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After many years of teaching English and using short stories in his classes, the author compiles over a dozen of his own short stories in this collection. The works are varied and eclectic, ranging from a pseudo-Dorian Grey story involving a magical encyclopedia to a western epic concerning a young man and his grandfather helping some of Texas' early American settlers reach their destination. Each story varies in length from a few pages to nearly 100, taking the time to develop plots and characters that fit their environment and will last in a reader's mind. With different styles and genres brought together, readers can get lost in these different stories one after the other or linger on one before moving on.
Some of the tales collected here are supernatural and entertain in their implausibility, while others are so real and so human that they leave a lasting mark after the final page. Crafted through the mind of someone with a lifetime of experience learning, teaching, and loving the language, this collection offers something for everybody without cutting corners or leaving anything on the table. Employing unique landscapes and narrative choices, each story stands out on its own and is just as memorable as the one before it. Despite their generally short length, the pacing does not feel rushed nor do things come up unresolved in the end. Whether it's through a snapshot of a young woman giving birth to her first child in the frontier or a quirky unrequited romance given chance to find new life, readers will be drawn to the stories contained here and the lively characters that populate each and every one.