PubShare Books

An eBook pamphlet (9006 words) to whet the appetite for the would-be collector with articles on beer trays, duck decoys, John Deere Memorabilia, Carnival Glass, Ballpoint pens, metal bottle caps, the Chevrolet Nomad, plus a tongue in cheek article about a collector.Contents:Introduction Confession of a CollectorCollecting Beer TraysCollecting Duck Decoys The 1955-57 Chevrolet Nomad is a Beautiful Collectible Car (even if it’s just a model)Collecting John Deere Memorabilia or ‘Bleeding Green’ The History of the Ballpoint Pen--and Why it Almost DiedThe History of Carnival GlassExcerpt: “Are there others like me?” she asked with a wistful far off look that made her soft brown eyes moisten.“Yes there are Claudia,” I slowly responded, wanting to assure her that she was not alone in her plight. Her eyes blinked slowly as she put the question to me that had to be asked. “Is there any hope for us?” I looked away briefly before turning to face those misty sad eyes again with the reality of her situation. “We can try to control it, but there is no cure. I’m afraid you’ll go on like this forever--you and your ilk.  And as long as there are places like this, your kind will come to join you in the ritual and function as you do.” “Sounds like a forever thing,” she whispered as she lowered her head. “But I’m not ashamed. It’s….It’s just who I am now,” she continued as her head rose and her eyes met mine with conviction. With those words I watched Claudia turn away from me and slowly but deliberately walk away clutching her latest acquisition, a vintage wind-up toy drummer clown with faded colors, made by the Cragstan company in the 50s. She was off to the alter of possession--the checkout counter. We were in a large antique dealer about 40 miles north of Baltimore filled with stalls of numerous vendors of antique wares. I knew her latest acquisition would join the others somewhere on a shelf in the loft of her condo, maybe next to the old tattered and worn Stieff teddy bear or perhaps next to the Fenton marigold Carnival glass vases. Yes, Claudia was an addict—addicted to the wondrous world of collecting. Once a proud attorney solely dedicated to her profession and married to another attorney, this attractive brunette had found what many others have—the world of collecting. A trip to a client’s house however had changed her. During a tour of the house Claudia was seduced by a collection of beautiful vintage dolls the owner had collected over years. On display in handcrafted oak cabinets, special lighting almost made the dolls appear to come to life. Claudia’s imagination was captured and she too began to collect.

Imagine, if you will, a barbershop that appears and disappears, changing its name and facade, including the barber working inside, blending in with the setting’s time and place. This barbershop is different to each person who sees it and sets foot inside. A place of trick mirrors and altered reality. A place for all your head needs. For each person who sets foot in A Cut Beyond, that person’s world is changed.A Cut Beyond Barbershop Quartet, the second collection, includes stories about the downtrodden and a parting gift, a key to knowledge one may not want to know, a flickering flame held up to a death wish, and a reporter gets a meeting at the heart of a mystery.The Solo gives you a story by Rob Vagle outside of his A Cut Beyond Barbershop series. Here, “Sky In The Ground,” a fantasy story about young love and the power of secrets.Five stories in this collection brings you more mystery and more of the fantastic.

For All Your Head Needs Inside And Out.A Cut Beyond Barbershop always open for business. Everywhere, anytime. Turn your head after visiting and it blinks out of existence.A barbershop full of multitudes.Wherever the shop appears, the barbershop changes. A different name and a different barber—different gender, different nationality, different race.A Cut Beyond Barbershop Quartet includes stories about a woman looking for help facing her fear of death, a young man offered a chance to change a fateful choice in his recent past, and a traveling man realizes he may not be entirely human.The Solo gives you a story by Rob Vagle outside of his A Cut Beyond Barbershop series. Here, “Dispatch From The Other Side,” a story about ancient and mysterious technology, about immigration and separation.Five stories in this collection brings you mystery and the fantastic.

Escape your own world into these wonderous and imaginative places in these six science fiction short stories by Rob Vagle. In a world . . . Where a new form of execution transforms more than just the condemned. Where a being made of gears and scales calculates a human life’s monetary worth. Where a stranger courts away mirror reflections of others, leaving one narcissist desperate and alone. Where the Earth holds what completes each of us to fill the hollow inside our bodies. Where one woman glimpses her alternate lives in a strange and sudden room. Where a burning creature of the sun pines for the little blue planet in the distance.

Seven spooky tales including: Love that haunts both the living and the dead. A supernatural little lending library found in front of an abandoned house. One cursed sword, once unsheathed, will kill upon the wielder’s first stroke, falls into the possession of sword swallowers. One sad, disintegrating mind watches the world go by through the front door peephole. A runner encounters horror at dusk. One haunted bathroom stall serves as a confessional. And a black cat defends her territory against the human monster.

In the darkest time of year you need hope and stories of wonder and light. Rob Vagle brings you eight tales to brighten the season. Stories, like warm burning lights, charm you and illuminate the dark.

The five imaginative stories in this short story collection delves into worlds and characters undergoing change. Read the mind-bending “Dreams Of Memories Never Lived,” the unique and startling apocalypse in “With Wings The End,” the funny and sweet “Love And The Dead In The Life Of Jack Joy Merryman,” an old west town smothered under racial injustice in “The Unjust, Dust, And Hope,” and the eternal bar of the afterlife in “Closing Time.”

Escape your own world into these wonderous and imaginative places in these seven short science fiction tales by Rob Vagle. Glimpse future cities, a relationship between a dog and an AI, humorous aliens, and more. No story is too short for a sense of wonder.

Rob Vagle brings you six mystery & crime stories in assorted shades of malfeasance. From a revealing meeting between one kleptomaniac and another to a collection agency that may not be on the up and up. From modern-day pirates looking for forgiveness to a reluctant dog trained to do the assassin’s bidding. Stories with malfeasance never imagined before.

Rob Vagle depicts world ends in fantastic and noir tones in these apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic tales. From strange and random pulses of light, human hearts transform into black birds. To another end: like the flick of a light switch, daylight falls into darkness. And in yet another: the formal, functioning world haunts one post-apocalyptic community. Five stories presented here not only answer the question, “How does the world end?” but also explores the end with wonder.