Love, Laughter, Life and the Hereafter: Fifty-Nine Stories in Rhyme

Delving into themes that range from love and regrets to reflection and world peace, this revealing and candid collection of 59 stories in rhyme will enlighten and inspire. Some of these stories are true. Some of them are nearly true. Some are works of imagination, but grounded so much in the real world that they seem like they must be true. All of them are fiercely and unflinchingly honest, from the observant and thoughtful perspective of an 86-year-old. Here is a sampling of what you'll encounter between these covers:

-A teenage girl, skinny-dipping in the Ohio River, is chanced upon by a barge-load of men. She learns a surprising lesson from her mother.

-After a lifetime of pain, a gay son comes out to his parents.

-A championship basketball game unexpectedly unites two rival small towns.

-What good lovers do under the covers … that sometimes even involves sex.

-The story of a two-year-old orphan of a bootlegging mother.

-The delicious fun of being 80-plus years old.

-The misleading art of the obituary writer.

-How our world offers some beguiling clues on the nature of the hereafter.

Dan Pinger has played many roles in his long and eventful life. He raises horses. He served in the U.S. Army. He was a notably indifferent law school student. As a newspaper reporter he covered the wild and woolly days when the Mob ran Newport, Kentucky. Dan also spent some time in academia, working as an administrator at the University of Cincinnati. But it wasn't until he turned 50 that he discovered his true calling, when he founded the Dan Pinger Public Relations agency. Dan Pinger and the hundreds of "Pingerites" who worked with him offered communications counsel to clients across Cincinnati, Ohio and the nation for more than 25 years. He always said those were the most emotionally rewarding years of his career. And of course, Dan has been a son, husband, father, grandfather and lover, living through all the joy and heartbreak those roles bring. Now, in his 80s, Dan has begun scribbling some poems that deal with love (spiritual and carnal), personal and business tribulations, and an 86-year-old man's consideration of what comes next. Love, Laughter, Life and the Hereafter: Fifty-Nine Stories in Rhyme is his first compilation of poetry.