One team of daredevils is planning the ultimate death stunt finale in this novel by a “superlative storyteller” (Publishers Weekly). A team of professional stunt performers are likely to lose their livelihoods as a new law goes into effect, severely limiting their ability to take the risks that have made them who they are. In the meantime, they have a plan to mark a spectacular end to their careers—and possibly their lives—in this action-packed thriller by an Edgar Award–winning author.
The classic no-holds-barred memoir from Hollywood's most legendary stuntman -- an inspiration for Brad Pitt's character Cliff Booth in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood -- is "full of incredible stories as told by a real man of action" (Arnold Schwarzenegger). Yep that's me, Hal Needham, on the cover doing a fire stunt. When you're on fire you don't dare breathe because if you do, you'll suck those flames right down your throat. I was Hollywood's highest paid stuntman so I should know. I wrecked hundreds of cars, fell from tall buildings, got blown up, was dragged by horses, and along the way broke 56 bones, my back twice, punctured a lung and knocked out a few teeth...I hung upside down by my ankles under a bi-plane in The Spirit of St. Louis, jumped between galloping horses in Little Big Man, set a world record for a boat stunt on Gator, jumped a rocket powered pick-up truck across a canal for a GM commercial, was the first human to test the car airbag-and taught John Wayne how to really throw a movie punch. Life also got exciting outside of the movie business. I had my Ferrari stolen right from under my nose, flew in a twin-engine Cessna with a passed out pilot, rescued the cast and crew from a Russian invasion in Czechoslovakia, and once took six flight attendants on a date. I owned the Skoal-Bandit NASCAR race team, the sound-barrier breaking Budweiser Rocket Car and drove a souped-up, fake ambulance in a "little" cross-country race called The Cannonball Run, which became the movie I directed by the same name. Oh yeah, I also directed Smokey and the Bandit, Hooper and several other action/comedy movies that I liked a bunch. I was a sharecropper's son from the hills of Arkansas who became a Hollywood stuntman. That journey was a tough row to hoe. I continually risked my life but that was the career I chose. I was never late to the set and did whatever I had to do to get the job done. Hollywood's not all sunglasses and autographs. Let me tell you a few stories...
You may not know it, but you've seen Vic Armstrong's work in countless movies. From performing stunts in the James Bond movie You Only Live Twice to directing the actions scenes for recent blockbusters The Green Hornet and Thor, the Academy Award-winning Vic Armstrong has been a legend in the movie industry for over 40 years. Along the way he's been the stunt double for a whole host of iconic heroes, including 007, Superman, and most memorably, Indiana Jones - as Harrison Ford once joked to him, "If you learn to talk I'm in deep trouble." As a stunt co-ordinator and second unit director, Vic is behind the creation of such movies as Total Recall, The Mission, Dune, Rambo III, Terminator 2, Charlie's Angels, Gangs of New York, War of the Worlds, I Am Legend and Mission: Impossible III, to name but a few, as well as several Bond films. He's got a lot of amazing stories to tell, and they're all here in this hugely entertaining movie memoir, which also features exclusive contributions from many of Vic's colleagues and friends, including Harrison Ford, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, Pierce Brosnan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Angelina Jolie, Kenneth Branagh and Sir Christopher Lee. With an introduction by Steven Spielberg, and over 100 previously unpublished on-set photos from Vic's own collection.
The Independent Directing Bible that will fit in your back pocket! (If you have an extremely large pocket ...) Have you always wanted to direct a movie, but don't know how to start? Want to know how to get your first directing job? What do directors even do, anyway? Legendary director Lloyd Kaufman, creator of The Toxic Avenger, reveals 40 years worth of maverick cinematic know-how! Direct Your Own Damn Movie! will be your step-by-step roadmap on the journey through: * Scriptwriting * Pre-production * Casting * Managing your set * Post-production * Distribution Master the art of directing the easy way! There is no better way to become a director than by following the instruction and wisdom of an actual successful film director, not someone who just talks about it. Featuring expert advice from: Eli Roth (Grindhouse, Hostel) Jenna Fischer (LolliLove) Stan Lee (co-writer Spider-Man, Fantastic Four) Ron Jeremy (credits cannot be printed here) Stuart Gordon (Re-Animator) James Gunn (Dawn of the Dead, Slither) ... and many more! WARNING! Do not read this book if you suffer from motion sickness, or are about to operate heavy machinery. This book is not for the faint of heart, the good of taste, or those who might be pregnant. * There's more to directing than a cool-looking chair. Renegade director Lloyd Kaufman reveals all! * Includes interviews with a host of luminaries on mistakes and disasters from their early film careers * Learn the ten directing commandments of Lloyd Kaufman, plus the all-important 11th: forget the first 10 and direct your own damn movie!
A gritty, action-packed novel about a World War II suicide mission that goes sideways from a “superlative storyteller” (Publishers Weekly). In the midst of World War II, a Japanese submarine base must be destroyed. But someone needs to draw enemy fire while the goal is accomplished and the task would be a suicide mission. Only a certain kind of soldier can handle a job this risky. Now, six men have been chosen to serve as decoys, and a seventh has agreed to lead them. But none of them truly understands just what they are getting into—and will soon be desperate to get out of—in this harrowing tale by an author who has won or been nominated for more than half a dozen major awards. “The reader will find himself completely engrossed.” —Best Sellers
Edgar Award Finalist: The true story of a string of brutal crimes committed in the name of religious fanaticism and racial hatred in 1970s San Francisco. In the early 1970s, a small band of well-dressed, clean-cut African American men began terrorizing the residents of San Francisco with guns and machetes. Their victims ranged from a teenage Salvation Army cadet to a middle-aged Jordanian grocer to an eighty-one-year-old janitor. The streets became deserted and tourism plunged. It took months before the culprits could be identified, with the help of an informer. They were members of a Black Muslim cult aspiring to earn the title “Death Angel” by slaughtering white victims. Combining history and dramatic recreations, this is the “repellent but riveting” in-depth story of a horrifying killing spree and the fanatical hatred that drove it—and the SFPD’s desperate quest to take the culprits down (Kirkus Reviews). “[Clark Howard’s] pounding narrative meticulously describes the so-called Zebra killings of 1973–74, when 23 white San Franciscans were murdered or maimed by a group of Black Muslim extremists. In the retelling, the cold jargon of police files leaps starkly to life.” —Time
Edgar Award Finalist: The story of the infamous escape attempt and bloody siege at Alcatraz. In 1946, six men attempted to break out of Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, a maximum-security prison on an island off the coast of San Francisco. Their bloody siege lasted two days, and ended with five dead and fifteen wounded—plus two of the perpetrators executed for their role in the endeavor. In Six Against the Rock—the basis for a TV movie—an award-winning crime writer tells the story of this notorious event and the inmates who were involved, supplemented with vivid dramatic recreations that place the reader in the center of the conflict. “The personal clash between Coy and Cretzer over leadership of the desperate little band provides much of the suspense; Alcatraz itself, that logistical marvel of a fortress, provides the rest. And for a backdrop there are two platoons of Marines firing bazookas as well as something of the grim history of that most forbidding prison.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review
From Michael Buckley, the bestselling author of the Sisters Grimm and NERDS series, and Dan Santat, author-illustrator of Sidekicks, comes this hilarious picture book starring Kel Gilligan (a.k.a. “The Boy Without Fear”) that encourages kids to laugh at their fears and celebrates the bravery it takes to try new things no matter how ordinary. Narrated by Kel himself as he attempts his “stunts” with Evel Knievel–like flair, the story unfolds as a performance in which readers themselves become part of the audience, encouraging Kel to get dressed all by himself (without a net!), eat new foods like broccoli (eww!), and take a bath (gasp!). Bold, interactive, and downright silly, this is a book to make kids cheer and attempt some “stunts” of their own.
Gritty, suspenseful short fiction about criminals and other characters on the edge from an Edgar Award–winning author. “Not all Howard’s heroes are ex-cons, but they might as well be. They’ve all been around the block, made more than their share of mistakes, and taken their lumps, usually without complaint. A hit man who refuses a commission goes into hiding, afraid that everybody who looks twice at him may be carrying a bullet with his name on it. A Vietnam veteran plots revenge on the commanding officer who sent his troops into a cloud of Agent Orange; a ward of hospitalized WWII soldiers schemes to find the whereabouts of the lost love of one of their mates before he dies. A has-been boxer trains for a big bout without realizing he’s been set up; a New Orleans clarinet player skips around town one step ahead of a creditor’s enforcers long enough to audition for the Jazz Hall of Fame. . . . In every case, there’s no mystery about who’s guilty . . . but only about whether Howard’s protagonists will succeed in their fatal plots, get rescued from their own worst nature, or, in the trickiest of these nine stories, succeed but fail anyway.” —Kirkus Reviews
The cinema and aviation developed alongside each other, and were both products of the technology and imagination of the early 20th century. This book examines the ways in which aeroplanes and flying have been portrayed in the many different genres within popular cinema, from Hollywood epics to comedy spoofs to modern tragedies. It covers over 500 American and British films, including, The Dambusters, The High and the Mighty, Airplane, Top Gun and The Shadowmakers.
