Ever wonder what might happen if an astronaut shut down a 500-year-old hurricane? Or why an exotic dancer would go to a Chinese restaurant to find a new tomorrow? What does a sheepherder celebrating a night on the town have in common with a high society gatecrasher? Can you beat a fine for poaching Christmas trees in California? Why would Dr. Watson lash out at his old friend Sherlock Holmes? How does a twelve-year-old talk her kidnappers out of murder? What secret lies behind a locked door that not even the homeowner can penetrate? How could Scottish poet Robert Burns, dead 200 years, cause...

"A Confluence of Grapes" is humor writer Steve Pulley's third volume of short stories and poems. In this collection you'll find romance, tragedy, angst, euphoria, adventure, thrills, spills, impending disaster, unforeseen windfalls, aliens of this world, aliens not of this world, Pangborneans galore, doppelgangers, pugs, pookas, magicians, Korean soap opera freaks, Phrigofaxian abacus freaks, bedtime stories, werewolves, ghosts, blanked-out writers, overwrought actors, buccaneers in arrears, hilarious undertakings, awkward encounters, and an all-around mixed bag of goofy goings-on. And every...

Over 50 short stories, poems, and essays by eight caffeine-charged writers whose special brews ought to keep you awake. From the comic to the serious, from the mundane to the contemplative, Brewed Awakenings has something for every taste.