LIFE-LIFE IS THE ADVENTURE! The physical world-the magnificent illusion-that's the game. The Shell is where the dice are rolled. Where the wheel is spun. Where the cards are shuffled and dealt. Life is where the hand is played. You can see why it's so important that we forget it's all an illusion. If we remembered, every time we held a hand that didn't suit our fancy, we'd fold and request a new deal. What would that do to the game, to the other players? Every hand can't be a winner, right? Sometimes we draw garbage, sometimes we get a pair. Maybe some-one else has a higher pair. Somebody gets three-of-a-kind. A straight. A full house. Once in a while someone draws a royal flush. Get it? Once in a while. Not every player. Not every hand. That's how the game works. Life is about playing the hand you're dealt, to the best of your ability. If you're a really good player, maybe you can win the pot without holding so much as a pair. Sometimes starting out with that royal flush can be a disadvantage. Think of the royals throughout history who inherited their kingdoms. Never had to work for them. Never had to learn, develop muscles, grow strong. One day they discover they're not up to the new challenges, and they wind up leaving their heads on the block. And the guy sharpening the guillotine is the one who began life with low numbers and no face cards.
About the Author: BORN WITH PRINTING INK IN HIS VEINS, Joseph Robert Cowles hails from an American family that for generations has been printing works of literature. An ancestral cousin, Edwin Cowles, published books and leaflets promoting equal rights for women and the abolition of slavery, then developed the Cleveland Ohio Leader into one of the nation's most powerful newspapers and helped put Lincoln into office. Joseph's grandfather, Will E. Cowles, published the Saint Peter Journal in Minnesota at the turn of the Century. His own love affair with ink on paper began at age ten, when his elder brother sold Joseph an indelible pencil and a packet of thick gelatine and showed him how to convert one of his mother's cookie sheets into a hectograph printing device. His graphic arts work has spanned more than six decades, from the tail end of the letterpress era through the years when lithography was king. He's been computerized since 1984, and now relies on Print On Demand and ePublishing technologies. Event Horizon Press is presently celebrating its 24th year of publishing.