Kevin Wilson's characters inhabit a world that moves seamlessly between the real and the imagined, the mundane and the fantastic. "Grand Stand-In" is narrated by an employee of a Nuclear Family Supplemental Provider--a company that supplies "stand-ins" for families with deceased, ill, or just plain mean grandparents. And in "Blowing Up On the Spot," a young woman works sorting tiles at a Scrabble factory after her parents have spontaneously combusted.

Southern gothic at its best, laced with humor and pathos, these wonderfully inventive stories explore the relationship between loss and death and the many ways we try to cope with both.

This short book of personal meditations is meant to nourish the mind and the heart. What began as a grouping of words has become a tale of people who could be real. These people are like you and me. They suffer in life just as we do. Then each one felt the touch of the wonder of the only begotten son of God. The hands and words of a carpenter from Nazareth changed these people in ways that has lived throughout the ages. These vignettes are fictional tales based on the very true gospels of Jesus. Each story is based on books, chapters and verses of the gospels. They come from the heart of an ordinary woman who would love to share them with you. Enjoy.

This collection of short stories follows a vaguely chronological journey through the modern American landscape. The stories reflect the themes of the sometimes brutal as well as humorous aspects of coming of age in America, the crisis of the individual who attempts to live an authentic life, and the realities of relationships between men and women.

Helen Houston has navigated the Texas turf as well as the terrain of family fracture and lost spirituality-but it is the message behind the occasional chance for healing that is poignantly conveyed throughout her first collection of short stories.

A mother travels to New York and finally sees the foolishness of imposing expectations on her grown daughter; a discouraged child in an unhappy home is bucked up by a friend; an aunt shares her wisdom that life is a progression to spiritual truths with a nephew who is hungry for her advice; and a young woman finds renewal of spirit while fulfilling a promise to spread her best friend's ashes. In contrast, Houston shares the stories of others live in befuddlement-like the man who continuously drives the 610 Loop around the city of Houston with the help of a beer and the right music while viewing the skyline from just about every perspective.

The eclectic characters in Placed Among Things That Are Passing Away not only offer their compelling life experiences, but also inspirational lessons in fortitude, perseverance, and unconditional love.

"New Quarter Note Tales" presents a collection of three new novellas featuring Axel Crochet, peripatetic professor of music history.

"A Faculty Affair"-As the new professor of musicology at Rochambeau's Fleur de Lis University, Axel stumbles upon a colossal cover-up when he discovers a letter suggesting that the efforts of his predecessor to move the School of Music from the Faculty of Arts to the Faculty of Letters may have had fatal consequences. "The Music Man Mystery"-As director of a production of The Music Man in Rochambeau, Quebec, Axel has to make changes when the leading man dies a few days before the performance. Although the police rule it an accident, cast members mutter about suicide. Then, some information suddenly appears that makes murder seem much more likely.

"Fire and Ice"-When fire breaks out at the tiny Galton School, claiming the life of one of its students, suspicion falls on a known pyromaniac. Then, the bursar breaks her neck on the icy front steps. Axel, the school's music director, discovers financial records-stuffed inside a hymnal and concealed in the chapel piano-indicating that these accidents may have been murder.

Growing Up Filipino II: More Stories for Young Adults is the second volume of the Growing Up Filipino series by PALH. In this collection of 27 short stories, Filipino and Filipino American writers explore the universal challenges and experiences of Filipino teens after the historic events of 9/11. The modern demands do not hinder Filipino youth from dealing with the universal concerns of growing up: family, friends, love, home, budding sexuality, leaving home. The delightful stories are written by well known as well as emerging writers. While the target audience of this fine anthology is young adults, the stories can be enjoyed by adult readers as well. There is a scarcity of Filipino American literature and this book is a welcome addition.

The Bottomless Pit is a short fiction story based on a chapter in the Bible, Revelation Chapter nine (King James Version). This story describes a set of events as told by Paul, the main character, who finds himself lost and confused over a series of events that transpire out of his control over a period of roughly two years. It is set in current times or perhaps a few years into the future. The setting is on or near a national forest somewhere in the northwestern United States. This story illustrates the short-sightedness of man and his inability to change his nature regardless of events that occur in his surroundings. A few are deeply impacted, but the majority of people continue with life as usual.

It's been a while that this book was planted in the authors heart due to the compassion and the great love he has seen in the Bible that God has for His persecuted children. From the Garden of Eden the devil has been dedicated to persecute the children of God. He uses all kinds of deceitfulness, lies and all kinds of possible traps to destroy the redeemed. Persecution is real today just like it always has been for the believers. The Bible says in 2nd Tim 3:12, "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." The Lord said that we will have afflictions in this world, non the less when we look around us it does not seem like there is persecution for many. Let me assure you that all of the redeemed are being persecuted one way or another this very moment. The devil is using all kinds of ways, he knows them all and works 24/7/365 and it's like a shodow that is always behind the believers. Alot of christians without knowing have fallen in the tramp of the devil. It's sad to see defeat in so many people that should live in continual victory over whats wrong, and the flesh because of what the Lord did for us on the Cross of Calvery. His main purpose is that everyone who reads this book will be blessed and have a positive reaction. No matter where you are in any part of the world, even if you are in prison because of your faith in Jesus Christ. Today there are children of God in prison, and their only crime is to believe in their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ with all their heart.

The less-than-innocents abroad in these short novels are Americans in Europe, involved in what turn out to be pleasure tours of hell: shocking, bewildering trips that change forever their ideas about history, reality, politics, sex -- their entire lives.

In the title novella, a third-rate American playwright named Landau attends a literary conference in Prague, where an organized group excursion to a former concentration camp degenerates into a battle of wills and an exercise in egomania and public humiliation. Nina, the heroine of the second novella, "Three Pigs in Five Days," is sent to Paris to write an article for her lover's travel journal -- a dizzying, erotic pilgrimage that forces her to see how sex has distorted her view of the world.