The Ultimate Warrior's shock confession!

Jim Hellwig - the artist formerly known as The Ultimate Warrior - was pretty much my biggest hero growing up in the 80s and 90s (next to David Hasselhoff of course). The former WWF (I know it's called WWE these days...) superstar was a ticking time bomb of tassels and muscles inside the ring, and would go on to beat Hulk Hogan in the main event at Wrestlemania 6 in 1990. He was the ultimate showman, the ultimate fighter, and the ultimate alpha male...

Which is why it came as a little surprise to find this confession from him on YouTube recently. I know the man went off the rails a bit, but jeez I never saw this one coming...!

Wax On, Wax Off - Whatever happened to the Karate Kid?

One of the greatest films of my childhood was The Karate Kid. I can remember the excitement of being picked up from school when I was around six or seven and my dad breaking the news to me that he had rented the film from the local video shop.

This was way before the days of digital downloads, DVDs, and even Blockbuster video stores! Our video shop back then doubled up as an Off Licence and only stocked one copy of every film in their shop, so for dad to manage to get hold of a copy of the newly released Hollywood hit was a huge achievement.

Things were never the same for me after watching that film; it changed my life forever. That film gave me the strength to take up karate and helped me stand up to my own bullies in the playground.

Unfortunately I also started hanging out with an old Chinese guy, which didn't really work out. The police and the courts got involved and things were said that neither party meant, and eventually it all got really messy, and it's a part of my life I'd rather not revisit...

Anyhow... I'd always wondered what happened to the film's star Ralph Macchio. I know after he'd crane-kicked the hell out of Johnny he turned up in a couple of sequels, but apart from that and My Cousin Vinny, where the hell did Daniel Larusso go?

Finally after a bit of digging around on the internet, I finally found some answers...

Lad Lit Book Reviews: Be Careful What You Wish For by Simon Jordan

If you have gone and watched your football team play against Crystal Palace in the last decade, chances are you would have chanted “Simon Jordan is a w*nker” alongside 10,000 or so of your fellow fans at the top of your lungs.

Perhaps this is not the best endorsement for Simon Jordan and his book, but how many other football chairman can you think of that was more controversial, more outspoken, and more blonde than the former Eagles owner?

Palace fans loved him, opposition fans loved to taunt him. The perma-tanned self-made millionaire made his fortune in the mobile phone business and by the age of 32 he was the youngest owner of a football club. Ten years and £35m later he had lost it all, but what a decade he had left in his wake.

You might not think that Jordan has much more to say in this book that he hasn’t already aired publicly such was his inability to keep his mouth shut in front of reporters or a TV camera, but that certainly isn’t the case.

What is refreshing about this book compared to other football autobiographies is that we get a different perspective on the crazy world of top-flight football. Never one to be a shrinking violet, Jordan is unrelenting with his attacks on players, managers, agents, and other chairman (he once said: “If I see another David Gold interview on the poor East End Jewish boy done good I'll impale myself on one of his dildos).

I applaud his tenaciousness to try and turn his beloved Crystal Palace into a top flight contender, but at the same time I can’t help but shake my head at his insistence to continue to throw millions of pounds at something without considering the consequences. It is a bit like lending cash to your best mate who you know is rubbish with money; you know you’ll never get the money back but you keep trying to help out. Another classic case of an accomplished businessman leaving his business acumen at the turnstiles.

Jordan is certainly lives up to the hype of a big-time Charlie as he talks about his Spanish villas and private jets, but so what? He earned the right to live that lifestyle, and how many more football chairman do you know who dated supermodels? Whatever your opinion of him, his time in football certainly made things interesting.

He battled relentless against the system, creating enemies in every corner of the football family from senior members of the FA to Millwall and Birmingham fans and to fellow chairman (former Charlton chairman Richard Murray challenged him to a fight) and the managers he hired and fired (eight managers would come and go during his tenure). That is not to say that Jordan did not have his supporters and friends in football, but he wasn't afraid of who upset along the way.

In amongst all the bravado and the self-gratification is a very insightful look at the parts of football we as fans don’t normally get exposed to, and after reading this book I truly believe Jordan wanted to make a difference in football and fought a good fight. Unfortunately for him it wasn’t good enough and not only did he lose a fortune, but football in general is probably a lot poorer for the loss of another great character.

As a football fan, I found this a really enjoyable read. Football is a bit like a pantomime or a soap opera and the roles of those characters are played out beautifully in this book. We have the implosion of ITV Digital, the Iain Dowie court case for fraudulent misrepresentation (when Jordan issued Dowie a writ during his press conference as he was being unveiled as the new Charlton manager), and of course the bitter downfall that nearly dragged Palace into the football graveyard of obscurity. Unfortunately for Jordan it was his lone tombstone that was consigned to football folklore.

Funny books about relationships for men - check out The Drought!

Happy Valentines Day everyone! As today is the official day of love, I thought what better than to give a little plug for The Drought! Over the last couple of months, The Drought has been picking up some great reviews and I just wanted to say t big thank you to everyone who has read it and posted their positive feedback.

And for those of you who have not read it, then why not check it out today? It is only 99p/99c at eBook version or if you want to splash the cash out for a loved one, it is also available in paperback.If you want to find out a bit more about the book then check out this link.

Download The Drought for FREE until March 15!

Hi guys and gals, I am pleased to announce that I have another offer running on Smashwords where you can download The Drought for FREE if you have an eReader!

Click this link and type in the promotional code 'WF86L' prior to completing the check-out. Feel free to pass the promotional code on anyone you might know! Offer ends on March 15, 2013.

And if you like the book, then please write a review somewhere online like at Goodreads, Amazon, Smashwords, or on your blog!

Lad Lit Book Reviews: Adrenaline by Jeff Abbott

In typical Jeff Abbott form this one not only packs a punch from the opening pages, but it explodes open an almighty 'I'm gonna knock you the f*** out' can of whoop-ass!

Sam Capra's perfect existence in London is about to come crashing down all around him. The American CIA Agent is closing in on an important target when his pregnant wife calls him at work urging him to get out of the building. Within minutes Sam's life is in tatters and everything he holds close is gone. As he steps out on to the street he spots his wife, Lucy, being driven away by a mysterious scar-faced man. Before Sam can give chase he is knocked out from the blow of a bomb ripping through his office.

When Sam awakes he is in a prison cell, told that he is the only survivor from the explosion, and is tortured for information to find out why he has murdered all of his colleagues and why he has turned traitor.Sam needs to act fast and fall back on all of the skills he learned as a CIA Operative if he is to survive and discover the truth about the life he thought he knew so well.

Abbott is fast becoming the king of the thriller genre, and with Adrenaline he has created a character that will become the basis of a series of books, much like Robert Ludlum did with the Bourne character. What that means is that Abbott moves away from the normal everyday 'Joe Bloggs' character from his previous novels, and has created a man more adept to arm-to-arm combat.

The cynic inside me says he has done this with one eye on a movie deal, but it doesn't change the fact that Abbott is very good at what he does, and maybe I'm simply being too hasrh. After all, it's also fair to say that Abbott has shown he is able to turn his hand at being able to write about a different type of character rather than sticking to the tried and tested format which has already worked so well for him.

Abbott effortlessly holds the readers attention with more twists and turns that a Formula One racing track. His books are always cool, slick, and are packed with so much energy that they should come with a health warning. Adrenaline lives up to its name, but be prepared that once you reach the ending there is a strong chance you'll be hooked on the Sam Capra series and will find yourself lining Mr Abbott's pockets with more of your cash to buy the next installment.

A nice surprise from India!

Yesterday I turned 35. It wasn't a pleasant experience - nothing bad happened, in fact my wife went out of her way to make sure I had a great day. But as the day turned to night, I found myself lying in bed with the realisation that I was now technically closer to 40 than I was to 30... A sobering thought.

So it was with great delight today that I got a note on Goodreads from Naznin Azeez who lives in India, and had seen the review for The Drought on the Impressions of a Princess blog and had decided to give my little lad lit novel a read, and had enjoyed it so much she posted  a review up on her own blog site which you can see here and I have also copy and pasted the review below:

Book Review: The Drought
From the very beginning of reading it, I felt a warm feeling in me because I could positively see that the book was a relaxing one. It set the right mood from the moment it began. I love the way the author gave attention to little details throughout the book. He has definitely thought the whole plot through very very well!. There were certain moments I just laughed out LOUD. He plays around with words in a very hearty manner. You gotta love Steven for not messing with the actual harsh reality of life. He portrays Dan as a man who is completely unlucky when it comes to women!. However, some situations that he gets himself into is damn unbelievable while some are plain hilarious.

The book is written from a man’s point of view. Women should read this book to see how a man’s mind works!.. Men should read this book so that they can nod along and probably say, “I would have thought so too”.. Hahaha.. Frankly, there were certain times, when I thought the Dan Hilles was completely insensitive!. But there were also times when I sympathized with his complete lack of luck. Certainly getting a look inside a man’s head can be terrifying to a woman. When reading it, inevitably, the question arises in your head whether all guys in your life think the same too. That puts you in a weird position!.

It’s hilarious how Steven has described men’s hatred towards shopping. Personally that’s one thing I can never understand about men. But I know for real that not every men are like that. I personally know about two men who actually love shopping. Hahaha. Yeah, two!. Isn’t that awesome?.

It’s a nice read. Being only 274 pages, it’s a quick and relaxed read. I kept wondering throughout the book, how it would eventually end. The first chapter was titled The End. Though that chapter made it clear what the book title was about, I could predict most of the stuff like what is going to happen at a date because it was already explained in the first chapter.. That gave away certain suspense as to how things would turn out.

Towards the last set of chapters, I kinda started predicting what the end would be. That, kind of made me upset because I couldn’t believe Steven would end it with the obvious. However, he introduced a nice twist towards the end which was totally unexpected and threw my doubts about his ability to keep it entertaining, right out the window. You gotta read the book to know what it’s all about :)

The chat up/pick up lines used by Dan’s friends are absolutely brilliant. They all made me laugh. I kinda had a feeling that if a guy said that to me in real life I might actually laugh and would definitely get talking with him!.

All in all, I give the book 4/5 which by Goodreads standards mean that I ‘really liked’ it.