Two Pairs of Shorts

By Bill Russo

Starting out with just two short stories, my book was to be, "A Pair of Shorts" but when the collection grew, I had to change the name. The third story in this preview edition (with FIVE STAR REVIEWS) has been termed "One of the most unusual stories on Smashwords and that's saying something.". It's a sharp contrast to the humor of the first narrative, a fictional tale hatched in a dorm room from my very real college days in Boston back in the 1960s. The second short is an adaptation of a story told by the world's greatest showman, P.T. Barnum. I can't say that his yarn is the world's greatest, but it is a ghost story that I believe will amuse you.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bill Russo
• Release date: May 23, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463978771

Bill Russo

Bill Russo had lived in an area of Massachusetts called the Bridgewater Triangle for many years and never knew that it was said to be inhabited by scary swamp creatures until he met one. It happened on a midnight walk. Years later, two film producers read his blog about it and featured him and his story in their documentary, The Bridgewater Triangle. He also was approached by Discovery channel producers and was featured in the opening segment of Monsters and Mysteries in America - Season two, Episode two. Among his work, are two anthologies featuring the Bridgewater Triangle Universe. One is strictly fiction and the other contains his account of meeting the swamp creature - plus other stories from New England. As a disc jockey, he was the first person to play and promote the trucking classic "Tombstone Every Mile". He counted as a friend, the first man to cross the musical color line, in a 1940s Jazz Band. The "Human Jukebox", who opened for both Elvis and Roy Orbison, was a neighbor of his. Stories of these and other artists are included in "Crossing the Musical Color Line". Bill's background for writing comes from a Boston education at the venerable white shirt & tie, Huntington School for Boys. He followed that up with a study of journalism, music, and broadcasting at the famed Kenmore Square institution, Grahm Jr. College, where he said he learned more about music from an African American gentleman who was the school's janitor, than he ever could in a classroom. He introduced me to Gloria Lynne, Bill said. Years after he learned of her, she had a mega hit with I Wish You Love. One of Grahm's well known graduates was performance artist Andy Kaufman who created his Taxi TV character Latka while at Grahm. Andy also claimed he learned Transcendental Meditation at Grahm, although it was not taught there. But who knows? It could be true. Bill Russo learned music from the Janitor. Maybe someone in bookkeeping was a guru and gave Andy the secrets of TM. At various times during his career, Russo was a New England Newspaper Editor, a Disc Jockey, and a Radio newswriter and newscaster for a number of stations. He also has had stints as an iron worker, and a low level manager for a major mail order clothing retailer. One of his favorite jobs was partnering with Bill Barry, the inventor of a jewelry polish called Clear Bright n Shiny. The 'Bills' as they called themselves toured New England selling...

Book preview

Two Pairs or Shorts

By Bill Russo

Copyright 2018

Foreword

Here are a few brief tales, from the upcoming book titled A Pair of Shorts. It started out with just a pair of stories, hence the original title; but after driving an 11 year old car1500 miles through blizzards and falling trees in the winter of 2018 to get from New England to the only tropical part of the ‘great 48’, the stories just started growing wild like the Hibiscus trees outside my Florida retreat. When the volume expanded to four stories I changed the title to Two Pairs of Shorts. By the time it’s published in mid-summer there could be 24 or more narratives in it, so you might look for a title called A Dozen Pairs of Shorts.

The Ghost Writer leads off this mini-collection followed by a ghost story first told by the great American huckster, P.T. Barnum.

The third story in this volume, The Observer originally appeared as a stand-alone short tale on Smashwords where it received some acclaim. One reviewer giving it Five Stars said, This is one of the most unusual stories I've ever seen on Smashwords, and that's saying something. It's certainly an interesting take on the themes that it represents.

Another reviewer in his Five Star rating said, This author has the skill to bend storylines that seem totally unrelated into a plot that grips you from beginning to end.

Whether The Observer lives up to these generous assessments is for you to decide. Please let me know if you like it. My contact information is at the end of the book.

The Ghostwriter

You’re undoubtedly familiar with the term Ghostwriter. The word generally refers to a person, often a journalist, who is engaged to be the actual author of a book that will be credited to someone else, usually a famous person of the arts, sports, or politics. But during my college days in Boston during the 1900s Ghostwriting literally meant just that, a work written by a ghost!

Because the hands of ghosts are barely visible and have no substance they require considerable help getting their words down on paper. They need their own Ghostwriter – a flesh and blood person. Students from the 1960s made excellent scribes for specters, as you’ll find out in this story from the pen of an aspiring author, in his room on the third floor of a Boston University dormitory in Kenmore Square.

"I got two more rejection slips today Jim, one from Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and the other from The Old Farmer’s Almanac. I couldn’t even get into Readers Digest