Gun, Needle, Spoon
Gun, Needle, Spoon

Author: Patrick O'Neil

Publisher:

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 300

ISBN-13: 9781936873579

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Before his life went totally off the rails, Patrick O'Neil was living the punk rock dream, working at San Francisco's legendary Mabuhay Gardens, going on to become a roadie and then the road manager for such seminal bands as Dead Kennedys, Flipper, Subhumans, and T.S.O.L. But that was before his heroin addiction veered totally out of control. A junkie for eighteen years, O'Neil, the educated son of intellectuals, eventually turned to a life of crime, ending up the ringleader of a group of armed bank robbers, all in an increasingly out-of-control attempt to keep himself and his girlfriend in drugs. Now, after a stint in San Quentin and fourteen years sober, O'Neil takes a look back at the experiences--moving, calamitous, and at times both hilarious and terrifying--that led to his downfall and recovery. Told in sparse prose and graphic detail, Gun, Needle, Spoon examines the long road to redemption and the obstacles along the way, demystifying the "criminal life" so often depicted in film and fiction but seldom written about from the first-hand viewpoint of those who have lived it.

The Disappearing Spoon
The Disappearing Spoon

Author: Sam Kean

Publisher: Little, Brown

Published: 2010-07-12

Total Pages: 333

ISBN-13: 0316089087

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From New York Times bestselling author Sam Kean comes incredible stories of science, history, finance, mythology, the arts, medicine, and more, as told by the Periodic Table. Why did Gandhi hate iodine (I, 53)? How did radium (Ra, 88) nearly ruin Marie Curie's reputation? And why is gallium (Ga, 31) the go-to element for laboratory pranksters? The Periodic Table is a crowning scientific achievement, but it's also a treasure trove of adventure, betrayal, and obsession. These fascinating tales follow every element on the table as they play out their parts in human history, and in the lives of the (frequently) mad scientists who discovered them. The Disappearing Spoon masterfully fuses science with the classic lore of invention, investigation, and discovery -- from the Big Bang through the end of time. Though solid at room temperature, gallium is a moldable metal that melts at 84 degrees Fahrenheit. A classic science prank is to mold gallium spoons, serve them with tea, and watch guests recoil as their utensils disappear.

Smile Now, Cry Later
Smile Now, Cry Later

Author: Freddy Negrete

Publisher: Seven Stories Press

Published: 2017-02-14

Total Pages: 381

ISBN-13: 1609806956

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Pioneering black-and-gray tattoo artist Freddy Negrete was twelve years old and confined in the holding cell of a Los Angeles juvenile facility when an older teenager entered—covered in tattoos. Freddy was in awe, not just of the art, but of what it symbolized, and he wanted what this kid had: the potent sense of empowerment and belonging that came from joining a gang. The encounter drove Freddy to join the notorious gang La Sangra, and it didn't take long before he was a regular guest at LA County's juvenile detention facilities. By the age of twenty-one, Freddy had spent almost his whole life as a ward of the state in one form or the other. Enthralled by the black-and-gray tattoo style that in the 1970s was confined to the rebel culture of Chicano gangsters and criminals, Freddy started inking himself with hand-poked tattoos. Everyone wanted a piece of Freddy's black-and-gray style--gangbangers but also Hollywood starlets and film producers. In a riveting narrative that takes the reader from Freddy's days as a cholo gang member to evangelical preacher to Hollywood body art guru to addiction counselor, Smile Now, Cry Later is, ultimately, a testament to that spark within us all, that catalyst which gives us the strength to survive, transform, and transcend all that can destroy us.

Needle in a Haystack
Needle in a Haystack

Author: Ernesto Mallo

Publisher: ReadHowYouWant.com

Published: 2010-10-29

Total Pages: 214

ISBN-13: 1458721264

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This is not simply a triumph of style; it is both a reflection on a time of bloodshed and a raw vision of human misery. Guillermo Saccomanno, winner of the Argentine National Literature Prize. This man knows. He knows about guns, knows about women...

White Out
White Out

Author: Michael W. Clune

Publisher: Hazelden Publishing

Published: 2013-03-19

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 1616492082

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White Out

Stumptown
Stumptown

Author: Constantine

Publisher: Over the Edge Books

Published: 2017-02-23

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 9781944082314

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"A celebration of life on the streets, shared in gritty dirty glory by those too often ignored and unseen." Lesann Berry "You will come to care about this deeply flawed but charming cast of outsiders - like family." Lesann Berry, author of Passing Judgement, Alternate Endings, and Ambushing the Vigilante You've seen them darting from street corners and nightclub back alleys, the squatters and addicts, the underage strippers who've barely felt their first crush, the hustlers and millennial Cinderellas of the not always velvet underground aching for magic and surrogate connection. Thea Constantine is a Lou Reed for the Pacific Northwest, deep in the thrall of the characters she's set in motion, and in her skillful and weirdly redeeming crosshatch of modern Portland's days and nights, we may also see flashes of who we're busiest avoiding: ourselves. -Alan Rifkin, author of Signal Hill and Burdens by Water "It's been two weeks since I finished Thea Constantine's 'Stumptown, ' and her characters are all still with me. We like being around each other. The place I live is not far from Portland, evidently." Allan MacDonell, author of 'Prisoner of X' and 'Punk Elegies'

Spoonbenders
Spoonbenders

Author: Daryl Gregory

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2017-06-27

Total Pages: 463

ISBN-13: 1524731838

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A NEBULA AWARD FINALIST ONE OF NPR'S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR "Hilarious, heartfelt and brimming with humanity.” —Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, author of The Nest Teddy Telemachus is a charming con man with a gift for sleight of hand and some shady underground associates. In need of cash, he tricks his way into a classified government study about telekinesis and its possible role in intelligence gathering. There he meets Maureen McKinnon, and it’s not just her piercing blue eyes that leave Teddy forever charmed, but her mind—Maureen is a genuine psychic of immense and mysterious power. After a whirlwind courtship, they marry, have three gifted children, and become the Amazing Telemachus Family, performing astounding feats across the country. Irene is a human lie detector. Frankie can move objects with his mind. And Buddy, the youngest, can see the future. Then one night tragedy leaves the family shattered. Decades later, the Telemachuses are not so amazing. Irene is a single mom whose ear for truth makes it hard to hold down a job, much less hold together a relationship. Frankie’s in serious debt to his dad’s old mob associates. Buddy has completely withdrawn into himself and inexplicably begun digging a hole in the backyard. To make matters worse, the CIA has come knocking, looking to see if there’s any magic left in the Telemachus clan. And there is: Irene’s son Matty has just had his first out-of-body experience. But he hasn’t told anyone, even though his newfound talent might just be what his family needs to save themselves—if it doesn’t tear them apart in the process. Harnessing the imaginative powers that have made him a master storyteller, Daryl Gregory delivers a stunning, laugh-out-loud new novel about a family of gifted dreamers and the invisible forces that bind us all.

City on Fire
City on Fire

Author: Garth Risk Hallberg

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2015-10-13

Total Pages: 1109

ISBN-13: 0385353782

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NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A mystery that reverberates through families, friendships, and the corridors of power in New York and "captures the city’s dangerous, magnetic allure" (The New York Times). • Streaming now on Apple TV+ “As close to a great American novel as this century has produced.” —Stephen King New York City, 1976. Meet Regan and William Hamilton-Sweeney, estranged heirs to one of the city’s great fortunes; Keith and Mercer, the men who, for better or worse, love them; Charlie and Samantha, two suburban teenagers seduced by downtown’s punk scene; an obsessive magazine reporter and his idealistic neighbor—and the detective trying to figure out what any of them have to do with a shooting in Central Park on New Year’s Eve. When the blackout of July 13, 1977, plunges this world into darkness, each of these lives will be changed forever. City on Fire is an unforgettable novel about love and betrayal and forgiveness, about art and truth and rock ’n’ roll: about what people need from each other in order to live—and about what makes the living worth doing in the first place.

The Los Angeles Diaries
The Los Angeles Diaries

Author: James Brown

Publisher: Catapult

Published: 2011-03-10

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 1582438730

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Plagued by the suicides of both his siblings, and heir to alcohol and drug abuse, divorce, and economic ruin, James Brown lived a life clouded by addiction, broken promises, and despair. In The Los Angeles Diaries, he reveals his struggle for survival, mining his past to present the inspiring story of his redemption. Beautifully written and limned with dark humor, these twelve deeply confessional, interconnected chapters address personal failure, heartbreak, the trials of writing for Hollywood, and the life–shattering events that finally convinced Brown that he must "change or die." In "Snapshot," Brown is five years old and recalls the night his mother "sets fire to an apartment building down the street." In "Daisy," Brown purchases a Vietnamese potbellied pig for his wife to atone for his sins, only to find the pig's bulk growing in direct proportion to the tensions in his marriage. Harrowing and brutally honest, The Los Angeles Diaries is the chronicle of a man on a collision course with life, who ultimately finds the strength and courage to conquer his demons and believe once more.

Spoon River Anthology
Spoon River Anthology

Author: Edgar Lee Masters

Publisher: Courier Corporation

Published: 2012-03-02

Total Pages: 147

ISBN-13: 0486112101

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DIVAn American poetry classic, in which former citizens of a mythical midwestern town speak touchingly from the grave of the thwarted hopes and dreams of their lives. /div