A biting, hilarious literary satire of war, business, and contemporary masculinity, set in the cutthroat-but-ridiculous world of management consulting King of the Mississippi is an incisive, uproarious dissection of contemporary male vanity and delusion, centered around a "war" for dominance of a prestigious Houston consulting firm. On one side of the conflict is Brock Wharton, an old money ex-jock whose delight in telling clients to downsize is matched only by his firm conviction that people like himself deserve to run the world. On the other is Mike Fink, a newly hired wily former soldier trying to ride his veteran status to the top of a corporate world that lionizes "the troops" without truly understanding them. Brock and Mike are mortal enemies on sight, bitterly divided not only by background and class but by diametrically opposed (yet equally delusional) visions of what it means to "be a man." And as their escalating conflict spirals out of control, it will take them all the way from the hidebound boardrooms and gladiatorial football fields of Texas to the vapid and self-serving upper echelon of Silicon Valley, to the corporatized battlefield of Iraq, all the while serving as a ruthlessly funny takedown of the vacuity and empty machismo of corporate life and alpha-male culture in modern America. Devastatingly witty, unapologetically scathing, and ultimately surprisingly moving, King of the Mississippi marks the arrival of a unique and scintillating new voice in American fiction, one that boldly punctures the myths of American manhood like no one has since the heyday of The Bonfire of the Vanities and American Psycho.
School Board is a total joy to read, as full of sass and subversive brass as its 18-year-old hero, the political neophyte and Houston school board candidate Tucker 'Catfish' Davis ... I hope School Board is the first of many more to come from this gifted young writer."-Ben Fountain, author of National Book Critics Circle Award winner Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk and Brief Encounters with Che Guevara “Into the riotous cavalcade of great American literary characters tumbles a new class clown, Tucker 'Catfish' Davis, high school senior and aspiring politician. One part Ignatius J. Reilly from A Confederacy of Dunces, one part Hazel Motes from Wise Blood, and several parts Willie Stark from All the King's Men, Catfish Davis is a singular presence on the page. Mike Freedman hasn't just written the funniest book about a school board election, he's written the kind of David-and-Goliath story that gets all of us 'little people' cheering and laughing in equal measure.”-David Abrams, author of Fobbit Houston, Texas, 1999. Enter Tucker "Catfish" Davis, a high school senior with high-flying political ambitions as the self-proclaimed heir to populist Louisiana Governors Huey and Earl Long. Armed with idealism and a fedora, he embarks on a quixotic campaign to get elected to the local school board in an effort to help the "little people" of Houston. In the wild days that follow, Catfish's long-shot bid gains traction through guerilla campaigning against a questionable tax deal supported by his opponent, a powerful executive at an Enron-esque energy company. With the help of his classmates, an indicted Louisiana governor, a gay journalist with nascent mayoral ambitions and an ex-Green Beret trained to wage unconventional warfare, Catfish makes it a race Houston will never forget. Based on an actual 1999 news story, School Board is an entertaining but satirical debut novel that revels in the diversity, madness and absurdities of the Bayou City.
The 1990s was a time for drowning in the genre of grunge music and perfecting the art of slackerdom. At least that’s what it was like for Hunter, growing up in small-town America, the son of a successful doctor. Unlike his dad, serial slacker Hunter never worked hard at anything in his life. But he was a bowler. (Yes, bowling is a sport.) When looking down the polished-wood lane at those spindly white pins, Hunter was someone. A champion. One who accidentally ended up earning a full scholarship to a top-tier Canadian university, thanks to his prowess at smashing pins. But when one door opens—for Hunter anyway—it seems to slam shut just as quickly. Usually smack in his face. That’s exactly what happens when Hunter screws up and his university scholarship goes up in smoke. But when one door closes . . . Hunter finds himself confronted by two more doors, where opportunity awaits. Those double-glass doors at Retail Depot in Winnipeg, Manitoba, usher Hunter into the world of service, rewarded by the princely sum of $8.25 an hour. Sure, he expects a job, but through his time toiling for meager pay in the big-box store, alongside friends and idiots alike, Hunter unexpectedly ends up learning more about himself and the ups and downs of life than he would have ever learned at university. Retail: Redemption at $8.25 an Hour is a coming-of-age story, a journey, not necessarily to greatness or where diehard dreams are fulfilled, but to a place some might call contentment.
For the first time, Alaska musher and tribal leader Mike Williams shares his remarkable life story with veteran sports writer Lew Freedman. Williams is a man of many parts, a sports figure, a government figure, a leader of his people, a husband, a father, and a Native man with one foot firmly planted in the twenty-first century and another firmly planted in the roots of a culture that dates back 10,000 years in Alaska. Williams competed in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race fifteen times, and was once the only Yup’ik Eskimo musher, a symbol to all Natives around the state. Although he was never a top contender for the Iditarod title, he was a competitor whom everyone cheered because he resolved that to shed light on one of Alaska’s greatest threats to the health and future of its Native people, he would carry in his dog sled pages—pounds worth—of signatures of people who had pledged sobriety. A Yup’ik Eskimo, Williams saw firsthand how alcohol could devastate people as surely as if they had contracted a deadly flu: each of his brothers had succumbed to alcohol-related accidents, incidents, or illnesses. Williams describes how he recovered from his dependence on alcohol through religion, loved ones, and racing dogs. For many years Williams carried those sobriety pledges in his sled, focusing attention on a troubling, seemingly intractable problem. Williams gained national attention, being profiled by CNN, Sports Illustrated, and Good Morning America. Fellow Iditarod competitors have voted him “the most inspirational musher.”
Unlike phone book-type directories on the market, this guide presents a full range of summer activities, from foreign travel, sports camps, and college prep programs to internships, entrepreneurial opportunities, and the perfect summer job.
Insomniac librarian Devin MacKenzie is yanked into a maelstrom of mayhem and mystery by the punctuation-faced crime fighter known as the Answer! Can this unlikely team take on the sinister BRAIN TRUST? A thoroughly original superhero adventure from Mike Norton (Battlepug) and Dennis Hopeless (Avengers Arena, Cable and X-Force). Collects the four-issue miniseries. * Dennis Hopeless (Cable and the X-Force, Avengers Arena) is one of comics' rising stars!
A distinctive and incomparable collection from "Mighty" Mike McGee, the class clown of spoken word and poetry slam's geek champion. This debut includes his most notable performance poems, stories, humorous anecdotes and how-to's. This handbook moves between serious love tomes, like "Open Letter to Neil Armstrong" and "Every Day," to his most irreverent and requested works, like "Puddin'" and "Like." A true road-dog, McGee travels with words and camera, many results of which are captured in this collection. The humor contained in these pages are a campfire on a lonely winter night, the poetry – a reason to shout about love.
Who is Mike Hill? For 49 years, he attempted to answer the question, to no avail. Hill was known to the world as the polished, versatile talent with multi-decade broadcast experience. After joining ESPN in 2004, Hill made a name for himself at the network, beginning at the highlight desk for ESPN News and later transitioning to some of the carrier's highest-priority programming, appearing as a host on SportsCenter, NFL Live, Baseball Tonight and NBA Tonight among others. In August of 2013, Hill joined FOX Sports. The embodiment of professionalism, Hill appeared to be living the American Dream; however, his private, internal struggles were taking a toll on his ability to live and to love.Eventually, the mounting trauma resulting from childhood memories of witnessing his mother victimized by domestic violence, a lack of proper male tutelage, discovering that his stepfather was a murder for hire, and the demise of two marriages, forced Hill to his breaking point. Amidst a silent cry for help and a quest to heal from within, forced him to pick up his pen to chronicle the most prolific moments of his life.
Sharing great stories from childhood and school experiences, community and church activities, athletic success, and twenty years of professional achievements and failures, Richard addresses challenges that demands proven leadership skills. Understanding the impact, Richard has created what he calls a GPS guide for building successful teams. Richard introduces leadership soft skills to enable coaches, pastors, teachers, entrepreneurs, youth leaders, and managers to develop collective success. With so many distractions around us, FRUSTRATION can easily consume us, thereby, distracting from the objective of leading winning teams. The Mike Method (TMM) translates the FRUSTRATION into actionable solutions. By introducing common "F" words; to include Foundation, Focus, Fundamentals, and Follow Through. The list goes on where the reader can explore these powerful attributes of leadership when faced with a wall of frustration. Richard's writing is authentic. His methodology is based on personal experiences and people survey sampling. To those readers that have a desire to derive improved effectiveness as a leader, this is a must-read GPS guide. The Mike Method simplifies the thinking that grows winning teams!
Do you question if we were created? This isnt the supernatural in Genesis. This is a logical explanation of how we were createdimplications of the design. I question evolution of the parts of complex systems of the body dependent on other systems. I question every cell in the body being able to interpret a three-billion-digit number in a DNA. I get into the logistics of a mechanical impartial judgment and the logistics of a functional heaven and hell. I also go into the per capita exploitation of resources in this finite existence as well as the problems with the modern relationship and sexuality. All these in less than twenty-three thousand words. In the movie A Beautiful Mind, John Nash seeks a governing dynamic his whole career. I found one. It is in this book.
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