Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale


Russell T. Davies - 2008
    It's a mad, sexy, sad, scary, obsessive, ruthless, joyful, and utterly, utterly personal thing. There's not the writer and then me; there's just me. All of my life connects to the writing. All of it.'A unique look into the BBC's most popular family drama, Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale is a year in the life of the hit television series, as told by the show's Head Writer and Executive Producer. A candid and in-depth correspondence between Russell T Davies and journalist Benjamin Cook, the book explores in detail Russell's work on Series Four, revealing how he plans the series and works with the show's writers; where he gets his ideas for plot, character and scenes; how actors are cast and other creative decisions are made; and how he juggles the demands of Doctor Who with the increasingly successful Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures spin-offs.Russell's scripts are discussed as they develop, and Russell and Benjamin's wide-ranging discussions bring in experiences from previous series of Doctor Who as well as other shows Russell has written and created, including Queer as Folk, Bob & Rose, and The Second Coming. The reader is given total access to the show as it's created, and the writing is everything you would expect from Russell T Davies: warm, witty, insightful, and honest.Fully illustrated with never-before-seen photos and artwork - including original drawings by Russell himself - The Writer's Tale is a not only the ultimate Doctor Who book, but a celebration of great writing and great television

The Kate Shugak Novels, Vol 2


Dana Stabenow - 2012
    They've been having some serious problems with the white stuff—not snow, but cocaine—and their highly-paid, isolated, somewhat stir-crazy employees have been overdosing at an alarming rate. Kate's job is to identify the dealer and staunch the flow before more people die. It's never that simple, of course.In Play with Fire, Kate and friends stumble across a naked, decaying corpse in the woods. Judged death by misadventure by the Troopers, Kate's sense of justice demands that she launch her own investigation, leading her to ask some very uncomfortable questions of a frontier faith community. Questions that might drive someone to kill…again.In Blood Will Tell, Kate is forced to involve herself in Native politics, attending the annual Federation convention in Anchorage and investigating the deaths of several board members. Opposition to a new development project seems to have been the link tying the victims together, but when Kate poses the question that all detective work begins with—cui bono?—she finds there are more suspects on the list than not.Also included: the two Kate Shugak short stories, "Wreck Rights" and "Cherchez la Femme."

Boganaire: The Rise and Fall of Nathan Tinkler


Paddy Manning - 2013
    He had gambled and won, but his volatility and reluctance to pay his debts were making him enemies. He lived the high life as only a young man would, buying luxury homes, private jets, sports cars and football teams, and splurging massively to build a horseracing empire.But Tinkler’s dreams had extended beyond even his resources, and his business model worked only in a rising market. When coal prices slumped in 2012, Tinkler had no cash flow to service his massive borrowings and no allies to help him recover. Within months he was trying desperately to stave off his creditors, large and small, and fighting to save his businesses and his fortune.In this impressive biography, leading business writer Paddy Manning tells the story of Tinkler’s meteoric rise to wealth, and captures the drama of his equally rapid downfall.‘Some might see it as a handbook on how to go from broke to billionaire in a matter of years … Others might see it as a morality tale about the canker at the heart of the consumerist, aspirational politics peddled by our leaders for the past few decades.’ —Sydney Morning Herald‘Paddy Manning’s Boganaire: The Rise and Fall of Nathan Tinkler is a rollicking tale, which works on our sense of schadenfreude.’ —Chloe Hooper, the Monthly‘Boganaire is much more than a book for readers of business literature. It provides an insight into a bigger and more important subject than Nathan Tinkler: it shows how the easy prosperity from resource riches might be changing our culture and values for the worse.’ — the Australian‘The richly detailed book lays Tinkler’s life bare, from his early days working in Newcastle’s coal mines through to his triumphant deals with Macarthur Coal and Whitehaven, and his spectacular fall from grace.’ —BRWPaddy Manning is one of Australia’s most respected journalists, with fifteen years’ experience including a decade on the business desks of the Sydney Morning Herald, the Australian Financial Review and the Australian – a period in which he was highly commended in the business category of the Walkley Awards and was a three-time category winner in the prestigious Citigroup Journalism Awards for Excellence. His first book, What the Frack: everything you need to know about coal seam gas, was published in 2012.

The Tawny Man Trilogy Books 2 & 3: The Golden Fool / Fool's Fate


Robin Hobb - 2013
    R. MartinFitz has succeeded in rescuing Prince Dutiful from the clutches of the Piebald rebels, and has returned with him to Buckkeep castle. With Dutiful safe again, Queen Kettricken can proceed with plans to marry him to the Outislander princess, Elliania.However, with tensions building among the peoples of the Six Duchies over Kettricken’s tolerance of the Wittted, even Buckkeep is no longer safe. A reluctant Fitz is assigned to protect the young prince, and also train him in the Skill, and in doing so he finally makes contact not only with his estranged daughter, Nettle, but with someone in Buckkeep who may possess a greater Skill talent even than Fitz. And who may represent a terrible threat to the Farseers.Continue the adventure with books two and three of Robin Hobb’s enchanting Tawny Man Trilogy.Bundle includes The Golden Fool (book two) and The Fool’s Fate (book three).

The Riftwar Legacy: The Complete 4-Book Collection


Raymond E. Feist - 2013
    Feist. This bundle includes the complete Riftwar Legacy.The bundle includes: Krondor: The Betrayal (1), Krondor: The Assassins (2), Krondor: Tear of the Gods (3) and the new novella Jimmy and the Crawler.From the endlessly inventive mind of one of fantasy’s all time greats, comes a spellbinding new adventure featuring old favourites Jimmy, Locklear and Pug.It is nine years on from the aftermath of Sethanon. There has been peace awhile and it’s been needed. But news is feeding through to the people of the Kingdom of the Isles that deadly forces are stirring on the horizon. The bringer of the latest tidings is Gorath, a moredhel.The bloodletting has started. Nighthawks are murdering again. Politics is a dangerous, cut-throat game once more. At the root of all this unrest lie the mysterious machinations of a group of magicians known as The Six.Meanwhile, renegade Tsurani gem smugglers, a rival criminal gang to the Mockers led by someone known only as The Crawler, and traitors to the crown are all conspiring to bring the Kingdom of the Isles to its knees.Join the adventure with all four books in the Riftwar Legacy series which includes the new novella, Jimmy and the Crawler!

Pawnee: The Greatest Town in America


Leslie Knope - 2011
    The book chronicles the city's colorful citizens and hopping nightlife, and also explores some of the most hilarious events from its crazy history—like the time the whole town was on fire, its ongoing raccoon infestation, and the cult that took over in the 1970s. Packed with laugh-out-loud-funny photographs, illustrations, and commentary by the other inhabitants of Pawnee, it's a must-read that will make you enjoy every moment of your stay in the Greatest Town in America. Praise for Pawnee: "Carrying this book around is a good way of picking up girls with glasses." —Tom Haverford "I have read over four books, and this is by far the one that has me in it the most." —Andy Dwyer "Literally the greatest endeavor of human creativity in the history of mankind." —Chris Traeger

Only Fools and Horses


Graham McCann - 2011
    15 years, seven series and more than 60 episodes later, 24.3 million people watched the final installment of Only Fools and Horses—over a third of the British population, and the largest audience for a sitcom ever recorded. On the 30th anniversary of the show, Britain's favorite entertainment writer celebrates Britain's best-loved sitcom.

The Simpsons: An Uncensored, Unauthorized History


John Ortved - 2009
    From its first moment on air, the series's rich characters, subversive themes, and layered humor resounded deeply with audiences both young and old who wanted more from their entertainment than what was being meted out at the time by the likes of Full House, Growing Pains, and Family Matters. Spawned as an animated short on The Tracy Ullman Show—mere filler on the way to commercial breaks—the series grew from a controversial cult favorite to a mainstream powerhouse, and after nineteen years the residents of Springfield no longer simply hold up a mirror to our way of life: they have ingrained themselves into it.  John Ortved's oral history will be the first-ever look behind the scenes at the creation and day-to-day running of The Simpsons, as told by many of the people who made it: among them writers, animators, producers, and network executives. It’s an intriguing yet hilarious tale, full of betrayal, ambition, and love. Like the family it depicts, the show's creative forces have been riven by dysfunction from the get-go—outsize egos clashing with studio executives and one another over credit for and control of a pop-culture institution. Contrary to popular belief, The Simpsons did not spring out of one man's brain, fully formed, like a hilarious Athena. Its inception was a process, with many parents, and this book tells the story.

Maker of Dune


Frank Herbert - 1985
    

Battlestar Galactica Trilogy: The Cyclons' Secret, Sagittarius Is Bleeding, Unity


Peter David - 2009
    Here, for the first time in one volume, are all three original Battlestar Galactica novels--based on the highly-lauded TV series that took the country by storm.In The Cylons' Secret, by Craig Shaw Gardner, a ship, scavenging the outer settlements for valuable Cylon technologies after the first human-Cylon war, stumbles on a super-secret scientific outpost beyond charted space. Mere hours later, Battlestar Galactica receives a one-word distress call from the scavenging ship: Cylons, causing the young Colonel William Adama to investigate.Sagittarius Is Bleeding, by Peter David, concerns President Laura Roslin, whose prophetic dreams have infused her people with hope that they will find Earth, humanity's cradle. But her new dreams of a galaxy overrun by the Cylons disturb her even as they energize an extremist political group. The threat of violent revolt puts Roslin at personal risk and endangers the fleet.In Unity by Steven Harper, Peter Attis, a rock star adored by all the fleet, including Starbuck, has recently been rescued from a Cylon prison ship. But after his first post-return concert, crewmembers are stricken by a strange malady that threatens to lay the fleet open to Cylon attack.

Kafka's Greatest Stories


Franz Kafka - 2010
    This compilation includes A Country Doctor, The Hunger Artist, In the Penal Colony, and Metamorphosis.

Laker Girl


Jeanie Buss - 2010
    Yet despite all the championship banners the team has put on the walls of Staples Center, and despite all the books the Lakers have put on the shelves of fans - featuring everybody from Jerry West to Magic Johnson to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to Phil Jackson to Chick Hearn - there has never been a book on the Lakers from the Buss family. Until now. Until Laker Girl.

Unscripted: My Ten Years in Telly


Alan Sugar - 2015
    But how did the famously straight-talking entrepreneur end up fronting one of our most successful and long-running shows, and why were some of his biggest challenges during his ten years in television to be found outside the boardroom and off camera? In Unscripted, Alan Sugar reveals all this and more as he embarks on a new and sometimes bewildering career. He describes how he lost patience with some of the luvvies, wafflers and wannabees he encountered along the way, and tells us what he really thought of some of the tasks and candidates he came across during the making of The Apprentice, giving his reaction to the egos and the backbiting as well as the genuine talent that shone through. He explains how he brought on board Nick Hewer, Margaret Mountford and Karren Brady, what became of the winners when the cameras stopped rolling - and how working on the show has inspired him and many others. As with his previous books, What You See Is What You Get and The Way I See It, there is no ghostwriter; this is written by the man himself. And, as ever, it is honest, funny and outspoken - Alan Sugar at his entertaining best.

I'm Working on That: A Trek from Science Fiction to Science Fact


William Shatner - 1996
    Over five decades, Star Trek's celebration of mankind's technical achievements and positive view of the future have earned it an enduring place in our global culture. Its scientific vision has also had a profound effect on the past thirty years of technological breakthroughs. Join William Shatner, the original captain of the Starship Enterprise, as he reveals how Star Trek has influenced and inspired some of our greatest scientific minds -- the people behind the future we will all share. In interviews with dozens of scientists we learn about the inventions that will revolutionise our lives and the discoveries that will make it truly possible to explore the last great frontier -- space. As one Nobel Laureate commented on being shown a wood and plastic model of the engine core from a Star Trek: The Next Generation starship: I'm working on that. From the technicalities of warp speed to real-life replicators to the likelihood of our being able to beam across continents, this always-informative book takes us on a fascinating and eye-opening voyage to

Kodansha Comics Digital Sampler Unreal


Various - 2013
    6, Sankarea, and Until The Full Moon.