This is a heartfelt story about celebrating our uniqueness and feeling good in our own skin. Told through the eyes of an ex - circus sideshow freak, we watch as Amanda finds her true potential and passion through a friendship that will last a lifetime.

Amanda

I love Halloween. The seasons are changing, the air is crisp. The leaves on the trees become a myriad of iridescent colors as intense as a firework at the point of first explosion. Now I’m not what you would call the best looking man in the world so I can truly appreciate beauty like this. You see, I worked my whole life in the circus … I was a … well … how do you say … oh I’ll just come out and say it … I was a freak.

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In the real and paranormal worlds, destiny can be linked by shared experience and bloodlines. Can a gambler avoid a gunfight with help from the future?

Blood is Thicker Than Dimensions

Jesse Livermore stared at his tormentors, slowly eyeing each one of them as his gaze moved around the poker table. He held the best hand, he knew it . . . but why would Bart Blackwell raise him only to have “One eyed” Jimmy raise again? Jesse smelled a rat. Looking down at his cards Jesse still held four kings. Nothing had changed except that if he called these two men and lost, he would lose his horse, “Cactus Jack” and it was a long walk to Reno from Virginia City.

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Possibilities that lie just beyond the horizon remain unknown until one has the courage to take a leap of faith. A couple stands at a crossroads with their life together and considers the options that may lay down a lonely stretch of railroad tracks.

Destinations Unknown

Carl and Wendy sat side by side on top of the old stone arch that was the exit (or entrance, depending on the direction of the train) to the tunnel that went over the railroad tracks near the top of the Tehachapi mountains. Their legs were swinging in unison as they both looked at the tracks beneath them winding into the mountains beyond. The summer breeze blew through the pine trees and grass that covered the hills.

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Everyone faces questions of faith, belief and agenda every day. How we handle these issues is what defines us if we are lucky enough to make it through all the trials of life and grow from the experience. Lobsters have problems too . . .

Destiny According to Louie

Louie wandered along with the rest of the group. His head wasn’t in the march ahead but was instead, focused on the image of his friend Gerald. He just couldn’t shake the thought of what might await him.

“Life just isn’t fair.” Louie thought as one of the lieutenants waved him back into the line.

“I didn’t think he was all that bad for having the courage to be himself and make a decision on his own for a change, I mean why are we following these stupid rules anyway?”

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‘Essence of Humour’ is a collection of short stories which brings together the best of humour writing from 17 authors across the globe.

Rosie the riveter, an iconic figure during World War 2 becomes the subject of a heated debate between two college students and a cantankerous old man. Who is right and who is wrong? This story offers another perspective on where America has gone wrong since the great war.

Rosie the Riveter

“Corporations. That’s what’s ruining this country.”

Will spoke the words with authority as he and his best friend Liam discussed what was wrong with America and how they would solve all the country’s woes if they were in charge.

The two friends volunteered once a week at the Retirement Castle on Indian School Road in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Since they were both college students who knew everything and wondered what would possess their parents to vote Republican, it was no wonder that the residents of the Retirement Castle avoided them…even though most were starved for attention.

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Have you ever read the fortune in a fortune cookie and believed it was real?

When an American tourist visits London for the first time, he has an experience in a Chinese restaurant where a seemingly innocent fortune cookie at the end of a meal sends his life spinning out of control.  Then just as he thinks he’s got things back under control…

The Fortune Cookie

Westminster Abbey, Churchill’s War bunker, Buckingham Palace, the Globe Theater. So far, Jack Harper was taking in all the sights and sounds of London, England. He had planned this trip for so long. He had seen all these sights on his first day and still had three weeks to go. As he rode the Tube from Saint Paul’s Cathedral, he smiled to himself as he thought about where he was going to eat dinner tonight.

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Coober Pedy is a description of what the local Aborigines regarded as peculiar activities and so the town name means ‘white men down holes’. Its tourist information boasts its complete lack of entertainment, so why would Justin decide, having won the lottery, that Coober Pedy would be the perfect place to live?

The Halcyon Life

Justin yawned and stretched his arms high above his head. He looked out across the parking lot of the Mud Hut Motel and watched the heat waves rise up with the dust as the 9:00 A.M. sun in Coober Pedy started its daily baking. Old Mr. Mac Gregor wandered by mumbling something about the heat frying what was left of his brain. Justin smiled and laughed to himself.

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A hit man who has lived in the shadows of society doing the dirty work for people with money and an agenda runs into complications from the least likely of places.

The Hit Man

So here I am again, another coffee shop where the beehive hairdo is frozen in time on the waitress who was chewing gum as she took my order. I swear she was one unruly customer away from yelling “Kiss my grits!” She commented on the NASCAR T-shirt that I had on, remarking that I didn’t seem the booze guzzling redneck NASCAR type. I just smiled and watched the sway of her hips as she walked away from my table.

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What if Jesus showed up in your living room and hung out with you? This is the scenario that, “The Poker Game” takes on as it explores the philosophical, spiritual and humorous turns that this improbable meeting has.

The Poker Game

I don’t care anymore . . . no really, I’ve given up. I am so tired of bad people getting all the breaks. Ya know what I mean? How many times have you seen the backstabbing jerk at work get the promotion ahead of you through kissing up to the boss and mediocrity? Let’s not even talk about Ashlee Simpson! I know what you would tell yourself cuz I did it too. You tell yourself that although you deserved that promotion it was gonna be on your terms which have always been, hard work, honesty and loyalty and just in general being an all round good person . . . no backstabbing and debauchery for you right?

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If advanced extraterrestrials did visit us today, what would they think about our accomplishments as a species? Would they be impressed at our ability to live together and take care of the earth or just the opposite?

The Vacation

I had heard stories about the planet earth as long as I could remember. My father had visited twice when he was a boy and a teenager. He had fond memories of the third planet in that solar system. His tales used to entertain us for hours when we were little. That’s why it’s so exciting to be warping through the worm hole toward earth with my own family in tow. I sure missed my Mom and Dad but they had a long, happy life. I mean, one hundred and twenty-three thousand years is a long life span where I come from. Especially now that they finally found a cure for the black hole plague.

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