This is a collection of  twenty five short stories (from 786 to almost 18,500 words) that take “jabs” at various topical subjects, practices or situations. Following up on the boxing term adopted for the title:

•“An Autopsy” opens a cut on the face of history by presenting a post-mortem examination of a corpse which is dissected by a team of examiners: a historian, a journalist and a biographer.

•“Criminal” strikes a blow at the meaning of “crime” with the death of a soldier drafted by the South in the Civil War.

•“Lester Gets Religion” releases a right upper cut at the consumer mentality as people shop for a religion at the Religion Superstore in a local mall.

 

•“Gauntlet” hammers the ribs of the “activists” pushing their causes to a passerby.

•“Five-Star TV” throws a left hook at television shows where each segment of the plot of a tear-jerking story is written to segue into the product which the sponsor wants to promote for that segment.

•“Church of Grievances” goes for the kidneys of the church as a place of worship.

•“Koan” lands a punch on the nose of people who are unable to listen.

•“Festival of Balloons” sends a flurry of blows at the conversion of a seminal moment in American history, the Declaration of Independence, into a celebration of “balloons and pancakes”.

 

•“Lemonade Stand” directs its knuckles at the goal of business to have a “free market” without competition.

•“Dropping Out” targets the conceit of people who know what’s hot and who’s cool.