Life Seemed Good, But....: A collection of short quirky stories was written by Richard Bell and published by Lorick Publishing in 2017 and it can be purchased on Amazon/Kindle. Visit the author on Amazon and on social media.
These interesting, funny, quirky parodies of life are far beyond strange; they stretch our imaginations into the outrageously bizarre.
Words, places, people and things in this wonderful world of ours have many different dimensions to them. When faced with trying times, it sometimes helps to explore the many facets of our existence and sometimes humor helps as we trudge through the darkest corners of life. The author uses humor and a quirky, odd, fun perspective in order to deal with being laid off from a job shortly after his wife was diagnosed with leukemia. These short stories, or "Modern Fables" (previously published in an Illionois magazine) began to take shape in the author's mind in 2004 and soon they were in print and recently compiled into Life Seemed Good, But....: A collection of short quirky stories. To venture into this book is a lot like traveling down the proverbial rabbit hole where potatoes, rabbits, ants, porcupines and other inanimate objects take on human qualities. These interesting, funny, and quirky parodies of life are far beyond strange; they stretch our imaginations into the outrageously bizarre realms of our existence. It's a place where the author unapologetically takes us and where we, the reader, will eagerly go to. It's also a fun reading adventure where wisdom lives, and where hard lives can be made a little softer and bearable. In addition, a portion of the proceeds of the book sales are donated to cancer and Alzheimer's research. To use some of the parody that the author delivers, I guess I'm an idiot for not realizing that potatoes are people too. Spud, I'm so sorry you had to go through all that you went through and because of you, and the empathetic person that I am, I will never eat another potato again. I may even go into riot mode when I see Pringles cans stacked up on my local grocery store shelves. For you. And for my doctor since he wants me to cut down on my carbs. I counted my chuckles, as I read through these wonderful short stories, and the number came in at over 110. It was a fun read, which is best done at six to ten stories a day and even though my head was spinning with all of the craziness that the characters brought to the tales, it felt like a really great amusement ride- which I looked forward to getting off of, and then back onto again. There are lessons to be learned in this book and it's a pleasure to know that the author benefited so much from the writing process. I loved it!
I give Life Seemed Good, But... 4 out of 5 stars.
Richard Bell is a scheduled guest on The Writers Lounge Blog Talk Radio Show #118 on June 27, 2022