"A man is repeatedly abducted by the same aliens. A woman metamorphoses into a giant bird. A man and woman are surgically joined to each other. A man experiences the difficulties of remodeling a haunted house. A woman repeatedly drives her boyfriend to the brink of suicide. A man encounters a prehistoric beast in his backyard. A young couple kidnaps little children to supplement their income. A man searches for his evil twin."

These are the types of situations the characters in "Essential Stories" routinely find themselves in. "A man reminisces about the time his town was invaded by zombies. A woman is frustrated with her discount-store clone. A man and woman rent an apartment to a vampire. A man is seduced by a beautiful witch. A woman reveals the strange secret of her everlasting youth. A hitch-hiker accepts a ride from an alien. An artist's statues come to life. A man relates the conditions of his imprisonment. A man and woman visit an alternate universe. The last man and woman on Earth are ambivalent about having children."

The stories are occasionally silly, often tongue-in-cheek, usually outlandish, and sometimes poignant. Told in a straightforward matter-of-fact style, they show how ordinary people react to extraordinary events.

"You've probably heard about those guys with prestigious careers, expensive homes, beautiful wives and loving families, who coast along effortlessly thinking everything is fine, until one day they wake up and realize that they've wasted their lives chasing dreams that weren't theirs and pursuing goals that didn't make them happy.

Well, except for the high-paying job, the beautiful woman, the kids and the nice house, that's pretty much my story."

This is how the narrator and protagonist of "The Useless Detective" introduces himself. He's arguably smarter than most people, but he has no ambition or work ethic, so aside from being a mediocre detective, he's also lazy, cynical, and usually drunk.

Middle-aged and weary of life, he resents the fact that he never amounted to much. He doesn't particularly enjoy his work, but when he reluctantly attends a college reunion party, he finds himself thrust into a situation where the keen instincts of a private investigator are needed. His college friends have always looked down on him for not living up to his potential, and now-after twenty years-he finally has the opportunity to redeem himself in front of them.

I met Jel on the first day of my vacation. I was traveling overseas and my plane crashed into hers, so we both fell into the ocean together. Within a week, we were so much in love that we couldn't stand to be apart. So begins Vacationing with Jel-the story of a love so enduring it survives every imaginable hardship, including poverty, infidelity, separation, imprisonment, torture, and even death. The two ill-fated lovers of this offbeat tale find themselves lost and alone in a part of the world that neither of them even knew existed. As they search for a way to get back home, we follow them to some of the most unusual places on Earth and learn about the language, the culture, the history, and the traditions and rituals of the people who live there. Sometimes absurd and other times comically grotesque, Vacationing with Jel is an adventure story like no other. At times it reads like a fairy tale for adults, at other times more like a linguistics textbook, a travel diary, an anthropological field guide, or a cookbook. Vacationing with Jel is evocative all of these things, but at its heart, it's a love story.

Managing an apartment building was pretty simple for the most part. I had a few responsibilities, such as keeping the plants watered and making sure everyone paid the rent on time, but other than that, unless someone had a problem-like a dripping faucet or a clogged up sink-I could pretty much do what I wanted. The protagonist of At The Arms is intelligent and educated, but he's not particularly ambitious. He enjoys the company of women, but he can't maintain a relationship. He's happy to dwell in his own little world, but when circumstances force him into a drab and gloomy apartment as the building's on-site manager, he discovers a world much bigger than anything he ever imagined. As he gets to know the other tenants in his building, he inevitably learns more about himself. Whether it's the beautiful woman he can't stop fantasizing about, the frustrated artist across the courtyard, or the sex-crazed vegetable man, each one touches him in some way, and each one has an unusual story to tell. Combining suburban melodrama, sexual fantasy, offbeat humor, and a healthy dose of the bizarre, At The Arms mixes the outlandish with the mundane in a comic fable about everyday life.