Smile though your heart is breaking over politically correct insanity.
Anthony Pour
Humor in politically incorrect love adventures
"There are tons of novels available, but the ability to write a singularly perfect story is rare. That's why I especially enjoyed Anthony Pour's work because in just a few pages he takes you into the lives of the characters he creates, gives you a sense of where they are, and then, in the end, never fails to surprise you."
-- Alan Caruba, Bookviews
"Anthony Pour’s grounded view of life and adventure, accompanied by his impeccable literary talent, make his stories an engrossing and inspiring read. It strikes that cosmic chord between literature and pleasure reading that so few writers are able to find."
-- Eric Jones, Bookreview.com
“The work is engaging, funny, witty, intellectual yet not too high brow, and overall, just a great read! This book of short stories was truly a hit for me -- I looked forward to reading them each day because you made me care about the characters almost immediately and want to know how their hardship would end. You are truly a master storyteller and I think this book could be a real hit. Count me as a fan!"
-- Dawne Brooks, editor
13 cool politically incorrect love stories
from all around the globe.
From New York to Berlin, to sunny Hollywood and rainy Moscow, on to Hong Kong, Prague, Buenos Aires, deep into the steamy Brazilian rain forest and high up the frosty Swiss Alps to follow 13 beautiful, suspenseful, both funny and sad, romantic but politically incorrect love stories.
He was a nice guy, but . . . so in love with that beautiful, politically correct party girl."
When political correctness barnstorms California's backcountry, a shy young cowboy can only watch in shocked disbelief as the girl-next-door he was about to marry falls head over heels for a fast-talking politician who knows how to use ideology to get hold of people's minds before grabbing their land. The politician has no problem brainwashing the infatuated girl into helping him label the heartbroken cowboy's blues as a deliberate antisocial behavior harmful to his fellow men - thus forcing him to repent and make amends by taking a government job that packs him off head on into a dicey undercover action in a hostile faraway land that calls for the ultimate self-sacrifice in order to make the politically correct politician back home look noble.
He came out of nowhere with a hole in his shoe and an ever-so cute limp that made society ladies swoon.
He came out of nowhere to peddle a brand new drug guaranteed to foster irrelevant men's stature. He finds a lucrative market in the rolling-in-dough streets of New York City, and even though he never snorted his miracle stock-in-trade himself, there is something about the hole in his shoe and his endearing limp that makes society ladies swoon. And when the grandest one of them all decides to deliver herself to his embrace, he is plucked from the wretched realm of petty crime and let loose into to the dazzling world of the rich and famous - who expect him to maim and kill to
pave their way to the absolute power over what they see as squirming masses clamoring for their kindness.
BIOGRAPHY
I have been writing for newspapers and magazines both in the US and Europe for many years, greatly pleased to see my name printed in large letters in prominent publications. But since the numbers on my paychecks were quite a bit smaller than the letters in my printed name, I had no choice but to start a non-literary business to upgrade my wretched living quarters in Hollywood to a house on a California beach.
And as against all expectations my business prospered, life gradually become easy enough for me to start doing what I really like to do: writing fiction. And, lo and behold, I won a literary competition in England - after which literary critics turned my life into a thoroughly delightful experience by ever so generously praising my work, such as for instance “Pour's grounded view of life and adventure, accompanied by his impeccable literary talent, make his stories an engrossing and inspiring read. It strikes that cosmic chord between literature and pleasure reading that so few writers are able to find.”
ON A MORE PERSONAL NOTE
Over the years, I have shown my stories to literary agents, publishers and even intellectuals (into whom I occasionally run by accident) and the consensus was that it was a pity that my stories, so lively and amusing, lacked in indiscriminate compassion. It’s a bunch of whiners out there, they told me. Look what sells. I did; but there was no way I could write a story in which the bad guys were to enrage the reader by being insensitive to the plight of the so-called underprivileged—for which crime they would have their heads blown off and their bodies pulverized in a spectacular car chase by the good guys (wearing seat belts, of course) as a warning to other insensitive morons.
So, left out in the cold without legal advice about a government compensation for mental anguish, I held onto a regular working-stiff job and continued writing politically incorrect stories to have a chuckle myself. The bottom drawer of my desk was packed with them by the time I finally saw the light.
I visited a friend of a friend, a single mother living from paycheck to paycheck, one of the unsung millions of working stiffs like me that politicians love to depict as wallowing in a morass of oppression and dire need. Yet her house was spick-and-span, complete with a couple of well-behaved, well-dressed, well-educated teenagers—and all that without a penny of a charitable or other politically correct assistance. In her living room was a handwritten sign that read NO WHINING, and she had no idea why I hugged and kissed her when I saw it. I don’t think she particularly liked emotional outbursts; but what did I care? She had made me realize that my books had a chance because there must be many more non-whiners around—at least many more than the media, the intellectuals, and the political would-be saints want us to believe.
In short, my books have been written for the amusement of non-whiners — to make them feel not as alone and in as much pain as they are being told day in, day out. For whatever change is coming down on this Great Empire, non-whiners be prepared to endure it with more than just fortitude. A good laugh about the bizarre and the breathtakingly insane might in due course help everybody see the light — whenever that may be.
MORE REVIEWS . . .
The stories are unique, interesting, a lot of fun and very nicely written.
-- Steve Carlson
* * *
Anthony Pour’s A Nice Guy, but . . . was probably born some point in between Ian Fleming’s Bond novels and W. Somerset Maugham’s tales from around the world -- more precisely, a culmination of Fleming’s choice of subjects and Maugham’s writing style. Astonishingly, Pour is able to put together all the different characters, scenes and moods without losing the plot and simply mixing all the elements in a well-structured set. Suspense is left untouched with the reader not being able to second-guess the ending right up until the last page.
A reluctant secret agent, a chancy wild goose chase, romance, many far-off locations are the main ingredients of A Nice Guy, but . . . Altogether, the thriller and action story walks side by side with the tender relation between the middle-aged protagonist and his young girlfriend, while both of them are being sucked into a maelstrom of events that are beyond their control, yet naturally interweave with their personal stories. One of the greatest talents Pour shows in writing this book is the ability to create not just suspense and atmosphere, but also characters with unique but plausible personal stories. The trick is that all of them have a well-defined past, present and personality, so the reader feels their existence and wants to know more about them.
Two plot lines for the price of one. The way in which this novel is written is rather brilliant -- with two storylines being orchestrated into reflecting one another, thus helping to build up to an ending when the two plot lines collide
-- Eric Jones, BookReview.com
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Anthony Pour continues to demonstrate why he needs even more recognition than I can provide because he is a master storyteller. As hard as you may try to second-guess where the plot is going, he is always full of surprises and this new novel featuring a reluctant spy combines the elements of a thriller with two plotlines involving an intriguing and entertaining cast of characters swept up in events over which they have no control. When you put this novel down at the end, you will want to see what the next one will be like.
-- Alan Caruba, Bookviews
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“If there is a representative of the fallen angel, it may perhaps be Mr. Pour himself, for these stories almost always manage to be mean spirited . . . even when love triumphs in surprising places, the author manages to damage some characters in the process . . . Mr. Pour is no friend of ‘political correctness’, ‘whiners’ and ‘meddlers’ . . . and would-be saints.”
-- Professor Lin Rolens, Santa Barbara News-Press
* * *
Anthony Pour continues to demonstrate why he needs even more recognition than I can provide because he is a master storyteller. As hard as you may try to second-guess where the plot is going, he is always full of surprises and this new novel featuring a reluctant spy combines the elements of a thriller with two plotlines involving an intriguing and entertaining cast of characters swept up in events over which they have no control. When you put this novel down at the end, you will want to see what the next one will be like.
-- Alan Caruba, Bookviews
* * *
“Starting with the premise that the saints of the world would be nowhere without the Devil, Pour turns political correctness on its head. You’ll never look at life quite the same way when you finish this book.”
-- Eldon Thomas, Table for Three
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“A unique, oftentimes brilliant interpretation of grand dreams in drab everyday lives. A page-turner. I couldn’t put it down.”
-- Henry Mazell, Murderously Incorrect
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“Beautifully written, peopled with unforgettable characters finding simple ways out of hopelessly complex situations that make for great reading—and quite a few laughs, too.”
-- Kent Evans, Malas Ondas