Side Effects

Side Effects is an anthology of 17 comical short stories written by Woody Allen between 1975 and 1980, all but one of which were previously published in, variously, "The New Republic", "The New York Times", "The New Yorker", and "The Kenyon Review".

Some of the tales

The first story, "Remembering Needleman", is a one-liner and non-sequitur filled obituary, four weeks after the fact, of Professor Sandor Needleman.

The fifth story, "My Apology", is Allen's tale of a recurring fantasy/dream of his where he imagines himself in the sandals of Socrates during the philosopher's final days in prison. The dialogue proceeds in a manner reminiscent of Terry Pratchett, and the ending contains two unexpected twists.

The sixth story, "The Kugelmass Episode", is about a CCNY professor named Sidney Kugelmass who, thanks to the powers of an obscure magician, is projected into "Madame Bovary" to carry on an affair beyond the scrutiny of his overbearing wife.

The seventh story, "My Speech to the Graduates", is a parody of platitude-laden commencement speeches.

The eleventh tale, "Nefarious Times We Live In", is the most off-the-wall of them all, and concerns the events that lead to its protagonist, Willard Pogrebin, to fire a Luger at President Gerald Ford. They involve at least five kinds of drugs and three cults.