Dark Comedy Short Stories

This original short story asks the question, "If eternal life came at the expense of love, would you choose death?"

This series of short, fictional vignettes explores our day-to-day interactions with an ever-elusive and arbitrary God. It's the Book of Common Prayer as seen through a looking glass - a powerfully vivid collection of seemingly random life moments. The figures that haunt these stories range from Kafka (talking to a fish) to the Aztecs, Tolstoy to Abraham and Sarah, O. J. Simpson to a pack of wolves. Most of Williams' characters, however, are like the rest of us.

Stories told in the dark are those nagging stories that won't go away until you bring them to the light. Waiting for Fido, the first in the series, is dark humor with a suburban beat. It is the story of a lovely couple who are ready to retire and sail away. Almost. There is still the nagging problem of what to do with the family pets....

If you ever cast an uncomfortable glance over your shoulder when passing the silent snowy sentinels that stand looking at you as you pass on the icy sidewalk, if you've ever questioned what might really happen if the old silk hat placed on Frosty the Snowman's head was truly magic, then these two dark humor snowman tales by Mark Leslie are for you. This audiobook contains two short stories, author's notes about the writing of the stories, and a look at anthropomorphic snow sculptures in history and popular culture, as well as the history of this digital chapbook.