Collection Lets You Sample Several Authors

Sometimes it is very difficult to find an author you really like. “Connections” helps solve that problem. Edited by Donald R. Gallo, it’s a collection of short stories by 17 authors.

At the end of each story is a brief description of the author and a partial list of their works. If you like their work, this makes it very easy to find one of their books.

“Connections” is broken down into four different sections: Encounters, Clashes, Surprises and Insights. All of these stories deal with girls and guys in their teens to 20-something who see the world with a new perspective.

Many of these stories have endings that you would never imagine. It was a refreshing change to be suddenly surprised at the end of these stories.

Two stories I enjoyed were “A Brief Moment in the Life of Angus Bethune” by Chris Crutcher, a Spokane author, and “Fairy Tale” by Todd Strasser.

In “A Brief Moment,” you really do see a brief glimpse; at the end you want to learn more about Angus. Angus was born with enough genes to make him the size of a baby elephant. On top of that, both of his parents were married, divorced and now married again. The weird part is that his mothers married each other and his fathers married each other. Angus calls himself “the fag kid with perverted parents.”

This story gets more interesting so I encourage you to read it and see how normal your life is.

“Fairy Tale” isn’t as weird; it takes the familiar tale of Cinderella and gives it a twisty surprise ending. Cynthia Durella has a witch for a step-mom. Her step-mother makes her do evil, awful chores while her ugly step-sister feeds her face and gets away with anything.

There’s a school dance coming up and Cynthia wants to go. Things work out and Sam Morganson, a new friend, helps her find a dress. Cynthia has a fun time and gets to dance with “the most popular guy in school.”

At 10:30 p.m., when Cynthia has to walk the dog, she runs away from her partner and leaves a red shoe behind. “Prince Charming” comes to school trying to find out who this mystery maiden was. When he comes to Cynthia, everything falls into place . . . right? Wrong. You’ll just have to read it to see what happens.

Other authors in “Connections” are Gordon Korman, Susan Beth Pfeffer, Ernesto Belhancourt, Richard Peck, M.E. Kerr and many others. All of these stories were quite enjoyable and gave me insight to the authors’ work. For further reading, two more insightful books edited by Donald R. Gallo are “Visions” and “Sixteen.”