Pine Meadow is a peaceful, second-home, residential community located in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. As the second-home people evolved into permanent residents, the retired urban dwellers learn to adapt to country living. Their new community is next to an old, Gold Rush town inhabited by rural families who have lived there for generations and regard the newcomers as "Fiddleheads." This causes an inevitable clash of cultures. Ten short stories about the formerly professional class, "Fiddleheads" portray unique and distinct characters experiencing fundamental problems and conflicts that assail the human heart. Related with humor as well as adventure and tragedy, the stories exemplify different aspects of six types of love categorized by the ancient Greeks: Eros, Philia, Ludus, Pragma,Philautia, and Agape. We tend to think of "love" in its romantic sense, but these tales portray the complex aspects of this universal emotion. AUTHOR BIO George Rathmell is retired from forty years of teaching English at all levels from elementary school to university. He is the author of "Realms of Gold" (literary history), "The Pickle Girl," and "A Passport to Hell" (biography). His articles and stories have appeared in Coast and Valley, The Californians, and Travelers' Tales. More than sixty of his works on San Francisco history have been published in The Nob Hill Gazette.