Christopher Miller

Get what it takes to win-and unleash the ultimate fighter in youThink you know your way around the cage? Think again. Mixed martial arts powerhouse Mickey Dimic, two-time middleweight world champion and Hall of Famer, kicks your game into gear with this no-holds-barred guide to grounding and pounding, sprawling and brawling, and boxing dirty like the toughest contenders. Breaking down the fundamentals of mixed martial arts competition, Dimic brings his decades of MMA experience to teach you the various skills of boxing, wrestling, Muay Thai, judo, and Jiu-jitsu, arming you with an unstoppable arsenal of weapons sure to yield maximum damage to any opponent. With Dimic's cage-tested tips and drills, you'll learn to:Hone your body with proper trainingPunch and kick with power and precisionBeat down your opponent with a merciless full mountEscape from the tightest trapsForce submissions with vice-grip grappling holdsAnd strategize your way to victory in every fight

Written as liner notes to fictional music, Christopher Miller's uproarious debut novel skewers conventions in a work of high entertainment and imagination. In Sudden Noises from Inanimate Objects, the complete works of the prodigiously cranky composer Simon Silber get their diablolical due from Silber's official biographer -- a man who grows to hate his subject. Not content with simply discussing Silber's odd musical oeuvre -- whose highlights include an hourlong performance of the "Minute Waltz," an etude composed on a telephone keypad, and a transcription of crow caws -- the commentator veers into a delightfully venomous expos of a musician whose grandiose ambitions far exceed his actual talent.