Each of us has a story to tell! That summer vacation experience; the fish we caught; the girl/guy we just met; or the cute thing the dog/baby did. In the telling, the story can morph. The fish can be larger, the vacation more ideal, the new person more charming than objective reality. The art of story telling is as old as the ability to express oneself in a language.
Some story telling is used for teaching–think The Boy Who Cried Wolf. Some can be a way to describe the world and how it works, such as many of the exploits in the Odyssey, which is a collection of short stories to describe the world. Some story telling is for entertainment. One of my favorites is The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County (1884) by Mark Twain.
After World War II, short stories have enjoyed some real success. This new-found audience was greatly helped by the production of journals and magazines such as The New Yorker, which made the shorter form of fiction accessible, and brought us wonderful writers like John Updyke, Flannery O’Connor, and Stephen King. The medium expanded enough to allow such a variety of forms and genre that the short story often defies such descriptions.
I invite you to sample some of my work. I am not sure if they can fit into a genre category. I work with a wide range of ideas, and ways to tell the tale. Your feedback and opinions are welcome. Thank you for taking the time to read the work. Comments?