A charming companion to Lilian Jackson Braun's Cat Who series that contains intriguing stories about the place that cats Koko, Yum Yum, and reporter Jim Qwilleran call home. Fictional columnist James Qwilleran has finally completed his book showcasing the stories related to him by residents of Moose County—that famous region 400 miles north of everywhere. With an introduction by Lilian Jackson Braun, this delightful volume that reveals the offbeat “history” of Moose County is a treat for old and new fans alike. “Fans of Lilian Jackson Braun’s The Cat Who... series won’t want to miss Short and Tall Tales. In the voice of Qwill, her beloved fictional journalist, Braun presents twenty-seven amusing yarns.”—Publishers Weekly

Designed with budding readers in mind, each of these tales starring familiar nursery rhyme characters is set in three columns with color-coded type as a script for two voices to read separately and together. By the creators of You Read to Me,

In basketball, just as in American culture, the 1970s were imperfect. But it was a vitally important time in the development of the nation and of the National Basketball Association. During this decade Americans suffered through the war in Vietnam and Nixon’s Watergate cover-up (not to mention disco music and leisure suits) while the NBA weathered the arrival of free agency and charges that its players were “too black.” Despite this turmoil, or perhaps because of it, the NBA evolved into a cultural phenomenon. Tall Tales and Short Shorts: Dr. J, Pistol Pete, and the Birth of the Modern NBA traces the evolution of the NBA from the retirement of Bill Russell in 1969 to the arrival of Larry Bird and Magic Johnson ten years later. Sandwiched between the youthful league of the sixties and its mature successor in the eighties, this book reveals the awkward teenage years of the NBA in the seventies. It examines the many controversies that plagued the league during this time, including illicit drug use, on-court violence, and escalating player salaries. Yet even as attendance dwindled and networks relegated playoff games to tape-delayed, late-night broadcasts, fans still pulled on floppy gray socks like “Pistol Pete” Maravich, emulated Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s sweeping skyhook, and grew out mushrooming afros à la “Dr. J” Julius Erving. The first book-length treatment of pro basketball in the 1970s, Tall Tales and Short Shorts brings to life the players, teams, and the league as a whole as they dealt with expansion, a merger with the ABA, and transitioning into a new era. Sport historians and basketball fans will enjoy this entertaining and enlightening survey of an often-overlooked time in the development of the NBA.

Tall Tales & Short Stories showcases 50 excellent flash fiction stories that take you on a multi-genre voyage of discovery across space, time and place. Despite their brevity, these tiny tales get right to the heart of what makes us human. They'll tug at your heart strings, horrify, amuse and make you think, the words lingering in your mind long after you finish reading. A collection of talented authors, known names and new, from across the planet have penned compelling stories of birth, love and lust, heartache and revenge, death and the afterlife. Throw in aliens and angels, alcoholic bulls and alternative histories, hauntings and huntings, oh and a cowbot! What's not to love about this anthology? This inaugural flash fiction compilation from Escaped Ink Press features Amber M. Simpson, Amy L. Bethke, Andrew Paul Grell, Avra Margariti, Carolyn Barnard, Charlotte O'Farrell, Copper Rose, David Perlmutter, Derek McMillan, Desiree R. Kannel, G. Allen Wilbanks, GB Burgess, Geraldine McCarthy, HC Hsu, J. Bradley, James Russell, Jared Cappel, Jay Adair, Joel R Hunt, John Sheirer, Joseph Olamide Babalola, Kelly A. Harmon, Kelly Matsuura, Laura Elisa Vizcaíno (translated by Toshiya Kamei), Lucia Orellana Damacela, Mark Jacobson, Mark Kodama, Mary K. Ryan, Nancy Brewka-Clark, Natasha Cabot, Norbert Góra, P.A. O'Neil, P.C. Vandall, Paul Beckman, Philip CK, Ray Daley, Richard Grahn, Robert Kibble, Roberta Beach Jacobson, Russell Smeaton, Seamus Ludendorff, Shashi Kadapa, Shawn M. Klimek, Simon Lee-Price, Stephen V. Ramey, Steven Gowin, Swara Shukla, Vonnie Winslow Crist and Zak Jane Keir.

If you think Joan Rivers said funny, outrageous, and ridiculous things ONSTAGE, wait ’til you read the funny, outrageous, and ridiculous things she said OFFSTAGE…things that will make you laugh out loud…and keep Melissa in therapy for the foreseeable future. The only thing my mother loved more than making people laugh was lying…or as she’d say, “embellishing.” Her motto was: “Why let the truth ruin a good story?” This book contains some of those stories. ***************** “When Joan told a story, the truth disappeared faster than I did.” — Jimmy Hoffa “If you thought Dante’s Inferno was hot, read Lies My Mother Told Me; it’s a five-alarmer.” — Dante’s second wife, Allie “Twelve of my twenty-six personalities loved this book.” — Sybil “The words on the page absolutely crackle and spark; I burned my fingers reading it!” — Annie Sullivan “The Bible may be the good book, but Lies My Mother Told Me is way funnier.” — Matthew 2:14 The Jets. 7 “Lies My Mother Told Me is the feel-good book of 2022.” — Torquemada “All’s not well that ends well. I’ve had massages with happier endings.” — Wm. Shakespeare “Melissa, I don’t care what your mother said in this book, I LOVE your bangs.” — Mamie Eisenhower “Lies My Mother Told Me is so funny even those ‘woke’ m***********s will laugh.” — Lenny Bruce

Presents more than twenty short stories by nineteenth-century American author Mark Twain--including "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" and "How to Tell a Story"--And an essay on the author by Charles Neider.

When Jim Qwilleran retired to Moose County (400 miles north of everywhere), he intended to write a book -- a novel of crime and investigation with a metropolitan setting. He never finished the first page! Instead, he listened to the folktales of local people and recorded a collection of Moose County legends. Qwilleran's informants swore they were true -- even though some had a supernatural twist that left one wondering. . .