Gold drops from the sky into the hands of a lazy beachcomber. A dog catcher falls dangerously in love with an animal-rights extremist. A fly precipitates the worst catastrophe in human history. A brainless nonperson goes missing and embarks on an impossibly rich life. An ego-driven businessman courts disaster by seeking revenge for old hurts. And on the eve of the Apocalypse, four horse-like characters try to cross a Los Angeles under martial law. *** Raz Elmaleh's writing has been described as 'modern noir', or suspense-drama with a touch of fun. It's humorous, hilarious to some, disturbing to others, and always with a twist. *** The stories in this collection span many flavors, from realistic to bizarre, from minimalist to expansive, and from wryly optimistic to darkly foreboding. Pick any story and step into a reality almost like this one. Well, almost. *** ..".simultaneously funny and tragic. A rare and good thing! Would I read Raz Elmaleh's stories if I didn't know him personally? Absolutely." - Joshua Samuel Brown

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.

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.

Samuel Legge, the village dog-catcher, has recently received some news that has cast a shadow over his future. It couldn’t have happened at a worse time because a figure from his past now threatens the person he holds dearest. But Sam is nothing if not resourceful, and he’s not the sort of man you want to back into a corner. Don’t count the old dog out of the game just yet!

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.

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.