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All Books

All Books in this Collection

  • Wound Archive

    Wound Archive

    $20.00

    Wound Archive is a collection of minimalist poems that archives the wound left by the concurrent ending of a relationship and the beginning of a chronic invisible illness. These poems comprise a fragmented archive in which woundedness turns language?figuratively and at times formally?upside down. The symbol of the wound recurs throughout, punctuating the ways both heartbreak and illness are experienced in the body. While these poems are often rooted in the body? mouths, tongues, legs?they also employ the corporeal to reach for the incorporeal?god, ghosts, healing. This tender text articulates the capacity of brevity to hold the expansiveness of ache.

  • Wrath of the Dragon

    Wrath of the Dragon

    $28.95

    NO RULES. NO PROBLEM.Bruce Lee remains the gold standard that all martial artists are compared to. But could he actually fight? World Champions in karate competition have gone on record to point out that he never once competed in tournaments. Were his martial abilities merely a trick of the camera?For the first time ever, Bruce Lee authority and bestselling author John Little takes a hard look at Bruce Lee’s real-life fights to definitively answer these questions with over 30 years of research that took him thousands of miles. Little has tracked down over 30 witnesses to the real fights of Bruce Lee as well as those who were present at his many sparring sessions (in which he was never defeated) against the very best martial artists in the world.From the mean streets of Hong Kong, to challenge matches in Seattle and Oakland, to the sets of his iconic films where he was challenged repeatedly, this is the incredible real-life fighting record of the man known as the “Little Dragon,” who may well have been the greatest fighter of the 20th century.

  • Wreck of the Archangel

    Wreck of the Archangel

    $16.95

    Wreck of the Archangel

  • Wreckage

    Wreckage

    $14.95

    It’s 1924. Rose disappears from a train wreck without a trace. Twenty-five years later her red suitcase arrives anonymously and mysteriously, triggering her daughter’s search for the truth and unlocking a bizarre chain of events. A haunted railway detective, gourmet gangster-chefs, a Puccini-singing ghost, and a host of Dicensian characters populate Vancouver’s underbelly. Wreckage is a stylish “gangster” play with a dark and wicked sense of humour and the theatrical punch of a speeding train.

  • Wrecked Upon This Shore

    Wrecked Upon This Shore

    $19.95

    Wrecked Upon This Shore is a bold new novel from Kate Story that follows and will build upon the success of her critically-acclaimed debut Blasted. At the novel’s centre is Pearl Lewis: abused by her father at a young age, she is wild, charismatic, and damaged.The story moves back and forth in time. We follow Pearl through the eyes of her adult son Stephen, but also from the viewpoint of Mouse, the girl she befriends and falls in love with as a teenager. Mandy, christened Mouse by the seductive, aggressive Pearl, had a relatively sheltered upbringing in Newfoundland. But when Mouse falls for Pearl, the affair changes her life. In the end, Mouse loses almost everything when Pearl leaves her; in fact, Pearl is pregnant when Mouse learns the affair is over.

  • Wrecking Ball, The

    Wrecking Ball, The

    $19.95

    The Wrecking Ball is a collection of Aislin’s recent favourite cartoons. All of the choice political material is here: Pauline Marois as Miley Cyrus, the Parti Québécois’s Charter of Quebec Values, student demonstrators wandering through Montreal’s deteriorating streets, corruption inquires and Montreal’s succession of mayors, the Harper Tories and the Canadian Senate debacle, the coronation of Justin Trudeau, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, the Habs and the Sochi Olympics. Whew!

  • Wrecks of Eden, The

    Wrecks of Eden, The

    $15.00

    Owen mourns The Lost and reflects upon civilization’s habits of ecocide.

  • Wrestle Radio U.S.A.

    Wrestle Radio U.S.A.

    $19.95

    A comprehensive collection of unique, exclusive interviews with the biggest names and players in the raucous, controversial world of professional wrestling, Wrestle Radio U.S.A.: Grapplers Speak is both a fascinating oral history and an insider’s guide into the ups and downs, the show-business, athleticism, and politics of a multi-million dollar entertainment industry. Being more than just hardcore fans, Vinnie Carolan and Ed Symkus bring a level of confidence and expertise to the table that disarms their subjects and inspires the kind of candor rarely found in wrestling interviews. Whether it’s classic greats like Lou Thesz, Bruno Sammartino, and George “The Animal” Steele or today’s industry standards like Chris Benoit, Eddie Guererro, and Sandman, the superstars of wrestling break character and take you backstage, into locker rooms, and on the road. It’s all here: the characters and the people who played them, the wildly successful storylines and the embarrassing failures, the ruthless business, inside problems, and tragedies — and who was stabbing who in the back.

  • Wrestlecrap

    Wrestlecrap

    $25.95

    WrestleCrap: The Very Worst of Professional Wrestling examines some of the ridiculously horrible characters and storylines that pro wrestling promoters have subjected their fans to over the past twenty years. Why would any sane person think that having two grown men fight over a turkey was actually a reasonable idea? Was George Ringo, the Wrestling Beatle, really the best gimmick that a major promotional organization could come up with? And who would charge fans to watch a wrestler named the Gobbeldy Gooker emerge from an egg?

    In an attempt to answer such questions and figure out just what the promoters were thinking, authors Randy Baer and R.D. Reynolds go beyond what wrestling fans saw on the screen and delve into the mindset of those in the production booth. In some instances, the motivations driving the spectacle prove even more laughable than what was actually seen in the ring.

    Covering such entertainment catastrophes as an evil one-eyed midget and a wrestler from the mystical land of Oz, not to mention the utterly comprehensible Turkey-on-a-Pole match (a gimmick which AWA fans might recall), WrestleCrap is hysterically merciless in its evaluation of such organizations as the WCW and the WWF. This retrospective look at the wrestling world’s misguided attempts to attract viewers will leave wrestling fans and critics alike in stitches.

  • Wrestling

    Wrestling

    $19.95

    From “Nature Boy” Buddy Rogers to “Nature Boy”Ric Flair. It began at traveling carnivals in the 1900s, where wrestlers known as “hookers” would issue open challenges for cash prizes. In the 1920s, champions such as Frank Gotch and Joe Stecher would wrestle title matches before sold-out stadium crowds. Wrestling faded in the ’30s and ’40s, only to achieve a stunning comeback thanks to the medium of television.

    The fans may think their favourite sport began with the Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin, but professional wrestling has been entertaining audiences for more than 100 years. Wrestling: A Pictorial History forges the link between wrestling’s fascinating past and its current wave of unprecedented popularity. Through stunning, rare photos, the book brings together “Nature Boy” Buddy Rogers and “Nature Boy” Ric Flair; Lou Thesz and Bill Goldberg; Ed “Strangler” Lewis and the macabre Undertaker.
    Wrestling: A Pictorial History is both a salute to the legendary grapplers of yesteryear and to the dynamic, daring sports entertainers of today.

  • Wrestling at the Chase

    Wrestling at the Chase

    $25.95

    ?Wrestling at the Chase is a fond, informative, amusing, and even poignant look at the who’s who of professional wrestling and legendary St. Louis promoter Sam Muchnick.

    St. Louis was the capital, and Muchnick the ruler of professional wrestling, before Vince McMahon’s World Wrestling Entertainment took over. What happened in St. Louis paved the way for today’s multi-billion-dollar sports entertainment industry. The centrepiece of this magical operation was “Wrestling at the Chase,” a television program which broadcast from 1959 to 1983 from the majestic Chase Hotel.

    Larry Matysik was Muchnick’s protégé and longtime announcer for the television show. With an insider’s eye for detail and accuracy, he recalls funny and amazingly touching tales about the characters who created professional wrestling as we know it. Ric Flair, “King Kong” Brody, Dick “the Bruiser,” the Von Erichs, Lou Thesz, Gene Kiniski, Pat O’Connor, Johnny Valentine, Dick Murdoch, Harley Race, Buddy Rogers, Jack Brisco, and Andre the Giant are all prominently featured. So is Muchnick himself, the Damon Runyan of wrestling, a man who helped mould the bizarre business of circus and sport. The savage twists of the politics of wrestling are on display as well, particularly the changes that rocked the mat world during the early ’80s.

  • Wrestling Babylon

    Wrestling Babylon

    $26.95

    Irvin Muchnick — a widely published writer and nephew of the late, legendary St. Louis wrestling promoter Sam Muchnick — has produced a book unlike any other on the astonishing growth of professional wrestling and its profound impact on mainstream sports and society. In Wrestling Babylon, he traces the demise of wrestling’s old Mafia-like territories and the rise of a national marketing base thanks to cable television, deregulation and a culture-wide nervous breakdown. Naturally, the figure of WWE’s Vince McMahon lurks throughout, but equally evident is the public’s late-empire lust for bread, circuses, and blood. As this book demonstrates, the more cartoonishly unreal wrestling got, the more chillingly real it became.What truly distinguishes Wrestling Babylon, however, is Muchnick’s ability to show how professional wrestling has become the ur-carnival for a culture that feeds on escapist displays of humiliation, revenge, fantasy characters, and sex. His People magazine article on Hulk Hogan blew the lid off the drug abuse of the sport’s signature superstar. His award-winning Penthouse profile of the ill-starred Von Erich clan was the first to connect the dots between wrestling, televangelism, and MTV-style production values. His never-before-published investigation of the death of Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka’s girlfriend suggests the cover-up of a murder. The book’s appendix — a comprehensive listing of the dozens of wrestlers who died prematurely over the last generation, with little or no attention — is both a valuable resource for wrestling historians and a shocking document of the ruthless way sports entertainment eats its own.

  • Wrestling Reality

    Wrestling Reality

    $21.95

    A rare glimpse not only into the life of a professional wrestler, but the life of a gay man in a straight world, this tragic memoir is told in Chris Kanyon’s own words, with the help of journalist Ryan Clark.One of the most popular wrestlers of the late 1990s, Kanyon kept his personal life private from his fans until finally revealing his biggest secret in 2004: he was gay. Going through the various roles that Kanyon played, both in the ring and out of it, as well as his battle with manic depression, this book explores the factors that led to his suicide in 2010.In his voice and the way he wanted it told, these are Kanyon’s last words about his experience rising through the ranks to the top of the professional wrestling world while keeping his sexuality hidden.

  • Wrestling with Cadence

    Wrestling with Cadence

    $22.95

    A career-spanning collection of critical and personal essays from a titan of Canadian literature.

    Building and expanding on his previous volume of essays Body Music, Dennis Lee looks back on what has driven him as a poet: the mysterious germinating force he calls cadence. At once a stealth memoir and an essential study of how a poet writes, Wrestling with Cadence is the definitive history of a beloved Canadian poet in his own words.

  • Wrestling With Rhinos

    Wrestling With Rhinos

    $23.95

    Imagine it’s 1965, and you’ve just fulfilled a boyhood ambition and graduated from the vet college in Glasgow, Scotland. The very next week you find yourself in Kenya, treating wild animals. This is what happened to Dr. Jerry Haigh, who in Wrestling with Rhinos takes us deep into the post-independence Kenya of 1965, and shows us what things were like until he left ten years later for a teaching post in Canada. Dealing with a 17 foot tall lame giraffe was an early challenge, as there had not been many giraffes in the teaching pool at Glasgow. A fall back on common sense, with the help of the owner and a knowledge of cattle medicine helped to create a cure. Along the way, he encountered traditional domestic animal patients as well as rhinos, elephants, wildebeest, lemurs and pelicans. Among them was Joy Adamson’s cheetah, and we get a first-hand glimpse of their Born Free experiences. While living in a country just making the transition from colonial status to independence, Jerry also met President Jomo Kenyatta and treated his cattle.

    Threaded through the text are observations — sometimes hilarious, sometimes scurrilous, sometimes poignant — on the social scene in Kenya, peppered with reminiscences about his soldier father, for whom the Kenya of World War II was a very different place.

    In the final chapters, Jerry documents his perspective on human/wildlife conflicts, and looks ahead hopefully into the future.

  • Wrestling’s Greatest Moments

    Wrestling’s Greatest Moments

    $19.95

    Every fan of professional wrestling remembers the moment that captured their heart forever and hooked them for life. Whether it was Ric Flair regaining the NWA Championship from Harley Race at Starcade, the Freebirds turning heel on Kerry Von Erich, Mick Foley flying off the cage at King of the Ring, Jake Roberts DDT-ing Ricky Steamboat on the concrete, Samoa Joe’s epic trilogy with CM Punk in Ring of Honor, or the premiere of WCW’s Nitro: these are the matches and moments that thrilled, terrified, or outraged — overwhelming you with real emotion.

    Mike Rickard’s Wrestling’s Greatest Moments brings you all the most memorable and controversial moments from modern wrestling history. It’s an insightful and essential compendium of thirty years’ worth of groundbreaking matches, angles and interviews. From Hulkamania to the Montreal “screwjob,” from the NWA to the nWo, you’ll rediscover what really occurred in arenas and on the air worldwide, and learn all the backstage and behind-the-scenes secrets that made these highlight-reel moments possible from the men and women who were there.

    Whether you watched Stone Cold Steve Austin point a gun at WWE honcho Vince McMahon’s head, or stood outside the building as D-Generation X “invaded” WCW; whether you look back with nostalgia to “The King” slapping Andy Kaufman silly on Letterman or believe wrestling was better when Bruno sold out Shea; whether you were one of the Philadelphia “bingo hall” faithful who made ECW “extreme” or a casual observer of the Monday Night Wars; whether you’re reliving these moments or discovering them for the first time, Wrestling’s Greatest Moments will enthrall you with the exploits and extravagance, the tragedies and triumphs of the sport of kings.