When two aliens meet on a foreign planet, one is willfully lost. The other is friendly but sad. As both impart their wisdom on the other, each walks away with a different perspective on life and loneliness. Within a collection of short tales, Mary Johnson leads others down an imaginative path that explores the ecstasy and the agony of life examined from an intimate panorama. When a man signs up for a speed dating shindig, he does not expect to find depth and love at first sight. But as he is about to discover, life is full of serendipitous moments. When Orner Thomas receives an in-flight note from his travel companion, Caron, he decides not to open it, taking back control over his destiny. Opal is a makeup artist who holds her lovers at a distance. Now as she ends another soul-tying love affair with yet another transient straggler far from home, Opal reaffirms to herself that she is not responsible for her lovers' happiness. Strange Ruins: Volume I is a collection of short stories filled with diverse characters on unique journeys through life.