Straight To Hell

The hilarious New York Times bestseller “sharply observes the lives of globe-trotting, overindulging investment bankers” (Entertainment Weekly). “Some chick asked me what I would do with 10 million bucks. I told her I’d wonder where the rest of my money went.” —@GSElevator For three years, the notorious @GSElevator Twitter feed offered a hilarious, shamelessly voyeuristic look into the real world of international finance. Hundreds of thousands followed the account, Goldman Sachs launched an internal investigation, and when the true identity of the man behind it all was revealed, it created a national media sensation—but that’s only part of the story. Where @GSElevator captured the essence of the banking elite with curated jokes and submissions overheard by readers, Straight to Hell adds John LeFevre’s own story—an unapologetic and darkly funny account of a career as a globe-conquering investment banker spanning New York, London, and Hong Kong. Straight to Hell pulls back the curtain on a world that is both hated and envied, taking readers from the trading floors and roadshows to private planes and after-hours overindulgence. Full of shocking lawlessness, boyish antics, and win-at-all-costs schemes, this is the definitive take on the deviant, dysfunctional, and absolutely excessive world of finance. “Shocking and sordid—and so much fun.” —Daily News (New York) “LeFevre’s workplace anecdotes include tales of nastiness, sabotage, favoritism, sexism, racism, expense-account padding, and legally questionable collusion.” —The New Yorker

Boyd McDonald (1925-1993) had the makings of a successful career in the 1950s--an education at Harvard, jobs at Time/Life and IBM--but things didn't turn out as planned. Containing in-depth interviews with friends and family members and a wealth of previously unpublished material, True Homosexual Experiences: Boyd McDonald and Straight to Hell is the first book devoted to this key figure of the American underground.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A former Galleon Group trader portrays an after-hours Wall Street culture where drugs and sex are rampant and billions in trading commissions flow to those who dangle the most enticements. A remarkable writing debut, filled with indelible moments, The Buy Side shows as no book ever has the rewards—and dizzying temptations—of making a living on the Street. Growing up in the 1980’s Turney Duff was your average kid from Kennebunk, Maine, eager to expand his horizons. After trying – and failing – to land a job as a journalist, he secured a trainee position at Morgan Stanley and got his first feel for the pecking order that exists in the trading pits. Those on the “buy side,” the traders who make large bets on whether a stock will rise or fall, are the “alphas” and those on the “sell side,” the brokers who handle their business, are eager to please. How eager to please was brought home stunningly to Turney in 1999 when he arrived at the Galleon Group, a colossal hedge-fund management firm run by secretive founder Raj Rajaratnam. Finally in a position to trade on his own, Turney was encouraged to socialize with the sell side and siphon from his new broker friends as much information as possible. Soon he was not just vacuuming up valuable tips but also being lured into a variety of hedonistic pursuits. Naïve enough to believe he could keep up the lifestyle without paying a price, he managed to keep an eye on his buy-and-sell charts and, meanwhile, pondered the strange goings on at Galleon, where tens of millions were being made each week in sometimes mysterious ways. At his next positions, at Argus Partners and J.L. Berkowitz, Turney climbed to even higher heights – and, as it turned out, plummeted to even lower depths – as, by day, he solidified his reputation one of the Street’s most powerful healthcare traders, and by night, he blazed a path through the city’s nightclubs, showing off his social genius and voraciously inhaling any drug that would fill the void he felt inside. A mesmerizingly immersive journey through Wall Street’s first millennial decade, and a poignant self portrait by a young man who surely would have destroyed himself were it not for his decision to walk away from a seven-figure annual income, The Buy Side is one of the best coming-of-age-on-the-Street books ever written.

40 years ago as a Graduate student I wrote a book about Spaghetti Westerns, called 10,000 Ways to Die. It's an embarrassing tome when I look at it now: full of half-assed semiotics and other attenuated academic nonsense. In the intervening period, I have had the interesting experience of being a film director. So now, when I watch these films, I'm looking at them from a different perspective. A professional perspective maybe...I'm thinking about what the filmmakers intended, how they did that shot, how the director felt when his film was recut by the studio and he was creatively and financially screwed. 10,000 Ways to Die is an entirely new book about an under-studied subject, the Spaghetti Western, from a director's POV. Not only have these films stood the test of time; some of them are very high art. - Alex Cox

Lord: One thing I won't tolerate is a rat. When anyone on my payroll screws me over, I enjoy making an example of them. It was no different when I caught my accountant selling club secrets to my enemies-I made him suffer.The rat had a daughter, and it was only fitting to wipe out the bastard's bloodline. When I had Ally Prixman at my mercy, things didn't go according to plan. There was something captivating about the curvy blonde, and I couldn't pull the trigger. Instead, I offered to keep her as a plaything. She'd fulfill all my sexual fantasies until I bored of her, then she could have her freedom. Ally had no choice but to agree. And I didn't expect to keep her for long. Ally: He killed my estranged father and wanted me dead. For some reason he decided to have mercy on me, although I'm not so sure being Lord's sex toy is much better than death. He's the leader of the Straight to Hell MC and known for his brutality. Surely he won't have mercy on me for being a virgin.I'm mad at myself for not hating my situation more, but I'm impossibly attracted to Lord. His scars and tattoos don't scare me, and it doesn't take long for me to fall for the biker. I have to remind myself I'm only a temporary part of the club. Lord's only using me up until he spits me out. Some men just aren't capable of love.

God has blessed me to see the world for what it really is. Asking questions for which I already have the answer. Your opinions do matter. It’s up to you to ask questions, instead of going with the popular crowd. You are the captain of your brain, correct. Never be misled by anyone or anything.

How can something so wrong feel so good? Callie tries to look at the positive side of life-despite her dire circumstances. She's the underdog, stepped on by her boss, her landlord, and her own family. When a new customer shows interest in her at work, it's impossible to resist his charm. Their budding romance becomes her only joy in life, but when she finds out he's keeping dark secrets, Callie wonders if she really knows him at all. Brick knows he screwed up by hiding the truth from Callie. It just felt so damn good to be looked at with affection rather than fear, and he soon became addicted to the rush. Once he starts falling hard for her, he can't bring himself to tell her he's the VP of the Straight to Hell MC. Brick can't risk losing her. But how long can he go on living a lie? With a rival club rebuilding and a rat in their midst, Brick wonders if it's even safe bringing Callie into his world at all.

The first three chaotic years of Blinky and Sal all in one book. Here be a land inhabited by anxious bats, mustachioed hole-dwelling cynics, mouth-breathing religious zealots, mad scientists, gluttonous beavers, depressed narwhals, and capricious imaginary deities. Blinky and Sal is comic series for absurdists, in the truest sense.