Historical Humor

A collection of humorous boyhood stories from the 1950s and 1960s in pre-independent Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). Because of the era about which the book has been written, the author has stayed with the historical names of the towns in the country's eastern border region, where he grew up. Growing up in a farming community afforded ample opportunity for mischief and naughtiness, and it is served up on the pages of this hysterically funny book in large amounts. The book starts off with a story about how at age seven, the author and his indomitable friend 'Carshy' stalked the farm's stud dairy ...

In this historical fiction novel, set in Oyster Harbors in 1929, a young debutant, Lady Antoinette Ashton-Cooper, yearns for a career in journalism and to fly her own plane like her hero Amelia Earhart. After obtaining a job as feature editor for the Barnstable Patriot, she is assigned a clumsy young photographer from Harvard. During their time together on assignments they discover they both want to be independent and make a difference in the world. Fate intervenes as an unidentified body washes up on shore, providing the two with a mystery and an opportunity to become closer. Add into the ...

It's 1964 and 10-year-old Felix is sure of a few things: the birds and the bees are puzzling, television is magical, and this is one Christmas he'll never forget. LBJ and Lady Bird are in the White House, Meet the Beatles is on everyone's turntable, and Felix Funicello (distant cousin of the iconic Annette!) is doing his best to navigate fifth grade - easier said than done when scary movies still give you nightmares and you bear a striking resemblance to a certain adorable cartoon boy.

World War II, The South Pacific - Australia - Morotai - The Philippines - Submarines, and then there is Clyde and Neville, a unique pair of English plantation owners who own their own steamship (sort of) and have visions of finally having some money before the war ends.Bouncing from one problem to another, from potential disasters to real ones, Clyde and Neville deploy their unique understanding of how to win a war and have a good time doing it. Inspectors are after them, the Japanese Army is after them and the Australian government is sorry it ever heard their names. Come along and enjoy ...

A satire of teenage life follows cynical soon-to-graduate Flannery Culp on a raucous journey through high school in the 1990s, covering SATs, college applications, friends, boyfriends, tabloid journalism, and TV talk shows. A first novel.

Nothing ruins your day like a quest with a ransom note. Especially when you're a fake wizard with real problems. I was supposed to be dead. Instead, I'm stumbling through medieval Britain with Merlin's ghost backseat-driving my magical education. And now? Princess Guinevere's gone missing, and everyone's looking at me like I'm supposed to know what to do about it. Fantastic.

The year is 1890. A few months after a Tag-Mart opens in Deadhorse City, due to lack of business Willie Smooter is forced to close Smooter’s General Store. Buying a used Sphere Stream RV Travel Trailer and a new Six-Gun Johnny Cowboy outfit, he heads to Milwaukee. Willie’s vision of the city is a place where happy people drink beer and eat sausages. There are great laughs and adventures as Willie makes his way to beer town.

Lacey Yeager is young, captivating, and ambitious enough to take the New York art world by storm. Groomed at Sotheby's and hungry to keep climbing the social and career ladders put before her, Lacey charms men and women, old and young, rich and even richer with her magnetic charisma and liveliness. Her ascension to the highest tiers of the city parallel the soaring heights - and, at times, the dark lows - of the art world and the country from the late 1990s through today.

I've known Death a long time but now Death knows me. When their idyllic childhood is shattered by the sudden death of their parents, siblings Marty, Liz and Jules are sent to a bleak state boarding school. Once there, the orphans' lives change tracks: Marty throws himself into academic life; Liz is drawn to dark forms of escapism; and Jules transforms from a vivacious child to a withdrawn teenager.

Fresh off of a victorious treasure hunt and rescue mission in South America, Addison Cooke just can't seem to steer clear of rogue bandits, pesky booby traps, and secret treasure troves. Addison's aunt and uncle, on the other hand, are none too happy about their habit of attracting kidnappers. When they become pawns in a dangerous gang's plan to steal the most prized possession of the notorious Mongolian leader Genghis Khan, Addison and his friends find themselves once again caught in the middle of a multi-million-dollar international heist.

Dr. Siri Paiboun is summoned to the mountains of Huaphan Province, where for years the leaders of the current communist government hid in caves, waiting to assume power. Now a major celebration of the new regime is scheduled to take place, but an arm is found protruding from the concrete walk laid from the president’s former cave hideout to his new house beneath the cliffs. Siri must supervise the disinterment of the body attached to the arm, identify it, and determine the cause of death.

Author Christine Coulson spent twenty-five years writing for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Her final project was to write wall labels for the museum’s new British Galleries. During that time, she dreamt of using The Met’s strict label format to describe people as intricate works of art. The result is this “jewel box of a novel” (Kirkus Reviews) that imagines a privileged 20th-century woman as an artifact—an object prized, collected, and critiqued.

Ravaged At the Party! Be the first to read Lakelyn's Forced By Strangers ~ Book 4 Excerpt: How did I get here… alone in the dark basement with three hot strangers and no clothes… not even a bra… or panties? Well, I could say it all started with a party invitation, but I have a feeling it started before then. It didn’t get underway, though, until I arrived at my best friend’s house that evening. The night promised to be unforgettable... The party was going full blast. People laughing and talking – and drinking. Some of them mingling. Lots of flirting. Music pulsating, beat ...

It's 1939, in New York City. Joe Kavalier, a young artist who has also been trained in the art of Houdiniesque escape, has just pulled off his greatest feat: smuggling himself out of Hitler's Prague. He's looking to make big money, fast, so that he can bring his family to freedom. His cousin, Brooklyn's own Sammy Clay, is looking for a partner in creating the heroes, stories, and art for the latest novelty to hit the American dreamscape: the comic book.

In New York Times best-selling author Dan Gutman's all-new series, which blends fascinating real history with an action-packed adventure, four very different kids are picked by a mysterious billionaire to travel through time and photograph some of history's most important events. This time, Luke, Julia, David, and Isabel are headed to the deck of the doomed Titanic. Their mission? Capture a shot of the sinking ship, then come right back.

Rosie Revere is no stranger to flops and fails, kerfuffles and catastrophes. After all, she's an engineer, and engineering is all about perseverance! But sometimes, Rosie has a really important project to tackle - one that feels much bigger than herself. When Rosie's beloved Aunt Rose and her pals the Raucous Riveters - a gaggle of fun-loving gals who built airplanes during World War II - need her help, it's up to Rosie to save the day.

P.G. Wodehouse documented the lives of the inimitable Jeeves and Wooster for nearly sixty years, from their first appearance in 1915 ("Extricating Young Gussie") to his final completed novel (Aunts Aren't Gentlemen) in 1974. These two were the finest creations of a novelist widely proclaimed to be the finest comic English writer by critics and fans alike. Now, forty years later, Bertie and Jeeves return in a hilarious affair of mix-ups and mishaps.

In this humorous re-imagining of Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennet's pet cat causes an unfortunate accident to befall the haughty Mr. Darcy, forcing the injured gentleman to reluctantly take up residence at Longbourn - more specifically, in the parlor of Longbourn! In pain, forbidden to leave by his doctors, Mr. Darcy cannot escape the ridiculous antics of the Bennet clan. And when Georgiana Darcy, Colonel Fitzwilliam, and Lady Catherine de Bourgh arrive to visit the invalid, chaos, confusion, and hilarity ensue!

It’s the summer of 1982 and fourteen-year-old Swanna Swain is the only one left at camp. The place is a ghost town by the time her mother Val finally shows up six hours late—stoned and radiant—in a Ford pickup driven by Borislav, her new young Russian lover. Assuming she is headed home to her air-conditioned Upper West Side apartment, Swanna and her lovable younger brother Madding are instead dragged to Vermont—to an artist colony where kids are not welcome and they are forced to sleep in the back of the truck, while Val is cozy inside the house with the Russian.

As they blunder towards doom, Warlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson find themselves inconvenienced by a variety of eldritch beings. Christmas brings a goose that doesn't let being cooked slow it down; they meet an electricity demon, discover why being a redhead is even trickier than one might imagine, and Holmes attempts an Irish accent. And, naturally, Moriarty is hanging around...in some form or other.