial development and highway construction, issues of great importance to a traditionally agricultural state struggling to modernize its economy.

Like the fictional Rojos, the Fanjul brothers became notorious in Florida for their ostentatious displays of wealth, and so served as a living indictment of the " struggling family farmer " myth used to promote agricultural subsidies.

IONA is an organization dedicated to reviving the Qur ’ an into the hearts of Muslims, bringing its message to non-Muslims while struggling to promote and establish the Just Social Order of Islam.

It became Prince's poorest-selling album to date, struggling to even shift 500, 000 copies.

While Norman explicitly denied this album was autobiographical in the accompanying lyric songbook, many years later some critics challenged this claim, arguing " Norman was struggling through his own divorce and identity crisis at the time ".

They joined Fleetwood Mac as they were struggling to record the Penguin album ( 1973, Reprise Records ).

The album was released to positive local and lukewarm national reaction during a time when ska was struggling to move out of the American underground.

" The album also marked the official debut of the band's new moniker, which dropped the indefinite article " A " from their original name due to some fans struggling to find the band's records in stores.

The album gravitates around Redford growing up in an urban landscape struggling with survival.

In 1995, the band recorded an album's worth of brand-new material for Zoo Entertainment, but due to the poor sales of 333 and ongoing problems with the struggling label which would eventually lead to it being merged with Volcano Entertainment in 1996, the album was not released.

Two singer-songwriters, however, have been particularly responsible for MapleMusic Recordings's success: Sam Roberts, who was transformed from a struggling independent musician to a Canadian rock icon practically overnight by his 2001 MapleMusic Recordings debut, The Inhuman Condition, and Kathleen Edwards, whose album Failer made her a critical favourite in 2003.

The album Si può fare (" It Can Be Done ", 1993 ) brought back Branduardi to normality, but the artist is now struggling to evade the minstrel character which was now too tight for him.

Montero opted for a career as a solo artist shortly after this, struggling in local bars and clubs until he got his big break in 1999 when his album Donde Estas, Corazon?

" The Washington Post said: " is forever struggling with words and emotions on her debut album The Divine Comedy, forever trying to make sense of love or the lack of it.

The album was an attempt at a comeback for the recently struggling band.

Wharton gave much needed work to jazz musicians, at a time when they were out of fashion and struggling to find work, by producing a pioneering stereophonic album, Sweet Wide and Blue, with Stan Tracy ( Piano ), Victor Feldman ( vibes ), Lenny Bush ( bass ), Tony Crombie ( drums ) and others.

Follow-up recording sessions for a third album dragged for six months, with Chadwick struggling to successfully achieve the sonic vision which he had for the band.

He and his brother Arturo were struggling singers before they released their first album, in 1949, when Gatica was 21 years old.

The album features two tracks further exemplifying the end of the feud: " The Victory " ( produced by DJ Premier ) which sees KRS on the same track as Blaq Poet, and " Rising " ( as in " Rising To the Top "), in which KRS recounts the whole story from his perspective ( a struggling former group home resident trying to enter the business in a period when " answer records " were popular, sparked off by Shante's " Roxanne's Revenge ").