Short Pours: The Stan Chronicles - Paperback

by Cris Hammond (Author)

The Stan Chronicles Low Ray was down to one leg again. When I saw him that morning, leaning against the trashcan down on East 12th Street, it was obvious he was, once again, shy one flipper. "Hey Ray, how's it going?" I asked, planning to walk on by. "Oh great," he said. "Never better. Just...fricking great." He threw me a look as he slid himself down and bounced his backside onto the sidewalk. "Um, did you lose your leg again?" "No, Stan, I'm having it re-chromed and polished so it'll go with my tux when I'm out dancing at the Ritz-fucking-Carlton." He glared at me and slapped his empty pants leg against the garbage can "Sorry man, what happened? Did you leave it somewhere? Can I - " "Couple of goddamn roofers stole it," he said. Another day, and another dose of crazy comes bubbling up from the pavement down on Stan's side of town. The street guys out there are always poking each other with sharp sticks, and Stan, he just can't keep his nose out of it. These are his stories. --------------------- Hammond's first book, From Here to Paris, is a memoir recounting his life changing adventure of getting fired, selling his house, buying a barge in France and taking it to Paris. "When the young VP of HR handed me my termination papers, patted me on the shoulder and said, "Have a nice life." I thought, "Why the hell not?"

Author Biography

Cris Hammond is an artist, writer, cartoonist and entrepreneur, currently living in Paris. His comic strip, Speed Walker, Private Eye, appeared daily in over 150 newspapers across the U.S. His oil and watercolor paintings of ships, the sea, and rural France, have been shown in galleries across the nation. Mr. Hammond has contributed to special effects teams of George Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic, winning Academy Awards for films such as Star Trek III & IV, Innerspace, and The Abyss. In 1994, he took a life-changing detour into the corporate world. Eight years later, he left that world with a new determination, to paraphrase Boz Scaggs, "To get up and make his life shine." So, he sold his house, bought a canal barge in France and set off on a 15 year journey through the canals and rivers of the country. The voyage has taken him and his wife through over 1500 kilometers of inland waterways, and rewarded them with a floating home on the water in the heart of Paris. His first book, "From Here to Paris" is an inspiring and hilarious memoir of that adventure. It's available on Amazon. "Short Pours, The Stan Chronicles" is his second book. It is a collection of fictional short stories, with a lively touch of memoir sprinkled throughout. The inspirational spark for the stories comes largely from the author's life, lessons learned and friendships, old and new. But they are fiction. I swear.