No Deposit No Returns

These five stories run the gamut from one foolish man to another through an incredible future to a morgue to a pastoral home.

In "The Unfortunate Life of Thomas Mercer," led astray by a woman, a young preacher wrests his mind from the silly to the serious to give his death the dignity it deserves.

"There's No Fool" like an old fool, as is proven again by Reginald Cranston in this short story excerpted from the novel The Advent of Simon Stark.

In "Going Back," a gentleman does just that through the Age Exchange, trading his twenty-year life expectancy for ten good years on this side of the ground.

In "Sordid & Organized," we find that a mortician places great emphasis on the notion of waste not, want not.

And finally in "Saved," an elderly gentleman has outgrown all of his companions except the gnarled old live oak tree on the hill. The tree is a great listener, but has never spoken. Well, at least not until it's too late.