Warning: The recommended dose of these stories is four or five in one sitting, or possibly more if you are a very stoic person. Overdosing may cause such side effects as dizziness, chest and abdominal pains, shortness of breath, watery eyes, and extensive laughter. Reactions will vary depending on your sense of humor and possibly your body weight, though I can't see how that would affect anything significantly. From the humorist who unofficially dubbed himself an 'emulator of the inimitable style of Patrick McManus' comes a premier collection of short stories. Forty delightful and insightful anecdotes about life in general fill these pages, told through the eyes of a cynical, witty, and outdoors-loving country hick writer named Matt Lauser. His friends liven things up, a colorful bunch of characters ranging from the smart-alecky young Stretch Wheenie to the obtuse older Stretch Wheenie he becomes. And you can never forget Jesse Sawyer, an odorous mountain man who introduces the loveable hero to hunting, fishing, and camping. Matt's rough country ways clash with the finer manners of city-dwellers in amusing conflicts, and his time in school is anything but boring, despite what he might tell you. The contents of this book should be taken like aspirin...a few at a time to relieve the occasional stress-induced headache. Comic Relief should be instant.

America, 1849. It was a time of great change, as the nation expanded westward and grew richer and more powerful. But beneath what we all know lurked darker things, events that even now are hardly mentioned, and certainly not in our school history books. A girl, who spent twelve years of her life in an insane asylum, doesn't care about what happens beyond the small world she knows. She's been convinced that she is the only one who can see the ghosts. Broken by torture and maltreatment, she's ready to accept that she really is crazy. When she siezes a chance to escape, she finds herself alone in a harsh and frightening world, a young woman with the mind of a child. When all she knows is rejection, and with no idea where to go, can she find even one person who will care for her?