"A stunning collection from Frederick Bailey, one of America's most theatrical playwrights. Bailey has a terrorizing mind, with a sharp vision and skewed compassion for mankind." -Pulitzer-winner Beth Henley Frederick Bailey was co-winner of first prize at the first annual New Play Festival at the Actors Theatre of Louisville. His plays have been done off-off Broadway in New York and in various resident, university and waiver theatres from Los Angeles to Boston and London. The plays in this collection have casts varying in size from a solo performer to five. The styles range from dramatic naturalism through bold expressionism all the way to lunatic melodrama and Monty Python satire. Two of the plays are freshly minted. The Los Angeles Times has called Bailey's work "an interesting mix of the Marx Brothers, and ...entertaining..." "A gifted and visionary writer...Bailey has one of the clearest original voices writing for the theatre in Los Angeles." -L.A. Daily News "There's no doubt that Frederick Bailey is a talented writer. He creates interesting, full-bodied characters and he develops a plot carefully and with a fine sense of unravelling mystery." -Hollywood Reporter "Bailey stakes out new emotional territory... [He] writes with a directness that avoids inflated symbols and easy pathos and makes you believe in his characters." -Louisville Courier-Journal Titles in this collection: A BITTER EXCHANGE AN UNSCHEDULED APPEARANCE THE OPPOSITE END OF THE COUCH LITTLE GIRLS, AN EXCERPT FROM THE ANTICS SET IT DOWN WITH GOLD ON LASTING PILLARS KEEPER NOT ME, BOY RAW TOADS FILE STRIPPER and the title piece, THE HOODED GNOME, a tale of future horror "Bailey's writing is brilliantly comic...not only refreshing, but badly needed." -Dallas Jazz News Writing under the moniker J.F. Bailey II, he also has five novellas and two short story collections published by Rolling Pictures on Amazon.