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Editorial Review Product Description
In The President's Parasite, Jim Musgrave resurrects all that has gone missing in today's literature: originality.The title story is a Kafkaesque piece from the point-of-view of an intellectual tapeworm trapped inside a moronic president, and the satirical impact is worthy of Swift.The other stories range from a widower trapped inside the Clock Tower in Baghdad that he constructed, to a baseball pitcher who becomes a living vegetable after a batted ball strikes his head.All in all, there is something for everyone in this collection of 30 eye-popping stories from a truly gifted author. ... Read more Customer Reviews (3) 
Some good stories
Reviewed by Ellen Hogan for Reader Views (10/06)
"The President's Parasite and Other Stories" is a compilation of lots of stories, some are cute, some are interesting and some you wonder why it was written. The stories really don't relate to one another in any way, so there is no real main theme.
These are three of the stories that I particularly liked:
"Joe's Rendezvous" - This is the story of the first meeting of Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe.Did it happen this way, may be. The story goes that Joe was eating in a restaurant with an older man when a gorgeous young woman walked in and over to their table. The older man introduced them to each other and then left. They chit chat for a little while and then Mickey Rooney walks up to their table and Marilyn is quite impressed. However he wants to talk to Joe and is thrilled to meet his childhood idol. Then Marilyn asks Joe, "Don't you play some kind of sport?"He answers that he plays baseball for the Yankees. Finally Marilyn is impressed and tells Joe that she goes and visits her mother who is crazy every year and asks if he would like to go with her.She says "maybe she will recognize you. I guess you're the most famous baseball player in the world!" To which Joe answers "honey, there's one thing you have to learn.Me, you, everybody in the world. We're all special. I'm just one of them. I'm just Joe. But I'd love to go with you."
"A Betting Man" - There was a man named Stan who loved to bet that people couldn't find things. The Tankard's Alehouse was where it all took place. First bet was for a hundred dollars to find someone wearing a St. Louis Cardinals baseball cap. It must be on a citizen and this person must be a tourist.Mickey Arthur who had been a drunken loser before that day came running in with a young kid wearing the cap. The bets kept going on for over a month, then one day the bet was that they would find Stan's wife Angie from a picture he had. The third day of the bet Wally Chambers came into the bar with Angie.
She was surprised to see Stan and said she thought he was dead. He told her that he just wanted to see her one last time.Six months later Angie came in the bar with red swollen eyes, she was also pregnant. She told them that Stan had died from an inoperable brain tumor. She said he wanted to see her one more time before he went back to the hospital. Stan made one last bet in the V.A. Hospital; the wager was when the child would be born. He raised over eighty-thousand dollars. They asked what the winner got and she said to be her baby's namesake.Stan Burger was a real winner.
"Lee in '63" - This is a story from Lee Harvey Oswald's perspective of the events of that November day. He picked his way through the stacks of textbooks, with a long brown wrapped object. He is by the window while he remembers the argument he had with Marina. Then he unwraps the 38-caliber, bolt action, single-shot Italian rifle. It was nothing like the M-1 automatic he had in the Corps. He spreads the ammo out on a long case of books.There is noise outside as the motorcade approaches. He grins as the cars go around the bend, they will pass under him and he is ready. "The years will remember this day-November 22, 1963--as the day Lee Harvey Oswald changed the course of human history." He shoots three times then stops to buy a coke so he will look cool. He dreams of being a hero in the Kremlin. He and Marina will ride down Red Square in a limo."Every dog has its day, and Lee will be free in '63. Power to the people!"
There are many more stories in the book, some I thought were very good and others I didn't care for. It's for anyone interested in current events and also a little bit of history. Some of them are really thought-provoking.
I would recommend "The President's Parasite and Other Stories."Even though I didn't care for some of it, it was a good read.
Great book of short stories!
Stephen King commented in one of his books-sorry I don't remember which one-that the popularity of short story compilations has lost favor with contemporary readers, and I guess he should know. If that is indeed the case, I would ask that you make an exception and consider reading Jim Musgrave's The President's Parasite and Other Stories as this is an exceptional book-contemporary, insightful, poignantly honest-a glimpse into the down- or back-side of life.
There is so much I'd like to say and excerpts I'd like to share, but that would make this review much too long. The first book I reviewed for this author was a novel titled Iron Maiden. It is my opinion that Jim's short stories reveal his true talent and gift. From his writings you will experience an intelligent, educated, aware person-socially and politically concerned about real life and our problems in this world. It is also clear that Jim has lived a lot of life in order to tell these tales. He's a good writer with a rich imagination, and the book is well-edited.
On second thought, I can't help but share a few excerpts from his writing with you.
From the Littlest Angel of San Diego, page 133:
"Daddy came back home soon after Brittany joined the angels to take care of Mother when she gets to heaven. He is helping me take care of Mother until she passes on. He isn't so bad, either, because he doesn't drink. Maybe I won't have to be the mother too long now. Daddy says we need a woman around the house to take care of the little ones. We all walk down to the place where the express comes into town. We never could afford a grave for Brittany, but Daddy always insists that he can see a little angel riding on the engine as it comes into view.
"I must admit, I can see her too, if I look closely. I can see the flowing yellow gown blowing in the wind, the knowing smile, the loving protection that we all need-even big diesel train mechanics. But, sometimes, late at night, when someone is shooting in the neighborhood, or a drunk is yelling out in the street, I can see the train rushing toward me, and I can't jump out of the way. There is no angel. There is only darkness and emptiness all around me."
From The Clock Tower of Baghdad, pages 180, 181 and 184:
"It was a brilliant plan! Dr. Hussein was going to let each leader in the world experience his invention until he or she entered the state of eternal bliss that he had experienced. No longer would they believe they were powerful or politically correct. Instead, the instant karmic reality of Level II Consciousness would send the infinite world into a state to total understanding and infinite peace!"
"As I push the button, the music stops, but I am instantly aware of a new light all around me. Sounds have become vibrations that I can feel. Colors can be smelled, and I can hear with incredible exactitude. A woman, holding the hand of a child walks toward me, down a long corridor. I wait. She comes into my cell, and it becomes a grotto. Birds are singing and a waterfall trickles down the sides of the green, cascading hills around us. We have morphed into paradise! It is Shahrzad and my son, Muhammad! And soon, as if to complete the miracle, my father, Ibrahim, comes into the light. He is no longer crippled. He walks with pride into my arms. I feel his body, and it is muscular and new, just as it was when I was a youth. And so, when I gaze into the pond before me, I can see I am young again, and the rapturous longing in my heart becomes overcome with joy!"
Jim Musgrave can say so much with so few words, and he does just that, quite beautifully. You won't be disappointed.
Reviewed by Kaye Trout for Kaye Trout's Book Review, specializing in POD published books.
A satiric look into the human mind
`The President's Parasite' is a collection of short stories in which the author creates a paradox of the human life. Throughout the entire book, Jim Musgrave continuously makes fun at human strange behaviors and oddities. He mocks America's worldwide politics and its president, the Nazis and their beliefs, the war in Iraq and how much it affects us all, and he also attacks strong ethical issues such as the abortion or the death penalty.
The author portrays unusual situations and out of the ordinary characters: an American woman who pretends to be a reporter to save her kidnapped husband from an Iraqi insurgent group, a millionaire who wants to show his pastor that he can cause more problems with his money by wanting to do good to the society than by spending it on alcohol, a man with the biggest penis in the entire world who becomes part of a freak show, a parasite which lives in the president body and communicates with people on the outside to save the world, and so on.
Jim Musgrave is a talented writer with brilliant ideas. His writing shows he is an educated man and very well-rounded. He can talk freely about religion, politics, and worldwide events with a vast knowledge. Moreover, his short stories will make you think and laugh.
I really enjoyed reading this book and I recommend it to anyone who wants to get a good laugh at the world around us.
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