This collection of imaginative short fiction by David Manning is gleaned from a lifetime afflicted with creativity, including selections from his inventive 1970s "Blurbs" column, excerpts from a novel-in-progress set at Duke University in 1968, a metaphysical carnival of short stories, and multi-media formats ranging from radio to stage to film to song lyrics."Cecil knew his shadow was gone because it was a sunny day and it should have been there.""'Isadora," she said breathlessly, bursting in the door, "I was walking along thinking about what you had said the other day when all of a sudden a hole appeared in our reality and my husband fell in.'""GOOD EVENING LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. WELCOME TO WYOY'S MENTAL BASKETBALL GAME OF THE WEEK. TONIGHT'S CONTEST PITS MIND AGAINST MATTER FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION." "Satan would be available to interview prospective Dow souls in Room 109, starting at 1 o'clock." "The rats were quite diligent, studied hard and didn't so much as squeak at being experimented on. In addition, they turned out to be very good at baseball.""Suppose someone comes up to you and says: 'We are all just members of an ant colony in the basement rec room of a split-level house in Levittown, Long Island.'" "At the time he took out a policy insuring the church against the possible non-existence of God, Father McGlib had passed all his tests of faith and was considered a good risk."