“Fascinating and hilarious,” “relentlessly clever,” and “truly haunting” are all phrases that have been used to describe David Schickler’s unique talent. And all apply to this brash, brilliant novel featuring two of the most memorable characters in contemporary fiction: Grace McGlone and Henry Dante.Sexy and willful, Grace McGlone is saving herself for the right man. When Henry Dante pulls into the small Wisconsin town where she works at the car wash, she instantly knows he’s the o...

The best-selling author of Kissing in Manhattan pens a comic tale of violence that is also a fully realized love story. Grace McGlone, waiting for her one true love, falls hard for Henry Dante. But little does she know he is carrying "The Planets," a set of famous Spanish diamonds that might cost them their lives.

From wild and wacky to knee-slapping, laugh-out-loud fun, these humorous tales represent some of the best of recent seasons of the hit public radio series Selected Shorts. Comedian Wyatt Cenac gives a killer performance of Simon Rich’s hilarious tale of woe from the point of view of a condom in a young man’s wallet. Alec Baldwin gives a delightful over-the-top performance of James Thurber’s wonderfully silly classic tale of the day everybody in a small Ohio town thought the dam broke. Joe ...

A young man struggles to reconcile God, faith, and sex as he stumbles toward finding himself in this “brave and irreverent” (Details) memoir.Since childhood, David Schickler has been torn between his intense desire to become a Catholic priest and his equally fervent desire for the company of women.Things don’t get any clearer for Schickler at college, where he initiates serious conversations about becoming a Jesuit just as he enters a passionate re...

Hilarious, sexy, and deeply tender, Kissing in Manhattan was one of the most celebrated debuts in recent years. Acclaimed author David Schickler’s collection of linked stories follows a troupe of love-hungry urbanites through a charmed metropolis and into the Preemption--a mythic Manhattan apartment building. The Preemption sets the stage for a romantic fantasy as exuberant, dark, and dazzling as the city it occupies. Behind closed doors, the paths of an improbable cast of...

Selected Short's most popular volume! Over three hours of stories to tickle your funny bone.Nicholson Baker's "Subsoil"performed by Thomas GibsonA darkly comic thriller about a tractor historian besieged by man-eating potatoes.David Schickler's "Jamaica"performed by Isaiah ShefferA man with his head stuck between the banisters has no choice but to listen in on his wife's "Gorgon Book Club."Neil Gaiman's "Chivalry"performe...

Until three years ago, Dixie Hemingway was a deputy with the Sarasota County Sherriff's Department in southwest Florida. Then came a tragic accident. Now Dixie's a pet-sitter on Siesta Key, a lush, exotic barrier island where the people tend to be rich, suntanned, and tolerant of one another's quirks.As Dixie tried to get her life back in order, pet-sitting is the perfect job. She goes into people's homes while they're gone and takes care of their pets; she likes the animals, they ...

The gift of sight comes at a dangerous price.When Deep Down Salvage begins the hunt for the Josephine Marie, it seems like any other dive…until Genevieve Wallace sees the vision of a dead woman in the water, her vacant eyes boring into Genevieve's very soul. Terrified and confused by what she saw, Genevieve is haunted by the memory, but no one — including her diving partner Thor Thompson — believes her.When a dead woman washes up on shore, everyone assumes ...

Super senior sleuth Ivy Malone is spunkier than Miss Marple, with a curiosity that just won't quit. That inquisitiveness has gotten her into plenty of trouble, including murder, mayhem, and a place on a mini-Mafia hit list.Now Ivy's headed across the country with a stray cat and God as her only companions. But just when she thinks she's safe, two dead bodies turn up-discovered by Ivy, of course. A flock of emus, a survivalist outpost, and paintball are just a few of the strange thi...

Kelly Oxford is . . .A wunderkind producer of pirated stage productions for six-year-oldsNot the queen of the worldAn underage schnitzel-house dishwasherThe kid who stood up to a bully and almost passed out from the resulting adrenaline rushA born salesmanCapable of willing her eyesight to be 20/20That girl who peed her pants in the gas station that one timeTotally an expert on strep throatIncapable of making Leonardo ...

A special Christmas short story in “one of the funniest cozy series going” (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine).The Christmas rush is on as Brandy Borne and her quaintly quirky mother, Vivian, sniff out plum collectibles for resale, only to find the owner of a Santa's workshop worth of treasures has received some deadly tidings. It's beginning to look a lot like murder. . .but who wanted the deceased closed for the holidays—permanently? Maybe a rival antiques d...

From New York Times bestselling author Douglas Clegg comes the Bram Stoker Award- and International Horror Guild award-winning collection The Nightmare Chronicles -- packed with spine-tingling tales of dark mystery, supernatural thrills and twisted horror that "can chill the spine so effectively the reader should keep paramedics on standby, " says bestselling author Dean Koontz.“Clegg brings his stories together with a chilling fictive conceit.......