Curiosity: And other short stories

by Jeff Bilman

This is a collection of short stories that will grow as I write them and add them to this ebook. Story 1: Vampire Butts from Outer Space. Aliens have come to Earth, but alas, it seems they aren't friendly. Will Earth survive the Vampire Butts from Outer Space? Read this short story inspired by B-Grade Science Fiction movies. Story 2: Elephant Tales This is a collection of some of my cartoons, including commentary on various aspects of creating the cartoons. Story 3: The Mars Rover Meet Curiosity, the latest Mars Rover. He spends his every moment, day and night, rolling over dusty old Mars collecting rock samples. Why? To find evidence of life on another planet. But Curiosity finds more evidence than he bargained for when he stumbles upon the Super Ninja Alien Robot Monsters—aliens from Alpha Centauri. They're camping on Mars while they make their plans to conquer Earth. Unfortunately for the 'none-too-bright' aliens, they didn't count on the troublesome Mars Rover and the mayhem he causes. Curiosity has problems of his own, though. Can he obtain the evidence to prove that aliens do exist? This fun, stand-alone short story complements the middle reader novel for children aged 7-12: Super Ninja Alien Robot Monsters.

83 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 19, 2012

About the author

For a long time I dabbled in cartooning, illustration and film. This included: writing and illustrating cards for a major greeting card company, awards for my comedy short film "The Brink", and a couple feature-writing assignments for producers in Hollywood (boy, that was hard - and not all that fruitful!).

My focus switched to writing books for children when I started reading to my boys at bedtime. It's a great way to connect, even if the rest of the day has been too busy. I wanted to write a book that boys would love, and their parents might also enjoy reading.

I like humor - a lot. I also see great value in the tradition of storytelling to demonstrate concepts that may help children traverse some of life's difficulties (such as being called 'Farty bum breath').

Super Ninja Alien Robot Monsters is a book for middle readers (7-11 years). Besides working on the second Super Ninja book, I'm currently writing a book for advanced readers called, Clown Town. It's a book for boys AND girls ... and maybe even parents too!