Timing is everything: in music, comedy, sex, car motors . . . and murder. Jazz saxophonist Al Waters is blessed with good looks, musical talent, and charm . . . but cursed with an inability to hold on to success, both in career and in love. Although sexual conquests are an easy goal for him, he has always chased away opportunities for true intimacy. For a woman, to fall for him is to face heartbreak; for a man, to push him is to flirt with violence. Al has made enemies in too many ...

Includes the story “Premium Harmony”—set in the fictional town of Castle Rock, MaineThe masterful #1 New York Times bestselling story collection from O. Henry Prize winner Stephen King that includes twenty-one iconic stories with accompanying autobiographical comments on when, why, and how he came to write (or rewrite) each one.For more than thirty-five years, Stephen King has dazzled readers with his genius as a writer of short fi...

From the humble heights of a Class-A pitcher's mound to the deflating lows of sleeping on his gun-toting grandmother's air mattress, veteran reliever Dirk Hayhurst steps out of the bullpen to deliver the best pitch of his career--a raw, unflinching and surprisingly moving account of his life in the minors.I enjoyed the visualizations, maybe a little too much, and would stop only when I felt I'd centered myself. . .or after one of my teammates hit me in the nuts with the rosin b...

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER. "When it comes to wrestlers writing their autobiographies, Jericho may be the best in the world at what he does." ― The Baltimore SunIn this insightful, riveting book, Jericho takes us into WWE wrestling arenas around the world as he details his classic rivalries with The Rock, Steve Austin, HHH, Shawn Michaels, and John Cena, along with all the politics and backst...

"Dirk Hayhurst has done it again. . .Turns out he's a starter and a closer." —Tim Kurkjian, ESPNAs a major and not-so-major league pitcher, Dirk Hayhurst has learned to master more than striking out batters. While waiting for his name to be called in the bullpen, he honed his gifts as a storyteller, one the New York Times calls the "best writer in a baseball uniform." In this often hilarious collection of adventures on and off the diamond, Dirk details the intricacies of pulling of...

It’s a hard thing to accept that someone wants you dead. It forces you to decide if you have anything worth living for.Long-time radio “morning man” Lee Garrett is bottoming out. The career he loved has turned sour, leaving behind a dwindling audience and the wreckage of his marriage. When he finds a death threat on his control console, he shrugs it off as a sick prank—until a series of minor harassments turns into a set of undeniable attempts on his life. The suspects are many—he’...

“Damn, this book is good.”—**Jon Stewart“A biting, darkly hilarious collection of personal essays that begs to be read aloud.”—Chicago Tribune**Emmy Award–winning writer Adam Resnick began his career at Late Night with David Letterman before honing his chops in movies and cable television, including HBO’s The Larry Sanders Show. While courageously admitting to being “euphorically antisocial,” Resnick plunges readers deep into his ...

“Poignant account of an unexpectedly homeless man’s road to rebirth, accompanied by his trusty canine companion . . . thoroughly life-affirming.” —Kirkus ReviewsOne day, Richard LeMieux had a happy marriage, a palatial home, and took $40,000 Greek vacations. The next, he was living out of a van with only his dog, Willow, for company. This astonishingly frank memoir tells the story of one man’s resilience in the face of economic disaster. Penniless, a faile...

A down-on-her-luck country music singer finds sudden stardom, and backstage backstabbing, in this funny, "fast-paced, feel-good novel" ( Booklist).After getting kicked off the tour by a famous, egomaniacal performer, sexy Sarah Jean Pixlie is suddenly catapulted from struggling backup singer to blazing star on the country music scene. Encountering more than her share of conniving backstabbers, she has the bad judgment to fall in love with a couple of music...

Ever since Mrs. Malloy assigned us the What I Want To Be When I Grow Up paper earlier that year in her 1st hour English, my mind had been made up. . . I, Bradley James Dayton, will be a famous actor someday!Meet Bradley Dayton--a wickedly funny high school senior whose woefully uncool life always seems to be full of drama, even in the sorry little suburb of Hazel Park, Michigan. It's 1987, the era of big hair, designer jeans, and Dirty Dancing. George Michael has "Faith" a...

The multi-Grammy Award-winning pioneering soul musician tells the story of his childhood, career, and legacy—in this own words.Ray Charles (1930-2004) led one of the most extraordinary lives of any popular musician. In Brother Ray, he tells his story in an inimitable and unsparing voice, from the chronicle of his musical development to his heroin addiction to his tangled romantic life.Overcoming poverty, blindness, the loss of his parents, and the ...

"[Snider] combines the sly phrasing of a stoner, the perfect timing of a stand-up comedian, and a mastery of the tiny detail." — The New YorkerFor years, Todd Snider has been one of the most beloved country-folk singers in the United States, compared to Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, John Prine, and dozens of others. He's become not only a new-century Dylan but a modern-day Will Rogers, an everyman whose intelligence, self-deprecation, experience, ...