Why did God turn Lot's wife into a pillar of salt? Were there no other seasonings available? Why don't we know anything about the early years of Jesus? Did someone lose his baby book? Who reported the desert encounter between Jesus and Satan? Jesus-or Satan? And why does the Holy Spirit like to show up as a bird? As irreverent as the musical The Book of Mormon, Dr. Joe Wenke's YOU GOT TO BE KIDDING: A Radical Satire of The Bible is an engaging, provocative and hilarious investigation into the bestselling book of all time. Written to "cause trouble" cultural arsonist Dr. Wenke, a keen observer of human gullibility, tempts readers to more closely examine the stories they think they know about the Bible. Drawing upon the same pool of incendiary and cerebral humor as Bill Maher, Jon Stewart and the late, great George Carlin, YOU GOT TO BE KIDDING is a call for humor to restore our sanity and our ability to think for ourselves. Just as it was written in the Bible-or was it?
Why did God turn Lot's wife into a pillar of salt? Were there no other seasonings available? How come no one noticed when Samson's hair grew back? Who lost Jesus's baby book? If no one was around, just who reported the desert encounter between Jesus and the Devil? And why does the Holy Spirit like to show up as a bird? As irreverent and funny as the musical The Book of Mormon, Dr. Joe Wenke's YOU GOT TO BE KIDDING: THE CULTURAL ARSONIST'S SATIRICAL READING OF THE BIBLE, is an engaging, provocative and hilarious investigation into the bestselling book of all time. Writing to "cause trouble," cultural arsonist Dr. Wenke--a keen observer of human gullibility--forces readers to reexamine the stories they think they know about the Bible. Drawing upon the same pool of incendiary and cerebral humor as Bill Maher, Jon Stewart and the late, great George Carlin, YOU GOT TO BE KIDDING is a call for humor to restore our sanity and our ability to think for ourselves.
Wanda Sykes reduces people to tears -- tears of laughter. She's done so as a stand-up comic, a sitcom star, and a sports commentator for years now, and in the process she's gained a huge fan base nationwide. Now that she's conquered television, she's applying her genius to her first book, Yeah, I Said It. Here, Wanda presents hilarious and uncensored commentary on sex, family, politics, celebrities, and much more than she could ever say in a sound bite. But then again, she's a genius with a sound bite too. Here's what she says about men and football. "I used to think that football took place in this overbearing male-only environment that bled masculine domination. But the more I attend, the more I realize these football fans could actually be experiencing the straight man's gay pride parade. You see men painting each other's faces in bright colors. You see men proud to wear another man's last name on their shirt. You see some men wear no shirt at all....Hot wieners on every corner as you walk up to the main competition. Men open the back of their trunks for a little tailgating." Here's what she says about women: "Women are taking stripper classes in hopes their men will stop going to strip clubs....You can't compete with those strippers....You gotta have...the stripper mentality. In other words, the ability to lie like a dog for a measly buck. A stripper will tell your man anything for a dollar. 'Oow, I thought you were Brad Pitt.' " An uproarious and irreverent collection from one of today's foremost comedic talents, Yeah, I Said It is Wanda Sykes at her uncensored best. Here, she channels her sharp wit into funny bits on the truth as she sees it from the halls of government in Washington, D.C., to the red carpets and boardrooms of Hollywood. Imbued with her razor-sharp voice, these essays showcase Sykes's sidesplitting candor and her trademark brand of comedy.
What is the Trump Bible? Just as President Thomas Jefferson wrote his own version of the Holy Bible, so there appears to be a new version of the Bible that's in accord with the ideology of Donald Trump. That's not to say that Donald Trump wrote the Trump Bible. Who wrote the Trump Bible, then? This book is shrouded in mystery. There is no evidence that Donald Trump wrote the Trump Bible, but then, religion is about faith, not evidence. The manuscript for the Trump Bible was found wrapped in plain brown paper on the sidewalk outside Trump Tower in Manhattan by Peregrin Wood of Irregular Times. He is publishing the book, but does not claim authorship. For legal clarity, we are stating clearly that Donald Trump did not write the Trump Bible, although parts of it seem to be written using his voice, as divine inspiration, perhaps. There are heretics out there who will assert their own beliefs about who wrote the Trump Bible, though. Maybe God Himself wrote it, as a new new testament, inspired by Donald Trump's example. Why not? Are we supposed to take the Trump Bible seriously? Well, are we supposed to take Donald Trump seriously? What's the line between satire and fawning imitation? In these days of alternative facts and fake news, you'll have to decide for yourself. Maybe this book is comedy. Maybe it's tragedy. Certainly it's a postmodern self-referential hippie fest of moral relativity, satirizing satire itself. How can my church join the movement to ban the Trump Bible? Please go to IrregularTimes.com, where you can sign up for the campaign to censor the Trump Bible as a piece of illegal blasphemy. After all, if we can't ban books in the Christian nation of the USA, where can we ban books? How dare you blaspheme our lord and savior? We're not sure if this question refers to Donald Trump or Jesus Christ. But to answer your question - how do we do it - we use a keyboard and the sacred power of the Internet. The Trump Bible may be thought of as an allegorical confrontation of an uncomfortable fact: The majority of Trump voters in 2016 were Christian, and the overwhelming majority of Christian voters in the USA voted for Donald Trump. So, Trumpism and Christianity appear to be blending into something new, a strange, aggressive theocratic chimera the likes of which Americans have never seen before. Straight commentary can only get us so far in an attempt to understand this development. As American Christians appear to be questioning the basic tenets of their religion, a new Bible that reflects their views, and the unique character of Donald Trump as the leader of not only the Republican Party, but also of American Christianity, could move the discussion forward into a more positive... Oh, who are we kidding? Probably, the Trump Bible is only going to add to the polarization at the heart of American culture. C'est la guerre! Onward Christian soldiers, marching off to war!
The author of Publish and Perish returns with a Faustian tale of the horrors of academe Nelson Humbolt is a visiting adjunct English lecturer at prestigious Midwest University, until he is unceremoniously fired one autumn morning. Minutes after the axe falls, his right index finger is severed in a freak accident. Doctors manage to reattach the finger, but when the bandages come off, Nelson realizes that he has acquired a strange power--he can force his will onto others with a touch of his finger. And so he obtains an extension on the lease of his university-owned townhouse and picks up two sections of freshman composition, saving his career from utter ruin. But soon these victories seem inconsequential, and Nelson's finger burns for even greater glory. Now the Midas of academia wonders if he can attain what every struggling assistant professor and visiting lecturer covets--tenure. A pitch-perfect blend of satire and horror, The Lecturer's Tale paints a gruesomely clever portrait of life in academia.
Eleven-year-old Owen Meany, playing in a Little League baseball game in New Hampshire, hits a foul ball and kills his best friend's mother. Owen does not believe in accidents and believes he is God's instrument. What happens to Owen after that 1953 foul is both extraordinary and terrifying.
HE'S BACK AND HE'S FUHRIOUS! "Desperately funny . . . An ingenious comedy of errors." --Janet Maslin, The New York Times "Satire at its best." --Newsweek "Thrillingly transgressive." --The Guardian A NEW YORK TIMES SUMMER READING PICK In this record-breaking bestseller, Timur Vermes imagines what would happen if Adolf Hilter reawakened in present-day Germany: YouTube stardom. Adolf Hitler wakes up on a patch of open ground, alive and well. It's the summer of 2011 and things have changed--no Eva Braun, no Nazi party, no war. Hitler barely recognizes his beloved Fatherland, filled with immigrants and run by a woman. People certainly recognize him--as a flawless impersonator who refuses to break character. The unthinkable happens, and the ranting Hitler goes viral, becomes a YouTube star, gets his own TV show, and people begin to listen. But the Fuhrer has another program with even greater ambition in mind--to set the country he finds in shambles back to rights. With daring humor, Look Who's Back is a perceptive study of the cult of personality and of how individuals rise to fame and power in spite of what they preach.
If you are a woman who deosn't want to know the truth about the men in you life, then put this book down immediately. Don't even think of reading further. But if you are a woman who believes that knowledge is power, that to be forewarned is to be forearmed, then Smith and Doe are here to give you an unvarnished, no-holds-barred, unadulterated first-time look into the mind of male animal. You will learn about their sexual fanatsies (the real ones), the secrets they keep, and the lies they tell when it comes to sex, love, and fidelity, and what they will and will not do to hole on to the women in their lives. But take heed. As Smith and Doe reveal : "Our sexual fantasies are everything you pray they are not. Our deepest desires are darker than your darkest fears. Our wet dreams are your worst nightmares." This is the book men pray women won't read.
Henry Shackleford is a young slave living in the Kansas Territory in 1857, the region a battlefield between anti and pro slavery forces. When John Brown, the legendary abolitionist, arrives in the area, an arguement between Brown and Henry's master quickly turns violent. Henry is forced to leave town with Brown, who believes Henry is a girl. Over the next months, Henry conceals his true identity as he struggles to stay alive. He finds himeself with Brown at the historic raid on Harper's Ferry, one of the catalysts for the civil war.
