Kirjahaku

"Every now and then an author stands out for his sharp observations, crackling dialogue, and incisive storyline -- qualities found in Literature with a capital L. Gary Alexander approaches that capital letter." - Hollis George, editor and anthologist "Read it straight through. Couldn't put it down." - Hayes Brandwell, The Polemicist Post Like father, like son. Whoever coined that one had never heard of Joe and Stanley Buckley. Joe is a ne'er-do-well fugitive who tends bar in Belize. All he knows of the son he hasn't seen in years is that ""he likes computers"", the understatement of the year. Susan, Joe's ex and Stanley's mother pleads with him to come up to an Oregon beach to attend his son's upcoming wedding. Joe barely makes it in time for the nuptials and stays on through Father's Day a week later, raising havoc throughout. Father's Day is at once tender, suspenseful and comical, but not a recommended parenting guide.

Personal Crossroads is a story about two youths, their friendship, and through their friendship a budding romance while realizing that God is truly in charge of them.

TED SNOWE is a hit man... who isn't. Ted takes "hard-unearned" money from wise guys to rub out their enemies, but instead of providing the requested service, Ted offers his "assignments" two choices: be found dead in the trunk of a stolen Cadillac in an airport garage, or accept a new identity Ted has prepared and then disappear--his own for-profit witness protection program. All select the latter choice, of course, so Ted double-dips and relaxes on the coast of Portugal between jobs. But all is not exactly going according to plan. The love of his life, Beth Palmer Brutto, has left him. His last assignment--birdwatching enthusiast Bob Chance, who embezzled from the wrong folks--is not keeping his head down in his new life. When Bob and his girlfriend are gunned down in front of a large hotel, Ted realizes his clients have discovered his duplicity, and they send a real hit man after him, the aptly-tagged Tony Whack Job, a man handy with an ice pick who idolizes Ted Bundy. Fearing that a similar end awaits Beth as well as his last three "disappeareds," Ted heads home to try and thwart the attacks. To do so, he must run a gauntlet that includes Beth's serial-bride mother, birdwatcher Bob Chance's merry widow, a Ponzi artist, a beer-guzzling cat named Fluffy, and of course, Tony Whack Job. With a dismal pro basketball career behind him, a recent bent for writing bad poetry, and a growing interest in birdwatching, Ted must face these latest challenges as he approaches male-menopausal age-40, thinking that a conscience can be a terrible thing to have.

"Unlike all those world-weary private investigators you've read about, here's one as fresh and green as a new dollar bill. You don't have to be grizzled and gruff to walk those mean streets." - Byron Rupert McCafferty, Seattle Book Journal As the greenest private eye at the Aalborg Detective Agency, Bick Bates gets assigned a "nuisance file," a case nobody else wants to touch. Herbie Barnwell was a skid-row bum who was still in a coma, the result of a mysterious mugging. A new hire, Bick is a "college-boy professional," low man on the totem pole amid a dozen or so agents, the majority being stogie-chomping ex-cops. His colleagues looked down on a callow youth who was there to run errands for the bosses or sit down with prospective clients uncomfortable with the living, breathing stereotypes. Little did Bick expect his nuisance case would turn into a big deal. And a dangerous one at that.

Horatio Alger (Harry) Antonelli, 1938 college grad and football star, goes to Europe for the summer before settling down to teach high-school history and coach the football team, and eventually marry ─ white picket fence, kids, pets, et cetera. Increasingly, that scenario is terrifying him, so his 1938 summer has stretched out to July 1940. Keeping one step ahead of the Third Reich and enraged husbands, Harry settles in Lisbon, a most fascinating place during WWII. While Portugal is neutral, Lisbon is a clearing house for every manner of spy, counterspy and hustler. Though he barely scrapes by, Harry is right at home. He wheels and deals with a shady Brit, dodges his landlady who's after back rent, and has fallen for a sultry and mysterious caf singer. His precarious lifestyle is complicated by the arrival of Dorothy Booth, an old girlfriend, and her brother David Booth, an operative in an ultrasecret government agency he refuses to identify. David's agency has information suggesting that the Nazis run a factory in Lisbon where they're enriching uranium they plan to somehow release in allied cities, killing millions. Why Harry Antonelli? David, who strongly disapproves of Harry in general, laments that America has been remiss in getting agents into Lisbon. Harry is all they have. Aided (and babysat) by Dorothy, Harry reluctantly sets out to save the world. To do so, he must thwart the fanatical Nazis, who are dedicated to ensuring that the project succeeds at all costs.

"This collection of short stories fit for a supermarket tabloid may just be my favorite work by the talented and creative Gary Alexander. Elvis is alive and aliens landed at Roswell in this world." - Shirrel Rhoades, former publisher, Marvel Comics Here are 17 entertaining tales from Gary Alexander with themes you might think were ripped from the pages of the Weekly International Tattler: - Roswell Woman Is An Alien Love Child