Something Different

"In my work I usually edit serious books with in-depth research and facts galore, but sometimes I like to do something different.Doesn't everyone?So, here is a bunch of rhymes (poem is too strong a word) that I hope will amuse you. They are not targeted toward a specific age group; some adults like silly stuff and some kids like serious stuff. There's a little of both in here.Don't expect to cry or experience any revelation. Do expect to smile a bit.'When I'm in the mood to write serious verse,I hold my breath 'til the mood is gone.To me, you see, such an urge is a curse,And, when I come to, I write on.'"- Leo MossLeo Moss is a contributing editor for Yucca Road's Knowledge Blaster! series of educational study guides. When he approached us with the idea for a humorous book of poems, we were surprised that, (a) he writes poetry and (b) he has a sense of humor!Turns out, his humor is wickedly twisted in a most enjoyable way, as in "The Switch," where a conceited jock gets his comeuppance from a skinny young man smoking cigarettes in the boys bathroom. Or in "The Exploding Amphibian," where a puffed-up toad tries (unsuccessfully) to con an alligator.Moss' short tales range from silly (try "The Battle Of Piggledy Snout" about elementary school kids on recess) to profound (read "The Wonder At Widow's Lake" about a pastor's dire dilemma when twenty orphan kids speed down a twisting mountain road in a bus with no brakes.)For a bit of the bizarre, there's a mental patient's hallucination: "Elvis At The Laundromat." And the tale of "Frostbite Jane" who created not only the first polar bear but also the aurora borealis.We were not, however, surprised by the range of subjects, having experienced Leo's variety of interests in a work setting. Consider "Longing For Star Trek," "Red Maserati," or "The Fabulous Rutabaga." Sure, we acknowledge that classic TV and fast cars have intrinsic allure, but the veggie thing was a reach. Or so we thought. Then we read "The Devious Plot Of Doctor Frankenpickle," wherein"From a giant, yellow, forked squashThe trunk and legs were crafted,And on its round green cabbage headPotato eyes were grafted."What is it with Moss and veggies?Anyhoo, there's a good variety in this book, and it is suitable for all age groups. Except age groups with no sense of humor.'Bye now.And, oh yes, buy now!- Yucca Road Staff So I always wanted to be a writer, and when I got sucked into being an "editor" for Yucca Road Productions' series of subject guides, I took my opportunity and ran with it.(Notice I put the word editor in quotes. They think I don't know they gave me the job title just so I'd do all the grunt work that they don't want to do. As if!)Anyhow, my earlier gig as a webmaster for a mid-sized public school district was great training for all the computer-related hoops you have to jump through to get books up and running. I edited all the books in the Knowledge Blaster! Series for YRP and a couple of books by Terry Marsh, also for YRP. And at the same time, unbeknownst to the muckety-mucks, I wrote a couple of books and-you guessed it-edited them too.The first book was a collection of poems about all kinds of things, and Terry told me I have a fifth-grade sense of humor. But then he read my little rhyme "The Wonder at Widow's Lake," and his eyebrows went way up and he looked at me like he was meeting someone new for the first time. Y'know? That made me smile.I called it Something Different because, well, it totally is. Check out the owl on the cover.The second book was years in the making, as they say. Not that I literally spent years on it, but it took me years of thinking how I'd like to be a writer before I finally forced myself to sit down and write. And even then it took a long time because I wrote about a couple of wizards, and I was just making stuff up until I finally found some wizards that I could sit down with and ask what it was really like. After that, it was cake.Terry kind of, in an off-handed wa