Crumbs from the Edge

By Char Bishop

A collection of eleven short stories each containing a riddle solved with an answer "from the edge." In "Iguazu," seven tourists take a canoe trip to the lip of Iguazu Falls in Argentina, but only six return. "Dancing on the Other Side," tells about a woman who reinvents herself to gain acceptance and finds her true self hiding in the shadows of her past. In "Down at Club Stinkaroo," a novice poker player learns that the real winner isn't always the one dealt the best hand. A young woman in "Final Sentence" learns that more than the trees in the old growth Redwood forest are doomed. "A Few Grains of Sand" help a bullied child take back his power. A woman's dead lover reaches out to her from beyond the edge in "Letting Go." The biggest stakes in "Play it as it Lays," are compassion and acceptance. "The Best Tomato" helps an elderly woman hold on to life. "Wheeling through Life" chronicles the adventures of one woman and her love affair with her cars. Included in this collection are two prize winners: "Powder Burns," the story of a heartless man on a pre-dawn jog around the golf course who stumbles on enlightenment lurking in the darkness, won First Place in the Northwest Phoenix Writers 2010 Short Fiction contest."Rag Doll," about an innocent girl who barters love in exchange for survival, was awarded Second Place for Short Fiction in the Prescott Professional Writers Association 2014 Short Fiction Contest by a panel of twelve judges. "Butter the edges of the toast and the middle will take care of itself," is an old saying that seems to have faded away with time. "buttering the edges" means taking everything into account before we act, laying the groundwork, paying attention to details, so everything comes together as we expect. This collection of short stories illustrate that sometimes what lies beyond the periphery of our intent, what we haven't prepared for, can impact us even more.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 097004660X
• ISBN13: 9780970046604
• Release Date: January 2015
• Publisher: Whispering Leaf Productions
• Length: 106 Pages
• Weight: 0.34 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 6.0" x 9.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up