Author: Derrick Hurlin

Publisher: Manx, Pretoria; 2008; ISBN 9781920148164; 160 pages; 41 short stories, including short shorts; size A5; soft cover

Condition: New books; bookseller's stock.

*Ideal for high school / college library acquisitions (copies at better than remainder prices).

A delightful and varied collection of skillfully written stories, some very short, and some not so short. The stories are in a variety of styles, straight narrative, dialogue, monologue, letter, fantasy. In each there are glimpses into the minds of the characters. In some the author shows his mastery in crafting the surprise ending. Settings are a mixed bag: from home, to further abroad. It all adds up to a wonderful menu for the hungry reader.

Stories:

Passport home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Dear Old Mrs. Bodry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Every Wednesday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Golf? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Who is He? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
It’s Sunday, Harry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Pick-up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
The Meeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Uzwani . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Diamond Laury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
A Letter from Jacqui . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
A Date with Deborah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
The Opera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
In the Beginning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
A Share for Cindy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
First Lady. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Sand of the Okissib . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
What’s In It for Me? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Girls’ Night Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
The Dome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
DIM Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Two Men Called William . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Is This Seat Taken? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Order of the Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Dreams at a Bus Stop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Let’s Go. You Drive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Hey! That’s My Place!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
A Special Dinner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
The Perfect Novel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
At Last . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Love on Wheels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
What a Life! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
One Day Off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
The Emperor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
We Called Him Brenny . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Tenth of Diamonds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Lost and Found . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
I Wonder How They Know . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Without End — I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Without End — II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
A Hunting Story – A Hunting Philosophy . . . . . . 158

 This collection of short stories would be an excellent acquisition for your high school / college library.