Past, Perfect, Present Tense
New and Collected Stories
by Richard PeckRichard Peck has been writing short stories and novels for thirty years. Short stories, he says, are harder to write than are novels; all of the words have to be important. The author divides his short stories into three categories; those set in the past, those with a supernatural aspect that bridge time, and those set in the present. After an introduction to his writing in general and his first ever short story, the author presents each of these types of stories and then gives four examples. He concludes with writing tips. Two of these stories were previously unpublished, and if you are a voracious reader, you will have probably read a few of the stories before. All of the stories contain an element of surprise, so that knowing the ending makes the story a bit different, but these are worth rereading, especially if you didn't reread them immediately the first time. The introductions are not exclusively about the stories included here, and do not give away any of the surprises.
Happy reading.
