Ever wish that in the afterlife you'll be able to exact revenge on the people who made your life so miserable? The Five Jerks You Meet on Earth takes on that sidesplitting premise. Loser Al Mitchell finally gets a chance to win-even though he's dead. Al Mitchell is middle-aged, divorced, childless, balding, unemployed, stoop-shouldered, and dead--but these are the least of his problems. When Mitchell dies in a chaotic merry-go-round wreck, he goes to Heaven hoping to discover the meaning of his sad-sack life by meeting the five most influential people he's known. But too bad they're busy meeting with more important people! In their place, Al meets his grade school lunch lady, family plumber, and a hairdresser who turned down all of his romantic advances. So much for peace in the afterlife! Intent to make amends, Heaven's powers-that-be allow Mitchell to return to Earth (with help from a bumbling angel named Adrian) to achieve a goal even better than enlightenment. He gets to exact revenge on the five jerks who made his life so miserable! Ray Zardetto's The Five Jerks You Meet on Earth hilariously--but respectfully--parodies Mitch Albom's The Five People You Meet in Heaven. It turns the premise of that inspiring best-seller on its head--and it speaks to the avenging loser in all of us! For more about the book visit www.thefivejerksyoumeetonearth.com

Now in its 17th year, Guide to Literary Agents is a writers best resource for finding a literary agent or script agent to represent their work. As the market becomes more glutted while the number of major publishing houses shrinks, writers need someone familiar with the publishing scene to shepherd their manuscript to the right person. To help writers acquire an agent, this book provides names and specialties for more than 700 individual agents around the United States and the world. The book also includes a growing number of UK agents as well as Australian agents, and more than 90 pages of original articles on finding the best agent to represent your work and how to seal the deal. From editing your work to crafting a book proposal to making the most of your contract, Guide to Literary Agents will help writers deal with agents every step of the way.

“This book is a contemporary classic—a shrewd and spirited guide to protecting ourselves from the jerks, bullies, tyrants, and trolls who seek to demean. We desperately need this antidote to the a-holes in our midst.”—Daniel H. Pink, best-selling author of To Sell Is Human and Drive How to avoid, outwit, and disarm assholes, from the author of the classic The No Asshole Rule As entertaining as it is useful, The Asshole Survival Guide delivers a cogent and methodical game plan for anybody who feels plagued by assholes. Sutton starts with diagnosis—what kind of asshole problem, exactly, are you dealing with? From there, he provides field-tested, evidence-based, and often surprising strategies for dealing with assholes—avoiding them, outwitting them, disarming them, sending them packing, and developing protective psychological armor. Sutton even teaches readers how to look inward to stifle their own inner jackass. Ultimately, this survival guide is about developing an outlook and personal plan that will help you preserve the sanity in your work life, and rescue all those perfectly good days from being ruined by some jerk. “Thought-provoking and often hilarious . . . An indispensable resource.”—Gretchen Rubin, best-selling author of The Happiness Project and Better Than Before “At last . . . clear steps for rejecting, deflecting, and deflating the jerks who blight our lives . . . Useful, evidence-based, and fun to read.”—Robert Cialdini, best-selling author of Influence and Pre-Suasion

AVOID THE JERKS AND FIND “THE ONE” WHO'S RIGHT FOR YOU "An insightful and creative contribution to managing the complexity of choosing a life partner. I heartily recommend it." --Harville Hendrix, Ph.D., author of Getting the Love You Want and Keeping the Love You Find "Don't be part of the 'where-was-this-book-when-I-needed-it?' crowd. It's not too late--read it now!" --Pat Love, Ed.D., author of The Truth About Love and Hot Monogamy Based on years of research on marital and premarital happiness, How to Avoid Falling in Love with a Jerk (previously published in hardcover as How to Avoid Marrying a Jerk) will help you break destructive dating patterns that have kept you from finding the love you deserve: Ask the right questions to inspire meaningful, revealing conversations with your partner Judge character based on compatibility, relationships skills, friends, and patterns from family and previous relationships Resolve your own emotional baggage so you're ready for a healthy relationship

The dumpster fire of life rages on, but you got this. Practice six rules to keep you grounded, weather the storm, and actually be a decent person. It may seem like the world is going to hell in a hand basket right now. Whether it's big stuff like politics and climate change, or just the daily spin of paying your bills, getting to work on time, and fending off social media trolls, we can all admit, modern life ain't easy. Here are six really good guiding principles, inspired from the ancient wisdom of Buddhism and mindfulness practice, to keep you anchored and steady amidst the chaos.