Collection of short stories don’t pair well
By Kathryn Reed
Each time I picked up “All is Well, Safely Rest and Other Stories” it was a mystery what I would be reading next.
This is a collection of nine works of fiction from Wade Morgan, who used to live and work in Lake Tahoe.
The biggest problem I had is that none of the stories seemed to go with the next one. It appears to just be a collection of his short stories. And while there is nothing wrong with this per se, it is a hard collection to recommend because they are all over the place.
Stories range from young firefighters to two couples targeted by Mexican outlaws to a woman looking to find a trumpeter from Hawaii. Each is well written. Some even have unexpected turns.
I could see Morgan developing some of them into a full novel. It’s like he has the chapter or two of more than one novel written.
He is definitely a good storyteller with a good imagination.
These short stories also seem like they would have more readership appeal if they were sold separately – perhaps published in a magazine – rather than bundled in this collection.
Ms. Reed –
Thanks for taking the time to read and comment about my collection of short stories, All Is Well, Safely Rest. I appreciate hearing what someone like you, an experienced book reviewer, has to say about my writing. Though I have written one other such collection, I’ve written three other works, the chapters of which I believe flow along together to result in a complete novel. One you might like to read, and perhaps review, is called Six Days in Siberia. That book is a suspense novel and I’d be happy to send you a copy, if you’d like.
Wade Morgan