Category: Books

CRUX by James Byron Huggins / Z-View

Posted on by

CRUX by James Byron Huggins

First sentence…

A bolt of lightning shattered the Observation Room, but even in the deafening thunder Blanchard heard horrified screams and glimpsed a scientist scramble under equipment that was obliterated by a blinding blue streak.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

An experiment at the Hadron Super Collider in Geneva goes horribly wrong.  When the smoke clears seven physicists are missing. Something unexplainable caused a bolt of blue lightning, a massive explosion and seven scientists to vanish.  Although the public learns there was an accident at the Hadron Collider, they aren’t given details.

Amanda Decker’s sister was one of the physicists who died in the “accident”. Amanda realizes the official story doesn’t make sense. She suspects a cover-up.  To get answers, Amanda enlists the aide of a man known only as Isaiah.  Isaiah, for those in the know, has skills to aid people when all hope is gone.

Isaiah and Amanda arrange entry into the Hadron Collider.  Unknown to them (or anyone without a need to know) a small team of US military operatives are headed to the Collider. The US soldiers will make sure the location is secure.  US Military intelligence thinks that the Hadron Collider “accident” was caused by a terrorist attack.

They’re wrong.

Once inside the Collider, Isaiah, Amanda and the soldiers learn the explosion wasn’t an experiment gone wrong.  It wasn’t caused by terrorists.  Someone alone or with the assistance of others used the Collider to attempt to open a gateway to another dimension.

And it worked.

The portal was open just long enough for scientists to be sucked through. And some thing(s) from the other side to enter our world.

+++

James Byron Huggins has never written a book that fails to entertain.  CRUX joins Huggins’ HUNTER trilogy, CAIN, LEVIATHAN, RORA and others that I can easily suggest to lovers of action thrillers.

Rating:

“Death Wish” starring Charles Bronson / Z-View

Posted on by

Death Wish (1974)

Director:  Michael Winner

Screenplay:  Wendell Mayes;  based on DEATH WISH by Brian Garfield

Stars:  Charles Bronson, Vincent Gardenia, William Redfield, Hope Lange, Steven Keats, Stuart Margolin, Kathleen Tolan, Olympia Dukakis, Art Evans, John Herzfeld, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, Eric Laneuville, Saul Rubinek and Jeff Goldblum.

Tagline: Vigilante, city style — Judge, Jury, and Executioner

The Plot…

When his wife is murdered and his daughter raped and left for dead, Paul Kersey, a mild-mannered middle-aged architect is told that finding the killers is unlikely.  It was a random crime.  One of many that happen daily and nightly in New York City.

Kersey decides to start carrying a weapon.  When a mugger attempts to rob him, Kersey kills the thug.  Kersey is surprised to get away with the homicide.

They say that the first killing is the hardest.  Kersey discovers that to be true as he becomes Judge, Jury, and Executioner of criminals prowling the streets and subways after dark.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Death Wish is based on Brian Garfield’s novel of the same name.  Several changes were made for the adaption including changing the protagonist’s name, job and making him bigger and more physical than the mild-mannererd accountant in the book.  Brian Garfield said he thought Bronson was miscast — Garfield also didn’t like the changes made to his book.

Death Wish features the film debut of Jeff Goldblum.  John Herzfeld, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs and Eric Laneuville make cameos as muggers.

Jill Ireleand, Charles Bronson’s real life wife, usually appears in his films as his wife/love interest.  Bronson didn’t want her in this film because of the scene where she would be “humiliated” by the muggers.  Bronson suggested “someone like Hope Lange”.  So the producers got Hope Lange.

Although there are rumors that Denzel Washington appears uncredited in Death Wish as a mugger, and the actor looks like him, Washington denies it is him.  Further, Washington hadn’t started acting at that time!

Death Wish is the fourth of sixth films that director Michael Winner and Charles Bronson made.

The success of Death Wish led to four sequels and a reboot starring Bruce Willis. Before Willis, Sylvester Stallone was set to direct and star in a remake.

I saw Death Wish when it was first released and many times over the years.  It holds up.  I was surprised that Paul Kersey never found/had a run-in with the punks who murdered his wife and raped his daughter.  A lot of movies would have forced that.

Death Wish (1974) rates 4 of 5 stars.

CRONE by Keith Rosson / Z-View

Posted on by

CRONE by Keith Rosson

First sentences…

The van is blue.

Okay, Hannah thinks the van is blue, with the rain beading her glasses, and the way, even in the best of times, that nighttime diminishes her vision, presses everything into vague smears of flattened color, it’s hard to tell.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Eli Lamp used to be a respected police detective.  But that was years ago.  Before his wife died in childbirth.  Before he began drinking too much.  Before he started using.  Before he lost his job.

Eli loved his daughter Hannah, but his parenting sucked.  Then when Hannah was fifteen, walking home at night from a party with a friend, she got into a van… and was never seen again.

That was thirteen years ago.

Eli spent every penny he had in his search for Hannah.  But it was his run-in with the Brother Night motorcycle gang that cost Eli the most. Dave Novak, the leader of a rival gang, the  Crooked Wheel motorcycle gang helped Eli.  Now to pay off his debt Eli works as an enforcer and bag man for Novak.  Eli busts heads, makes the weekly drop to the corrupt Sheriff and whatever else Novak needs done.

When Novak’s grown son is found brutally murdered with his body mutilated, Novak wants revenge.  He orders Eli to use his detective skills to find the killer.  Eli reluctantly agrees when Novak says Eli’s debt will be cancelled if he finds the killer.

Eli’s investigation leads to Avery Bryant.  Avery was his daughter Hannah’s best friend.  As Eli digs deeper, he uncovers a conspiracy that goes back decades.  It may provide the key to his daughter’s disappearance and something that defies rationale explanation.

+++

Keith Rosson is a relatively new author to me.  Earlier this year I read his FEVER HOUSE, followed it with the sequel DEVIL BY NAME and now CRONE.  Each book has been a winner.  His other books are now on my to be read list.  If you haven’t already, consider giving him a look.

Rating:

“Rambo” (2008) directed by and starring Sylvester Stallone / Z-View

Posted on by

Rambo (2008)

Director: Sylvester Stallone

Screenplay:  Art Monterastelli, Sylvester Stallone

Stars:  Sylvester Stallone, Julie Benz, Paul Schulze, Matthew Marsden, Graham McTavish, Rey Gallegos, Tim Kang, Jake La Botz, Maung Maung Khin and Ken Howard.

Tagline: Live for nothing, or die for something.

The Plot…

Twenty years have passed since Rambo’s rescue of Colonel Trautman in Afghanistan.  Rambo makes his living as a snake catcher and ferryman.

When Michael Burnett approaches Rambo to take his missionary group up river, Rambo refuses. Burnett wants to go into a war zone to render humanitarian aide to villagers brutalized by the Burmese Army.  Burnett’s fiancée, Sarah, makes an appeal to Rambo, but he again refuses.  Burnett’s group believes in nonviolence.  They’re traveling without weapons or additional security.  Odds would be against their survival.

Later that night Sarah speaks to Rambo again.  Burnett’s group is going with or without him.  Against his better judgment, Rambo agrees to take them up river, drop them off and return home.

Not long after, Arthur Marsh informs Rambo that Burnett’s group are held prisoner by Burmese soldiers.  Marsh has hired mercenaries to rescue them.  He wants Rambo to take the mercs up river.

Rambo agrees.  But this time, Rambo’s not just doing a drop off.  This time, he’s going to war.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Rambo’s creator, David Morrell had this to say about the movie: “I’m happy to report that overall I’m pleased. The level of violence might not be for everyone, but it has a serious intent. This is the first time that the tone of my novel FIRST BLOOD has been used in any of the movies. It’s spot-on in terms of how I imagined the character – angry, burned-out, and filled with self-disgust because Rambo hates what he is and yet knows it’s the only thing he does well.”

Rambo, like Rocky Balboa is such a great bookend to its franchise.  While it is true that each had more movies to come, at the time it was thought that each would end the series.

One of my favorite John Rambo scenes is when the river pirates stop the group.  Stallone’s direction, shows Rambo silently assessing the situation.  Rambo determines the greatest dangers and the order he needs to eliminate them.  I also love the scene when Sarah returns in the pouring rain to try to convince Rambo to take them up river.

I know it’s sacrilege, but if push came to shove, I’d pick Rambo over First Blood.

Rambo (2008) rates 5 of 5 stars.

Rocky Balboa Book Page Sketch by Jarrod Alberich!

Posted on by

Jarrod Alberich aka The Yard Sale Artist created the Sly Stallone as Rocky on a page from a book about boxing. If you check out Jarrod’s site, you’ll find that he has tons of cool BOOK PAGE SKETCHES of different characters drawn on a page from a book appropriate to the character.

I’ve known Jarrod for years.  He’s a fun guy and an easy artist to deal with.

Jarrod calls himself The Yard Sale Artist because he uses materials that he finds at yard sales, thrift stores and so on. When Jarrod comes across books that with torn covers, missing pages, etc., instead of discarding them, he repurposes the pages for art.

NIGHT SQUAD by David Goodis / Z-View

Posted on by

NIGHT SQUAD by David Goodis

First sentence…

At 11:20 a fairly well-dressed boozehound came staggering out of a bootleg-whiskey joint on Fourth Street.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Corey Bradford is a thirty-four-year-old ex-cop on a downnward spiral.  His wife left him.  Still no steady job.  He drinks too much.  All because he took a small handout from a gambler.  It wasn’t a big bribe to cover up evidence.  It wasn’t to let a hardened criminal walk.  It was just a sweetener because Bradford was a decent cop.  And it cost him everything.

Then one night Bradford, with just a couple of bucks to his name, headed to Grogan’s bar. Walter Grogan ran a nightly poker game in the back room and Bradford hoped to get in and get lucky.  That all changed when two masked-wearing and pistol-carrying men busted in.  They weren’t there to rob the game.  No, they came to kidnap Grogan.  Before they could Bradford stopped ’em cold.

Grogan was impressed.  He knew Bradford’s reputation and now had seen him in action.  So he offers Bradford a job.  $15,000 if Bradford can find out who sent the kidnappers.  Bradford accepts the job.

That evening Bradford is picked up by Detective-Sergeant Henry McDermott.  McDermott runs the Night Squad, a team of cops working the night shift who target and take down the city’s worst. The Night Squad’s tactics are brutal and extreme.  They get the job done. McDermott wants Grogan behind bars.  Walter Grogan runs the part of town known as The Swamp.  Grogan has his fingers in everyt illegal racket there.  But he’s too smart to get caught.

So McDermott offers Bradford a chance at redemption.  If Bradford works undercover and gathers evidence to bring Grogan to justice, he can get his badge back.  Refuse and the Night Squad will target him.  Bradford accepts.

Bradford is playing a dangerous game.  Working both sides against each other can get him dead.

And someone besides Bradford knows the score…

+++

David Goodis takes us on another journey to the seedy side of town.  I’m surprised NIGHT SQUAD was never adapted into a movie.  It would have made a good one.

Rating:

THE PROTECTOR by Arnold Schwarzenegger & James Patterson is Coming!

Posted on by

Arnold Schwarzenegger is teaming with James Patterson to co-author THE PROTECTOR.  Here’s the scoop…

The world’s bestselling author and the global icon, actor, former governor, and seven-time Mr. Olympia are co-authoring a new novel.

Father Viktor Brennan is a parish priest. He’s also The Protector.

At Saint Dominic’s in East Los Angeles, Father Viktor Brennan — a spiritual leader with a murky past — builds a soup kitchen, and a gym with a boxing ring. He is determined to protect his flock from both moral and physical harm, and to keep his new congregation safe from gang violence.

LAPD Detective Sandra Reyes’s beat covers the same local territory, and she’s strictly by the book. Reyes is keeping a wary eye on the new priest—and both she and Brennan are watching a kingpin known as Cera.

When an innocent victim is caught in murderous crossfire—and as revenge becomes a conversation with God—will good win out over evil?

THE PROTECTOR drops on October 4, 2027.  Pre-orders are available now.

THE STEPS: A MEMOIR by Sylvester Stallone / Z-View

Posted on by

THE STEPS: A MEMOIR by Sylvester Stallone

First sentence…

On a dirt road leading to the sea, deep in the Pyrenees Mountains, I saw a sign.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Most everyone thinks they know Sylvester Stallone’s story.  He’s that famous.

The child raised by dysfunctional divorced parents.  The student expelled from twelve schools.  The young man who wanted to be an actor, but was rejected time and time again.  So incredibly determined to get just one shot that he turned to writing… and struck gold with a screenplay.  He created a story that producers wanted so much that they were willing to pay a small fortune for him NOT to star in it.  But Sylvester Stallone stuck to his guns.  He got his shot for less money, but a percentage of the profits.  Rocky was made and the rest is history.

Yeah, most everyone thinks they know Sylvester Stallone’s story.  And they do, if you’re just talking broadstrokes.  The amazing thing is that what we know just scratches the surface.

Until now.

Sly Stallone’s memoir THE STEPS is an unvarnished look at his life.  He takes us from his difficult birth in a charity ward (which left him with a partially paralyzed face due to an accident with forceps) to his international stardom thanks to Rocky.   Most Stallone fans know it wasn’t an easy journey.  It wasn’t.  But even his most ardent fans will be surprised by Stallone’s candor and the things we didn’t know.

THE STEPS is an easy read, even when the situations are tough.  Stallone’s writing style makes you feel as if Sly is sitting with you telling you stories of his life. (And if you get the audible version, he will be!)  Sly’s sense of humor comes through.  So does his determination.  Although THE STEPS isn’t a self-help book, there are lessons that Sly learned that can be adapted to one’s daily life.

I’ve been a Sly Stallone fan, and followed his career since Lords of Flatbush. Yet there’s so much in THE STEPS I didn’t know.  And even the things I did know, Sly discusses in greater depth.  THE MEMOIR is everything Sylvester Stallone / Rocky fans could want.

Hopefully Sly enjoyed the process of writing THE STEPS enough for him to take the story farther.  Who wouldn’t love to get Sly’s thoughts and behind-the-scenes stories on each project in his career?

THE STEPS by Sylvester Stallone gets my highest recommendation.

Rating:

“Spartacus” (1960) directed by Stanley Kubrick, starring Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons, Charles Laughton, Peter Ustinov, John Gavin, Tony Curtis and Woody Strode / Z-View

Posted on by

Spartacus (1960)

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Screenplay: Dalton Trumbo; based on SPARTACUS by Howard Fast.

Stars:  Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons, Charles Laughton, Peter Ustinov, John Gavin, Tony Curtis, John Ireland, Herbert Lom, John Dall, Charles McGraw, Harold J. Stone, Hume Cronyn, Richard Farnsworth and Woody Strode.

Tagline: They trained him to kill for their pleasure. . .but they trained him a little too well. . .

The Plot…

Spartacus, a Thracian slave, is so rebellious that he is sentenced to die.  Before the execution is carried out, Lentulus Batiatus buys Spartacus. Batiatus trains former slaves to become gladiators.  These gladiators will die fighting each other to provide entertainment for rich and powerful Romans.

Spartacus’ rebellious ways continue at the school for gladiators.  Pushed to his limit, Spartacus fights back against one of his oppressors.  To his (and everyone’s surprise) the other gladiators-in-training join in Spartacus’ revolt.

Spartacus and his well-trained gladiators move from village to village freeing slaves along the way.  Most freed slaves join the rebellion.

Rome is worried.  The slave uprising must be put down.   So the most powerful army in the world turns its sights on Spartacus.  The revolt must be crushed!

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Spartacus was nominated for six 1961 Academy Awards and won four…

  • Nominee for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture – Alex North
  • Nominee for Best Film Editing – Robert Lawrence
  • Winner for Best Costume Design, Color– Valles, Bill Thomas
  • Winner for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color – Alexander Golitzen, Eric Orbom, Russell A. Gausman, Julia Heron
  • Winner for Best Cinematography, Color – Russell Metty
  • Winner for Best Actor in a Supporting Role – Peter Ustinov

Anthony Mann was the original director of Spartacus.  Creative differences between Mann and Kirk Douglas led to Stanley Kubrick coming on as director.  The salt mine locations were the only Mann directed scenes to make the final cut.  Ironically, Douglas and Kubrick also had major creative differences.

A few years after the release of Spartacus, Anthony Mann directed Kirk Douglas in The Heroes of Telemark.

Stanley Kubrick disliked the working conditions of this film.  It is the only “work-for-hire” credit on his resume.  On every other Kubrick film, he had complete control.

A scene cut for the original release was restored in 1991.  It is the scene where Marcus Licinius Crassus (Sir Laurence Olivier) attempts to seduce Antoninus (Tony Curtis) using inuendo of snails and oysters.  The original soundtrack was lost.  Curtis re-recorded his lines.  Since Olivier had died, Anthony Hopkins (who was known to imitate Olivier’s voice) was brought in to re-record Olivier’s lines.  Hopkins is thanked in the updated credits

The 1991 restoration contains exactly four additional minutes of footage than the original release.  Two minutes are the famous “snails and oysters” scene with the additional two minutes going to the overture, intermission, and exit music.

Kirk Douglas said that he made Spartacus because he was turned down for the lead in Ben-Hur.

I was surprised to see Hume Cronyn as a gladiator!

Spartacus is a classic.  A film everyone should see.

Spartacus (1960) rates 5 of 5 stars.

A VIOLENT MASTERPIECE by Jordan Harper / Z-View

Posted on by

A VIOLENT MASTERPIECE by Jordan Harper

First sentence…

He tells them, “This place is a crime.”

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Jake Deal makes his living live-streaming nightly from L.A.’s dark, dangerous, crime-ridden hot spots. Jake takes his subcribers “live” to scenes of murders, crimes in progress, or whatever location that needs a police response. Jake’s car is loaded with a police scanner, cameras, wifi, and more. Jake planned to livestream the locations of the LA Ripper, a serial killer still on the loose.  That changed when Jake was hired to follow and compile dirt on a list of powerful and influential folks.

Doug Gibson is a lawyer for the common man.  Gibson’s clients are the under-served, the poor and the powerless.  So you can imagine Gibson’s surprise when Eric Alger contacts him. Alger needs a defense attorney and wants Gibson.

Eric Alger became rich as the producer of tween television shows.  Alger became even richer with his behind-the-scenes sex trafficking of youngsters.  He also served as a conduit to others with similar tastes.  Now Alger is behind bars.  Alger says if he’s not released, he’s going to name names.  If he’s going down, he’s taking rich and powerful sex deviants (like himself) with him.

Kara Delgado works for an underground concierge that gets the super-rich whatever they want. It could be the location for a private sex party, drugs, men, women, whatever the customer wants and can afford.   When Kara’s best friend goes missing and her apartment is scrubbed clean, Kara decides to investigate.

When Eric Alger is found dead in his jail cell, Jake, Doug and Kara’s paths cross.  Now they’re on the wrong side of powerful people with the money and contacts to make them disappear… and perhaps even the LA Ripper.

+++

Jordan Harper has another winner. A VIOLENT MASTERPIECE is a great follow-up to EVERYBODY KNOWS and gets my highest recommendation.

Rating:

“Kiss Me Deadly” (1955) directed by Robert Aldrich; starring Ralph Meeker, Albert Dekker, Paul Stewart and Juano Hernandez / Z-View

Posted on by

Kiss Me Deadly (1955)

Director: Robert Aldrich

Screenplay: A.I. Bezzerides, Robert Aldrich (uncredited); based on KISS ME DEADLY by Mickey Spillane.

Stars:  Ralph Meeker, Albert Dekker, Paul Stewart, Juano Hernandez, Marjorie Bennett, Strother Martin and Jack Elam.

Tagline: Blood red kisses! White hot thrills! Mickey Spillane’s latest H-bomb!

The Plot…

Driving home late one evening, Mike Hammer nearly runs over a woman in the middle of the road.  She’s barefoot and wearing just a trenchcoat.  Hammer stops.  The woman is running from someone but doesn’t say who.

Hammer gives her a lift, but soon thugs catch up to them.  The last thing Hammer hears is the woman’s scream.  When he wakes up, he’s in the hospital.  The goons killed the woman, then threw her and Hammer’s unconscious body in the car before pushing it over the cliff.

Hammer believes whatever the woman was involved in was “something big”.  Plus he wants payback.

Hammer’s going to get answers he couldn’t have imagined and find himself the target of a crime syndicate after the result of a top secret government experiment.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Although based on Mickey Spillane’s novel of the same name, the film makes changes to Hammer as well as the plot.  In the film, Hammer is a sleazy LA PI who never uses a gun; instead of a fearless NY private eye.   In the film, Hammer finds himself in international intrigue with a suitcase containing stolen atomic material.  In the book, Hammer is up against the Mafia after a suitcase of heroin.

Kiss Me Deadly features Cloris Leachman’s first theatrical film role.

The haunting ending will stay with you long after the film ends.

Kiss Me Deadly (1955) rates 4 of 5 stars.

HANGING AND BURNING: A KING OLIVER NOVEL by Walter Mosley!

Posted on by

A new Walter Mosley tale is always welcome.  We have one coming on October 20th when HANGING AND BURNING: A KING OLIVER NOVEL drops.  Here’s the scoop…

A dying gangster’s plea sends Joe King Oliver on a quest for a missing woman across America’s coasts ― unraveling a dark and violent family history along the way―in this engrossing new novel from one of the most celebrated and acclaimed crime writers at work today.

Joe King Oliver is the big man you call to solve the most delicate and dangerous of problems. Fresh off unraveling the mystery of his own parents’ fates, King finds himself accepting (again at his grandmother’s request) a case from Arman Babylon, a powerful Los Angeles gangster now dying from cancer.

Babylon’s granddaughter, Twyla Mann, has been missing for years, and he’s desperate to find her before he passes. The search pulls King into the Babylons’ stained past and the cold case of Dalia Shorts, a torch singer who vanished without a trace and whom Arman was once suspected of killing.

As King follows her trail from L.A. to New York and back, he’ll realize nothing is what it seems as he uncovers a pattern of violence that has targeted the women around Babylon for decades. How much will King be willing to risk to finally set things right?

Pre-orders are available now.

THE NOWHERE MAN: AN ORPHAN X NOVEL by Gregg Hurwitz / Z-View

Posted on by

THE NOWHERE MAN: AN ORPHAN X NOVEL by Gregg Hurwitz

First sentences…

A naked selfie.

      It starts with that.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Evan Smoak was a child with no family. Raised in a secret government off-the-books program, Evan and other children like him became known as Orphans. Evan was Orphan X.

As children the Orphans were trained to become the ultimate assassins. As adults, they were perfect for black bag assignments. Able to kill with their hands, or any weapon, the Orphans possessed every strategy to covertly and alone complete a mission. The added bonus, if caught or killed, because they had no family, the government had plausible deniability.

Orphan X became legendary among the Orphans and their handlers. Outside of the program, Orphan X was someone spoken about in whispers.

Finally, Evan Smoak had enough of the killing. He escaped and set up a new life. Instead of taking lives, he saved them. Smoak found people with nowhere to turn and rescued them.

Smoak is aware that in just a few days a young woman will be taken from a cargo ship and sold as a sex slave.  Smoak’s plan to rescue her goes sideways when he is kidnapped.

Smoak wakes from his drugged stupor to discover he’s in a remote mountain mansion. He’d been out long enough that he’s not sure he’s even in the United States.  René Peter Cassaroy kidnapped Smoak to gain access to his considerable bank account.  Cassaroy has a squad of trained mercenaries, 24 hour camera and audio surveillance, guard dogs and snipers.   Come Monday morning, Smoak will give him access and then be set free.

Yeah, right.

Smoak knows that it will take all of his skills and training to overcome the odds and escape.  Plus the clock is ticking.  He needs to not only escape but do so in time to save the young woman on the cargo ship.

The clock is ticking.

+++

I love that Smoak was kidnapped not because he was an Orphan, but because of his wealth. 

René Peter Cassaroy doesn’t provide a physical challenge.  It’s his brains (and mercenaries) that make him so dangerous.  Cassaroy would make a great James Bond villain.

It’s interesting to see how Smoak’s mind works and that each set-back makes his escape (or survival) less likely.  And if he doesn’t escape, the girl is doomed.

And if that wasn’t enough, Hurwitz ups the ante.  To say more would be to say too much.

Rating:

BETTER EVERY DAY: AN ACTION PLAN FOR A FULL LIFE by Arnold Schwarzenegger is Coming!

Posted on by

Arnold Schwarzenegger fans are going to love this.  His book BETTER EVERY DAY: AN ACTION PLAN FOR A FULL LIFE drops on January 12, 2027.  Here’s the lowdown…

From the global icon and number one New York Times-bestselling author of BE USEFUL, a candid and practical set of lessons for building a flywheel for endless growth and deepening purpose

Success is not an outcome; it’s a way of being. Arnold Schwarzenegger learned long ago that joy does not come from making it to the winner’s circle, and that’s not entirely in our control anyway. Happiness comes from the work it takes to get there. It comes from what we do when we’re hungry, not when we’re full. Happiness is about today.

BETTER EVERY DAY, Arnold shares what he’s learned about the path of continual improvement. It starts with simply beginning—the small steps that lead to momentum, the foundation for everything that follows. From there, habit formation and identity building follow. Then deeper challenges strengthen durable willpower and resilience. As we build, we find community, strengthening connection, which refines meaning and purpose and forges an indestructible engine of success.BETTER EVERY DAY breaks it down into twelve building blocks; they can be thought of as steps on a twelve-month journey, but the time span is flexible. These are universal rules for life.

Arnold Schwarzenegger has surpassed every goal he has set for himself in his epic journey through the highest realms of sports, entertainment, politics, and philanthropy. Now the goal is to help people achieve a growth mindset, bring them back into balance, and help them to flourish. There has never been a best that didn’t start with better. Better starts today.

Pre-orders are available now.