South Africa revels in its reputation as a sport-loving country. Yet just beneath the surface lurks a dark underbelly that reeks of cheating and illicit shenanigans, where shady characters and willing athletes are prepared to do whatever it takes to come out on top. South African sport is awash with steroids, a habit that formed in the late 1980s and continues unabated today, with participants and champions alike opting to play dirty. Guns and Needles infiltrates an extraordinary environment that includes the story of the youngest athlete, who happens to be a South African, to ever test positive. With doping numbers far higher than the international average, prominent sportswriter Clinton van der Berg probes why this is so. Many of the stories have never been told, including that of the death of a young rugby aspirant and the bodybuilder who talks candidly of his thirty-year odyssey with steroids. Guns and Needles also unmasks the rampant level of steroid use in schoolboy rugby and the prominent busts at senior and Springbok level, while examining the murky steroid underworld and related deaths, as well as the doping culture in boxing, athletics and other sports. This is a gripping read filled with drama, tragedy and scarcely believable stories.

This book won t teach you how to tattoo like a professional. This book wont teach you how to make a million dollars by opening your own tattoo studio in a week. You should really be weary of any book that does promise that. This book WILL get you started with the basic foundation for your apprenticeship. Written for the apprentice by someone who competed a formal tattoo apprenticeship, documenting the lessons learned along the way. The best way to learn to tattoo is as an apprentice, but some things you should know going into the situation. Just because we stress an apprenticeship does not mean that this 240+ page manual is lacking by any means! Basic Fundamentals of Modern Tattoo covers everything from how to build a tattoo machine to what types of needle configurations are best for each task. The best part of the book is that you get access to 'Teach Me To Tattoo' an interactive website designed specifically for the book. Where you can ask questions and get detailed information about each section of the book. As more information is added to the website the value increases. Registered copies of the book will allow the reader to gain access to the TMTT Portal online for as long as the portal is in existence at no additional charge. If you are a tattoo apprentice then you should definitely have this piece of literature in your toolbox. Learn about the components of tattoo machines, how to tune a tattoo machine, about different needle configurations, what pigments are best for the job, sterilization standards, and industry secrets / tips. Follow the goals and milestones laid out in a concise and easy to understand manner, with detailed graphics and illustrations (many computer generated for detail). Get recommendations on what gear is considered top quality, and tricks on how to use after-market parts on your machines to get the most bang for your buck. Remember that the best tattoo artists will always tell you to complete an apprenticeship, the only secrets in the tattoo industry are the answers to the questions you have not yet asked. Tattoo Apprentice, Learn tattoo, tattoo tricks, tattoo tips, tattoo guide.

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Jason Reynolds, a “funny and rewarding” (Publishers Weekly) coming-of-age novel about friendship and loyalty across neighborhood lines and the hardship of life for an urban teen. A lot of the stuff that gives my neighborhood a bad name, I don’t really mess with. The guns and drugs and all that, not really my thing. Nah, not his thing. Ali’s got enough going on, between school and boxing and helping out at home. His best friend Noodles, though. Now there’s a dude looking for trouble—and, somehow, it’s always Ali around to pick up the pieces. But, hey, a guy’s gotta look out for his boys, right? Besides, it’s all small potatoes; it’s not like anyone’s getting hurt. And then there’s Needles. Needles is Noodles’s brother. He’s got a syndrome, and gets these ticks and blurts out the wildest, craziest things. It’s cool, though: everyone on their street knows he doesn’t mean anything by it. Yeah, it’s cool…until Ali and Noodles and Needles find themselves somewhere they never expected to be…somewhere they never should've been—where the people aren’t so friendly, and even less forgiving.

In this poignant tale of growing up "different, " Andie Dominick writes about the powerful bond between her and her sister--and the challenges, emotional and physical, she faced after her sister's tragic death.

Before his life went totally off the rails, Patrick O'Neil was living the punk rock dream, working at San Francisco's legendary Mabuhay Gardens, going on to become a roadie and then the road manager for such seminal bands as Dead Kennedys, Flipper, Subhumans, and T.S.O.L. But that was before his heroin addiction veered totally out of control. A junkie for eighteen years, O'Neil, the educated son of intellectuals, eventually turned to a life of crime, ending up the ringleader of a group of armed bank robbers, all in an increasingly out-of-control attempt to keep himself and his girlfriend in drugs. Now, after a stint in San Quentin and fourteen years sober, O'Neil takes a look back at the experiences--moving, calamitous, and at times both hilarious and terrifying--that led to his downfall and recovery. Told in sparse prose and graphic detail, Gun, Needle, Spoon examines the long road to redemption and the obstacles along the way, demystifying the "criminal life" so often depicted in film and fiction but seldom written about from the first-hand viewpoint of those who have lived it.