Author James Baumgard brings you 13 genre-mixing stories that cover a wide range of human experiences. Standing out in this collection of short stories, The Event reads as being more futuristic than science fiction. In gazing into the future, we may better see the present. But understanding the present lies with the reader. Baumgard simply asks the question: What if?
Terror lies less in the macabre than in the unexpected situation in which an ordinary person is thrust. Such is the premise of "Coast Highway". That life is poorer who has not met an unforgettable person. To meet that person when and where least expected is the story of "I". Is the misanthrope to be reviled or pitied? Perhaps a bit of both, but read "Dill's Dilemma" and draw your own conclusions. What could be more terrifying for a young woman, "Mandy", than to discover she has married a stranger? "Marvelle" is well past her prime, but she has one last trick to play. Can she carry it off? An aging couple, "Mr. and Mrs. Ledbetter", must confront a long-buried secret, though it tears them apart. A senior center is in an uproar over a 'youngster' in their midst, in "Along Came Sally". A marine recruit must face the hardships of bootcamp as well as deal with a bully in "Scofie's Last Hurrah". A mysterious death in "The Good People of Krystal Springs" forces an old sheriff to relive a past he tried to forget and propels him into the arms of woman he can never have. In "Gayle's Story" a young girl must deal with loss.