“The Beautician” is the story of a makeup artist called to a hospital to remove the ravages of impending death from a patient. The story explores the odd relationship between a cosmetologist and her client, and what is revealed beneath her handiwork.
“Suffering Little Children” is a satire of the drug driven alliance of overstressed mothers, psychologists, and drug companies that has reduced two generations of little boys to a zombie like state of passivity and weakness. A warning to listeners: like Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal,” the satirist calls for a radical remedy as likely to turn his readers away in shame as to bring about a moral awakening.
In “Gone” all the students in a failing high school suddenly disappear, leaving the faculty and the administration to fight it out alone.
“Mother’s Recipe for Happiness” is the inspiring story of an entrepreneur who went from health supplements for animals to health supplements for people, capitalizing on the “all natural” products movement and providing all species experiences they had never known they needed.
“Lillian” is a story about the dissipating memories of a resident in a long term care facility, where the real and the imagined often collide. Can you guess which prevails?
This is a story about how a plunge into depth psychology and kinesthesia alters relationships and leads to personal empowerment until it doesn’t. Apparently he author has been in treatment himself or has picked up the essentials of these disciplines from the personal experiences of others. Or maybe it’s just empathy or what the poet called “negative capability.”
“Lawyer Assisted Suicide: A Brief for the Bar” is a “how to” manual for lawyers to facilitate the passing of wealth from one generation to another in jurisdictions where the right to die is still frowned upon.
This is the conclusion to “The Dinner Bell,” where Melissa negotiates with the agent of an Arab prince who wants to buy “The Dinner Bell.” He doesn’t understand with whom he is dealing.
“The Pillow is” a delightful story of old age and family values, where an elderly man and his wife compete about which one can put the other into assisted living first, leaving the victor to enjoy their golden years alone.
“A Killer App is a satire of where apps can take us when backed by unlimited venture capital and unsuspecting users. A man develops a killer app to ring your phone when your scrambled eggs are done and parlays it into an app to predict the weather and then the end of the world. Venture capital is nonplussed.
The Laughing Satirist