When Helen and Harold awake one morning transfigured into each other, their world is thrown into chaos. Will the hostile mother-in-law who refuses to believe that the pregnant woman is not her daughter, but her daughter's husband, help solve their dilemma? Will their burned out pastor offer them spiritual comfort? Can the idealistic social worker who is also a fierce karate expert be a source of pragmatic advice? Is a famous transvestite lawyer able to provide them with legal aid? Will Harold opt for an abortion to avoid subjecting his offspring to the stigma of having a mother who is really its father? The reader will alternately roar with laughter and shake her/his head in disbelief as one bizarre episode follows another, blurring the lines between the sexes, as well as those between reality and appearance. With THE CONCRETE LIONS, Don LoCicero joins the exalted literary ranks of Franz Kafka, Nikolai Gogol, Joseph Heller and Woody Allen.

The work provides a unique study of superheroes and gods in literature, popular culture, and ancient myth. The author selects a number of mythological figures (e.g., Babylonia's Gilgamesh and Enkidu), ancient gods (e.g., Greece's Eros and Tartarus), and modern superheroes (e.g., the United States' Superman and Captain Marvel) and identifies the often striking similarities between each unique category of characters. The author contends that the vast majority of mythological superheroes follow the same archetypal character patterns, regardless of each hero's unique time period or culture. Each of the first nine chapters examines the heroes and gods of a particular region or country, while the final chapter examines modern descendants of the hero prototype like Batman and Spiderman and several infamous anti-heroes (for example, Dracula and The Hulk). Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

Several years after their divorce, Bernice contacts her ex husband, Valentin, to reclaim the blue wheelchair she left in his keeping. Valentin informs her that he has given the wheelchair to his friend, Homer, after the latter was temporarily unable to walk due to an an accident he suffered while mowing his lawn. Bernice is livid; she threatens to emasculate him if he doesn't promptly return the wheelchair to her. Aware that Bernice will carry out her threat, Valentin contacts Homer. He becomes extremely agitated when Homer tells him that he has passed the blue wheelchair on to Myrna Bosmire, a famous stage director for use in a dramatic production. What follows is a bizarre series of episodes as Valentin and Homer frantically attempt to recover the missing blue wheelchair. Why does Myrna deny that she ever saw the wheelchair? Will the famous detective agency that Valentin hires be able to prevent Bernice from destroying Valentin's private parts? And why do these highly skilled professionals conduct their meetings in an underground bomb shelter garbed only in loincloths?

IF ANIMALS COULD SPEAK is a fantasy that examines the human condition and our relationship to the animal kingdom. Inspired by 9/11/2001, the central themes of the novel are betrayal, terror, loss, heroism and love. Unlike that infamous September day, however, the primary victims and heroes of LoCicero's work are not human, but a band of farm animals. Faced with the destruction of their farm after its sale to developers, they valiantly but vainly battle the construction workers and their cruel, scar-faced boss. Exiled and pursued, their numbers grow as they recruit a dog, a bear, a colony of bats, a band of raccoons, an eagle, and ultimately a human who was an eyewitness to the terrorist attack on New York's Twin Towers. The latter, a stage actor nicknamed Shake, is also a fugitive, suspected by overzealous government agents of being a terrorist. Horse ultimately takes the unprecedented action of revealing the animals' most guarded secret to Shake. The latter repays their trust after making a remarkable discovery in the far recesses of a mountain cave, a find that has the potential of securing them lasting peace and freedom. cause.

When Helen and Harold awake one morning transfigured into each other, their world is thrown into chaos. Will the hostile mother-in-law who refuses to believe that the pregnant woman is not her daughter, but her daughter's husband, help solve their dilemma? Will their burned out pastor offer them spiritual comfort? Can the idealistic social worker who is also a fierce karate expert be a source of pragmatic advice? Is a famous transvestite lawyer able to provide them with legal aid? Will Harold opt for an abortion to avoid subjecting his offspring to the stigma of having a mother who is really its father? The reader will alternately roar with laughter and shake her/his head in disbelief as one bizarre episode follows another, blurring the lines between the sexes, as well as those between reality and appearance. With THE CONCRETE LIONS, Don LoCicero joins the exalted literary ranks of Franz Kafka, Nikolai Gogol, Joseph Heller and Woody Allen.

"The Apparatus" is an insightful satire on government bureaucracy, personal identity and confused human relationships. Set in World War II America, the novel transcends geographical borders and is timeless. The characters in "The Apparatus" remain nameless, defined by their functions rather than their individuality.

LoCicero's narrator, a young man with an extraordinary ability, recounts his bewildering dealings with the Apparatus, a nebulous organization that is simultaneously frightening and laughable, omnipotent and powerless, omnipresent and invisible, omniscient and unknowing. Its world is a chaotic conglomeration of committees and cubicles, its function unintelligible even to those who are in its most powerful positions. Directing the important Apparatus School, for example, is the "Head Administrator," a sadistic, femme-fatal whose sexual services are enjoyed by the leaders of many governments. What role does the Apparatus play in our lives? One must read LoCicero's work to learn the answer, if indeed, there is an answer.

"You Never Know" depicts a world in which every question is an answer and every answer a new question, a world where nothing is certain except uncertainty. The reader will marvel at the incredible tale of the sweating corpse, suffer along with a young man who refuses to accept the fact that it is raining bananas, admire the perseverance of the shoemaker who invents a substance that makes heels invisible, shudder as voracious rats devour an unfortunate victim alive, and marvel as a nude defendant presents his case to a jury. LoCicero's satirical, philosophical, metaphysical romp spares no segment of society: the legal, medical, and theological experts are fair game, as are the reader and author themselves. LoCicero challenges us to do the most difficult thing of all: to think the unthinkable.

Like the acclaimed television series, The Sopranos, A Guy from Brooklyn offers a keen insight into the complexity of human nature. Unlike the Mafia Don, however, Guy Lorenzo's journey leads him from the Brooklyn slums to the hallowed halls of academia. While reminiscent of the great European novels of development, A Guy from Brooklyn is pure Americana, often simultaneously solemn and hilarious, and always thought provoking.