English Storytelling

If the first six months of running the Smugglers Tavern had been a baptism of fire, the subsequent years were about as much fun as bobbing for apples in a vat of acid. Having swapped the tin roof of a cold British fish market for the sunny skies of a Spanish holiday island, Joe and Joy succeeded in thwarting the first wave of attacks from bungling bureaucrats, bewildered holidaymakers, and their own spectacular ineptitude. What they didn't realize was that their enemies were regrouping. Not only that, but those enemies had made camp a lot closer to home.

Here, for the first time, Katie opens up about realizing at the age of 28 that she is gay. In these poignant, funny essays, she wrestles with her shifting sexuality and identity, and describes what it was like coming out to everyone she knows (and everyone she doesn’t). As she revisits her past, looking for any "clues" that might have predicted this outcome, Katie reveals that life doesn’t always move directly from point A to point B - no matter how much we would like it to.

Warning: This book makes jokes about the Third Reich, the Reign of Terror, World War I, cancer, Millard Fillmore, and Chernobyl. When advertising legend Jim Riswold is stricken with leukemia and prostate cancer, he quits the business that made him famous to become a "fake artist", creating a controversial body of work with a controversial cast of characters, from Hitler to Mao to Kim Jong-Il. It was a decision that would save his life.

Part improvisation, part audio cartoon, The Camp Waterlogg Chronicles 6 is a collection of variety show productions, created by two radio-theater veterans. The Camp WaterloggChronicles 6 contains six one-hour segments of the comic misadventures of Sergeant Lefty, Olive Pitts, Ellis the Boatkeeper, Squeaky Lkie, Stinky Peter, Mrs.Terwilliger, and all the wacky denizens of Camp Waterlogg, the dilapidated camp for kids in the Catskills.

Submarines glide along on their dangerous missions, their crews performing difficult tasks under arduous conditions. The mystique associated with these boats is evidenced by the number of movies and television shows dedicated to the subject. But nowhere else will you find the lighter side of submarine operations - childish pranks, retrieving lost sailors, and even humorous episodes involving the father of the nuclear Navy, Admiral Rickover.

Trailer Dogs is the profoundly profane, hysterically funny, yet often poignant, story of survival in today's near-extinct middle class. After losing their small business and life savings to the government's unfathomable shutdown, the author and her husband are forced to sell their home and move into a travel trailer.

Humorous observations on life in America from the actor, author, director, playwright, radio and television talk show host Charles Grodin. A perfect Father's Day gift! Mother's Day gift! Groundhog Day gift!

In Meet Me at the Emotional Baggage Claim, the mother-daughter duo of Lisa Scottoline and Francesca Serritella continue the conversation with more hilarious and honest tales of life inside an ordinary, extraordinary family. These stories will make you laugh, cry, and call your mother, daughter, and all your girlfriends.

Goin' Postal tells the story of a real U.S. postal worker dealing with crazy situations that the public never sees. From human heads in the mail to alligators on the loose in the building, this book is sure to make you laugh. The second book in this combo, The Creek, tells stories set in the same location, but each story is set in a different time period. The last story depicts how the people and stories of the past are still alive today.

The Camp Waterlogg Chronicles 8 contains six one-hour segments of the comic misadventures of Sergeant Lefty, Olive Pitts, Ellis the Boatkeeper, Squeaky Lkie, Stinky Peter, Mrs. Terwilliger, and all the wacky denizens of Camp Waterlogg, the dilapidated camp for kids in the Catskills. The creation of husband and wife team Joe Bevilacqua (Joe Bev) and Lorie Kellogg, The Comedy-O-Rama Hour has evolved into a wacky mix of family friendly humor, radio theater, audio cartoons, and improvisation.

The author of Alec Baldwin Doesn't Love Me and That's Mr. Faggot to You returns with more skewed observations on the strange state of the queer union. As fans of his previous collections have happily discovered, little escapes his attention, and no topic is too controversial or sacred to be tackled.

I tell the true stories of how Joe Walsh and I became friends, from the James Gang to the Eagles with Barnstorm in between. There were many obstacles to overcome in meeting Joe, but a path was laid before me by an LSD premonition I had when I was a teenager. You will believe in it, as I most certainly do.

In all my years of reporting on the human condition, this has to be the most bizarre, and (if true) history shattering interviews I've ever conducted. This story is told by Billy "Big Rig", a pseudonymous truck driver I met over sausage gravy and biscuits in the late 1990s when I was driving a truck to make ends meet. We struck up a friendship, although I think I maybe spoke 10 words to him the whole time I knew him. He did most of the talking. And the way he spun a yarn caused me to be transfixed.

I was at my wit's end. I'd had enough of this job, this life, and my relationship had broken up. Should I eat chocolate, or go to India, or fall in love? Then I had a revelation: Why not do all three, in that order? And so it was that I embarked on a journey that was segmented into three parts and was then made into a major motion picture. Later, I woke up on an airplane with a hole in my face and a really bad hangover. I was ushered brusquely off the plane by my parents who took me to a rehab.

That's Mr. Faggot to You continues Ford's exploration of contemporary gay life. He does not shy away from personal revelations - he recalls his own traumatic high school experiences but recognizes that, years later, he's happier and, more importantly, a great deal more attractive than his classmates - but also offers insight into more political issues such as religion and politics and Wynonna Judd. Never abandoning his caustic wit, Ford is honest to a fault and does not suffer fools or dog-haters lightly.

New York Times bestselling author Lisa Scottoline and her daughter Francesca Serritella are the best of friends—99.9% of the time. They're number one on each other's speed dial and they tell each other everything—well, almost everything. They share shoes and clothes—except one very special green jacket, which almost caused a catfight. In other words, they're just like every mother and daughter in the world. Best friends, and occasional enemies. Now they're dishing about it all—their lives, their relationship, and their carb count.

In What Would Susie Say?, Susie Essman sheds the crasser layers to reveal how she went from an anxiety-ridden, struggling stand-up comic to being one of the funniest women on television, playing Susie Greene on HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm.

An irreverent, insightful, and wickedly funny humor collection that shows just how queer life really is by one of the more charming voices in contemporary gay prose. Oh, wait, we're talking about Michael Thomas Ford. Well, he's still a good guy; he's kind to dogs, donates to homeless porn stars, and has stopped sending Mr. Baldwin selfies. Buy this book. He needs a new smartphone to take pictures.

When a trip to meet his new girlfriend’s grandparents ends in disaster (think a crashed ute, an angry wasp and a cranky farmer with a shotgun), Thomas Mitchell knows one thing for sure: bad days make for great stories. While we might not like to admit it, we can't help but find a sneaky pleasure in other people's misfortune. It's the reason fail compilations rack up millions of views on YouTube or television shows like Funniest Home Videos exist at all.

In this age, turning hard data into a compelling narrative is no longer a luxury. It has become a necessity. Visual communication is no longer enough. Presenters need to kick things up a notch and find effective ways to turn hard-to-chew insights into compelling and persuasive stories that influence your audiences’ decisions and push them to want change to happen.