Dripping with nostalgia, Jesus Shoes chronicles author Dominick Domingo's childhood in LA's San Fernando valley. Despite being next door to Tinseltown, Burbank was decidedly unromantic. This collection of memoirs takes the reader from the discovery of the author's sexual orientation in the late '70s through his time at Disney Feature, his live-action filmmaking stint and subsequent writing career, to the half-century mark. Its colorful characters make for a lot of laughs, and life itself provides the poignancy. The story is one of self-creation in defiance of society's negative messaging, and coming full circle to return to one's roots.

The pages of Far From the Thick of Things drip with incongruous, dreamlike images: a clever trollup braving an earthquake on a London street, a garage sale genie who takes wishes instead of granting them, a theater actress who meets her former self at a graffiti-strewn dead end. It's these absurd juxtapositions-the extraordinary in the ordinary-that reveal the mechanics of the universe, as well as the inner-workings of our own hearts. 83,535-word Far From the Thick of Things uses language itself to reveal the human condition, but only the spaces between can breathe metaphysical truth. Equal parts whimsy and poignancy, this collection of short stories is populated with colorful, diverse characters. We meet them at different stages of life, observing the dots that connect over time, weaving a mysterious tapestry of destiny, free will, and complete randomness. Some of the eccentric characters are cuddly, others prickly and rough around the edges. But all are-like us-redeemable.

A collection of literary short fiction by Dominick R. Domingo

Seth Bauman has issues. His Mom split ten years ago, right after his birth, and guardian Uncle Troy won't discuss the past. Seth's only friend is Mexican immigrant Elena, whom he must walk home from school through Silverlake's gang-ravaged streets. When Elena is abducted by local gang 'the Mayans, ' Seth has no choice but to follow the Boatman of the L.A. River into the sprawling network of sewers and metro tunnels concealing Mayan headquarters. To Seth the great labyrinth unfolds as a magical realm called 'the Interior, ' whose residents immediately deem him the 'Nameless Prince' of prophecy, sent to save them from peril. To find Elena, Seth embarks on an odyssey of riddles and self-discovery. Only in 'Interia' is it safe to discover the truth about his past, and the forgiveness that will set him free. In rescuing Elena he rescues his own innocence. In fulfilling prophecy by learning his name, Seth discovers the greatness that lies within.