FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION In the nine expansive, searching stories of A Lucky Man, fathers and sons attempt to salvage relationships with friends and family members and confront mistakes made in the past. An imaginative young boy from the Bronx goes swimming with his group from day camp at a backyard pool in the suburbs, and faces the effects of power and privilege in ways he can barely grasp. A teen intent on proving himself a man through the all-night revel of J’Ouvert can’t help but look out for his impressionable younger brother. A pair of college boys on the prowl follow two girls home from a party and have to own the uncomfortable truth of their desires. And at a capoeira conference, two brothers grapple with how to tell the story of their family, caught in the dance of their painful, fractured history. Jamel Brinkley’s stories, in a debut that announces the arrival of a significant new voice, reflect the tenderness and vulnerability of black men and boys whose hopes sometimes betray them, especially in a world shaped by race, gender, and class—where luck may be the greatest fiction of all.

A funny, highly personal, gorgeously written account of what it's like to be a 30-year-old man who is told he has an 80-year-old's disease. "Life is great. Sometimes, though, you just have to put up with a little more crap." -- Michael J. Fox In September 1998, Michael J. Fox stunned the world by announcing he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease -- a degenerative neurological condition. In fact, he had been secretly fighting it for seven years. The worldwide response was staggering. Fortunately, he had accepted the diagnosis and by the time the public started grieving for him, he had stopped grieving for himself. Now, with the same passion, humor, and energy that Fox has invested in his dozens of performances over the last 18 years, he tells the story of his life, his career, and his campaign to find a cure for Parkinson's. Combining his trademark ironic sensibility and keen sense of the absurd, he recounts his life -- from his childhood in a small town in western Canada to his meteoric rise in film and television which made him a worldwide celebrity. Most importantly however, he writes of the last 10 years, during which--with the unswerving support of his wife, family, and friends -- he has dealt with his illness. He talks about what Parkinson's has given him: the chance to appreciate a wonderful life and career, and the opportunity to help search for a cure and spread public awareness of the disease. He is a very lucky man, indeed. The Michael J. Fox Foundation Michael J. Fox is donating the profits from his book to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, which is dedicated to fast-forwarding the cure for Parkinson's disease. The Foundation will move aggressively to identify the most promising research and raise the funds to assure that a cure is found for the millions of people living with this disorder. The Foundation's web site, MichaelJFox.org, carries the latest pertinent information about Parkinson's disease, including: A detailed description of Parkinson's disease How you can help find the cure Public Services Announcements that are aired on network and cable television stations across the country to increase awareness Upcoming related Parkinson's disease events and meetings Updates on recent research and developments

When his marriage starts to fail, a probation officer becomes recklessly infatuated with the pretty, beleaguered wife of a parolee who has a young child. His own confusion endangers them, as well as a nephew under his care, in this novel of a man's headlong--and just possibly redemptive--leap into chaos.

Lucky Man: A Life Lived One Shot at a Time is a memoir by Captain Stephen Luckey, an expert marksman, Marine fighter pilot, commercial airline pioneer, and aviation security expert. Over the course of Luckey's remarkable life, he served as a sniper, an FBI-trained operative, and as the Security Chair of the Airline Pilots Association where he helped form national security policy in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks. The book chronicles life and death experiences from his Pennsylvania childhood, his founding of the Kit Carson Scout program in the Vietnam War, his encounters with airline hijackers, and his work combatting international terrorism, all told with marksman-like deadpan humor. From the book's introduction: "I have survived firefights, assassination attempts, and mid-air collisions. I have looked into the eyes of skyjackers while they held innocent people hostage. I have spent more time than is natural in the presence of death. When my country called on the leadership of a gun-wielding, bare-knuckled, seat-of-the-pants pilot from the backwoods of Pennsylvania to help guide the war on terrorism, I was proud to answer the call."

Greg Lake first won acclaim as lead vocalist, bass guitarist and producer when, together with Robert Fripp, he formed King Crimson. Their first album, the landmark 'In the Court of the Crimson King', co-produced by Greg, featured the iconic song '21st Century Schizoid Man'. King Crimson pioneered progressive rock and paved the way for many famous bands that followed, from Yes and Genesis to the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. 'Lucky Man' not only charts the highs and lows of a career in rock music but also reflects on the death of Keith Emerson last year, living with terminal cancer and the end of life.

A remarkably warm-hearted, uplifting and inspiring story of one boy's survival against the odds. Abdi's world fell apart when he was only fifteen and Somalia's vicious civil war hit Mogadishu. Unable to find his family and effectively an orphan, he fled with some sixty others,heading to Kenya. On the way, death squads hunted them and they daily faced violence, danger and starvation. After almost four months, they arrived in at refugee camps in Kenya - of the group he'd set out with, only five had survived. All alone in the world and desperate to find his family, Abdi couldn't stay in Kenya, so he turned around and undertook the dangerous journey back to Mogadishu. But the search was fruitless, and eventually Abdi made his way - alone, with no money in his pockets - to Romania, then to Germany, completely dependent on the kindess of strangers. He was just seventeen years old when he arrived in Melbourne. He had no English, no family or friends, no money, no home. Yet, against the odds, he not only survived, he thrived. Abdi went on to complete secondary education and later university. He became a youth worker, was acknowledged with the 2007 Victorian Refugee Recognition Award and was featured in the SBS second series of Go Back to Where You Came From. Despite what he has gone through, Abdi is a most inspiring man, who is constantly thankful for his life and what he has. Everything he has endured and achieved is testament to his quiet strength and courage, his resilience and most of all, his warm-hearted, shining and enduring optimism. 'Powerful and uplifting' Bookseller + Publisher 'Aden's odyssey belongs to our time ... Here is a man who counts his blessings and has an inspiring story to tell.' Sydney Morning Herald

LUCKY GUY marks a return to Nora Ephron's journalistic roots. The charismatic and controversial tabloid columnist Mike McAlary covered the scandal- and graffiti-ridden New York of the 1980s. From his sensational reporting of New York's major police corruption to the libel suit that nearly ended his career, the play dramatizes the story of McAlary's meteoric rise, fall and rise again, ending with his coverage of the Abner Louima case for which he won the Pulitzer Prize, shortly before his untimely death on Christmas Day, 1998.

Lindsay Anderson & David Sherwin