Here is an eclectic mix of humorous, sardonic, often sad short stories about life, love, laughter and loneliness - `life's rich pageant' All the stories keep the reader guessing until the final page where an unexpected twist caps an entertaining ride with the author's enigmatic range of characters.
Do superheroes get depressed? is about a young actor struggling to make a name for himself through his none-too competent agent. Were Mel and Fred funny? has many funny one-liners from a modern day `odd couple' living in up-state New York. We then travel south, down the iconic Route 66, for the story of evergreen love and a tragic blues music story in Will Billy sing the blues for me?
Squeezed in between these US-located stories are Do Angels have birthdays? and Was Michael Alexander Caruso a decent poet? The former is an attempt at making sense of a near-death experience and the latter a story of missed opportunities and misunderstandings. Should he have confessed? describes the time spent by the story's protagonist in France, both in the present time of the story and during the Second World War. You may need to know a little about children's television in the 1960s to fully appreciate the plot and setting of Do puppets have feelings?,
Those who are convinced that computers have a mind of their own will sympathise with the young man at the heart of the story Could you blame him? Should all bores be gagged? is about a pretentious Fleet Street journalist who eventually gets his literary come-uppance and the final story, Is November the cruellest month? is a sad tale of family separation and the quest to apprehend a serial killer.
This really is a great mix of stories to suit a wide range of tastes and interests. Enjoy!

Kevin Corrigan is Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Interdisciplinary Humanities, Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies, Emory University, Atlanta. He is the author of Gregory and Evagrius: Mind, Soul and Body in the 4th Century (2009); Reason, Faith and Otherness in Neoplatonic and Early Christian Thought (2017); Plotinus, Ennead VI 8: On the Voluntary and on the Free Will of the One (2017, with John D. Turner).