Five Short Stories: "The Ruyi" A practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine is summoned to an estate to attend to an ailing teen. After enduring the scrutiny of the boy's family, the good doctor must invade the boy's corporeal realm in order to cure him. "The Blue Train of Moscow" Landon, an American in Moscow, Russia, witnesses several bizarre events within hours of his arrival to the city. He realizes that he is hopelessly unprepared for his visit. At the end of his first full day in the city he must return to his apartment - an apartment that is far from the city center. Confused in the midnight darkness, he is unsure which train to take. He approaches a train conductor with hopes of getting directions. The conductor immediately becomes infuriated. Not unexpectedly, neither man understands the other's language. The enraged conductor then decides to lead Landon down the darkened platform. But to where? "Sam Didn't Come Home Last Night" Some people leave in broad daylight. Some people leave at night when everyone is asleep, knowing it would be too difficult to say goodbye. "Unseen By the Righteous" The secret lives of a sommelier, a disbarred attorney, a dominatrix, and a sex addict become entangled in the heat and humidity of New York City. In the midst of the stifling summer temperature, love grows and tempers rise. "Bubblegum" A seven-year old boy discovers treasure on the sidewalk in front of his house and gives an account of his affection for the best thing ever.


Born in Detroit, Michigan, Robert Leon Casey raced motorcycles as a teen and was forced to attend his sister’s ballet recitals. He then backpacked through twenty-three countries on five continents, where he explored the Great Wall of China, the Pyramids of Egypt, Machu Picchu, Teotihuacán, Chichén Itzá, Akrotiri, and even made his way above the Arctic Circle. He settled in southern California and soon became a Screen Actors Guild member, sharing stage and screen roles with an Academy Award nominee, a Golden Globe winner, and a Tony Award nominee. He has played guitar at legendary rock-and-roll clubs in Los Angeles, tutored Spanish, and has jumped out of a perfectly good airplane. In Casey’s stories, the reader will experience unexpected moments of escapist realism. The style is a confluence of fantastic, dreamlike, or illogical elements within normal, ordinary, and rational events. Casey’s characters often struggle on the blurred boundary between those two worlds. This is his second collection of stories. Casey has a law degree and an eighteen year-old car with a penchant for breaking down. He currently lives in Los Angeles, California.