It S Only A Play

THE STORY: It's the opening night of The Golden Egg on Broadway, and the wealthy producer (Julia Budder) is throwing a lavish party in her lavish Manhattan townhouse. Downstairs the celebrities are pouring in, but the real action is upstairs

This is the absolutely guaranteed 100% mostly true story of Terry Bradshaw: the man who gained sports immortality as the first quarterback to win four Super Bowls -- and the man who later became America's most popular sports broadcaster. IT'S ONLY A GAME "I had a real job once," begins a memoir as honest, unexpected, and downright hysterical as Bradshaw himself. From his humble beginnings in Shreveport, Louisiana, to his success as the centerpiece of the highest-rated football studio show in television history, Terry has always understood the importance of hard work. A veritable jack-of-all-trades, he has probably held more jobs than any other football Hall of Famer ever: pipeline worker, youth minister, professional singer, actor, television and radio talk show host, and now one of the nation's most popular speakers. But let's not forget one of the reasons why so many people know and love Terry Bradshaw: he won four Super Bowls! In It's Only A Game, Terry brings the reader right into the huddle and describes the game from the bottom of a two-ton pile to the top of the sports world. You'll sit right on the fifty-yard line and watch as Terry earns the title world's greatest benchwarmer. And you'll also hear about the single greatest play in pro football -- the Immaculate Reception -- as he never saw it. It's Only A Game is much more than a collection of Terry Bradshaw's favorite and funniest stories, it is the personal account of a great man's search for life before and after football...as only Terry could tell it.

Legendary player and teacher Jackie Burke is the preeminent elder statesman of American golf. A PGA Champion, a Masters Champion, a Vardon Trophy winner, and a PGA Player of the Year, he won four consecutive tournaments in 1952; and is a winner of seventeen events on the PGA Tour, a five-time Ryder Cup member (twice as captain), and a member of the PGA, Texas Golf, and World Golf Halls of Fame. Before leaving the PGA Tour he cofounded (with Jimmy Demaret) the world-famous Champions Golf Club (host of the Ryder Cup, U.S. Amateur, and five PGA Tour Championships) and has instructed students including Phil Mickelson, Hal Sutton, Steve Elkington, Ben Crenshaw, and many other PGA Tour pros in a career that has spanned seven decades. Reverberating with the straight-talking Texas wisdom that could only come from Jackie Burke, It’s Only a Game will bring the words of this venerable sage to everyone who loves the links. Spiced with anecdotes from a long and illustrious career, this stirring book features pithy insights on the nature of competition and the erosion of amateur play. Burke goes on the record about profit-minded equipment manufacturers and self-promoting golf gurus. His provocative topics include insight into why the 2004 U.S. Ryder Cup team suffered its worst defeat ever (Burke was a cocaptain), the alarmingly high cost of playing public and resort courses, country clubs that stress cosmetic appearances over the playing of the game, and a host of other topics. He also provides no-nonsense, time-tested secrets for improving anyone’s golf game, based not on shallow “tips” but on a well-rounded, sensible approach to the game that he began developing before the Great Depression.

It’s not just a game for interim manager Bo Fromhart who pits a career of frustration against a boss whose career dream hinges on his failure. Paul Dirkson, general manager of the new New Orleans Pelicans can take over the business empire of his father-in-law and team owner if he can unload a huge gambling debt by somehow manipulatating anything but a top finish for the Pelicans in their division. It appears a no-brainer. The team lost 101 games the previous year, but Dirkson is forced into desperate moves when Bo comes up with new talent and a resurgence of some old pros.

"Mabel, the fanciest and sassiest dog the Hamptons has ever seen, causes all sorts of chaos for her parents with her naughty hijinx"--

THE STORY: The title character (who remains unseen) is the equine star of television's longest-running and most popular show, in which he is partnered with The Lush Thrushes, a cowboy troupe whose members bear the names of the various brands of booze they guzzle so copiously. The group makes a rare live appearance at the Houston Astrodome, only to flop disastrously, and then retreats to their hotel where each member then reveals his (or her) innermost thoughts in hilarious detail. When the hotel catches fire they are too far gone to notice, and the epilogue finds them all in heaven-dressed in white western finery, and lamenting the fact that Whiskey, who miraculously survived the inferno, is about to become the star of a new series.

From the bestselling author of Tides of Honour and Promises to Keep comes a poignant novel about a young couple caught on opposite sides of the Second World War. In the fall of 1939, Grace Baker’s three brothers, sharp and proud in their uniforms, board Canadian ships headed for a faraway war. Grace stays behind, tending to the homefront and the general store that helps keep her small Nova Scotian community running. The war, everyone says, will be over before it starts. But three years later, the fighting rages on and rumours swirl about “wolf packs” of German U-Boats lurking in the deep waters along the shores of East Jeddore, a stone’s throw from Grace’s window. As the harsh realities of war come closer to home, Grace buries herself in her work at the store. Then, one day, a handsome stranger ventures into the store. He claims to be a trapper come from away, and as Grace gets to know him, she becomes enamoured by his gentle smile and thoughtful ways. But after several weeks, she discovers that Rudi, her mysterious visitor, is not the lonely outsider he appears to be. He is someone else entirely—someone not to be trusted. When a shocking truth about her family forces Grace to question everything she has so strongly believed, she realizes that she and Rudi have more in common than she had thought. And if Grace is to have a chance at love, she must not only choose a side, but take a stand. Come from Away is a mesmerizing story of love, shifting allegiances, and second chances, set against the tumultuous years of the Second World War.

THE STORY: A gay community in Fire Island provides an unlikely setting for two straight couples who are discovered lounging poolside, staring out to sea. Sally, married to Sam, a New Jersey contractor, has inherited the house from her brother who died of