A Humor Reader (Short Story Fiction Anthology): Short Stories From New Voices

If laughter is the best medicine, then reading humorous short stories should be the best practice to maintain your health.

These three authors with their six stories have written stories that both poke fun at the sacrosanct and also skewer them for dissection as both pompous and ripe.

From the ranks of Voltaire, Twain, and Vonnegut, these new voices have something to say about how our current culture and what they consider serious. You may find yourself irritated, incensed, or having a laugh outloud moment as you read along into the imaginative worlds these authors create.

You may find yourself expecting to see someone just waiting in the shadows for you to get the punchline - expect that author's spirit as you read their works.

PS. You have their permission to roll on the floor with delight, in private, of course…

A Short Story Anthology Containing:

- Cats Typing Romance by R. L. Saunders

- Voices by J. R. Kruze

- Rise & Fall of President Frump by R. L. Saunders

- Keyboard in the Sky by R. L. Saunders

- The Autists by J. R. Kruze

- Becoming Michelle by R. L. Saunders & C. C. Brower

- plus bonus: four more short stories…

Excerpt:

(From "Cats Typing Romance")

F. D. C. WILLARD, A red tabby cross-bred house cat, was at his usual location for 3am. Typing out a new paper about helium-3 isotopes and the cosmic interrelationships of theoretical sub-orbital particles within nuclei.

Not that he was all that interested in the subject, but it was another chore of his.

His "master" complained sometimes of F. D. sleeping all day. But when you're up most of the night writing a research paper, the one he would take credit for, the one that would advance his career, the one that got his pay raise, sometimes F. D. thought his master was really being a little hypocritical…

If he only knew his cat was writing them for him.

F. D. (who the family called "Chester") looked down at his red-tabby paws and sometimes wished he had regular hands. But didn't want all the baggage that went along with it. A human body ate such strange things and needed more exercise. And then there was these odd "social engagements" they went to. He was happier being a cat. And so kept typing one paw after the next, one key at a time.

"Hey F. D. How's it going today?" A calico female slunk across the polished mahogany table and settled down next to him, reading the screen."I see you're into the meat of it now. How do you do all that math and keep it straight?"

"That's not the problem, it's translating it into Academicese that's the trick. I sometimes wish I had it as simple as you and just wrote romances."

"Sure and don't you think it gets a bit difficult describing human sex and foreplay in veiled terms? Talk about running out of modifiers… "

"You do have a point there."

The red tabby continued typing with his "two-paw" method, careful precisely to hit the grey laptop keys exactly.

The calico sat quietly, reading along with his typing, respecting the tabby's concentration.

Occasionally, the tabby would have to stop and stretch, as sitting arched over the keyboard to hit the number keys, as well as the Ctrl-function combinations, was a stretch. Fortunately, there were shift and Ctrl keys on both sides of the old laptop keyboard, so a little forethought and practice made the typing easier…

© 2018 Midwest Journal Press (Ebook): 6610000101894

Release date

Ebook: 5 September 2018