Can books make you beautiful? So hope the motley population of Michael Kreger's stories. But life has other plans, strewing the path of literature with obstacles: grasping aunts, malicious librarians, alcohol. The pottering heroes of these hilarious stories never throw in the towel, opting instead for lives of heroic, ridiculous abnegation. Whether by abandoning fame to care for a gymnasium-sized beast, by endeavouring to prove that all history stems from typos, or by harnessing the moon to predict world events, Kreger's characters consistently opt for art over life, only to find life, in its most outlandish forms, biting relentlessly back. SCENCES FROM THE LIFE OF A BESTSELLING AUTHOR is for anyone who has ever tried, and failed, to find refuge in books.