Books published by publisher A L Burt Company Publishers

The Arena and the Coliseum are long gone . . . but they left behind some great Cavs stories! The Cleveland Arena is long gone. It was dark and decrepit, yet it generated some special memories―as the birthplace of the Cavaliers. The Richfield Coliseum, once a palace on the prairie, is now just a field of grass. Yet fans can vividly recall how it shook to a deafening roar during so many thrilling moments―from the “Miracle” to “the Shot.” The Cavs teams that played there from 1970 to the 1990s weren’t great―although some were very, very good. Yet they featured players and coaches still cherished by fans for their talent, character or style . . . Austin Carr, the team’s first star―“Mr. Cavalier.” World B. Free, who arrived via helicopter to save a boring, failing franchise with his sense of humor and 3-point shot. Hot Rod Williams overcame scandal to play nine seasons and used his huge heart to change lives. Mark Price, one of the best outside shooters in NBA history, inspired postgame crowds with his message of faith. Bill Fitch planned the Cavs’ first draft using bubblegum cards. Lenny Wilkens coached his teams to the brink of greatness, only to run into Michael Jordan again and again. The Cleveland Cavaliers of that era come to life in this book. It’s a warm, personal history by a veteran sportswriter who was there―first as a young fan and later as an NBA beat reporter. If you were there, too, these stories will take you back to vintage Cavs moments―and also share details you haven’t heard before. If you weren’t, this is an entertaining introduction to a bygone era.

One of America’s most unusual celebrities tells his own outrageous story.From dishwasher to international celebrity in one afternoon . . . Charles Ramsey gives a roller coaster account of his life before, during, and after the dramatic rescue of three kidnapped women in Cleveland . . .Global news media declared him a hero. Well-wishers mobbed him. The Internet made him a viral sensation. It couldn’t have happened to a less likely guy. Now, read how it all went down.Ramsey was in the wrong place at the right time when he answered a young woman’s cry for help, kicked in his neighbor’s locked front door, and got her the hell out of there―leading to the astonishing rescue of three young women―Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, and Michelle Knight―who had been missing for a decade.Reporters and TV cameras flocked to a neighborhood―and a man―they otherwise would have ignored. Ramsey was ready, with plenty to say. “Bro, I knew something was wrong when a little pretty white girl ran into a black man’s arms . . . Dead giveaway.” It was a quote that launched a thousand Internet memes . . .In this book Ramsey walks us step-by-step through the day of the rescue and talks about living right next door to Ariel Castro―outwardly charming, secretly a monster.He tells about life before the rescue―growing up a privileged black kid in a white suburb, seeking out trouble over and over, getting kicked out of school, selling drugs, going to prison, and ultimately finding work as a dishwasher and landing by chance on gritty Seymour Avenue.And he shares what it’s like to become an instant celebrity, when suddenly everybody wants a piece of you. (For example, he learned the hard way that when a big TV network flies you to New York City for an interview, that doesn’t mean they also bought you a ticket back home to Cleveland!)This is a wild, eye-opening tale told with a sharp sense of humor.

With a foreword by Charlie Sheen. A behind-the-scenes look at one of the greatest baseball movies ever. If you love watching Major League, you’ll be fascinated by this inside story. Based on interviews with all major cast members plus crew and producers, it tells how writer/director David S. Ward battled the Hollywood system to turn his own love of the underdog Cleveland Indians into a classic screwball comedy. Learn how a tight-knit group of rising young stars (and a few wily veterans) had a blast pretending to play ball while creating several iconic characters. Filled with little-known facts and personal recollections about outtakes and inside jokes, batting practice and script changes, all-night location shoots, bar hopping and more, this is the ultimate guide to the film that reinvented the baseball movie and inspired a generation of belly laughs. Includes rare photos, storyboard illustrations, script excerpts, and more.

Turn on a night light, lock your door, and close the window blinds . . . Join investigative reporter James Renner as he looks into 13 tales of mysterious, creepy, and unexplained events in the Buckeye State, including: • The giant, spark-emitting Loveland Frog • The bloodthirsty Melon Heads of Kirtland • The lumber-wielding Werewolf of Defiance • The Mothman of the Ohio River • The UFO that inspired "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" • and more!

"The year’s funniest and most insightful baseball book." — Chicago Tribune A classic look at those years of baseball futility and frustration that make the rare taste of success so much sweeter. Any team can have an off-decade. But three in a row? Only in Cleveland. No sports fans suffered more miserable teams for more seasons than Indians fans of the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s. Terry Pluto takes a fond and often humorous look at “the bad old days” of the Tribe and finds plenty of great stories for fans to commiserate with. Other teams lose players to injuries; the Indians lost them to alcoholism (Sam McDowell), a nervous breakdown (Tony Horton), and the pro golf tour (Ken Harrelson). They even had to trade young Dennis Eckersley (a future Hall-of-Famer) because his wife fell in love with his best friend and teammate. Pluto profiles the men who made the Indians what they were, for better or worse, including Gabe Paul, the underfunded and overmatched general manager; Herb Score, the much-loved master of malaprops in the broadcast booth; Andre Thornton, who weathered personal tragedies and stood as one of the few hitting stalwarts on some terrible teams; and Super Joe Charboneau, who blazed across the American League as a rookie but flamed out the following season. Long-suffering Indians fans finally got an exciting, star-studded, winning team in the second half of the 1990s. But this book still stands as the definitive story of that generation of Tribe fans—and a great piece of sports history writing.

This memoir taken from the journal of Dr. Vương Tú Toàn, it chronicle four unsuccessful escape attempts and the fifth and final escape attempt from Communist Vietnam, after the fall of South Vietnam. The details of Dr. Vuong’s 1980 escape from Vietnam came from the journal he kept as events were unfolding and from interviews with the other Vuong family members. Dr. Vuong, or Toan as he is referred to throughout, was a well-respected doctor living with his family in South Vietnam, one of those blessed individuals who loved helping people, treating the sick and making them better. Before the fall of South Vietnam, he and his family had a wonderful life in a little town near Saigon, mostly untouched by the war. He had married Nha-Y, the daughter of a judge for the South Vietnamese Army. At the time they began their multiple escape attempts, they had five children, the oldest of whom was thirteen years old, while the youngest had just turned two.In America, there is the saying "Freedom isn't Free". Toan was willing to sacrifice everything, his wealth and security, for his family. On the night before they left, as the family sat around him, Toan stood before them. "We are about to embark on this escape attempt, you must understand we might not make it. None of us can swim, none of us know what's on the other side. So that odds are greatly stacked against us...one in a hundred chance of making it. But we are going to do this as a family and if we make it you all have to make something of your lives. You have to make this effort worthwhile."

Example in this ebookCHAPTER ITHE PRICE OF A KISS"Stand and deliver!"The words rang out in the gathering darkness of the February evening. The jaded horses, exhausted with dragging a cumbrous chariot through the miry lanes and rugged by-roads of the rough moorland, obeyed the command with promptitude, disregarding the lash of the postboy and the valiant oaths of a couple of serving-men in the rumble."Keep still, unless you wish me to blow out what you are pleased to consider your brains," said the highwayman. "My pistols have an awkward habit of going off of their own accord when I am not instantly obeyed—so don't provoke them."The postilion became as still as a statue and the footmen, under cover of the self-acting pistols, descended, grumbling but unresisting, yielded up their rusty blunderbusses with a transparent show of reluctance and withdrew to a respectful distance, while the highwayman dismounted, opened the carriage door and throwing the light of a lantern within, revealed the shrinking forms of two women muffled in cloaks and hoods.One of them uttered a shriek of terror when the door was opened and incoherently besought the highwayman to spare two lone, defenseless women.The highwayman thrust his head in and peered round eagerly, as though in search of other passengers. Then, pulling off his slouch-brimmed hat, he revealed a pair of dark eyes that gleamed fiercely from behind a mask, and as much of a bronzed and weather-beaten face as it left uncovered. Black hair, loosely gathered in a ribbon and much disordered by wind and rain, added considerably to the wildness of his aspect, and the uncertain light of the lantern flickered upon several weapons besides the pistols he carried so carelessly."I shall not hurt you, Madam," he exclaimed impatiently. "Your money and jewels are all I seek. I expected to find a very different booty here and must hasten elsewhere lest I miss it altogether by this confounded mishap. So let me advise you to waste neither my time nor your own breath in useless lamentations, but hasten to hand out your purses and diamonds.""We have neither, Mr. Highwayman," said the other lady in a clear, musical voice, quite free from tremor. "I am a poor widow without a penny in the world, flying from my creditors to take refuge with a relative almost as poor as myself. This is my companion—alack for her! The wage I owe her might make her passing rich if ever 'twere paid—but it never will be.""Do poor widows travel in coach and four with serving-men and maids?" demanded the highwayman with an incredulous laugh. "Come, ladies, I am well used to these excuses. Do not put me to the disagreeable necessity of setting you down in the mud while I search your carriage and—mayhap—your fair selves."The lady threw back her hooded cloak, revealing a face and form of rare beauty, and extended two white hands and arms, bare to the elbow and entirely devoid of ornament. In one hand she held a little purse through whose silken meshes glittered a few pieces of money."This is all the money I have in the wide world," she said, in a voice of pathetic sweetness. "Take it, if you will, and search for more if you think it worth while—and if you find anything, prithee, share it with me!"But the highwayman scarcely heard her. Through his mask his eyes were fixed upon her beautiful face with a devouring admiration of which she was quite unconscious. Not that such an expression would have seemed at all extraordinary to her, or otherwise than the natural tribute of any masculine creature to the beauty she valued at its full worth."Keep your purse, Madam," he said, and his voice had lost its harshness; "I will take but one thing from you—something you will not miss, but that a monarch might prize—a kiss from those lovely lips."To be continue in this ebook

From dishwasher to international celebrity in one afternoon . . . Charles Ramsey gives a roller coaster account of his life before, during, and after the dramatic rescue of three kidnapped women in Cleveland . . .Global news media declared him a hero. Well-wishers mobbed him. The Internet made him a viral sensation. It couldn’t have happened to a less likely guy. Now, read how it all went down.Ramsey was in the wrong place at the right time when he answered a young woman’s cry for help, kicked in his neighbor’s locked front door, and got her the hell out of there—leading to the astonishing rescue of three young women—Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, and Michelle Knight—who had been missing for a decade.Reporters and TV cameras flocked to a neighborhood—and a man—they otherwise would have ignored. Ramsey was ready, with plenty to say. “Bro, I knew something was wrong when a little pretty white girl ran into a black man’s arms . . . Dead giveaway.” It was a quote that launched a thousand Internet memes . . .In this book Ramsey walks us step-by-step through the day of the rescue and talks about living right next door to Ariel Castro—outwardly charming, secretly a monster.He tells about life before the rescue—growing up a privileged black kid in a white suburb, seeking out trouble over and over, getting kicked out of school, selling drugs, going to prison, and ultimately finding work as a dishwasher and landing by chance on gritty Seymour Avenue.And he shares what it’s like to become an instant celebrity, when suddenly everybody wants a piece of you. (For example, he learned the hard way that when a big TV network flies you to New York City for an interview, that doesn’t mean they also bought you a ticket back home to Cleveland!)This is a wild, eye-opening tale told with a sharp sense of humor.

“Be prepared to be hungry, not only for your favorite foods, but for the special times from your childhood.” — CurrentsRemember when food was local? Cleveland companies made it, and local people sold it and ran the restaurants where we ate it. Now, take a delicious trip into the past.Food makes powerful memories. Mention Hough Bakery and see how quickly we Clevelanders start to drool over just the thought of those long-lost white cakes. This book collects the fondest memories of Clevelanders who still ache for treats from the past. There were Frostees in the Higbee’s basement. Popcorn balls at Euclid Beach. Burgers at Manner’s or Mawby’s. Entertainment-filled nights at Alpine Village. Mustard at old Municipal Stadium . . . and so much more. Richly illustrated.

Turn on a night light, lock your door, and close the window blinds! Join investigative reporter James Renner as he looks into 13 tales of mysterious, creepy, and unexplained events in the Buckeye State, including:• The giant, spark-emitting Loveland Frog• The bloodthirsty Melon Heads of Kirtland• The lumber-wielding Werewolf of Defiance• The Mothman of the Ohio River• The UFO that inspired "Close Encounters of the Third Kind"• and more!

#13 in the Milan Jacovich mystery series . . . “[A] roller coaster ride of a mystery . . . Roberts speeds the reader through an investigation offering plenty of delicious twists and turns without ever compromising credibility.” — Publishers Weekly “Typically entertaining: plotting, characterization, and setting dovetail into an excellent reading experience for mystery fans. Jacovich is tough and intelligent and possesses enough self-awareness to make him very good company indeed. Heartily recommended.” — Booklist A slick con man, posing as a recent immigrant from County Mayo all alone in America, is preying on the clannish loyalties of the Irish community in Cleveland for gifts, money, and other less tangible treats. When Common Pleas Judge Maureen Hartigan realizes she’s been bamboozled, she and her daughter, Cathleen, hire private eye Milan Jacovich (it’s pronounced MY-lan YOCK-ovitch) to chase down the swindler. But the con man turns up dead in a skanky motel room, and Milan finds himself tangled in the world of the local Irish godfather, Con McCardle, who is connected with the IRA. Milan also finds himself once again face-to-face with Cathleen Hartigan, an old flame that never quite kindled. Their own feelings clash with the more urgent need to solve a murder. Milan learns a lot about Irish customs and cultures—including “the Irish sports pages.”