Coming Soon to a Bookstore Near You (October 21, 2025)

The Uncool: A Memoir
By Cameron Crowe
Avid Reader Press
Available in Hardcover, ebook, and unabridged audio download

Cameron Crowe was an unlikely rock and roll insider. Born in 1957 to parents who strictly banned the genre from their house, he dove headfirst into the world of music. By the time he graduated high school at fifteen, Crowe was contributing to Rolling Stone. His parents became believers, uneasily allowing him to interview and tour with legends like Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Bob Dylan, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and Fleetwood Mac.

The Uncool offers a front-row ticket to the 1970s, a golden era for music and art when rock was young. There’s no such thing as a media junket—just the rare chance a young writer might be invited along for an adventure. Crowe spends his teens politely turning down the drugs and turning on his tape recorder. He talks his journalism teacher into giving him class credit for his road trip covering Led Zeppelin’s 1975 tour, which lands him—and the band—on the cover of Rolling Stone. He embeds with David Bowie as the sequestered genius transforms himself into a new persona: the Thin White Duke. “Why did Bowie give Crowe such unprecedented access?” Crowe writes. “Because you’re young enough to be honest,” Bowie told him.

Youth and humility are Crowe’s ticket into the Eagles’ dressing room in 1972, where Glenn Frey vows to keep the band together forever; to his first major interview with Kris Kristofferson; and to earning the trust of icons like Gregg Allman and Joni Mitchell, who had sworn to never again speak to Rolling Stone.

It’s a magical odyssey—the journey of a teenage writer waved through the door to find his fellow dreamers, music geeks, and lifelong community. It’s a path that leads him to writing and directing some of the most beloved films of the past forty years, from Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Say Anything... to Jerry Maguire and Almost Famous. His movies often resonate with the music of the artists he first met as a journalist, including Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, The Who, and Pearl Jam.

The Uncool is also a surprisingly intimate family drama. If you’ve seen Almost Famous, you may think you know this story—but you don’t. For the first time, Crowe opens up about his formative years in Palm Springs and pays tribute to his father, a decorated Army officer who taught him the irreplaceable value of the human voice. Crowe also offers a full portrait of his mother, whose singular spirit helped shape him into an unconventional visionary.

With vivid snapshots of a bygone era and a celebration of creativity and connection, this memoir is an essential read for music lovers or anyone chasing their wildest dreams. At the end of that roller-coaster journey, you might just find what you were looking for: your place in the world.

Sound N’ Fury: Rock n’ Roll Stories
By Alan Niven
ECW Press
Available in Hardcover and ebook

Most rock ’n’ roll books are a bore. They all have the same narrative arc and are aimed at the dwindling following of artists long past their prime. Sound N’ Fury does not have a story arc. It’s a collection of anecdotes—like a record comprised of various tracks—each one with its own point and purpose.

Alan Niven, who guided Guns N’ Roses from the gutter of Los Angeles to Wembley Stadium, shares stories from his remarkable life as a manager with immediacy and an extraordinary recall of dialogue. Readers will encounter not just Guns N’ Roses (who have sold almost ten million concert tickets) but also The Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Clarence Clemons, Whitesnake, Elton John, and others who rose from humble origins to global fame.

Written with crisp, fluid style, Sound N’ Fury captures both the magnificence and the madness of the music world—amusing, affirming, and often disastrous. Rock ’n’ roll, as Niven writes, is “God’s occupation for the unemployable.”

Everything’s Good: Cozy Classics You’ll Cook Always and Forever
By Toni Chapman
Clarkson Potter
Available in Hardcover

Toni Chapman is a social media star whose easy, comforting recipes have made her one of the most beloved voices in home cooking today. She grew up in a family that loved to cook, and her food celebrates the beautiful intersection of food and family—drawing flavors from the multicultural community she grew up in.

In Everything’s Good, Toni shares 100 approachable, weeknight-friendly recipes infused with bold flavor and meticulous attention to detail. Her dishes are soulful and cozy—some passed down from family, others reimagined classics—and all designed to bring comfort to your table.

Highlights include:

• Start with Something Special: Juicy Red Sofrito Chicken Empanadas; Spinach, Crab & Artichoke-Stuffed Shrimp
• Soulful Soups: Pozole Verde; Spicy Lasagna Soup; Ultimate Loaded Potato Soup
• Take-Out Classics: Jamaican-Style Oxtail; Straight-Fire Smash Burgers; General Tso’s Chicken
• Family Style Favorites: Cajun Butter Turkey; Louisiana Red Beans and Rice; Sausage and Gravy Bake
• Life is Sweet: Strawberries & Cream Croissant Bake; Biscuit-Top Peach Cobbler; Cookies & Cream Tres Leches

For Toni, food is solace, love, and connection. Everything’s Good reminds us that no matter what life throws our way, we can always find comfort in preparing and sharing a delicious meal.

The Anthony Bourdain Reader: New, Classic, and Rediscovered Writing
Edited by Kimberly Witherspoon
Ecco
Available in Hardcover

Anthony Bourdain represented many things to many people—and he had many sides. But no part of his identity was more important to him, or more enduring, than that of a writer.

The Anthony Bourdain Reader collects his finest and most fascinating writing, touching on his many passions—from restaurant life to family life to the “low life,” from television to travels through Vietnam, Buenos Aires, Paris, and Shanghai.

This volume also features never-before-seen material: diary entries from Bourdain’s first trip to France as a teenager, his essay “It’s Cruel and Unforgiving Terrain” about New York’s restaurant scene, unpublished short fiction (“I Quit My Job Yesterday”), and chapters from No New Messages, his unfinished novel.

Curated and edited by Bourdain’s longtime agent and friend Kimberly Witherspoon, and featuring a foreword by Patrick Radden Keefe, this collection gives the fullest portrait yet of the man behind the legend—a restless, singular voice whose words remain as vital as ever.