Review“Definitive . . . [James Curtis] charts the life, loves and struggles of the Milwaukee-born, Oscar-winning screen legend in expert detail, leaving no source or story unchecked. . . Curtis taps deeply mined remembrances and fresh anecdotes collected in years of interviews with just about everyone in Tracy’s life.” —Chris Foran, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel “Definitive . . . well written. . . I marvel at the research.”—David Thomson, The New York Review of Books “A great story about a great actor. . . [James Curtis] is an excellent researcher and writer . . . definitive . . . belongs in the classic movie fan’s library.” —Douglass K. Daniel, Associated Press “Exhaustively researched. . . ”—Jeff Dawson, The Sunday Times “A balanced and intriguing look at one of the screen’s greatest actors . . . Curtis has obtained access to everything from Tracy’s datebooks to his health records . . . all of this research makes possible an incredibly detailed account of Tracy’s life . . . those who remember him will be fascinated; younger readers will be spurred to rent his film and revel in his talent.” —Booklist (starred) “Impeccably researched . . . a monumental, definitive biography of one of the finest film actors in the history of the medium.” —Kirkus From the Hardcover edition.Product Description“The best goddamned actor I’ve ever seen!”—George M. CohanHis full name was Spencer Bonaventure Tracy. He was called “The Gray Fox” by Frank Sinatra; other actors called him the “The Pope.”Spencer Tracy’s image on-screen was that of a self-reliant man whose sense of rectitude toward others was matched by his sense of humor toward himself. Whether he was Father Flanagan of Boys Town, Clarence Darrow of Inherit the Wind, or the crippled war veteran in Bad Day at Black Rock, Tracy was forever seen as a pillar of strength.In his several comedy roles opposite Katharine Hepburn (Woman of the Year and Adam’s Rib among them) or in Father of the Bride with Elizabeth Taylor, Tracy was the sort of regular American guy one could depend on.Now James Curtis, acclaimed biographer of Preston Sturges (“Definitive” —Variety), James Whale, and W. C. Fields (“By far the fullest, fairest, and most touching account . . . we have yet had. Or are likely to have” —Richard Schickel, The New York Times Book Review, cover review), gives us the life of one of the most revered screen actors of his generation.Curtis writes of Tracy’s distinguished career, his deep Catholicism, his devoted relationship to his wife, his drinking that got him into so much trouble, and his twenty-six-year-long bond with his partner on-screen and off, Katharine Hepburn. Drawing on Tracy’s personal papers and writing with the full cooperation of Tracy’s daughter, Curtis tells the rich story of the brilliant but haunted man at the heart of the legend. We see him from his boyhood in Milwaukee; given over to Dominican nuns (“They drill that religion in you”); his years struggling in regional shows and stock (Tracy had a photographic memory and an instinct for inhabiting a character from within); acting opposite his future wife, Louise Treadwell; marrying and having two children, their son, John, born deaf.We see Tracy’s success on Broadway, his turning out mostly forgettable programmers with the Fox Film Corporation, and going to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and getting the kinds of roles that had eluded him in the past—a streetwise priest opposite Clark Gable in San Francisco; a screwball comedy, Libeled Lady; Kipling’s classic of the sea, Captains Courageous. Three years after arriving at MGM, Tracy became America’s top male star.We see how Tracy embarked on a series of affairs with his costars . . . making Northwest Passage and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which brought Ingrid Bergman into his life. By the time the unhappy shoot was over, Tracy, looking to do a comedy, made Woman of the Year. Its unlikely costar: Katharine Hepburn.We see Hepburn making Tracy her life’s project—protecting and sustaining him in the difficult job of being a top-tier movie star.And we see Tracy’s wife, Louise, devoting herself to studying how deaf children could be taught to communicate orally with the hearing and speaking world.Curtis writes that Tracy was ready to retire when producer-director Stanley Kramer recruited him for Inherit the Wind—a collaboration that led to Judgment at Nuremberg, It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, and Tracy’s final picture, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner . . . A rich, vibrant portrait—the most intimate and telling yet of this complex man considered by many to be the actor’s actor.From the Hardcover edition. Views: 18
Shelby would never ever sell her beloved Blue, would she? Just how much money would it take to make her change her mind? And when Shelby's new friend Olivia tells her about a horse that she got for free, Shelby knows it's too good to be true. What is the secret price that Olivia will have to pay? Views: 18
The hypnotic, deeply seductive novels of Anne Rice have captivated millions of fans around the world. It all began a quarter of a century ago with Interview with the Vampire. Now, in one chilling volume, here are the first three classic novels of The Vampire Chronicles.INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIREWitness the confessions of a vampire. A novel of mesmerizing beauty and astonishing force, it is a story of danger and flight, love and loss, suspense and resolution, and the extraordinary power of the senses."A magnificent, compulsively readable thriller . . . Anne Rice begins where Bram Stoker and the Hollywood versions leave off and penetrates directly to the true fascination of the myth--the education of the vampire."--Chicago TribuneTHE VAMPIRE LESTATOnce an aristocrat from pre-revolutionary France, now a rock star in the decadent 1980s, Lestat rushes through the centuries seeking to fathom... Views: 18
The United Nations Department for the Enforcement and Apprehension of Demons is the first, last and only line of defence against the supernatural threats trying to break into a world where magic and technology are uneasy bedfellows.Agent Ward is an agent of U.N.D.E.A.D. and he has just been given the case of a lifetime. Not only is he working with a fabulously gorgeous woman, but he is going up against sirens, strippers, sphinxes and giant snake demons in search of an apparently unimportant chemistry researcher.Still, it could be worse - he might have to use the teleportation system and end up in Egypt again. Views: 18
Once upon a time... the Blood Sorcerer vanquished the kingdom of Elden. To save their children, the queen scattered them to safety and the king filled them with vengeance. Only a magical timepiece connects the four royal heirs...and time is running out.... As the dark Lord who condemns souls to damnation in the Abyss, Micah is nothing but a feared monster wrapped in impenetrable black armor. He has no idea he is the last heir of Elden, its last hope. Only one woman knows—the daughter of his enemy. Liliana is nothing like her father, the Blood Sorcerer who'd cursed Micah. She sees past Micah's armor to the prince inside. A prince whose sinful touch she craves. But first she has to brave his dark, dangerous lair and help him remember. Because they only have till midnight to save Elden. Views: 18
Set against a vibrant South Bronx neighborhood and the queer youth culture of Manhattan's piers, Chulito is a coming-of-age, coming out love story of a sexy, tough, hip hop-loving, young Latino man and the colorful characters who populate his block. Chulito, which means "cutie," is one of the boys, and everyone in his neighborhood has seen him grow up--the owner of the local bodega, the Lees from the Chinese restaurant, his buddies from the corner, and all of his neighbors and friends, including Carlos, who was Chulito's best friend until they hit puberty and people started calling Carlos a pato...a faggot.Chulito rejects Carlos, buries his feelings for him, and becomes best friends with Kamikaze, a local drug dealer. When Carlos comes home from his first year away from college and they share a secret kiss, Chulito's worlds collide as his ideas of being a young man, being macho, and being in love are challenged. Vivid, sexy, funny, heartbreaking, and fearless, this knock out novel is destine to become a gay classic.Review"A tremendous debut...full of heart and courage and a ferocious honesty."--Junot Diaz, author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao“Hilarious, unique, heartfelt and sharp. A wonderful read.”-Sandra Cisneros, author of the acclaimed The House on Mango Street and Caramelo“Chulito introduces a fresh, engaging, and stirring voice. Rice-Gonzalez’s memorable characters live on the page with a force and verve and vulnerability that touches our heart. This is a beautiful debut.”-Jaime Manrique, author of Latin Moon in Manhattan and Eminent Maricones.About the AuthorCharles Rice-González, born in Puerto Rico and reared in the Bronx, is a writer, long-time community and LGBT activist and Executive Director of BAAD! The Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance. He received a BA in Communications from Adelphi University and an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College. Rice-Gonzalez attended the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, VONA: Voices of Our Nation, the Lambda Literary Foundation Writers' Conference and Sandra Cisnero's Macondo Writers' Conference. He's worked with Sarah Schulman, Rebecca Brown, David Leavitt, Percival Everett, Helena Maria Viramontes, Elana Dykewomon and Stacey D'Erasmo. He was awarded a residency at the Byrdcliffe Artist Colony in Woodstock, NY and at the Virginia Center for Creative Arts. Charles received an Audre Lorde scholarship from the ZAMI Foundation and a P.R.I.D.E. (Puerto Rican Initiative to Develop Empowerment) Award. Rice-Gonzalez's plays include What Carlos Feels, Pink Jesus, and Los Nutcrackers: A Christmas Carajo* and I Just Love Andy Gibb which won Pregones Theater's 2005 ASUNCION Play Reading Series and received a workshop production in May 2007. He's read at the Bowery Poetry Club, The Living Room, the PANIC series at Nowhere Bar, the Gerber/Hart Library in Chicago, and several venues in the burgeoning South Bronx arts scene including Bruckner Bar and Grill, and was a featured writer at the Downtown Bronx Café. Rice-Gonzalez is a public relations and marketing specialist in the area if Latino arts and culture. He worked for nearly 20 years in the field at Universal Pictures in New York, for Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer and Repertorio Español - Spanish Theatre Repertory before forming Rice-González Public Relations in 1997. He's worked with every major Latino theater company in New York and was the Latino Marketing specialist with the Broadway production of Nilo Cruz's Pulitzer Prize winning Anna in the Tropics. He lives in the Bronx, NY.*** Views: 18
Three years ago Francie Hampton shocked the ton by jilting Sir Thomas Spencer at their bethrothal ball when she discovered that he kept several lightskirts. How dare Sir Thomas now ask to marry her sister! Gentle Mary should not be married to a proud, tyrannical rake. But Francie protested too much against the man who long ago had won her heart...though not her hand. Regency Romance by Fran Baker; originally published by Belgrave House/Regency Reads Views: 18
