Whimsical and hilarious, this collection of dialogs and stories will captivate the reader. The author mocks, in a good-natured way, our contemporary fads, clichés, and linguistic obsessions. You can and should read this book just for the sheer fun of it. But on another level you will enjoy witnessing a master writer ply his craft. The dialogs are just that: pure dialog with no narrative. They showcase the screenwriter's art of establishing the setting entirely without narrative description. Likewise each character evolves in the reader's imagination solely through the words spoken in the dialog. The more conventional short stories in this collection reflect the author's love for language and evoke something essential and timeless about what makes observing each other endlessly interesting and amusing. You'll chuckle as you recognize friends, and perhaps even see yourself in Rollet's characterizations. Its quiet sense of humor, its respect for human foibles and frailties make this collection a welcome contribution to the tradition of American comedic writing. Richmond Shreve, Author of Lost River Anthology
About the Author: Ronald Thomas Rollet is a writer and filmmaker. He is the author of the novels Autumn Travels, The Book of Changes, and The Encyclopedia Book, and a collection of short stories, The Man Who Lost His Smile, as well as a book of poems, The Terrible Cost. His monograph on the documentary films of Louis Malle was published by Film Library Quarterly and he served as editor of the Museum of Modern Arts catalogue raisonné of their circulating film collection. Mr. Rollet has garnered numerous honors and credits in film, theater and literature, including awards from the Rockefeller Foundation, the New York State Council on the Arts, New York Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Columbia University, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, the Foundation of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and the Encore Special Achievement Award from the South Jersey Cultural Alliance for his work as the founder and artistic director of the Cape May New Jersey State Film Festival and the Young Filmmakers Workshop. Upon his retirement, the Festival honored Mr. Rollet with a Lifetime Achievement Award and by naming the Festival's Best Screenplay Award for him. He began his career as a playwright, with plays, including two musicals with composer William Bolcom, produced off-Broadway in New York (Tisch Theater, H-B Studio, American Place/St. Clements Theater), Philadelphia, Ann Arbor, and Los Angeles. His films have been shown nationally in theaters and on television, in addition to being in the collections of a number of major film libraries. Among his accomplishments as a filmmaker, Ron counts directing one of the first film appearances of actor Danny DeVito. He received his M.F.A. from NYU School of the Arts, and an M.A. Phil. From Columbia University where he did doctoral work in Philosophy and research in aesthetics of cinema. Ron taught film study and production at NYU School of the Arts, Pratt Institute, Columbia University, the University of Michigan, Villanova University, and St. Joseph's University.