The thirty-two stories in this new collection reflect the differences between man's real self and the various masks he has to wear in a Romanian society that vacillates between nostalgia for its communist past and restrained optimism about its capitalist future. The characters, who are taken from all walks of life, face constant political intrigues, moral dilemmas, and/or family crises. They must find a way to fit their own life stories, however insignificant, within the often ruthless history of their native land. Written in a journalistic style, and based very loosely on incidents that the author encountered while working for a local newspaper, these stories are filled with unexpected twists and turns, pathos, and small glimpses of average and extraordinary people coping with real-life crises. Gripping tales from Eastern Europe!

Post-divorce dating is one more cause for celebration (or a quick call in to the police) in Beth Bosworth's revelatory new book, The Source of Life and Other Stories. The spine of this collection is a series of linked stories about Ruth Stein, a Brooklyn author whose first book has exposed her father's abuses; while the voice here, speaking across a lifetime, ranges from bittersweet to humorous to lethal. In other stories Bosworth's narrators—a mother left to care for her son's suicidal dog, an editor haunted by a dog-eared manuscript—seem to grab hold of the reins and run off with their fates. Meanwhile Bosworth explores the extended family, the bonds of friendship, an apocalyptic Vermont, the rank yet redeemable Gowanus Canal; also rites of passage, race relations, divorce, middle-aged romance, dementia, funerals, alcoholism, and the Jewish religion. Reality is just another stumbling block for Bosworth's characters, who might help themselves but don't always choose to. There are leaps of faith here, nonetheless, as the collection dispenses a kind of narrative psychotropic for survival and redemption, with a chaser of humor mixed in.

Eleven short stories designed to cover all aspects of society, especially government, religion, academia and those, elected and appointed, to be leaders in those areas.

The Jersey shore is frequented by millions of tourists every year. For many people living in the great cities along the East Coast of America, the Jersey shore is their only vacation destination. They come for many reasons, the ocean, the glitz of the casino, and the glitter of the boardwalk. Some come to visit and never leave. The 1st Annual Unofficial Point Pleasure Skimmer Survey tells about a fictional seashore resort populated by colorful quirky locals. They may be the waiters or ticket takers you encounter as shadowy enablers of your vacation pleasures, but when the season's over and the tourists are gone, they live their own lives but oh, those lives!

This book is a collection of short stories, often based on or influenced by, personal experiences. Their themes are quite diverse, including realistic stories, science fiction, fantasy and adventure. Some are set in the past; some in the present; and some in the future. Some, such as "The Volunteer's Tale" and "The House of Lies", deal with social problems. Others, including "Canine Fantasies", are pure fantasy. "The Uninvited Guest" combines elements of both. "The Decoy" enlarges whimsically upon an unpleasant travel experience. While some stories have a social message, their primary purpose is to entertain.

The Cold War had recently drawn to a close, and Lisa Duffy-Korpics’s career as a dogcatcher would soon be history, too, but for very different reasons—and, indeed, with infinitely more pleasant memories. In Tales from a Dog Catcher, she brings together these experiences in a magical book that is funny, touching, and heartrending by turns. Set in a small, Hudson River town north of New York City, this book comprises twenty-two real-life stories about people and their experiences with animals, stories that both entertain and charm, and feature all creatures great and small—from plenty of dogs and cats and “peeping Tom” raccoons, to a duck and a turkey and an (imagined) mountain lion. Animal lovers of all kinds can read how: • A decades-long feud between two longtime enemies who use each other’s dogs to hurt each other culminates in a dramatic courtroom battle where they unwittingly end up helping each other. • A call on an elderly woman to surrender twenty-three cats provokes a surprising revelation. • A language and culture barrier yields a situation where a woman ends up watering her cats like plants. All ends well, save for some damp kittens, but the laughter continues for miles. • The police chief forces the animal control officer (ACO) into a presentation at the local high school—for students with behavioral problems. After a few awkward moments, the ACO finds herself at ease. Drawn to these engaging teenagers, she realizes that sometimes what you are meant to do in life is not always something that you choose. Sometimes it chooses you. In the tradition of James Herriot’s All Creatures Great and Small and John Grogan’s Marley & Me, Lisa Duffy-Korpics’s Tales from a Dog Catcher is an unforgettable look at the lives of everyday people (and animals) who, whether by accident or design, come into contact with the sad, comical, and often profound world of an animal control officer.

Best known as the original screenwriter of Blade Runner, author Hampton Fancher makes his debut with this extraordinary collection that bears all of the hallmarks that have made him beloved to film fans. These are stories about people and places that exist just outside our perceptions of space and time: in “Narrowing the Divide,” an escaped lab rat winds up in a philosophical conversation with a man whose wife sleeps in the next room; in “Cargot,” a failed actor is reincarnated as a garden snail and avenges himself with a Hollywood producer’s wife; and in “The Black Weasel,” a washed-up bartender finds an unlikely traveling partner in a slow-witted drifter with a suspicious bankroll. These are also stories about survival and instinct, with elements of the absurd and the sublime. The Shape of the Final Dog is a rare literary work that is mordantly funny, deftly written, and bound to delight and entertain.

20 selections, all lovingly translated from the Yiddish, include among others "Progress in Kasrilevke," "Summer Romances," "Birth," "There's No Dead," "Three Widows," "Homesick," "On America," and "A Home Away from Home."

Hells Waiting Room and Other Stories is a collection of fictionfrom flash fiction to longer fiction piecesthat immerse the reader in a world of intrigue and violence. These stories take the human experience to new levels and push the boundaries of landscape and character experiences.