Charles “Chuck” Bins, a regular contributor to Cape Fear Voices, hopes his new book will tickle funny bones and make readers think. Quirky Stories & Poems: Backwards, Forward and Upside Down (AuthorHouse) is about many things – real and fictional accounts about growing up, pleasure and pain, good and evil, as well as quirky insights into human nature.

Most stories are under 600 words, making it perfect for the coffee or night table, bathroom or flight bag.

Bins developed some stories in a Brunswick Forest writing group which were then published in Cape Fear Voices/Teen Scene. This includes “Heard on Nextdoor” about the uproar that follows when an alligator invades the neighborhood, and another upside-down story, “No Firm Ground,” about being trapped by uncertainty. Many stories also include humorous endnotes and delightful cartoons by the author.

Bins has ghost-written hundreds of articles for magazines on topics spanning business, technology and consumer products. Early in his career, he was an internationally syndicated entertainment columnist, interviewing celebrities such as Tom Hanks, Kenny Rogers and Patty Duke.

“As a former journalist and marketing PR pro, I spent my life writing non-fiction, so this a real switch. My goal is to entertain, to make readers laugh, and think,” he said. The book is mostly fiction with a colorful array of stories and poems for children, teens and adults.

He earned an M.S. in Marketing/E-Commerce from the City University of New York, and a B.A. in Mass Communications from Rutgers University in N.J. Now retired, he lives in Brunswick Forest in Leland, N.C. with Mary, his wife, two cats and a cockatoo.

Quirky Stories & Poems is about 200 pages and available as an E-book, paperback or hardcover through book retailers including Amazon, Barnes & Nobles and Kobo. To learn more, visit the author’s website: www.charlesbins.com.