Kindle Edition Amazon Category:  Literary Fiction Publisher: Scribes Valley Publishing ISBN-10:  0985183357 Type: Fiction Pages: 165 Copyright: April 2, 2016 ISBN-13: 9780985183356 Price: $2.99 (eBook) An anthology of contest-winning short stories. Among these stories is Phillip Frey's fable-like romantic-comedy, "The Hero of Lost Causes."  "Slow the Pace" is meant for you to slow down and relax with 15 short stories that will carry you away to new and different worlds.     Excerpt Please click on Sample Chapter to see an excerpt from Phillip Frey's "The Hero of Lost Causes."

Captivated the Human Condition
The stories contained in this book were well written, smooth flowing and edited finely. The authors of each story captured my heart making me think about my elderly parents, my family, my friends. Whether bad people or bad situations. One can view each story as a lesson in love, straight forward from the heart. As good as this book is. I feel it needs to have a more eye catching cover because as tranquil as this one looks the header just does not do it justice. This book should be a treasure for any parent, child, work relationship. It did leave me with a sense of peace. Each story ended on a sweet or bittersweet note. I enjoyed reading it and thank you to the author(s).

Great Idle Time Reading.
Just rec'd and, as my habit goes, opened to the last story, "The Hero Of Lost Causes" by Phillip Frey. Funny, sweet and well done. If the other stories are of this caliber, this will be a very good read.


Slow Down
This collection of short stories is dedicated to help us slow down the maniacal tempo of our high-tech infested life style by slowing down the pace. But how can a story at a slow pace avoid tedium without betraying it’s theme of ease by stepping on the plot accelerator? In his story "The Hero of Lost Causes," Mr. Frey has solved this structural dilemma brilliantly. He, like the alchemist of old, has found his philosopher’s stone. It is called slow motion. He has seamlessly fused the blazing stride of the thoroughbred hurtling down the stretch with the lyric step of the ballroom waltz, a grand race in slow motion coupling speed and grace under the perfect balance of the tightrope walker. We sense the galloping heartbeats of his quirky characters when in distress and their quiet confidence when in command of life, love, and rescuing a dead body bobbing among the waves of their funeral at sea, characters that seduce us into their quirky fates with charm, courage, passion and a flair for sprinting slowly.