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We received 3,400 original stories in this round of Three-Minute Fiction. Until the winner is announced next month, we'll be reading a few of the stories that catch our eyes. Weekends on All Things Considered guest host Rebecca Roberts introduces the stories Crane, by Becca Leighton and Honor, by Linda Nordquist. To see these stories and others go to npr.org/threeminutefiction.

After posting on Twitter under the name "The Tweet of God" for the last year, comedy writer and former Daily Show executive producer David Javerbaum is out with a new book this week called The Last Testament. But some big retailers aren't laughing. Names including Wal-Mart have refused to carry the book.

Perhaps best known as Johnny Carson's straight man, whose bellowing "H-e-e-e-e-e-ere's Johnny!" opened NBC's Tonight Show, Ed McMahon had dreamed of being a radio announcer ever since he was a child.

The Parthenon is a national symbol in Greece, but many of the marble sculptures that adorned the temple are in London. The British Museum houses the ancient relics, famously called the Elgin Marbles, claiming it's better equipped to care for them. But now, the Greek government has built a state of the art museum — at a price tag of $200 million — and it wants those sculptures back.

The largest pop-culture convention in the nation is under way in San Diego. Comic-Con runs through this weekend, and 125,000 people are expected to pass through each day. It's also become a marketing destination for the entertainment industry. To find out what draws so many to Comic-Con, Steve Inskeep talks with comic book aficionado and movie director Kevin Smith, whose films include Clerks and Chasing Amy.

Of the films you saw last year, it's likely that fewer than 10 percent were directed by women — which makes it remarkable that seven movies now in theaters have women's names above the credits.

Cult director John Waters discusses his friendship with Manson family member and convicted murderer Leslie Van Houten, who he believes should be released on parole.

The play may be the thing, but the hard truth is that theater isn't particularly lucrative. Acclaimed playwright Theresa Rebeck is just one of many dramatists who pay the bills by writing for television.

University student Joseph Carnevale built a 10-foot roadside monster out of stolen orange-and-white safety barrels in Raleigh, N.C. Already on probation, Carnevale could go to jail for the art. But hundreds of people have lobbied the city to drop the charges against him.

A country home on the outskirts of Washington, D.C., provided a respite and a summer getaway for a president mired in the Civil War.