Shovel Ready

Since the dirty bomb hit Times Square and the city became a shell of itself, Spademan has become a hitman, not a garbage man. But when he's hired to kill the daughter of a powerful evangelist, his unadorned street life is upended.

The futuristic hardboiled noir that Lauren Beukes calls “sharp as a paper-cut” about a garbage man turned kill-for-hire. Spademan used to be a garbage man. That was before the dirty bomb hit Times Square, before his wife was killed, and before the city became a blown-out shell of its former self. Now he’s a hitman. In a near-future New York City split between those who are wealthy enough to “tap in” to a sophisticated virtual reality, and those who are left to fend for themselves in the ravaged streets, Spademan chose the streets. When his latest client hires him to kill the daughter of a powerful evangelist, he must navigate between these two worlds—the wasteland reality and the slick fantasy—to finish his job, clear his conscience, and make sure he’s not the one who winds up in the ground.

Beginning in March 1933 with the excavation of the Marksville mound site in Louisiana, and throughout the next decade, ordinary citizens labored in New Deal jobs programs and participated in archaeological excavations across the United States. Under the auspices of work relief programs, people were provided the opportunity to explore and document American Indian villages and mounds, important historic places, and homes associated with events and people critical to the foundation of the country.

BOLO Top Read of 2017 PopSugar Best Book of 2017 From the Edgar Award-nominated author of Shovel Ready, a blistering new thriller that Dennis Lehane calls “propulsive and meaningful” For fans of Cormac McCarthy, Jim Thompson, the Coen Brothers, and Lost Imagine a place populated by criminals—people plucked from their lives, with their memories altered, who’ve been granted new identities and a second chance. Welcome to The Blinds, a dusty town in rural Texas populated by misfits who don’t know if they’ve perpetrated a crime or just witnessed one. What’s clear to them is that if they leave, they will end up dead. For eight years, Sheriff Calvin Cooper has kept an uneasy peace—but after a suicide and a murder in quick succession, the town’s residents revolt. Cooper has his own secrets to protect, so when his new deputy starts digging, he needs to keep one step ahead of her—and the mysterious outsiders who threaten to tear the whole place down. The more he learns, the more the hard truth is revealed: The Blinds is no sleepy hideaway. It’s simmering with violence and deception, aching heartbreak and dark betrayals.

Climate change lends itself to both political economy and humor. Vogel argues that mainstream economics fails to recognize the thermodynamic nature of climate change, thereby missing the point of Northern appropriation of the atmospheric sink. The payment Ecuador seeks for not drilling in the Yasuní is equitable and efficient. Heeding the call of Deirdre (formerly Donald) McCloskey that economics needs humor, Vogel has written a scathing critique of economics-as-usual which also entertains.

In 2014, Yacht Club Games released its very first game, Shovel Knight, a joyful 2D platformer that wears its NES influences on its sleeve. This unlikely pastiche of 8-bit inspirations manages to emulate the look, feel, and even the technical limitations of nostalgic titles like Mega Man, Zelda II, and Castlevania III-imbued with a contemporary sense of humor and self-awareness. But how is a fundamentally retro game created in the modern era? And what do the games of the past have to teach today's game designers? Based on extensive original interviews with the entire Yacht Club Games team, writer David L. Craddock unearths the story of five game developers who worked so well together while at WayForward Games that they decided to start their own studio. From the high highs of Shovel Knight's groundbreaking Kickstarter to the low lows of its unexpectedly lengthy development, Boss Fight presents a new master class in how a great game gets made. Get ready to steel your shovel and dig into this fascinating oral history. For Shovelry!

Former vice president Joe Biden has said many things throughout his career where he has put his foot in his mouth, flat-out lied or flip-flopped on his votes, made up false stories, plagiarized, and said racist comments. Things have not changed for “Sleepy Joe” since he decided to run for president in 2020. During his run on the 2020 campaign trail, he’s told people at campaign rallies to “vote for someone else” and has called them “lying, dog-faced pony soldiers.” Throughout this book, you can expect to find some of Biden’s most off-the-wall statements that make him the most embarrassing candidate to ever run for president.

The great American middle class is dying—and not from natural causes. The Murder of the Middle Class exposes the crime and indicts the conspirators, from the Obama administration to their willing accomplices in big business, big media, and big unions—naming names and pointing out their misdeeds. Bestselling author Wayne Allyn Root doesn't just prove the crime and profile the suspects, he provides bold solutions to save American capitalism, the middle class, the GOP . . . and YOU! This middle class warrior gives you the game plan and the weapons to fight back.