These are the fifty-three winning and honorable mention essays and stories of the Joyous Publishing Writing Contests of 2007. The authors come from six countries and range in age from pre-teen to past retirement. The settings are as diverse as their writers: a lonely home in New Zealand, a train in India, a motel in Virginia, a prison in Oklahoma, and lands known only to the imagination. The characters make these stories live: the clan that celebrates the life of their patriarch; the boy who is sucked into living paintings; the cat who battles with thunder; the man who wore the jacket with...