Tales of the Truly Unpleasant: Humor columns by:

Two decades of laughs ... and wisdom? For 20 years, starting in 1988 and continuing to 2007, Steve Johnston's humor columns were a reader favorite in The Seattle Times. Now, for the first time, his family has collected some of their favorites in this book - immortalizing, among other things, Steve's wife Nancy, the "Truly Unpleasant Mrs. Johnston." Here you will find more than 40 of the 200 or so Sunday Punch columns he wrote for the newspaper's Pacific Northwest magazine, plus a tasty selection of the "restaurant reviews" and Just Ask Johnston question-and-answer columns he did for the paper's Eastside edition. Settle back, prepare to chuckle ... and perhaps nod your head in agreement as Steve recounts his life with a big and sometimes noisy family, among many other topics. A word from a boss... When people learned that I worked at The Seattle Times, their first question - usually asked with an air of hopeful expectation - was, "Do you know Steve Johnston?" That was followed quickly by, "Is he really like what he sounds like in his columns?" And, "Is his wife 'Truly Unpleasant'?" The short answers were yes, yes and definitely, absolutely no. Steve connected with so many readers not just because he is funny (though many women failed to appreciate the humorous way he regarded his wife, Nancy, in print), but because he writes about life in ways many of us experience it. In a word, Steve's writing is genuine. So is he. Steve's stories are funny, but they are also filled with timeless insights about life that make them worth reading again and again. Enjoy. Alex MacLeod Managing Editor, 1986-2003 The Seattle Times