Albert Holl

Do you like your stories with a bit of a twist? A surprise ending? A hint of terror? These seven tales will satisfy those desires - and leave you feeling unsettled. Along with the protagonists in these stories you’ll find yourself wondering what is real and what is not…what is true and what is false…what is in view and what is in the mind’s eye.

Why does a small screen in the window of a curio shop cause a man to stop at nothing to possess it?

He has fought the good fight but has he finished the race? Which is more powerful - darkness or light?

Has a man’s worst nightmare come true? Can he escape hundreds of hungry, squealing rats who see him as a feast?

What is happening when a man’s routine daily commute to work becomes anything but routine?

To feel nothing; to see nothing; to hear nothing. You must be dead. Right?

What is the reason when nothing is as it seems? A man questions the world around him.

Is the ability to read minds a curse or a gift?

These seven tales will take your mind’s eye to unusual, curious, and uncommon places. You may even question your own sense of reality!

Is It Friday Yet?
	Is It Friday Yet?, by Albert Holl, is a satirical humorous look at a week in the life of a large corporation and how the corporation’s sometimes inept, and always self-serving management responds to solving a high priority problem. Robert Farnsworth is president of WIPER Corporation and the father of a teenage son. To Farnsworth’s dismay, his son has a cynical view of the business world, and believes that luck, and being in the right place the right time, is all that is needed to rise to the top of the corporate ladder. Anxious to prove his son wrong, and frustrated by his inability to solve his son’s math homework, Farnsworth disguises the geometry problem as a marketing problem and presents it to his staff for resolution. Farnsworth’s staff complains that the time and resources they will have to expend in solving the problem will cause too much chaos in the office routine. Their cries fall on deaf ears and they are given one week to solve it. Extremely annoyed at having their own personal plans for the week scuttled, they decide to follow normal business practice and pass the problem onto their respective staffs for resolution. In the end, two middle-aged, lower level clerical employees solve the problem and outshine their bosses. Happy to have the solution to the geometry problem, Farnsworth rushes home to present the answer to his son, so he can proclaim the superiority of the business world. But his happy, euphoric state of mind is quickly shattered when his son’s response makes him feel more like a fool than a captain of commerce.
Dreams, Death and Deception
	Dreams, Death and Deception, Albert Holl's collection of seven short stories, is a microcosm of mankind. The unique, well-crafted characters are young, old, cheerful, miserable, smart, foolish, loving and loathsome. True to life, they demonstrate the duality of human nature, some the very embodiment of good, others of evil-frighteningly real, or unreal. Perception is always a question mark. There is humor as well as horror, the pleasure of surprise endings, and a wide variety of subjects. The settings add appeal: a small town backyard, a little league baseball field, the fast-paced world of a financial advisor, an Atlantic City casino, the homes of two little old ladies facing con artists, and an underground tunnel fraught with rats-maybe. Each story is short enough to enjoy just before bed, on a train, or in a waiting room. Notable quotes: "He couldn't let the race pass him by." And, "Gamblers had integrity." Author of Is it Friday Yet? Albert Holl brings his readers a wry humor, satire, irony, and a few ideas to think about. Click here to read "Seasonal" from Dreams, Death, and Deception.
Raindrop & Other Short Tales
	Do you like your stories with a bit of a twist? A surprise ending? A hint of terror? These seven tales will satisfy those desires - and leave you feeling unsettled. Along with the protagonists in these stories you’ll find yourself wondering what is real and what is not…what is true and what is false…what is in view and what is in the mind’s eye. You’ll question - Why does a small screen in the window of a curio shop cause a man to stop at nothing to possess it? He has fought the good fight but has he finished the race? Which is more powerful - darkness or light? Has a man’s worst nightmare come true? Can he escape hundreds of hungry, squealing rats who see him as a feast? What is happening when a man’s routine daily commute to work becomes anything but routine? To feel nothing; to see nothing; to hear nothing. You must be dead. Right? What is the reason when nothing is as it seems? A man questions the world around him. Is the ability to read minds a curse or a gift? These seven tales will take your mind’s eye to unusual, curious, and uncommon places. You may even question your own sense of reality!