What if the Second Coming didn't quite come off as advertised? What if the Corpse on display in that funky roadside zoo is really who they say it is--what does that portend for the future f western civilization? And what if a young clairvoyant named Amanda reestablishes the flea circus as popular entertainment and fertility worship as the principal religious form of our high-tech age? Another Roadside Attraction answers those questions and a lot more. It tell us, for example, what the sixties were truly all about, not by reporting on the psychedelic decade but by recreating it, from the inside out. In the process, this stunningly original seriocomic thriller is fully capable of simultaneously eating a literary hot dog and eroding the borders of the mind. From the Trade Paperback edition.

Julia is very short for her age, but by the end of the summer run of The Wizard of Oz, she'll realize how big she is inside, where it counts. She hasn't ever thought of herself as a performer, but when the wonderful director of Oz casts her as a Munchkin, she begins to see herself in a new way. As Julia becomes friendly with the poised and wise Olive - one of the adults with dwarfism who've joined the production's motley crew of Munchkins - and with her deeply artistic neighbor, Mrs. Chang, Julia's own sense of self as an artist grows. Soon, she doesn't want to fade into the background and it's a good thing, because her director has more big plans for Julia!

Take the Cannoli is a moving and wickedly funny collection of personal stories stretching across the immense landscape of the American scene. Vowell tackles subjects such as identity, politics, religion, art, and history with a biting humor. She searches the streets of Hoboken for traces of the town's favorite son, Frank Sinatra. She goes under cover of heavy makeup in an investigation of goth culture, blasts cannonballs into a hillside on a father-daughter outing, and maps her family's haunted history on a road trip down the Trail of Tears. Vowell has an irresistible voice—caustic and sympathetic, insightful and double-edged—that has attracted a loyal following for her magazine writing and radio monologues on This American Life.

Someone’s framed womanizing dance instructor Waltz Charleston for his brother’s ballroom slaying. He hesitates to hire cheater-hating PI Hook ‘Em Harns. No way can she solve a homicide. She only does divorces. Worse, she may be doublecrossing him. Can he trust her? With the cops closing in, he has no choice. He’s broke and she’s the only PI in town who will work on credit.Someone’s framed womanizing dance instructor Waltz Charleston for his brother’s murder. He vows to avenge his brother and clear himself, but doesn’t know where to start. He hesitates to hire cheater-hating PI Hook ‘Em Harns. No way can she solve a homicide. She only does divorces. Worse, she may be doublecrossing him. Can he trust her? With the cops closing in, he has no choice. He’s broke and she’s the only PI in town who will work on credit.What readers say about this comic mystery: Wow! What a dance! Even if you’re in shape, you’ll be breathing hard by the end.

This is a very different retelling of the Frog Prince story with other fairy tales mixed in. In this humorous story, a frog named Prince Charming must break his curse in order to become a prince. It is about a short story that is 3,500 words. It previously won the Allasso humor award.The last survivors of the Community fight to live and die in authenticity and love while Others thrive: an account of an end of our species. An End, a short story, was first published by Mixer Publishing.From An End:"When Matthew returned there were twelve. He found the eleven others pressed shoulder to shoulder under a corrugated metal roof like thick lines of Others waiting to plug in and make their dull eyes bright. He listened to the rain on the roof. Twelve seemed too many. No matter, all love. The rain stopped and the twelve dispersed to their digging, planting, hoeing, picking, macheteing, cooking, eating, conversing, excreting, to their coffee, to their macadamia, and to their cane.Matthew returned to the routine of the days. He forgot to count them. It did not take him long to not think anything of note. The other Community members spoke often, but often without expressing clear thoughts. He occasionally spoke to Mary of nothing. He had a conversation with Maggie that caused him unhappiness. He did not think about it. It was forgotten. He worked in silence."

A story of couple whose life shakes awake when they get on a train.A story of a couple whose life was as destitute and difficult as a rugged road to a hill. But, one morning as they were heading home, they glanced something extremely valuable in the seats of a train. What was that thing ? And could it change their life ? Read it to find out !

Wonka is back with a special tale for Halloween, as written by his beloved Owner. The dust has been shaken off, the pages spread beneath his paw and Wonka is poised to take us back in time to a ghostly sighting! Get comfy, draw the curtains against this spooky night and listen up!Wonka returns! Here he is with a Halloween special, a long forgotten story that Owner has let him read (in the hope it will find favour) – and is in tune with the spooky season. All the philosophers and dear Jung are standing down for this one! Let the night be still, let the veil move aside to let those pesky spirits through for their One Night Only! Do enjoy this scary tale especially for you.

Odd Numbers - Being Further Chronicles of Shorty McCabe is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Sewell Ford is in the English language, and may not include graphics or images from the original edition. If you enjoy the works of Sewell Ford then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection.

The last thing fifteen-year-old Flora Fontain wants to do is spend her summer vacation stuck in a tent with her overprotective parents. But since her parents trust her as much as they trust a cat burglar at the moment, Flora has no choice but to suffer through the boyfriend-less summer of her discontent from the back of a rented SUV--until fate tosses a sexy, sophisticated gypsy boy into her path.The last thing fifteen-year-old Flora Fontain wants to do is spend her summer vacation stuck in a tent with her overprotective parents and angst-ridden brother, especially when she should be in Europe with her best friend Jessie—sipping espresso, posing for cutesy tourist pics, and hunting for hot Italian (or French, or maybe even English) stud-muffins. But since her parents trust her about as much as they trust a cat burglar at the moment, Flora has no choice but to suffer through the boyfriend-less summer of her discontent from the back of a rented SUV, until…Fate tosses a sexy, sophisticated gypsy boy into her path, making Flora wonder if destiny might know best after all. That is until destiny screws up, big time. Because just as Flora falls head over heels, an unexpected turn of events threatens to land her in the slammer—or worse, separate her from the man of her dreams.

(Please note, this is Volume 3.) Scott Cunningham is a vampire just trying to make a living. After all, being undead isn't cheap. There's rent to pay, blood to buy, and child support due; it's an eternal treadmill. You would think it would be terribly boring, but as Scott is finding out, unlife as a lawyer in rural Tennessee is anything but.This story is not about legal aspects of our emotional presumptions. It’s about the real life consequences of the judgments that we all make about others. Sometimes, the smallest judgment can have tragic consequences. Perhaps that’s why we have been warned against judging.Karen Bronsky lived a enviable life with a successful devoted husband and a darling child. But something caused her to want just a little more from life. Karen must lose part of her life to find what’s really important to her.Jan Murray thought that she had everything that she needed for happiness. She has looks that most young women would envy. She knew it, and flaunted it. She never knew what it was like to be unnoticed by men. But she will learn that true happiness is not found in the adoration of physical appearances.Stan Bronsky is a good man and husband. He is hard driving and successful in business. But he will learn that success can be fleeting and very costly when he experiences a momentary lapse of judgment and character.Robert Louis Gatewood suffered tragic early life experiences and has carried scars that have shaped his thinking and behavior. He will find new direction in an unexpected moment of encounter.As the lives of these four people weave together through what they perceive to be chance circumstances, they will experience a plethora of emotional experiences and share the uncomfortable consequences of being misjudged, or of having misjudged another.

Stories From a Bar With No Doorknobs is a short fiction anthology, drinking companion, sexual albatross and your keys to the asylum. Don't say you weren't warned.There is a day-to-day mirage that sets the standard. Where the arc of existence is measured by promotions, marriage, children, and the net worth of your final moments. Where decisions are encouraged by those of rational predecessors. Where the winners earn it and the losers deserve it. Where smiles and civility remain the true color test. Where those who work the hardest reap the greatest benefits. Where those we love remain faithful, and the few we idolize reward us with blameless perfection. Underneath it all lies the world of Lucky Saurelius. Where the broken and the bewildered gather by the glow of barback bottles. Where abusive men stalk their women towards mistaken destinations. Where a six figure executive trades his career for one last evening underground. Where the denizens of an after hours bar measure their moments under the watchful eye of a Great Dane. Where celebrity doppelgangers use their resemblance to craft sexual dominance. Where a collection of alcoholic super heroes await their unwilling savior. Where the deed to a derelict pool hall changes hands in a thirty six hour gambling streak. Where crumpled receipts are the only clues to a blood soaked awakening, marines sell love in a bottle for $3.99, and friendship remains a myth. On the bright side, stay long enough, and there might be a free drink or two in it for you. So pull up seat. Buy one more for the doomed looser, two hours before the end of the world. Curl up in the booth of an eleven am tavern. Stare out of a lonely window overlooking the rooftops of a wounded city. Say goodbye to perfection before corrective surgery steps in to ruin it all. Take a chance on the stranger tuned to every last person’s most base perversions. Mark the final words of a suicidal never-was. Use your poetry for toilet paper. Laugh with the stars. Drink or swim.There is always a second chance to make a worst impression. Short stories from the world’s most celebrated unknown.

The recently bereaved Jonas heads back to his forest playground to grieve. However, he stumbles across the unlikeliest of beings in his path, an abandoned dolphin. The discovery sets him off on a mission of redemption and salvation, but all that he finds along the path are obstacles which require him to dig as deep as possible as he tries to deal with the loss of Jolene.Jonas has just lost wife, so he turns to some comfort of solitude by taking a walk in the forest. The forest is familiar to him, but the creature which he discovers lying on the forest path is not. Jonas, through his grief, is spurred into life as he sets off on a mission to do something for the creature that he couldn't for Jolene, that is save it. As he searches the forest frantically for help, all he finds is setbacks which seems to push him further and further off the track to salvation and redemption. With people unable or unwilling to help him, and even going through a chance meeting with his recently deceased wife, will Jonas be able to save the dolphin?

Chelsea's school year has taken a turn for the worse. After being dumped by her boyfriend and humiliated at the pep assembly by her younger sister's boyfriend, Rick, she's just concentrating on avoiding any other major embarrassments. That's when Rick and his band debut their new album, complete with a whole set of songs bashing cheerleaders. Chelsea's humiliation has reached a whole new level now that everyone is walking down the halls singing the words to "Dangerously Blonde." It's time to make Rick pay. All he wants is to win the High School Idol audition, so he can be on his way to rock star fame and fortune. But with the help of her best friends, Aubrie and Samantha, Chelsea is going to steal his victory right out from under him. The characters from All's Fair in Love, War and High School are back, only this time it's payback.

3 Hours and 3 Minutes Lily Gefelty is just an average twelve-year-old girl. But her dad–a normal-enough seeming guy–just so happens to work for an evil genius who plans to unleash an army of extremely cranky, stilt-walking, laser-beam-eyed whales upon the world. Lucky for Lily, her two best friends are anything but average. Both of them are famous for their adventures. Jasper Dash, Boy Technonaut, invents gadgets; Katie Mulligan spends her spare time fighting off zombies and were-goats. Surely they'll know what to do. And if they don't? then it will be up to Lily–average, everyday Lily–to come up with a plan. With this crazy comic ride of a novel, M. T. Anderson launches a riotous and wonderfully weird new series for listeners who like their thrilling tales with tongue firmly in cheek.

Caught in a sticky situation, an oft-misused starship underling concocts a way to make everyone pay - but him.A ravaged corpse is discovered in the mountains while a local medical specialist goes missing without a trace. A young woman and her children suddenly disappear and the only witness is a teenage boy who doesn’t realize yet what he’s seen. Ben Drake hopes to strengthen his relationship with his teenage son Jason during a road trip that takes them from their home in California to the Mountains of Colorado. Their plans are interrupted when they are unexpectedly drawn into a police investigation involving Maeve Tidewell and her two young daughters. Ben and Jason are compelled to keep searching for the missing family near a cabin they have discovered deep in the woods, and an almost psychic connection draws Ben toward a dangerous, and possibly deadly, confrontation.Meanwhile Maeve finds herself held captive, along with her daughters and the missing doctor, by a disturbed man from her past. They work together to devise a plan to overpower the gruesome killer before he decides the time is right for them to die. Somehow, fate brings them all together in a brave and desperate attempt to escape a bizarre kidnapper.