COCKTALES: Overheard LA Cocktail Party One-Liners Turned into Eclectic Short Stories

One cocktail party. Ten bizarre one-liners. Ten unforgettable stories.

At a show-bizzy Los Angeles cocktail party, an author wandered the party eavesdropping. Instead of polite small talk, they took notes on the most interesting, strange, and hilarious one-liners floating through the room.

Not knowing the true context of these conversations, the author used each overheard phrase as a title - and let his imagination run wild. The result is COCKTALES, an eclectic, genre-bending short story collection where every title is a real one-liner hidden inside the dialogue of the story itself.

Step into the party and travel across worlds and genres:

• Comedic Escapades: Hijinks inside Buckingham Palace.
• Classic Noir: A dangerous femme fatale prowling a smoky jazz club.
• Deep Space Isolation: A poignant look at loneliness on a distant planet.
• Psychological Drama: A lost romance and a crippling, trauma-induced fear of rain.
• War & Morality: A young soldier behind enemy lines puzzling over good and evil.
• Hollywood Satire: An actor desperate to escape the spotlight.

And more...
Perfect for fans of Black Mirror, Roald Dahl's tales of the unexpected, and high-concept experimental fiction. Mix yourself a drink, pull up a comfy chair, and listen in on the conversation.

Curt Lambert is an award-winning actor, writer, and professional eavesdropper living in the Nashville area, after many years in sunny California. Growing up in a small town on the banks of the Wabash River in Indiana, surrounded by woods, corn and soybean fields he dreamed of playing second base for the Detroit Tigers. With the way dreams go, he soon began dreaming of Hollywood and acting and writing in the movies. Alas, the Tigers never happened, but some dreams do come true.Curt has been spinning stories since he was a young boy and has honed his craft at the prestigious University of Iowa Writers' Workshop: Summer Workshops. Curt has written screenplays, TV pilots, one-act plays and has had short stories published in two fun anthologies - Rock & Roll Nightmares: 70's Edition do you Fear like we do, and Rock & Roll Nightmares: 27 Club Fiction Edition. As an actor, Curt is a Mid-West and Los Angeles trained stage and film actor and flies back and forth between California, Tennessee, or wherever the acting siren calls. He is known for the films Joe Crist, Promise, The Seamstress, and Jet, among others. When he isn't in front of the camera, he is listening in on the world around him, waiting for the next great spark of inspiration.COCKTALES is his debut short story collection, born from the chaotic brilliance of a single LA party. He is currently working on his next collection of short fiction and two upcoming novels. Connect with Curt and share your favorite one-liners from the book on Instagram @curtlambert or on Facebook at Curt Lambert. Did a specific story stick with you? Please consider leaving a review on your favorite platform. Your reviews help other readers discover the party.