Writing Humor

The contest between men and women escalates to a new battlefield — genetics. Legislators mandate a testosterone- lowering food supplement to reduce violence and make gun control unnecessary. The blowback assumes epic proportions. Nadia Holkam — a pawn in the battle — desperately seeks her true identity. Diana Holkam discovers companies are using her twin sister as a template for the perfect subordinate female in an experiment aimed at turning all women into pets. With help from a one-eyed Muslim Bible salesman, an African American woman promoting a testosterone-reducing food ...

In this witty and entertaining collection of travel tales, an acclaimed journalist explores his obsession with trains - and what his rail journeys have taught him about culture and identity. Beppe Severgnini has spent his life traveling the world, and not just because he's a journalist; he's a passionate, unflagging train buff. Off the Rails recounts some of his favorite trips across Europe, Australia, Asia, and the United States, each journey bringing listeners not only to a different place but to a different time.

Do you want to be more humorous? Have you ever watched someone effortlessly make a group laugh and wished you knew their magic? Well, wonder no more. The mystery of charisma is finally unveiled; the fallacy of "you either have it, or you don't" has been laid bare. Anyone can learn to make people laugh. Observing a couple of surprisingly simple rules, Make People Laugh is a comedic tour de force, as it explores all the facets of laughter. Turn your lazy bones into funny bones, and you will have made the world a better place.

The new novel from the best-selling author of I Don’t Know How She Does It takes us on an unforgettable journey into first love, and—with the emotional intensity and penetrating wit that have made her beloved among readers all over the world—reminds us of how the ardor of our youth can ignite our adult lives.

"Eternal optimism." While living in Paris, Ellie Kerr's mother writes a series of children's stories. Unfortunately, she passes away before they can be published. Ellie and her father return to the US, and Ellie decides to finish what her mother started. However, she is blocked from accessing her mother's computer by a mysterious password. Ellie becomes determined to find the truth, but if she fails four times, the computer's data, including her mother's unpublished stories, will be destroyed. Even though her father thinks the code is unbreakable, Ellie believes that her mother may have ...

After a debilitating stroke, Balmy Knight moves in with her daughter’s family. As she begins to recover her health, she misses her independence. Finding her days full of tedious boredom, Balmy uses mischievous antics to add excitement to her life. Her only joy comes from disobeying her daughter’s rules, aggravating her son-in-law, and feeding buttermilk biscuits to Jake, the homeless guy who lives in a cardboard box. Life becomes complicated when Balmy’s old friend, Sunny Day—from her Broadway-performing days in the Sixties—arrives from Hollywood and invites her to share her ...

It isn't as though Moxy isn't grateful for all her Christmas presents. She's just not so thrilled that she has to write 12 thank-you notes. Not to mention that she promised her mother they'd all be done by today. And if they're not - well, there will be "consequences". Namely, Moxy won't get to leave tomorrow for the vacation of a lifetime. (A trip to California to attend a Star-Studded Hollywood Bash with the father she hasn't seen in three years.) Moxy's wild schemes to get her thank-you notes done in time are clever, poignant, and always hilarious.

Romantic Secrets (Book One) Abby likes sex but has never had an orgasm. She wants to fall in love but knows she never will. That kind of luck doesn't happen to a girl like her...a girl from a hardscrabble past and a heart that's grown a protective shell. When Abby arrives in New York for her cousin Emma's funeral, she hopes to leave the past behind and start a whole new life. She meets Isabella, her cousin's former roommate, who provides a reference to Miss White, the imposing madam who runs a high-class escort agency. Soon, Abby is propelled into a whole new life of money, glamour, and sex...

Fast, fun, and hilarious! For fans of Judd Apatow, Jonah Hill, Seth Rogen, and Paul Rudd. College theater geeks, Chad and Eric, are about to find themselves in the mother of all love triangles. Eric's the playwright of an edgy new play about a man's strange obsession. But when Chad lands the lead role, a gorgeous thirty-something student named Kira is cast as his mother. Will this sexy "older woman" threaten Chad and Eric's longtime bromance? With hysterical twists and turns, the "man code" will be tested as Chad and Eric handle confrontation with humor that's spiked with testosterone. ...

You don't have to be funny to be funny. It's true! While the general idea is that humor is inherent, Jean-Marc Toledano would beg to differ. Explore the science of laughter and the reason behind it with Half Serious Half Not, in which Jean-Marc discusses the topic in great detail and brings you the secret to being funny. The theme of the book is humor: what it is, the techniques, and how you too can be funny!

I like Graffiti. It appeals to my particular sense of humor. I like it for the concise nature of statements of wit and wisdom. It makes me smile. It makes me laugh. While I do not advocate defacing or writing on private property or lavatory walls or spraying paint, I do subscribe to graffiti as a social value- clearly people feel they have something to say. This can take many forms – an opinion -- a statement – a comment – an observation – an insult -- a boast ( size really does matter ) So now dear reader I offer you my first humble collection. Graffiti from all over the world. No ...

With grown-up words like "cooperate", "respect", "patience", and "considerate", a big, boisterous and zany family celebrates the power of language and discovers that words - big or little - are the bridge that connects us all.

Ireland’s Instagram sensation Meditations for the Anxious Mind takes us on a trip around Ireland of the likes you’ve never seen before, from the trolley-filled Liffey to the glamour of Navan. Why not go off the beaten track with Meditations for the Anxious Mind’s The Toxic Travel Guide and laugh your way around Ireland. We did the research so you don’t have to smell the bin juice.

Chrome Dome is an essay by James J. Caterino, the author of Jordan Rose and the Tomb of Resurrection, The Anti-Matter Girl, Dreams, True Stories, To Meghan, I Want to Believe, Ghost Stories, and much more.

“I liked the strong female characters that didn’t back down. It is a great novel to show women that you can get positions just as easily as men and to not back down when being pushed into corners.” –NetGalley Reviewer "...offers the reader a heroine with grace, gumption, and brains, who finds her way out of a difficult position with satisfying aplomb." –IndieReader The university's selection committee nominates Georgia Davis to become their first woman vice president – a job she's coveted for more than a quarter century. But the university's new president, Paul Van Horne, sours ...

In the spring of 2012, an unlikely transformational figure inadvertently breaches the perimeter of U.S politics. Unencumbered by political ambition and devoid of greed or lust for power, Jonathon Braxton reluctantly enters the arena. Fueled solely by a desire to advocate for more medical research funding to find a cure for Type 1 diabetes afflicting his son, Braxton agrees to speak at the 2012 Republican National Convention courtesy of two influential power brokers who see ‘JB‘ as the future of the party.

Lost luggage and a missed train, but who cares? We’re in Spain! Six years ago Noor promised her grandma she would return to Italy, but this time she’s not coming alone. With her fiancé Andy, they’ll celebrate Christmas in Spain, shiver through Switzerland, Austria, Prague and put on costumes for the Carnevale in Venice. And of course, spend time with family and friends in Italy. It will be a magical adventure in a winter wonderland. Well, except for an unwelcome visit from ‘Mr. Flu’ and Venice flooding, but with Andy by her side they’ll have a happy holiday. Most of the time. ...

Chicken Soup for the Soul: Tales of Golf and Sport contains Chicken Soup for the Soul’s 101 best stories and poems about golfers, golfing, and other sports. This book has fresh appeal to golfers and makes a fabulous gift. Golfers are a special breed. They endure bad weather, early wake-up calls, great expense, and "interesting" clothing to engage in their favorite sport. This is not a book about how to play golf - it is a book about how it feels to play golf. Professional and amateur athletes contribute stories from the heart, yielding a book about the human side of golf and other sports.

An idyllic holiday in the Italian Alps... After a typical tour of Italy, Noor heads north to spend a nice, quiet winter with her Grandma. It’s going to be great. She’ll go for walks and enjoy the fresh mountain air, read by the wood-burning stove and under no circumstances use the chamber pot under the bed. At least, that was the plan. She didn’t plan on running out of money. Or riding on the back of a bicycle, in traffic, with no helmet on. Oh, and there was that one time a giant pig tried to force his way into the kitchen. And there’s so much she’s forgotten about her childhood ...

The Otis, an inconsequential river—not the Hudson—flows through Wattsville, a small city a few hours north, but a universe away from the real City, capital C. You might think the everyday people who live here, in this land of scarce opportunity, are also inconsequential. Until you meet them.