Too busy to read? You might like to try Short Story collections. Neat, slim, intellectually challenging and beautifully compact – one story can be read in a few minutes, maybe while sitting in the car waiting for a teen to come out of school or sitting in a Waiting Room. It’s quick to slip a copy in your purse or case to keep handy and turn downtime into uptime – a few minutes just for you?

There are funny anecdotes, bittersweet tear-jerkers, shocking expose’s, mysterious tales and puzzles to work out. The Newsletter will bring you reviews of new Short Stories from the top of the pile of emerging talent, and a fresh look at Classics. The Short Story genre is alive and well. Indeed, shape-shifted into its new guise as Flash Fiction – or Micro-Fiction- it is positively scintillating!

I will scrutinise some prominent literary journals to weigh up their choices. We don’t always see eye-to-eye! A Short Story gets one chance only, when it’s me reading. If I don’t keep reading after the first three paragraphs …… it’s lost me. Many of you lead similarly hectic lives earning a living, home-making and caring for others, and this shortage of time applies to you too. My Coffee Break criteria will decide the stories that make it to my Gift Recommendations, although Short Stories that intrigue readers the first time round, often deserve many returns to pick up hidden nuances.

Gift Recommendations for Best Friends, for Moms, Grand-moms, Daughters, Sons, Teens, Students, Partners, Relatives and for that one person you know who’s always tricky to buy for – will all be covered, in turn.

Stumped for a gift idea? Please e-mail me and “throw down the gauntlet.” I will set myself a challenge to help you with suggestions. Or maybe, you have had a disappointing book purchase? E-mail me to “spill the beans” about the poor writing in the Stories or the poor value for money and we can spread the word.

I want to hear about Great Finds too, of course. Email me with your funniest, most heart-warming or most thought-provoking reads! These are not always the obvious Bestseller choices either. Publishers often bombard us with the books they think we ought to be enjoying. This mass-marketing sometimes drowns little gems that readers would love, if they knew where to look. So the Newsletter will also highlight real Finds from the Self-publishing world, where I have often discovered absorbing stories, sometimes auto-biographical, that have been truly inspiring.

The Newsletter will also alert you to the latest hot Forum posts and newest tips from other readers, many of whom are also aspiring writers. So let’s make this Forum the newest, most challenging test bed for new Short Stories.

Newsletters won’t cover every topic in one issue, just short, sharp and sweet alerts of new content you might not want to miss.

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