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Everywhere Stories: Short Fiction from a Small Planet
"Travel invigorates and enlightens, and so does reading. You don't have to go to the Congo to gain an understanding of the challenges women face there. You don't have to go to Costa Rica to learn about resentment toward fly-by evangelism. You don't have to go to Iran to sample Persian culture and anguish. When it's done right-as the stories in this anthology are-fiction can transport you and show you the essential details, the soul of a place. A fiction writer is like an archaeologist in that way, digging, brushing away what doesn't belong and revealing what a casual observer-a tourist-might miss. Read the book. Explore the globe. But remember, it's a dangerous world." -from the Introduction, by Clifford Garstang, editor
- GenresShort Stories
234 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2014
About the author
Clifford Garstang
15 books371 followersClifford Garstang is the author of three novels: THE LAST BIRD OF PARADISE (forthcoming, 2024), OLIVER’S TRAVELS, and THE SHAMAN OF TURTLE VALLEY. He is also the author of three story collections: WHAT THE ZHANG BOYS KNOW (winner of the Library of Virginia Literary Award for Fiction), IN AN UNCHARTED COUNTRY, and HOUSE OF THE ANCIENTS AND OTHER STORIES. He is the co-founder and former editor of PRIME NUMBER MAGAZINE and the editor of the three-volume anthology series, EVERYWHERE STORIES: SHORT FICTION FROM A SMALL PLANET. A former international lawyer with a prominent US law firm and the World Bank, Garstang earned a BA from Northwestern University, an MA (English) and a JD from Indiana University, an MPA (International Development) from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, and an MFA (Creative Writing) from Queens University of Charlotte.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 15, 2023
I’m probably being too overly critical when I look to be blown away by every book/short stories that I place my heart in.
While I did like a few of the varied author’s stories, I sadly say that I did not love any of them. Nor did I hate any of them.
There are many 4 and 5 stars given so give it a try. It just didn’t work for this reader
While I did like a few of the varied author’s stories, I sadly say that I did not love any of them. Nor did I hate any of them.
There are many 4 and 5 stars given so give it a try. It just didn’t work for this reader
July 24, 2014
I am the editor of this anthology, and I think it's awesome. (Even if I weren't the editor, I'd give it 5 stars!) After an open call for submissions I received 650 short stories set in nearly 100 countries. It was a lot of work to get that pile down to just 20 stories, but I think readers will be impressed.
I didn't have a theme in mind when I started, but one emerged: "It's a dangerous world."
I hope you'll give the book a lookt!
I didn't have a theme in mind when I started, but one emerged: "It's a dangerous world."
I hope you'll give the book a lookt!
September 14, 2014
It's reassuring to learn that in this sorry time of reader fascination with intergalactic love, wizardry, and the mandatory vampire or three, there still exists the kind of writing once practiced by literary luminaries like Hemingway and Fitzgerald, Raymond Carver and Alice Munro.
Award winning author and Press 53 fiction editor Cliff Garstang(his book What the Zang Boys Know, was selected the Library of Virginia's Best Novel of 2013) has just completed a wonderfully written and emotionally engaging anthology entitled Everywhere Stories: Short Fiction from a Small Planet. Featuring a score of talented writers, each escorts the reader on an arm chair journey through one of twenty unique locations.
Readers interested in writing that sheds light on what it is to be human,will not be disappointed. Each story,from Brandy Abraham's two page short story,"Following the Encantado," which is set in Zambia, to Alden Jones' twenty-four page "Heathens," set in Costa Rica, is certain to add to a reader's understanding and appreciation of our progressively shrinking world..
While I'd be hard-pressed to pick a favorite, I admit I felt an immediate connection with Tim Weed's "The Money Pill," and Rochelle Distelheim's "Comfort Me with Apples." The former traces the gradual growth of a young man who almost too late comes to understand something important about himself after meeting three young Cuban women, while the latter movingly portrays the plight of those in the Middle -East who are forced to live the daily nightmare of death and destruction.
I've long looked forward to each year's "Best Short Stories of (you name the year). Edited by world famous authors,these collections are viewed by many as the finest writing being done. I honestly believe Mr. Garstang's Everywhere Stories: Short Fiction from a Small Planet will soon be included among them.
BTW,Amazon has jumped the gun and already is selling the book, despite the publisher's wish to wait until October 1 for the official launch.
Award winning author and Press 53 fiction editor Cliff Garstang(his book What the Zang Boys Know, was selected the Library of Virginia's Best Novel of 2013) has just completed a wonderfully written and emotionally engaging anthology entitled Everywhere Stories: Short Fiction from a Small Planet. Featuring a score of talented writers, each escorts the reader on an arm chair journey through one of twenty unique locations.
Readers interested in writing that sheds light on what it is to be human,will not be disappointed. Each story,from Brandy Abraham's two page short story,"Following the Encantado," which is set in Zambia, to Alden Jones' twenty-four page "Heathens," set in Costa Rica, is certain to add to a reader's understanding and appreciation of our progressively shrinking world..
While I'd be hard-pressed to pick a favorite, I admit I felt an immediate connection with Tim Weed's "The Money Pill," and Rochelle Distelheim's "Comfort Me with Apples." The former traces the gradual growth of a young man who almost too late comes to understand something important about himself after meeting three young Cuban women, while the latter movingly portrays the plight of those in the Middle -East who are forced to live the daily nightmare of death and destruction.
I've long looked forward to each year's "Best Short Stories of (you name the year). Edited by world famous authors,these collections are viewed by many as the finest writing being done. I honestly believe Mr. Garstang's Everywhere Stories: Short Fiction from a Small Planet will soon be included among them.
BTW,Amazon has jumped the gun and already is selling the book, despite the publisher's wish to wait until October 1 for the official launch.
Shelved as 'keep-in-mind'
September 11, 2019Added 9/11/19.
Published October 1st 2014 by Press 53
CONTAINS A STORY BY Rochelle Distelheim.
Years ago I found a wonderful poem by Rochelle Distelheim.
See it below:
======================
NO MUSE IS GOOD MUSE
-by Rochelle Distelheim
To be an Artist you need talent, as well as a wife
who washes the socks and the children,
and returns phone calls and library books and types.
In other words, the reason there are so many more
Men Geniuses than Women Geniuses is not Genius.
It is because Hemingway never joined the P.T.A.
And Arthur Rubinstein ignored Halloween.
Do you think Portnoy's creator sits through children's theater
matinees--on Saturdays?
Or that Norman Mailer faced 'driver's ed' failure,
chicken pox or chipped teeth?
Fitzgerald's night was so tender because the fender
his teen-ager dented happened when Papa was at a story conference.
Since Picasso does the painting, Mrs. Picasso did the toilet training.
And if Saul Bellow, National Book Award winner, invited thirty-three
for Thanksgiving Day dinner, I'll bet he had help.
I'm sure Henry Moore was never a Cub Scout leader,
and Leonard Bernstein never instructed a tricycler
On becoming a bicycler just before he conducted.
Tell me again my anatomy is not necessarily my destiny,
tell me my hang-up is a personal and not a universal quandary,
and I'll tell you no muse is a good muse
unless she also helps with the laundry.
-Rochelle Distelheim
============================
I wish I knew which magazine the poem was in. It might have
been "Redbook", but I'm not sure. [posted at aq july 2001]
============================
Published October 1st 2014 by Press 53
CONTAINS A STORY BY Rochelle Distelheim.
Years ago I found a wonderful poem by Rochelle Distelheim.
See it below:
======================
NO MUSE IS GOOD MUSE
-by Rochelle Distelheim
To be an Artist you need talent, as well as a wife
who washes the socks and the children,
and returns phone calls and library books and types.
In other words, the reason there are so many more
Men Geniuses than Women Geniuses is not Genius.
It is because Hemingway never joined the P.T.A.
And Arthur Rubinstein ignored Halloween.
Do you think Portnoy's creator sits through children's theater
matinees--on Saturdays?
Or that Norman Mailer faced 'driver's ed' failure,
chicken pox or chipped teeth?
Fitzgerald's night was so tender because the fender
his teen-ager dented happened when Papa was at a story conference.
Since Picasso does the painting, Mrs. Picasso did the toilet training.
And if Saul Bellow, National Book Award winner, invited thirty-three
for Thanksgiving Day dinner, I'll bet he had help.
I'm sure Henry Moore was never a Cub Scout leader,
and Leonard Bernstein never instructed a tricycler
On becoming a bicycler just before he conducted.
Tell me again my anatomy is not necessarily my destiny,
tell me my hang-up is a personal and not a universal quandary,
and I'll tell you no muse is a good muse
unless she also helps with the laundry.
-Rochelle Distelheim
============================
I wish I knew which magazine the poem was in. It might have
been "Redbook", but I'm not sure. [posted at aq july 2001]
============================
September 29, 2016
Each story is set in a different place in the world--from a family worrying about evil spirits in Brazil to a young fortune teller in Panama to a boy shot in a street robbery in Pakistan. The settings are fascinating, the stories just as enticing. Great fun.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews