True Humor

A voice is calling across the land, "Bombardier Milligan." "Bombadier Milligan is dead," I replied in a disguised voice. The voice replied, "Then he's going to miss his breakfast." The fourth volume of Spike Milligan's legendary account of his time in the army during World War Two begins as he and his regiment land in sunny Italy in 1943 ("The ship touched the beach very gently, so gently I suspect it's not insured").

One wild weekend in Vegas, Samantha True and her boyfriend impulsively marry. Six months later, she learns three things about her new husband: 1. He’s been killed in a freak accident. 2. She’s inherited his secret PI business. 3. He had another wife. Broke and devastated, she dives into learning the PI busines. How hard can it be? Following a binge-watching how-to session on YouTube, Samantha’s ready to take her first case.

Knowledge is power! Crush the competition at trivia night, or start the most interesting conversation ever with real facts that are hard to believe. This book is loaded with mind-blowing facts that are sure to keep you wondering, "How are these even true?" while equipping you to outsmart everyone around and blow their minds.

Enter the wonderfully weird, always uncomfortable, side-splittingly funny world of The Terrifying Realm of the Possible, where your worst fears of who you are or might become are always just around the corner. In these masterful short stories from the singular mind of the actor and comedian Brett Gelman, you’ll meet five individuals, each navigating a uniquely strange stage of life.

Verity Love - Jane Austen fangirl and an introvert in a world of extroverts - is perfectly happy on her own (thank you very much), and her fictional boyfriend, Peter, is very useful for getting her out of unwanted social events. But when a case of mistaken identity forces her to introduce a perfect stranger as her boyfriend, Verity's life suddenly becomes much more complicated.

“Do you accept this my child?” God said to me, while sitting on the edge of my bed and watching me intently with those heavenly blue eyes. I looked at my husband, Ian, hoping for some guidance. If I said yes, it would change Ian’s entire existence, just as it would mine. I did not know the "chatting with God while he sat on the edge of your bed" etiquette. We didn’t cover that in Sunday School, I’m sure of it. That would be beneficial knowledge to have today.

Have you ever seen a baby pigeon? You haven’t, have you? No one has, not in many, many years. They used to be everywhere. You couldn’t walk out of your front door in New York City in the 1930s without seeing dozens of those little guys scurrying around. Today, there are millions of grown up pigeons in New York, but not a baby pigeon to be seen. That’s because they come out of the factory as adults. In Birds Aren’t Real, whistleblowers Peter McIndoe and Connor Gaydos trace the roots of a political conspiracy so vast and well-hidden that it almost seems like an elaborate hoax.

Meet the Evil Legion of Evil: evil yet beautiful space princesses; international lords of hate; one brain in a jar; and the Supreme Dark Lord himself, super-nerd Vox Day. Who would dare attack these frightful folk? The brave men and women of the Puppy Kickers. Safely entrenched in their safe zones, they lash out the only way they can: through proxies, slander, and calling out SWAT teams. Will the Puppies be SWATted once and for all? Or will the Puppy Kickers learn that these puppies bite back?

When Carey Browne decides it's time for a holiday and flies into New York City - one of her favourite shopping destinations - she knows she'll have a good time. What she doesn't know is that she's about to have the biggest adventure of her life. Within days she's met and married Ben Russell, and a week later they're heading back together to Dublin, where they both live, to share the happy news with family and friends. Except not everyone's thrilled. And not everyone's convinced this is really more than a holiday romance. Carey and Ben are about to discover whether they've found the kind of love that can survive a blast of reality....

From the very first steps of acknowledging adoption as a choice to the final document that seals the deal, Jody Cantrell Dyer paints a raw, warm, heartbreaking, and eventually triumphant portrayal that narrates the entire adoption process through compassionate and entertaining prose. Dyer's candor and soul color the narration of The Eye of Adoption.

From Paralympic ski racer and YouTube star, Josh Sundquist, comes an always-funny (and sometimes-awkward) memoir about teenage misadventures. When I was 25 years old, it came to my attention that I had never had a girlfriend. At the time, I was actually under the impression that I was in a relationship, so this bit of news came as something of a shock. Why was Josh still single? To find out, he tracked down each of the girls he had tried to date since middle school and asked them straight up: What went wrong? The results of Josh's semiscientific investigation are in your hands.

Almost True Hollywood Stories is an offbeat, darkly funny fictional account of insider Bradley Lewis' experiences writing screenplays while living and socializing with the elite "Hollywoodland" crowd. Doctors, agents, celebrated talent, writers, producers, business moguls, wannabes, medical students, the fabled Hillcrest Country Club, and the Beverly Hills Tennis Club are all represented. Even deli owners and their families, as they intersect to form a meld of backstage show business and a macabre horror plot.

When Annaliese Winter walks down Curtis Holland's front path, he's ill-prepared for a sixteen-year-old schoolgirl who's a confounding mixture of adult and child. After years traveling the world with his band, Butterfish, he's not used to having a neighbor at all. So when Curtis receives an invitation to dinner from Annaliese's mother, Kate, he is surprised when he not only accepts but finds himself being drawn to this remarkably unremarkable family.

In 1971, Terry Tarnoff packed a bag, a guitar, and 16 harmonicas and headed out on an eight-year journey that would take him into the jungles of Africa, the mountains of India, and beyond. This account of his revelatory journey is a tumultuous love story, a spiritual odyssey, and a rollicking escapade all rolled up into one. Tarnoff is a fevered, risk-taking writer with an uncanny ability to render place.

Meet Ryan Fisher. He's young, energetic, and needs an edge in the real-estate market. He's found the perfect niche: Christians. His business doubles when he advertises in the Christian business directory, and he begins to think he could really cash in by planting a church. But when the church takes off, Ryan is in over his head.

Seventeen-year-old River doesn't know what to do with himself when Penny, the girl he adores, breaks up with him. He lives in LA, where nobody walks anywhere, and Penny was his ride; he never bothered getting a license. He's stuck. He's desperate. Okay...he's got to learn to drive. But first he does the unthinkable - he starts walking.

Bath, England. A city steeped in culture and rich historical significance. Except it's the seventies and this once glorious city has seen better days. Enter Peter True. Peter is a much-loved and mollycoddled four-year old boy who enjoys the attention of his mother, father, cousins, and aunts. But not his sisters. When it comes to his education, Mum has the very best intentions for Peter. So she sends him to a girls' school. Whatever was she thinking?

In 1914 collisions between motor cars and horse-drawn carriages are an everyday occurrence on the streets of Paterson, New Jersey. But when an out-of-control driver smashes into a buggy driven by Constance, Norma, and Fleurette Kopp, their lives change forever. Constance, the oldest, demands payment for the damages but quickly realizes that she is dealing with a madman.

Mike had managed to achieve his childhood dream of becoming a stand-up comedian in the San Francisco comedy scene of the 1980s. He was appearing on television and rubbing shoulders with the big stars of the day. His future was bright and the last thing he needed was a woman to come along who would shake his ideas of what true happiness was. But, come along she did, daring him to achieve something even greater than fame and fortune.

There’s no rule book for this deadly game. When Samantha’s friend and sometimes boss AJ Gunn is accused of murdering the star quarterback for the Oregon pro-team she knows three things: No way is AJ guilty even if he doesn’t have a solid alibi, this is not a one gal PI gig, she’s going to need help, and rich people are crazy. If Samantha thought she was out of her element in Wind River, investigating in a new town is like working in a foreign land. Looking for a real suspect, Samantha meets a host of powerful characters with deep pockets and dark secrets.