The Dark at the Top of the Stairs


William Inge - 1960
    Inge has taken us back to the early 1920s and into the home of the Flood family in a small Oklahoma town. Here we find Rubin, a traveling salesman for a harness firm, Cora his sensitive and lovely wife, Sonny their little boy and Reenie their teen-age daughter The plot of Mr. Inge's comedy drama is less one story than a series of short stories the fight between a husband and wife; the fear of an overly shy young girl on going to a dance; the problems of an introverted little boy who feels that the whole world, including his family is against him; the outwardly peaceful and inwardly corroding marriage of Cora's rowdy sister; the tragedy of a military school cadet whose mother has never provided him with a home and who suffers from the stigma of being a Jew in an alien community. What Mr. Inge is saying, with a power and tenderness of speech, is that there is dark at the top of everyone's stairs, but that it can be dissipated by understanding, by tolerance, by compassion and by the brand of companionship that demands not conformity but love For Mr. Inge has made in his play a statement of faith for all people who, if they accepted it, would live in a far better world."

The Movement: How I got this body by never going to the gym in my life.


Jack Garbarino - 2015
    He weighed nearly three-hundred pounds, he couldn’t walk up a flight of stairs without getting out of breath, and worst of all, he had given up hope of ever getting fit. Today, he's a hundred pounds lighter, with a growing fitness empire and a killer bod. The secret of his success? The Movement, a workout that consists entirely of moving boxes and furniture. Now that The Movement is taking America by storm, Jack is finally ready to tell his story. From the childhood friendship with Steve Jobs that inspired him, to his touching mentorship of a jungle child named Dende, this self-help novel will make you laugh, cry, and think. And it might even help you lose a few pounds, too.

Al Capp: A Life to the Contrary


Denis Kitchen - 2013
    But at the height of his career, his groundbreaking comic strip, Li'l Abner, reached ninety million readers. The strip ran for forty-three years, spawned two movies and a Broadway musical, and originated such expressions as "hogwash" and "double-whammy." Capp himself was a familiar personality on TV and radio; as a satirist, he was frequently compared to Mark Twain.Though Li'l Abner brought millions joy, the man behind the strip was a complicated and often unpleasant person. A childhood accident cost him a leg-leading him to art as a means of distinguishing himself. His apprenticeship with Ham Fisher, creator of Joe Palooka, started a twenty-year feud that ended in Fisher's suicide. Capp enjoyed outsized publicity for a cartoonist, but his status abetted sexual misconduct and protected him from the severest repercussions. Late in life, his politics became extremely conservative; he counted Richard Nixon as a friend, and his gift for satire was redirected at targets like John Lennon, Joan Baez, and anti-war protesters on campuses across the country.With unprecedented access to Capp's archives and a wealth of new material, Michael Schumacher and Denis Kitchen have written a probing biography. Capp's story is one of incredible highs and lows, of popularity and villainy, of success and failure-told here with authority and heart.

Clovenhoof's Diary: December


Heide Goody - 2019
     Jeremy Clovenhoof has spent six years living the quiet life after losing his job as Lord of Hell and now he’s partying hard because it’s the school holidays. Whether it’s his increasingly complex girlfriend situation, his creative attempts at Christmas on a budget or an over-decorated tree that will take things very personally, Clovenhoof will make this a Christmas for everybody to remember. Join Clovenhoof as he continues his year-long journey to tackle the big issues in life.

That Hathaway Girl


Kate Harper - 2016
    The social whirl may be dizzying but there are pitfalls aplenty and Millie knows that the whole world is just waiting for her to do something scandalous. She's just that sort of girl. Fortunately, there are people who need rescuing, days that need saving and dark and brooding barons that need taking down a peg or two, so life isn't utterly dreary. Can she do the impossible and come through unscathed? Or will disaster finally catch her up? Whatever happens, Millie is determined to do things on her terms and if that means tackling the impossible; well, she's just the kind of girl who likes a challenge! Author note... well, putting up a book where the first two pages missed editorial changes was a bit of a clunker, but I have remedied (my profound apologies to anybody who bought the one with the dodgy first pages). I am happy to send a - relatively - flawless copy to anybody who has already purchased. Please email me at kate.l.deans@gmail.com. Gosh, I'm a goose!

Haunted Falls


Ken Farmer - 2013
    Marshal Bass Reeves in their first book, entitled "The Nations". The story continues in "Haunted Falls", the story of Bass Reeves as he joins other U.S. Marshals in pursuit of the infamous Dalton gang. It is full of adventure, romance, some history, excitement and a unique paranormal twist. You will not want to miss this sequel.

I Haven't Understood Anything Since 1962


Lewis Grizzard - 1992
    But a lot's happened since then, and he's in the mood to discuss it all, in the inimitable style that's made him the most popular social commentator to tickle people AND tick them off. From being PC to watching MTV, from rednecks to black militants, from singing the praises of the South to sounding off on the problems of just about everywhere else, nothing and nobody escapes when Grizzard shoots from the lip...and hits the "nekkid" truth every time.

Ghost World: The Screenplay


Daniel Clowes - 2001
    Included is the original shooting script. With over thirty pages of material not used in the final film, along with a sixteen-page color section featuring rare artwork, production drawings, photographs of the cast and crew, and detailed annotations by the screenwriters.

Boogie Nights


Paul Thomas Anderson - 1998
    Deprived of love and respect from his family, Eddie is renamed 'Dirk Diggler' and conquers the world of porn, but manages to retain his essential innocence. As the turbulent seventies shade into the hedonistic eighties, Dirk's career goes into a tailspin; but he is rescued by the safety net of the extended family fostered by hard-core movie director Jack Horner.Paul Thomas Anderson's screenplay is exemplary in its ability to interweave the stories of its large cast of characters. In accord with the wisdom of the Roman dramatist Terence (who claimed, 'Nothing human is alien to me'), Anderson has engaged with a side of life widely considered to be irredeemably sleazy, and has mined humour, sadness and compassion out of his unlikely subject matter.

Free Roll


Brandt Tobler - 2017
    This book is written by a stand-up comedian that takes you through tragedy after tragedy on its path to hilarity. Will it make you laugh? Eventually. Will it make you cry? Probably. But the hope is that it will also make you smile, dream, and reflect, while simultaneously inspiring you to never stop chasing your dreams (even if your very own family is constantly trying to derail them). Brandt tells his life story with candor, detailing the many pit stops, wrong turns, crazy connections, and lucky breaks he experienced along the way to his comedy career, all while trying to balance a toxic relationship with his jailbird dad. Brandt's storytelling will make you laugh (it better because that's his job!) and believe, as he does, that when it comes to defining family, blood isn't always thicker than water.

Choir


Gareth Malone - 2012
    The hugely popular Gareth Malone recounts the heart-warming stories and transformations behind the award-winning BBC2 series The Choir

Lolita: The Screenplay


Vladimir Nabokov - 1960
    Not least among the casualties is the notion that cinema and literature are two separate spheres. For in his screenplay, Nabokov married the structural and narrative felicities of great cinema to prose as sensuously entrancing as any he had ever written, resulting in a work that will delight cineasts and Nabokovians alike.

A Tale of A Thousand Stars


Bacteria - 2021
    My only wish is to be by his side. Forever and always. It is the last sentence in the pastel diary that drives Thien on his journey to become a volunteer teacher on a hill to fulfill her last wish. In a world unbeknownst to him, he begins to recognize his self-worth and the true meaning of giving without expecting anything in return. There, he meets Captain Phupha, and their intimacy blossoms into a tie within the embrace of the beautiful mountain ranges in the northernmost part of Thailand. Thien's heart is filled with the memories of the tall officer to the brim until he becomes confused as to whom the feelings really belong to. Are they his feelings or are they someone else's? As their love stands against the test of time, will they make it through? Or perhaps they have to wish upon the thousand stars for the promise they've made to come true?

The Groucho Letters


Groucho Marx - 1960
    He writes to comics, corporations, children, presidents, and even his daughter's boyfriend. Here is Groucho swapping photos with T. S. Eliot (”I had no idea you were so handsome!”); advising his son on courting a rich dame (”Don't come out bluntly and say, 'How much dough have you got?' That wouldn't be the Marxian way”); crisply declining membership in a Hollywood club (”I don't care to belong to any social organization that will accept me as a member”); reacting with utmost composure when informed that he has been made into a verb by James Joyce (”There's no reason why I shouldn't appear in Finnegans Wake . I'm certainly as bewildered about life as Joyce was”); responding to a scandal sheet (”Gentleman: If you continue to publish slanderous pieces about me, I shall feel compelled to cancel my subscription”); describing himself to the Lunts (”I eat like a vulture. Unfortunately the resemblance doesn't end there”); and much, much more. That mobile visage, that look of wild amazement, and that weaving cigar are wholly captured, bound but untamed, in The Groucho Letters.

If You'd Just Listened to Me in the First Place...


Barbara Venkataraman - 2013
    By no means -- as Ella herself insisted -- is she a negative person. Persistent might be a better word; she is the kind of person you'd askfor directions if you were lost, or provides you with a long chat while waitingin line at the grocery store. "Nobody, and I mean nobody, can nag like I can." Written from a first person point of view, protagonist Ella Boudreaux immediately establishes her unique skill set.And where has it gotten her? Nowhere, that's where. She can't hold onto a job and she can't find her true calling, but she knows it's out there. Could a handsome stranger help her find her destiny? Or maybe he was her destiny...