Books published by publisher The Sun Dial Press, inc

Abbie Deal, the matriarch of a pioneer Nebraska family, has died at the beginning of A White Bird Flying, leaving her china and heavy furniture to others, and to her granddaughter Laura the secret of her dream of finer things. Grandma Deal's literary aspirations had been thwarted by the hard circumstances of her life, but Laura vows that nothing, no one, will deter her from a successful writing career. Childhood passes, and the more she repeats her vow the more life intervenes.

Mr. T. Lawrence Lamb had a wife, a daughter, and a commutation ticket. He worked hard, looked at women on trains and did nothing about it, suffered his wife to play about platonically (he thought) with a Mr. Leonard Gray, who was interested in amateur theatricals. Mr. Lamb was, in a word, the Great American Commuter. That was before he met the little russet man in the woods, and woke up one morning to find himself a handsome black stallion, practically free from his wife and the world. It interfered with his business and social life, but Mr. Lamb didn't particularly mind that -- and there were compensations. After that Mr. Lamb became in succession a good many different kinds of creature, all of which helped to give him a new viewpoint on the world -- as for instance; a sea-gull, watching the beautiful Sandra in her less public moments. The Stray Lamb is an hilarious book, a gay, ribald, knowing book, with a deep strain of wisdom and humanity flowing beneath the brilliance of the story.

Thorne Smith once again has our eyes fastened to the words as he blends satire, charm and imagination into his fascinating story. Mr. Quintus Bland, is he a man or a skeleton? After this well-known photographer attempts to perfect X-ray film, something went terribly awry. Each moment is an adventure as he transforms from flesh to bone and back again without warning. Amazement, unbelief, and terror fill the hearts of onlookers as Mr. Bland passes by in various stages of undress. “Gracious! There’s a naked man in this lift.” (ch 16) Even his wife who previously had lost all interest in him, begins to feel pity and even love as he loses all hope of normalcy. Be prepared to cringe at Quintus' agonizing doctor visit, laugh while the town mortician attempts to sell him a top of the line coffin, and panic while he races to escape the murderous gunmen out to get him. Will he escape unharmed, or end up a pile of bones?