You’ve probably never heard of the man who stole his neighbor’s window curtains only to hang them on his own windows, perfectly visible from the house he burgled. Maybe you never read about the woman who robbed a BP gas station by threatening to infect the clerk with her destructive bacteria. These are the stories amassed in News of the Weird’s “Least Competent Criminals.” And while the woman who robbed the gas station got away because of perhaps the world’s least competent clerk,...

A school principal in Ohio resigning after admitting she lied about her income on federal forms so that her children could qualify for reduced-price school lunches, the writer of Elizabeth Taylor's New York Times obituary having died six years before Taylor, and a Christian pole-dancing class––just a few examples of the humorous anecdotes found in News of the Weird's "Ironies," an e-book original that proves that truth is stranger than fiction.What started as a hob...

Who’s fault is it when a man crashes into a table, tearing several ligaments and suffering a severed tendon while attempting in vain to improve his base-stealing technique in his den? Apparently, it’s Mickey Mantle Sports Productions, according to the victim’s lawsuit. “Litigious Society” catalogs the petty and darkly humorous lawsuits filed by victims of painful, self-inflicted foolery. In a world where a man can sue Starbucks for “goading” him into stealing money from the tip jar by plac...

For news junkies and fans of the bizarre-but-true, here is an outrageous collection of all-real, all-weird news stories culled from the nation's mainstream newspapers!

New York Times bestselling author of Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs and Downtown Owl, “the Ethicist” of the New York Times Magazine, Chuck Klosterman returns to fiction with his second novel—an imaginative page-turner about a therapist and her unusual patient, a man who can render himself invisible.Therapist Victoria Vick is contacted by a cryptic, unlikable man who insists his situation is unique and unfathomable. As he slowly reve...

Now a major motion picture! New York Times bestselling author and “one of America’s top cultural critics” (EntertainmentWeekly****) Chuck Klosterman’s darkly comic debut novel brilliantly captures the charm and dread of small-town life in rural North Dakota.**Somewhere in rural North Dakota, there is a fictional town called Owl. They don’t have cable. They don’t really have pop c...

After a bestselling and acclaimed diversion into fiction, Chuck Klosterman, author of Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs, returns to the form in which he’s been spectacularly successful with a collection of essays about our consumption of pop culture and sports.Q: What is this book about?A: Well, that’s difficult to say. I haven’t read it yet—I’ve just picked it up and casually glanced at the back cover. There clearly isn’t a plot. I’ve heard there’s a lo...

From the author of the highly acclaimed heavy metal memoir, Fargo Rock City, comes another hilarious and discerning take on massively popular culture—set in Chuck Klosterman’s den and your own—covering everything from the effect of John Cusack flicks to the crucial role of breakfast cereal to the awesome power of the Dixie Chicks.Countless writers and artists have spoken for a generation, but no one has done it quite like Chuck Klosterman. With an exhausti...

In the sweltering heat of one summer in a small Midwestern town, Claire and Don Lowry discover that married life isn’t quite what they’d predicted. One night Don, a father of two, leaves his house for an evening stroll, only to wake up the next morning stoned and lying in a hammock next to a young woman he barely knows. His wife, Claire, out on a midnight run, finds herself bumming cigarettes and beer outside the all-night convenience store.As the summer lingers and the temperature...

“An ambitious and warmhearted first novel” (Entertainment Weekly) from Owen King—the epic tale of a young man coming to terms with his life in the aftermath of the spectacularly bizarre failure of his first film.SAM DOLAN is a young man coming to terms with his life in the process and aftermath of making his first film. He has a difficult relationship with his father, B-movie actor Booth Dolan—a boisterous, opinionated, lying lothario whose screen legacy f...

It's dangerous enough when an ordinary college girl turns confidential informant. Even more dangerous when she's smarter than the killer, kingpins, and cops who think they control her.Honors student Sarie Holland is busted by the local police while doing a favor for her boyfriend. Unwilling to betray him but desperate to avoid destroying her future, Sarie has no choice but to become a "CI" -- a confidential informant.Philly narcotics cop Ben Wildey is hungry for a career-ma...

For more than 25 years, there's always been a home in Uncle John's Bathroom Reader for those stories about doctor visits or routine surgeries gone horribly wrong--the wrong limb getting amputated, the wrong person getting a transplant, the nurse who didn't notice her patient had died…for three days. Because we never get tired of reading about big boo-boos (as long as they're happening to someone else), here is a whole book of the troubling and funny stories of when good health care goes ba...