"On October 3, 2000, 21-year-old pitcher Rick Ankiel took the mound for the St. Louis Cardinals in Game One of the National League division series. All was going well until Ankiel, who'd been lauded as the next Bob Gibson, threw a pitch that missed the mitt--wildly. Then he threw another. Then another, five in all. Slowly at first, then rapidly, his once-impenetrable pitcher's psyche crumbled. He would forever look back on that day as the day the...

Chad doesn't know if he can pull off his English class assignment of reciting an original poem in front of the entire school after remembering his last poetry reading and how embarrassing it was.

"It's Poem Day at Camembert Academy, and Angelina's best friend Alice has a major case of the tummy butterflies. She's afraid that when it's her turn to say her poem out loud to the class, she'll forget the words! Will Angelina be able to help her friend overcome her stage fright, or will Alice's tummy butterflies get the best of her?"--P. [4] of cover.

Souls can be extracted and traded as commodities. An actor named Paul Giamatti agonizes over his interpretation of 'Uncle Vanya.' Paralyzed with anxiety, he stumbles upon a solution via a New Yorker article about a high-tech company promising to alleviate suffering by deep-freezing souls. Paul enlists their services, intending to reinstate his soul once he survives the performance. Complications ensue when a mysterious, soul-trafficking mule borrows...