News of the Weird: Ironies

A school principal in Ohio resigning after admitting she lied about her income on federal forms so that her children could qualify for reduced-price school lunches, the writer of Elizabeth Taylor’s New York Times obituary having died six years before Taylor, and a Christian pole-dancing class––just a few examples of the humorous anecdotes found in News of the Weird’s “Ironies,” an e-book original that proves that truth is stranger than fiction.


What started as a hobby among a few friends more than 25 years ago, Chuck Shepherd’s News of the Weird, has grown to be the most widely syndicated compendium of strange-but-true news stories today. Shepherd has turned this hobby into a mission, and now with the aid of the Internet, he continues to present a weekly distillation of the best bizarre dispatches gathered from around the world.


Not simply an aggregation of news feeds indiscriminately thrown together, News of the Weird contains items hand-picked by a man whose long experience in the realm of the unreal has given him a discerning eye. He would be the first to tell you that you really can’t make this stuff up, nor do you need to. Drawing from legitimate reportage, Chuck has plenty of material to work with, and he delivers each story he selects with a dry wit that lets its human eccentricity stand for itself – no need for embellishment.

 


About the Author

Any serious purveyor of public misconduct must necessarily draw upon a broad range of education and experience, and Chuck Shepherd has worn many hats in his journey to becoming America’s acknowledged wizard of weird. He holds degrees from three of our finest institutions of higher learning: a B.S.. from the University of Texas at Austin, a J.D.. from American University and an M.B.A.. from George Washington University.

Among the jobs he has held are business school and journalism law professor, government bureaucrat and White House wonk, trade journal editor, practicing attorney, basketball referee and NBA statistician, night club revue producer and radio operator for the U.S.. Air Force, including a 362-day/4-hour/19-minute tour in the Republic of Vietnam.

Today, Chuck and his wife live a quiet life in Tampa, Fla., where he decreasingly ventures outdoors.

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