"MONTEREY SHORTS is a well-written and very eclectic anthology."

Travel through the Monterey Peninsula, CA area with this sparkling multi-genre anthology put together by the Fiction Writers of the Monterey Peninsula. From solidly grounded contemporary adventures to light-as-air flights of fantasy, MONTEREY SHORTS gives you a taste of what the region-and its writers-have to offer.

Walter E. Gourlay starts things off with his quasi- paranormal story "The Reunion," where a man's memories of a Monterey Bay soldier's club provide a curious mystery. Mark C. Angel's contribution "Mortuary Beach" is a factual, and thrilling, account of a diving adventure. Third is Lele Dahle's "The Lizard Catcher," a breezily gruesome summer's tale told from a preteen's point of view. Byron Merritt offers "Monte-Ray Gunn," a wry futuristic detective story, and Ken Jones follows it up with "Borscht in the Bay," a tale of Russian refugees and a nosy retiree who's wrong more often than he's right. "Resurrected," by Chris Kemp, is a mother-daughter tale with a twist of the paranormal, one in a series of stories that he has written. Frances J. Rossi lays out a woman's search for the truth-and her encounter with deception in "A Flash of Red." Next is "A Place to Heal," a cautionary story about stress and the recuperative effects of Monterey by Shaheen Schmidt. "If the Tubs Could Talk," by Pat Hanson, is a short-short story exploring the curious habit of tub-bathing-and the tubs that are so essential to the process. The book ends with Mike Tyrrel's "Dot's Dad Visits Dinosaur Town," a flight of fantasy that any parent-or anyone who was once a kid-can appreciate.

MONTEREY SHORTS is a well-written and very eclectic anthology. While some stories captured my interest more than others, I found myself well-pleased by the overall collection. The front of the book provides a map for readers to orient themselves, and each story opens up another part of the area to the reader's imagination. The broad spectrum of adventure, nostalgia, mystery and fantasy ensures that there's something for everyone. Though some of the stories are a bit more heavy-handed than others with their themes, the verve and enthusiasm the seeps from the book makes such offense forgivable. MONTEREY SHORTS delivers bite-sized travel and entertainment for armchair readers willing to take it on.

Reviewed by Ann Leveille
Courtesy ParaNormal Romance Reviews (PNR)
Posted March 30, 2004