Add a conniving servant and his amoral master; a murderous priest and his equally homicidal sidekick; a beautiful but barren wife wed to an ancient attorney; and a potion brewed from Mandragora, a plant alleged to help women conceive, and you have a prescription for pandemonium, especially when Mandragora (known in less reputable circles as "God's Little Joke"), possesses a Fatal Flaw. Filled with bawdy and irreverent wit, outrageous situations, characters it would be grossly unwise to invite for dinner, and lots of good old-fashioned belly laughs, this literate and sophisticated satire is a...

Of Bliss and Granted Wishes is a true story. To avoid retiring to a nursing home, Sam and Sophie Foster remodel their house and ask a family (mother, father, three children, and a dog ) to move in with them. Filled with humor, rich with compassion, undying love, and a determined refusal to give in to decrepitude and Sam's loss of memory, their story is proof that, in the words of Ireland's great poet, Thomas Moore, "the heart that has truly loved never forgets."

Growing up is never easy, but sometimes it can be exceptionally difficult. Set on the Caribbean island of Trinidad during WWII, and in the Pacific Northwest, Poonky Doodles follows the triumphs and tragedies of a young man's childhood and teen years, as he tries to find out who he is, who and what he wants to become, and why life can be very cruel even when he tries to do all the right things. Disturbing, yet rich with humour, friendships, and wisdom, Poonky Doodles is a unique and intriguing coming of age story you will long remember.

In this unusual collection, H.D. Greaves displays a variety of unique narratives with stories that span the past and the present in locales imaginary and real, embracing humour and irony, intrigue and suspense, and the whole gamut of human affect from sorrow to joy. Characters range from young to old, including animals, and even - in an amazing story called A Cuckoo's Lament - the cuckoo in a cuckoo clock, a distinctly adventuresome bird who wants to "fly beyond that Midnight Twelve, to fly beyond Infinity " In the novella, The Witch of Tabaquite, you'll find voodoo, madness, and murder on an...

Should you be sufficiently adventurous as to purchase this volume of poetry, I thank you. I do not now nor ever have written poetry with the intent of publication, but only for my personal enjoyment, be it cathartic to cleanse tragedy of its bile or whimsical to celebrate a comic vein. Don Marquis, the poet whose wonderful creations, Archy the Cockroach and Mehitabel the Alley Cat, have given so much pleasure to so many people, wrote, "Publishing a volume of poetry is like dropping a rose petal down the Grand Canyon and waiting for the echo." He was right, of course, and still is right, at...

On the Caribbean island of Arouca, Father Valencienne, young and idealistic, strives to enlighten what he perceives as ignorant natives; but a mysterious and beautiful woman, as well as the powerful forces of voodoo, the ancient religion brought by slaves from Africa, create doubt and confusion, profoundly intruding upon his faith and, ultimately, his life. With the safety of an entire village at stake, he must battle demons, lust, and above all, madness and murder.

Isak Dinesen wrote about a friend that he "ate of the ripened heart of life." This is a tale of two such people. One, an eccentric old woman, the other an embittered and lonely man, they meet, and a friendship develops that gives renewed hope to one and completely transcends the other. This story is true, with only the locations changed. Dear friends of the author, he felt compelled to write about them, and what they show us of compassion, understanding, acceptance, forgiveness, and the wondrous quality of bliss.

Throw together a successful British writer, his adoring wife, their two girls, a wealthy Grandmamma, one flamboyant Italian landlord, a gorgeous young woman, and a papa diavolo, and you have a concoction of romance, revenge, and murder, all played out under an innocently sunny Italian sky. Not to worry, though. After all, it's nothing but A Slight Contretemps. Or is it?

In Memphis, Tennessee, circa 1950, the Klu Klux Klan held devious power over politicians and the police. In this vivid remembrance by an elderly lady, she reveals how, as a child, she and her mother were in mortal danger through the folly of a much-loved aunt. Through her eyes, we see the facile face of bigotry and its devastating effect on the living and the dead. Woven throughout the horror of lynchings and other murders, a thread of uncommon humanity, and even humour, anchors this surprising tale. And, should you think that this story rings true, you would be correct, because it is true,...