7 best short stories by Ellis Parker Butler

Book excerpt: Ellis Parker Butler was the author of more than 30 books and more than 2,000 stories and essays and is most famous for his short story "Pigs Is Pigs", in which a bureaucratic stationmaster insists on levying the livestock rate for a shipment of two pet guinea pigs, which soon start proliferating exponentially. His most famous character was Philo Gubb. Despite the enormous volume of his work, Butler was, for most of his life, only a part-time author. He worked full-time as a banker and was very active in his local community. A founding member of both the Dutch Treat Club and the Authors League of America, Butler was an always-present force in the New York City literary scene. In this book you will find seven short stories specially selected by the critic August Nemo: - Pigs is Pigs - The Hard-boiled Egg - Philo Gubb's Greatest Case - Solander's Radio Tomb - The Thin Santa Claus - Dey Ain't No Ghosts - The Man Who Did Not Go to Heaven on Tuesday