Captain Fantastic

The true story of Elton John’s meteoric rise from obscurity to worldwide celebrity in the weird, wild 1970s, based on rare one-on-one interviews with the Rocket Man himself—now the subject of a major motion picture. In August 1970, Elton John achieved overnight fame with a rousing performance at the Troubadour in Los Angeles. Over the next five years, the artist formerly known as Reginald Dwight went from unheard of to unstoppable, scoring seven consecutive #1 albums and sixteen Top Ten singles in America. By the middle of the decade, he was solely responsible for 2 percent of global record sales. One in fifty albums sold in the world bore his name. Elton John’s live shows became raucous theatrical extravaganzas, attended by all the glitterati of the era. But beneath the spangled bodysuits and oversized eyeglasses, Elton was a desperately shy man, conflicted about his success, his sexuality, and his narcotic indulgences. In 1975, at the height of his fame, he attempted suicide. After coming out as bisexual in a controversial Rolling Stone interview that nearly wrecked his career, and announcing his retirement from live performance in 1977 at the age of thirty, he gradually found his way back to the thing he cared about most: the music. Captain Fantastic gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at the rise, fall, and return to glory of one of the world’s most mercurial performers. Rock journalist Tom Doyle’s insider account of the Rocket Man’s turbulent ascent is based on a series of one-on-one interviews in which Elton laid bare many previously unrevealed details of his early career. Here is an intimate exploration of Elton’s working relationship with songwriting partner Bernie Taupin, whose lyrics often chronicled the ups and downs of their life together in the spotlight. Through these pages pass a parade of legends whose paths crossed with Elton’s during the decade—including John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Groucho Marx, Katharine Hepburn, Princess Margaret, Elvis Presley, and an acid-damaged Brian Wilson. A fascinating portrait of the artist at the apex of his celebrity, Captain Fantastic takes us on a rollicking fame-and-drug-fueled ride aboard Elton John’s rocket ship to superstardom. Praise for Captain Fantastic “Veteran rock journalist [Tom] Doyle continues his foray into the 1970s music scene with a compelling profile of an unlikely rock star. . . . In chronicling Elton John’s stratospheric rise to fame, replete with platinum records, increasingly outlandish stage shows, and mountains of cash, the author deftly manages to keep his subject in sharp focus. Based on hours of one-on-one interviews with Captain Fantastic himself, this breezy yet comprehensive biography demonstrates what it was like for the talented musician to churn out an impossible string of hit records. . . . A great way to better understand the man behind the garish glasses and platform boots.”—Kirkus Reviews “In this adoring and candid set of fan’s notes, music journalist Doyle (Man on the Run) draws on interviews with John and his colleagues, especially his writing partner, Bernie Taupin, to capture the meteoric rise and fall of the man who released at least one album every year of the 1970s. . . . This energetic book . . . makes a convincing case that John reached his peak and made his best music in the ’70s.”—Publishers Weekly “A breezy and surprisingly poignant romp through a decade, and a career, that effectively invented modern celebrity culture.”—Peter Doggett, author of You Never Give Me Your Money: The Beatles After the Breakup

The remarkable life, career, and faith journey of Gavin MacLeod, the beloved star of The Love Boat and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. For 16 years, millions of Americans welcomed Gavin MacLeod into their living rooms every Saturday night. This veteran of stage and screen transformed himself from a seasoned character actor into the leading, lovable father-figure of Captain Merrill Stubing in The Love Boat at the height of TV’s boom years. From his humble theatrical beginnings in upstate New York to Radio City Music Hall and on to Hollywood, Gavin MacLeod was on the fast track to success. However, a few hard life lessons—like dealing with a divorce—taught him that the key to happiness can only be found through a deep faith in God, and he feels his work for Christ is more important than any award. The consummate storyteller, Gavin shares his fondest memories of meeting and working with countless stars, such as Cary Grant, Steve McQueen, Gregory Peck, Bette Davis, Frank Sinatra, Ethel Merman, Ella Fitzgerald, Ronald Reagan, Milton Berle, and Fred Astaire. In This Is Your Captain Speaking, Gavin shares: Behind-the-scenes accounts from the early days of New York theatre, TV shows, and Hollywood Personal stories never shared before on the death of his father, struggles with depression, and his painful divorce How he found an enduring faith in the hostile world of entertainment, calling on God and never giving up A nostalgic look back at the golden era of American television, This is Your Captain Speaking will take readers on an uplifting and inspiring journey into the life of one of TV’s most beloved actors. Praise for This Is Your Captain Speaking: “Gavin epitomizes the old-fashioned concept of a gentleman. He is a loving, generous, and authentic seeker of God’s truth. His life story speaks for itself.”—Kathie Lee Gifford

In this “wild mash-up of Raymond Chandler, Philip K. Dick, and William S. Burroughs”*, a man who uses virtual reality to escape the horror of his dystopian world becomes obsessed with a mystery that could drive him mad. Pittsburgh is John Dominic Blaxton’s home even though the city has been uninhabitable ruin and ash for the past decade. The Pittsburgh Dominic lives in is the Archive, an immersive virtual reconstruction of the city’s buildings, parks, and landmarks, as well as the people who once lived there. Including Dominic’s wife and unborn child. When he’s not reliving every recorded moment with his wife in an endless cycle of desperation and despair, Dominic investigates mysterious deaths preserved in the Archive before Pittsburgh’s destruction. His latest cold case is the apparent murder of a woman whose every appearance is deliberately being deleted from the Archive. Obsessed with uncovering this woman’s identity and what happened to her, Dominic follows a trail from the virtual world into reality. But finding the truth buried deep within an illusion means risking his sanity and his very existence... “Tomorrow and Tomorrow is many things: a near-future cyberpunk thriller in the tradition of William Gibson and Bruce Sterling; a funny, gloomy meditation on technology and mental illness in the tradition of Phillip K. Dick and J.G. Ballard; a cynically outrageous mystery less in the tradition of Chandler than that of James Ellroy. A bleak, gorgeous romp through a pornographic and political American id. If books like this are the future of fiction, I'm not afraid for books at all.”—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette *Stewart O'Nan

A New York Times bestseller imagines the life of Jules Verne in this “rollicking whopper of a novel [that] glides down smoothly” (Publishers Weekly). Captain Nemo is the fictional life story of one of Jules Verne’s most memorable characters from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and The Mysterious Island. This alternate history covers his boyhood friendship with the dreamer, Jules Verne, adventures aboard sailing ships, battles with pirates, and survival on a mysterious deserted island. Each time he returns home to his beloved France, Captain Nemo shares the tales of his exploits with the struggling writer Verne. We follow Nemo’s exploration of hidden caverns that lead to the center of the earth, travels across darkest Africa in a hydrogen balloon, and his imprisonment by an evil Ottoman caliph who commands the dark genius to construct a sub-marine boat, the Nautilus, in order to attack merchant ships that venture through the newly completed Suez Canal. “K. J. Anderson seamlessly blends events of Jules Verne’s real life with the plotlines of his fictional works. His portrayal of Verne is masterful: a man able to break free from the circumstances that stifle him through his vivid imagination and the inspiration provided by his lifelong friend, Nemo.” —Harry Turtledove, New York Times–bestselling author of The Guns of the South “A swashbuckling mix of Jules Verne, Daniel DeFoe, and Michael Crichton.” —Terry Brooks, New York Times–bestselling author of The Sword of Shannara

This is the story of Roy Keane, the skipper of the richest football club inhe world - Manchester United. Since Alex Ferguson paid #2.7million to signim from Nottingham Forest, the midfield dynamo has been the on-field drivingorce behind United's continuing domination of English football.;In thisiography, Hildred and Ewbank show just what makes one Roy Keane tick. Theypeak to his family and friends, and with the verve of fans and true experts,ncover the inside story of the football, big money and the men who make itappen.

An exciting football series, following the adventures of United's under-twelves side. Since Ryan Flynn got into trouble for bullying, he's been determined to pull his socks up and be the best captain United's ever had. So when team-mate Craig causes problems on - and off - the pitch, Ryan knows he must get to the bottom of it or he'll lose a talented player. But Craig's worries are much bigger than Ryan realized - can he help Craig and stop him from being shown the red card?

By 1976, Elton John was the best-selling recording artist and the highest-grossing touring act in the world. With seven #1 albums in a row and a reputation as a riveting piano-pounding performer, the former Reggie Dwight had gone with dazzling speed from the London suburbs to the pinnacles of rock stardom, his songs never leaving the charts, his sold-out shows packed with adoring fans. Then he released Blue Moves, and it all came crashing down. Was the commercially disappointing and poorly reviewed double album to blame? Can one album shoot down a star? No, argues Matthew Restall; Blue Moves is a four-sided masterpiece, as fantastic as Captain Fantastic, as colorful as Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, a showcase for the three elements--piano-playing troubadour, full orchestra, rock band--with which Elton John and his collaborators redirected the evolution of popular music. Instead, both album and career were derailed by a perfect storm of circumstances: Elton's decisions to stop touring and start his own label; the turbulent shiftings of popular culture in the punk era; the minefield of attitudes toward celebrity and sexuality. The closer we get to Blue Moves, the better we understand the world into which it was born--and vice versa. Might that be true of all albums?