Bowlbrawl
Nathaniel G. Moore

October 2005
ISBN 1-894994-10-8
Humour / Sports Biography
6x9 inches
240 pages
Photographs and illustrations throughout
$16.95 CDN / US

Bowlbrawl is the epic tale of Robert Towell's rise from the exploitive ranks of provincial under 14 bowling stardom to the corporate late 1990s sabre-toothed world of full contact hypermasculine bowling. With his company (World Championship Bowling) and the edgy and life-risking storylines, pay-per-views, rabid fan-base, psychotic "athletes" and the continuous love of his wife Nikola, Robert Towell revolutionized society's contemporary vision of professional bowling and changed the game forever. He now lives in Morocco with his wife. This is his story.

Nathaniel G. Moore writes in the tradition of literary sports reportage (like Norman Mailer, George Plimpton, or Hunter S. Thompson) but also combines biography, fabulation, a behind the scenes perspective of the only bowling trial in Ontario's history, backyard wrestling, and screenplay techniques (similar to the book/film Hard Core Logo). Part infomercial, part championship tournament, part asylum memoir, this story includes first-hand accounts from those whose lives were affected the most.

Granted unprecedented access to Towell's story and those of WCB bowlers Dragan Momchilo and Greg Lebelle, this first time author has created a startlingly unique and hilarious portrait of the death of bowling and one man's histrionic personality disorder.

"Bowlbrawl is the blueprint for sports armageddon."
- Jerry Tomlin, WCB Executive Consultant 1996-2000

"Like most of you, I follow bowling religiously. The tension, the excitement, the skill and the wonder this majestic sport engenders are, to me, akin to a night of oily rough sex - but with better outfits and an audience. Now Nathaniel G. Moore and his irresponsible friends have gone and wrecked the romance! Damn them. Mark my words, Bowlbrawl will poison the Sport Of Kings faster than salmonella at a July wedding - and we'll only have ourselves to blame. Oh, sure, it's cute the first time. But where is the finesse, the elegance - dare I say it? - the love? Gone, gone in a single, scorching flash of gonadal boy play. They don't even wear the right shoes. I hate Nathaniel G. Moore for what he's done to 'our game', and the next time I see him I'm going to drop kick his ass then beat him silly with a nine pin. Or all nine pins."
- RM Vaughan

Nathaniel G. Moore is an iconoclast, fighter and lover. His work has been aired on ZeD TV and has appeared in print in magazines such as Matrix, Broken Pencil, Quill & Quire, The Antigonish Review and This Magazine. He is the feature's editor at The Danforth Review, and the editor of the Canadian anthology Desire, Doom & Vice. He is represented online courtesy of Notho Entertainment. Visit www.bowlbrawl.com for the Bowlbrawl trailer and further updates.

Read an excerpt from Bowlbrawl.