Giants of the game like Steph Curry, LeBron, and Michael Jordan have transcended the sport to become cultural icons and role models to young fans. From the cornfields of Indiana and the hills of North Carolina, to the urban sprawl of New York City, Chicago and L.A., love of the game stretches from coast to coast.Featuring Top Ten Lists to chew on and debate, and a Top 40-style Timeline of Key Moments in Basektball History, this comprehensive collection includes the greatest dynasties, from the Bill Russell-era Celtics, to the Magic Jonson-led Lakers, to the Jordan-led Bulls, right up to the Tim Duncan-led Spurs. All the greats take flight toward the hoop in this perfect book for young fans who dream about stepping on an NBA court.A trove of awesome athletic feats, game-changing stars of the past and present, and rich fodder for heated arguments.--Booklist Hoops fans will find a goldmine of information guaranteed to deepen their basketball knowledge and their understanding of the game.--VOYA An easy hook for serious sports fans.--School Library Journal

    The not-made-for-TV version. In 2006, American Chantal Panozzo moved to a spa town near Zurich ready for a glamorous life as an expatriate. She would eat chocolate. She would climb mountains. And she would order cheese in four languages. Instead, she lived a life more in tune with reality than fantasy. Contrary to popular American belief, Switzerland isn’t just a setting in a storybook called Heidi. It’s a real place where someone with a master’s degree in communications can’t make a phone call, where you can be hired in one language and fired in another, and where small talk doesn’t exist—but phrases like Aufenthaltskategorien von Drittstaatsangehörigen do. Swiss Life: 30 Things I Wish I’d Known is a collection of both published (The Christian Science Monitor, National Geographic Glimpse, Chicken Soup for the Soul Books, and Brain, Child) and new essays in which Chantal discovers that no matter how hard she wills her geraniums to cascade properly, she will never be a glamorous American expatriate—or Swiss.

    The duke would have been horrified to discover that far from becoming some dainty court lady, Sofaltis had become an expert swordswoman, a Blade, member of an elite fighting corps.And then the duke's emissary came to escort Sofaltis home after the bizarre disappearance of her brothers. But once home, Sofaltis learned her father had chosen a husband for her without her consent, a man named Kylin, who seemed scarecely able to protect even himself. Sofaltis was not about to go meekly along with such plans, especially not when she began to suspect that Kylin was a spy for the unknown enemy that was undermining the kingdom.Yet unforseen circumstances and a magical gift of the gods would soon force Sofaltis and Kylin to unite against the danger that threatened to destroy their entire world ....

    or did she?Lizzie Borden is a name that has lived in infamy. As everyone knows, she's the young woman who "took an axe and gave her mother 40 whacks" and then "gave her father 41." Everyone seems to know the rhyme, but most people don't know the truth behind the grim story of one of America's most famous unsolved murders. In this new entry in the "Dead Men Do Tell Tales" series, author Troy Taylor delves into the true story of the Borden Murders, revealing what really happened on that morning in August 1892, how Lizzie was hounded by the police, prosecutors, and reporters, and then finally acquitted - yet always believed to be guilty. Was she a murderer or truly innocent? Did she swing the hatchet that killed her parents, or was Lizzie simply part of a plot that accidentally led to murders committed by a madman? You'll have the chance to decide for yourself as the suspects are revealed, the conspiracies unveiled, and the strange circumstances of this haunting case are presented. Forget everything you already think you know about this compelling case and discover what did - and what did not - happen in the story of Lizzie Borden! What dark secrets have never been told? What happened in the grim aftermath of the murder trial? Do the spirits of the dead still linger in the house where the Bordens were killed? You'll find these answers and more and you'll never look at this chilling story in the same way again!

    Few games were televised nationally and the NCAA tournament had just expanded from thirty-two to forty teams. Into this world came two exceptional players: Earvin "Magic" Johnson and Larry Bird. Though they played each other only once, in the 1979 NCAA finals, that meeting launched an epic rivalry, transformed the NCAA tournament into the multibillion-dollar event it is today, and laid the groundwork for the resurgence of the NBA.In "When March Went Mad," Seth Davis recounts the dramatic story of the season leading up to that game, as Johnson's Michigan State Spartans and Bird's Indiana State Sycamores overcame long odds and great doubts that their unheralded teams could compete at the highest level. Davis also tells the stories of their remarkable coaches, Jud Heathcote and Bill Hodges--who were new to their schools but who set their own paths to build great teams--and he shows how tensions over race and class heightened the drama of the competition. When Magic and Bird squared off in Salt Lake City on March 26, 1979, the world took notice--to this day it remains the most watched basketball game in the history of television--and the sport we now know was born.

    Catchings faced being set apart by her hearing loss, separation from family, living up to high expectations, and the pain and discouragement of debilitating physical injuries. Yet she reached for the stars with hard work, perseverance, and her faith in God. Through the silence, she found the way to shine.Catch a Star tells Tamika's story of overcoming: of leading the Indiana Fever to its first championship, being named to the WNBA's All Decade Team, earning four Olympic gold medals, and founding the Catch the Stars Foundation to help young people achieve their dreams. Her story will inspire readers to face their doubts and fears, encouraging them to reach for their own stars, no matter what challenges come their way.

    But it wasn’t always this successful. Before primetime ESPN coverage, lucrative branding deals like Air Jordans, and $40 million annual player salaries, there was the NBA of the 1970s and 1980s—when basketball was still an up-and-coming sport featuring old school beat reporters and players who wore Converse All-Stars.Enter Dan Shaughnessy, then the beat reporter for TheBoston Globe who covered the Boston Celtics every day from 1982 to 1986. It was a time when reporters travelled with professional teams—flying the same commercial airlines, riding the same buses, and staying in the same hotels. Shaughnessy knew the athletes as real people, losing free throw bets to Larry Bird, being gifted cheap cigars by the iconic coach Red Auerbach, and having his one-year-old daughter Sarah passed from player to player on a flight from Logan to Detroit Metro.Drawing on unprecedented access and personal experiences that would not be possible for any reporter today, Shaughnessy takes us inside the legendary Larry Bird-led Celtics teams, capturing the camaraderie as they dominated the NBA. Fans can witness the cockiness of Larry Bird (who once walked into an All-Star Weekend locker room, announced that he was going to win the three-point contest, and did); the ageless athleticism of Robert Parish; the shooting skills of Kevin McHale; the fierce, self-sacrificing play of Bill Walton; and the playful humor of players like Danny Ainge, Cedric “Cornbread” Maxwell, and M.L. Carr.

    Then, he came back to life... On the night of a long-awaited comet sighting, Erich, a university student, comes back from the dead. Making a miraculous recovery after a horrific car accident, he quickly returns to his musical studies and seems to have a new zest for life. Though he mingles with his fellow students and dedicates himself to his work, those close to him can't help but notice something is wrong, however. Very wrong. Erich isn't himself anymore. His personality has changed radically, and where he was once a middling musician, he's suddenly and unaccountably developed a virtuosic talent. He spends his nights awake, walking the streets or throwing lavish parties. What's more, those who spend time alone with him tend to go insane. Amid a string of suicides and government conspiracies, the denizens of Moorlake, Ohio find themselves at the center of a blossoming cosmic horror. If they don't find out who—or what—Erich Tellier has become, the horror is bound to spread beyond the confines of their quiet college town. BEYOND is a tale of cosmic horror by Ambrose Ibsen.

    His soccer talent was spotted at a young age and, in 1985, he signed with City. Just three years later he was handed the team captaincy, becoming the youngest ever City captain. An international career soon beckoned and, after trying out for the England under–21 team, he was called up to the England training camp for Italia ’90. Despite missing out on a place in the final squad he suitably impressed the management, with Bobby Robson marking him as an England captain in the making. As a rising star Paul became a target for top clubs like Manchester United, Arsenal, Spurs, and Liverpool, but he always stayed loyal to his beloved club, deeming Maine Road the spiritual home at which his destiny lay. But then, in September 1990, disaster struck. Paul ruptured his crucial ligament and so began his nightmare. Neglected, ignored, and misunderstood by his club after a career–saving operation was irreversibly botched, Paul’s career began to fall apart. Watching from the sidelines as similarly injured players regained their fitness, he spiraled into a prolonged bout of severe depression. With a forced retirement from the game he adored, the death of his father, and the collapse of his marriage, Paul was left a broken man. Set against the backdrop of one of the world’s wealthiest football clubs at the end of their era at Maine Road, I'm Not Really Here is the powerful story of love, loss, and the cruel, irreparable damage of injury. It is a story of determination, spirit, resilience, and broken dreams.

    Murder, torture, geriatrics, bugs and big beautiful women all fail to satisfy him until he meets the Maggot Mother—a nymphomaniac, cannibal, human-maggot with a sweet side. On his trail is Cindy a beautiful cop with her own dark sexual perversions. WARNING: EXTREME SEXUAL HORROR AND VIOLENCE.

    Perfect for readers of Jeff Pearlman’s The Bad Guys Won!, Peter Richmond’s Badasses, and Pat Williams’s Coach Wooden, Araton’s revealing story of the Knicks’ heyday is far more than a review of one of basketball’s greatest teams’ inspiring story—it is, at heart, a stirring recreation of a time and place when the NBA championships defined the national dream.

    At the same time. And now they won’t leave.After getting my heart broken, all I want is a holiday alone in a cabin in the mountains.But three very hot men claim they’ve rented it, too.And NO ONE is willing to leave.It seems my little getaway just got a lot more crowded, and when it snows, we’re really stuck.But I learn that the tall one likes hot…chocolate in the afternoon.The athletic one is big…on holiday spirit.And the last gives…the kind of gift you never knew you needed.What’s a girl to do with holiday surprises like this other than ring in the yuletide between the sheets?Santa won’t be the only one coming this Christmas eve…not if my three sexy cabinmates have anything to say about it.#2 in The Reverse Harem Holiday Romance Collection1. My Christmas Quarantine (2020)2. My Christmas Cock-up3. My Christmas Kink4. My Christmas KleptoThis hot, over-the-top romance includes a holiday celebration with hot, sexy men with a penchant for pursuing the kick-a*s women who give them a run for their money. If you love outrageously naughty stories as a way to indulge your not-so-secret bad girl side, then this is the book for you.

    In Black Planet, David Shields explores how, in a predominantly black sport, white fans--including especially himself--think about and talk about black heroes, black scapegoats, black bodies.During the 1994-95 NBA season, Shields went to the Seattle SuperSonics' home games; watched their away games on TV; listened to interviews and call-in shows; talked, or tried to talk, to players, coaches, and agents; attended charity events; corresponded with members of the Sonics newsgroup on the Web. He kept a journal and over the next few years transformed that journal into this book, which is focused sharply on white spectators' relationship to black athletes, in particular Shields' own identification with Gary Payton, the team's language-besotted point-guard.Through the apparently simple vehicle of a daily diary running from November 5, 1994 to May 5, 1995, and ranging from a dispute between two fans over the sale of a ticket to the national media frenzy surrounding Charles Barkley's jest "That's why I hate white people," David Shields confronts the nature of racism (including his own)--the otherness in ourselves that we project onto strangers. He takes us via sports passion deep into the American racial divide.From the Hardcover edition.

    But detectives Donna Bell and Jade Bradshaw find lies and obstruction at every turn, in a community living on the edge, ground down by austerity and no hope. A place of broken dreams. Of desperation. And murder.When a stranger crashes into Jade's life, her past comes hurtling back, threatening to destroy her and the world she has carved out for herself. Donna struggles to juggle everything: work, marriage, kids. It's a precarious balancing act, and the rug is about to be pulled from under her.

     A London grave robber gets more than he bargained for when an old friend comes to visit. A grieving mother is offered a chance to bring her child back from the dead, but there's a deadly catch. A woman notices something unusual about her boyfriend, but what will he say when she asks him to tell her the truth? Dark Little Wonders and Other Stories contains the new short stories The Curious Case of Jonathan White, Poor Clara, The Fabricci Manuscript, The Long Dream of Colin Abernathy, Why Did You Leave Me?, and Dark Little Wonders, as well as revised versions of A Single Blade of Grass and The Ghost of Creele Abbey.