Jarvis may be an all-round irritant, but he's harmless & deep down he's got a heart of gold. As his oldest (& only) friend reflects on his life with Jarvis Ham, he wonders what it would have been like if they had never met.

    A substantial written component by Fischer details his upbringing on the outskirts of Zurich, Switzerland, and the hardships and triumphs he faced bringing the visions of his groundbreaking bands Hellhammer and eventually Celtic Frost to reality. In addition, the book includes an introduction by Nocturno Culto of Norwegian black metal act Darkthrone, and a foreword by noted metal author Joel McIver.Without question Only Death Is Real goes farther than any other source in exploring the origins of underground heavy metal. The wealth of visual information is astounding, both in terms of documenting early 1980s headbangers and exposing the still-relevant imagery of the first Hellhammer and Celtic Frost photo sessions. On top of that, the written chapters combine Tom Fischer’s often shocking stories with lengthy quotes from Martin Eric Ain and the other main Hellhammer members, explaining in intimately human terms how extreme metal was born.

    His uncle Ricky did not want him trapped by the "invisible chains" of systemic racism, so Ricky schooled him on the necessity of a black man running his own life, controlling his livelihood, and owning property.Embracing these lessons, Campbell discovered his gift for entrepreneurship: He created one of the first hip-hop record companies, Luke Records, which started out of a shed in his mom's backyard and grew into a multimillion-dollar enterprise. As a rapper on his own label, Luke became known as the "King of Dirty Rap" and helped pioneer the worldwide phenomenon of Miami Bass. He went on to become the front man and manager for the rap group 2 Live Crew, and was key to the success of the group's controversial platinum recording As Nasty As They Wanna Be.His hugely popular and provocative music infuriated the Man, and Luke was marked as public enemy number one when hip-hop crossed the color line into white America. Campbell would spend more than a million dollars of his own money fighting cops and prosecutors, and he went all the way to the Supreme Court to protect his—and every other artist's—right to free speech, setting landmark legal precedents that continue to shape the entertainment industry to this day.In Campbell's clear and honest voice, he shares unforgettable stories of his rise to celebrity status, including illicit tales from his raunchy concerts. He also breaks down how he lost his fortune, but in the process gained a better perspective on life. His father taught him to be responsible for his actions and to be proud of himself. Campbell expressed this by being cocky and holding his head up high, but, as he acknowledges, "America has never been an easy place for a black man who doesn't know how to apologize."Touching on some of the most pressing issues of our time, The Book of Luke is a raw and powerful memoir of how one man invented southern hip-hop, saved the First Amendment, and became a role model for the disenfranchised people of the city he calls home.

     "Before I wrote this book, I was diagnosed as MORBIDLY OBESE by my primary-care physician following a yearly visit. The only problem with this diagnosis was that we never discussed this issue. I knew that I was overweight, but it wasn't until I switched doctors and picked up my medical records that I saw this in writing. I saw myself in front of the mirror every day, so I knew things were bad, but it wasn't until I read those words, MORBIDLY OBESE, that the gravity of the situation sunk in." -LAURA SINCLAIR At 55, Laura Sinclair was grossly overweight; the future looked dim and dangerous. Carrying extra weight was setting her up for the possibility of developing a chronic illness--heart disease, stroke, or worse. She decided to take ownership of her life and pave a new road to optimum health and happiness. -Learn how Laura lost over 40% of her body weight and kept it off. -How she reached a level of fitness and athleticism that she thought not possible in her 50s and beyond.

    Then, if he makes it, life doesn’t get easier—he gets tougher. He may get to do the toughest job around: combat infantry. And in 1966, he will almost certainly end up in Vietnam. Frank Evans is a Navy sailor willing to do whatever is necessary to become a Marine. He’s tough enough—and he has a General interested in his success. But success is measured in many ways. Frank finds out combat and the Marine Corps’ definition of success change a man. Some of the changes are a matter of pride. Others—well, you learn to live with them.

    But with humour and courage, Julia faces the greatest challenge of her life – and in the process becomes the person she'd always wanted to be.A survivor of child abuse, brought up by a mother with mental illness, Julia was no stranger to adversity. After her daughter Georgie was born with Down syndrome, she thought she'd faced it all. But when doctors offer her the chance of risky but potentially life-saving surgery, Julia faces her toughest situation yet.Follow Julia and her family, as she writes her way through the crisis, chases her dreams, gets her dancing shoes on and discovers the lighter side of life with a colostomy bag.This is a candid, entertaining look at life with cancer and living each day with humour and hope.

    From the touching account of her birth – two months premature – to battling bouts of missing home and many incredible self-discoveries along the way, Bridge Over Troubled Dreams is truly the book of the artist’s life. She speaks candidly about love, family, highs and lows, patience, freedom, faith, hope and survival, and how she uses lessons learned to drive herself forward. Delta’s heartfelt stories are accompanied by never-before-seen pictures from her personal collection: candid behind-the-scenes shots, unreleased tour photos and even personal snaps from her childhood.

    It wasn’t long before hardships left them unable to provide.Soon, four-year-old Phyllis is plucked off her front porch, ripped away from the only family she knows, and sent to live with her grandmother Lula on an Alabama farm with no electricity, plumbing, or running water.Heartbroken by her mother’s abandonment, Phyllis struggles to acclimate to her new surroundings. Thanks to the unconditional love of Grandma Lula and the healing powers of an old, tattered quilt, she is finally able to adjust to her new life.In Quilt of Souls, Lawson documents her childhood growing up with the incredible woman who raised her and the powerful family heirloom that served as the cloth that would forever stitch their lives together.With its tales of family, despair, freedom and hope, the true story behind this deeply personal memoir serves as the inspiration for http://www.quiltofsouls.com, where individuals share relics and stories from their own family histories.

    Learning from her sources of a federal investigation, Jemeker went on the run. It was love for her young son that brought her back to Los Angeles, even though she knew she would be arrested. A subsequent 15-year sentence would cost her not only her legitimate business and the fortune she'd amassed through the drug trade, but the most precious thing of all: time with her child. But not all was lost. Fortunately, while Thompson-Hairston was serving out the fifteen-year sentence, one pivotal moment helped her turn her life around, setting her on a path to help and inspire others like her. Now, in Queen Pin, written with New York Times bestselling author David Ritz, she reveals in gripping detail her journey of redemption that readers won't soon forget.

    But, as Bob Greene writes, “just when in our lives we give up on capturing the freedom and bright mornings of our world when it was new, sometimes something happens to keep the sun high in the sky a while longer. Sometimes we find something we weren’t even aware we were looking for."For fifteen years beginning in the 1990s, Greene stepped into a universe that, out in the country every summer night, is hiding in plain sight: the touring world of the great early rock bands who gave America the car-radio and jukebox music it still loves best. Singing backup with the legendary Jan and Dean as they endlessly crisscross the nation, Greene takes us to football stadiums and minor-league ballparks, to no-name ice cream stands and midnight diners, to back roads and carnival midways as he tells a riveting story of great fame and lingering sorrow, of unexpected friendship and lasting dreams, of the things that keep us going in the face of all the things that threaten to stop us.Striking chords of recognition and yearning, When We Get to Surf City glistens with cameos by the men and women with whom Greene traveled the United States on his deliriously unlikely journey, including Chuck Berry, Martha and the Vandellas, the Everly Brothers, Jerry Lee Lewis, the Beach Boys, the Monkees, the Kingsmen, James Brown, Lesley Gore, the Drifters, Little Eva, and the Coasters.All of them—not just the people on the stage, but the people in the audiences, too—are seeking their private versions of the mythical destination Jan and Dean came up with all those years ago: Surf City as the perfect, cloudless place we all believe is out there, if only we can find it.Hilarious and heartbreaking, moving and brilliant, this is the trip of a lifetime, a travelogue of the heart, accompanied by a thundering guitar chorus of Fender Stratocasters. It is a story destined to touch readers not just today, but for generations to come, as long as the music itself echoes.

    In his 20,000 mile solo journey he encounters corruption in Mexico, finds himself stranded in the highlands of Bolivia and gets arrested in Nicaragua. The road presents Bill with fears to face, immense kindness of strangers, and huge challenges to overcome, all while he copes with his anxiety disorder. Join Bill as he shares a candid account of his experiences bumbling across the Americas.

     Throw in the patter of little feet, sharp teeth, amputations and a smattering of characters from their Tenerife bar days, and you have another serving of Ketchup – only this time, it’s a little more salsa. With the Smugglers Tavern still a nagging ghost of their past, Joe and Joy free themselves from limpet-like patrons, battle once more with Spain’s bungling bureaucracy and dip a toe in numerous but short-lived careers to stop their bar money evaporating. Less Ketchup than Salsa is a true story about growing up, finding your dreams in the most unexpected of places and discovering what’s truly important in life. If you’ve ever pondered living abroad, are interested in travel writing as a career, wondered what life is all about, or just want a funny read in the style of Bill Bryson or Carl Hiaasen…. join Joe and Joy on this third and final memoir in the Ketchup trilogy.

    During April through September 2006, he reunited with the Rollins Band, prepared for and toured North America with them, wrapped up the second season of the The Henry Rollins Show, filmed Wrong Turn 2, and slaved over his radio show, Harmony in My Head. Although comprised of Rollins’ daily journal entries, the book is far more than a day-to-day account of this brief but hectic period. As he confronts his feelings about reuniting with his former bandmates, Rollins reflects on music, the industry, current affairs, and other topics in his typically outspoken, irreverent, and combative fashion.

    Their friendship survived everything from the awkward years of junior high to the transformative upheavals of early adulthood—until, at the young age of 25, Shelly lost her life to complications caused by Preeclampsia.We Hope You Like This Song is a tribute to the ineffable, incomparable bond that we call friendship, and a celebration of living life to the fullest. Housley recounts how she and her sister found a way to keep Shelly’s memory alive—by spending a year doing crazy things that Shelly would have done, like giving Valentines to strangers, singing at a karaoke bar, and letting her boyfriend pick out her outfits for a week. In the process, she paints a vivid, often hilarious, portrait of her fun-loving, social butterfly best friend and the many adventures they had growing up together in '80s and ’90s small-town America. Sweet, poignant, and yet somehow laugh-out-loud funny, We Hope You Like This Song is a touching story of love, loss, and the honoring of a friendship after it’s gone.

    It covered jazz, of course, but it also included Davis’s ruminations on race, politics and culture. Fascinated, Hef sent the writer—future Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Alex Haley, an unknown at the time—back to glean even more opinion and insight from Davis. The resulting exchange, published in the September 1962 issue, became the first official Playboy Interview and kicked off a remarkable run of public inquisition that continues today—and that has featured just about every cultural titan of the last half century.To celebrate the Interview’s 50th anniversary, the editors of Playboy have culled 50 of its most (in)famous Interviews and will publish them over the course of 50 weekdays (from September 4, 2012 to November 12, 2012) via Amazon’s Kindle Direct platform. Here is that first Interview with Miles Davis.