Murderous clowns! Hyper-imaginative preschoolers! Non-indigenous conch shells! Well-armed loners! Food trucks galore! Post-pandemic day drinkers! Soul-crushed corporate stooges! The rich tapestry that is community college culture! Pulse-pounding grocery shopping! And so many frozen confectionaries and salty, oily fish!

It’s all here in “Anchovies & Ice Cream,” the first wordy-word book from Skelton co-creator Ron Ruelle. Each chapter is a very, very short story about a different person. None of them are connected. Unless they are.

It’s 184 pages of stories that are mostly a single page or even just a few ‘graphs. It’s a wordy-word book, with a few illustrations included.

Ruelle will be at the Charlotte Heroes Convention June 16-18, where you can buy it and all of his other books in person, engage in awkward conversation, and get it signed. Look for the cluster of AA-07, exact table TBA. I’ll have Skittles! Freeeeeeee Candyyyyyyy!

The book is also available at Ron’s other website at ronruelle.com. Or you can order it direct from him autographed. Email him at heydarwin@comcast.net for details.