Douglas Brown is a movie star who wakes up to find he is being blackmailed by someone he doesn't know. He calls his agent Jack Girardi who calls Hollywood private detective Frank Manascalpo to sort things out. Frank does well, at first, but he finds the wrong man. He finds an aspiring writer/director Max O'Leary, who is under the mistaken impression that the sudden attention he is receiving might be because Douglas Brown wants to make his movie. He doesn't. In the end, Max does get his big break in Hollywood. Unfortunately, he is going to have to kill someone to get it. Written by Anonymous

Civilization and its discontents. Paul, an actor preparing for "Uncle Vanya" on Broadway, is mired in ennui. His agent tells him about an office where he can put his soul in storage. He does so then discovers that being soulless helps neither his acting nor his marriage; he returns to the office and rents, for two weeks, the soul of a Russian poet. His acting improves, but his wife finds him different, he sees bits of the borrowed soul's life, and he's now deep in sorrow. He wants his own soul back, but there are complications: it's in St. Petersburg. With the help of Nina, a Russian who transports souls to the U.S., he determines to get it back. Who has he become?