Collection

Wanna hear a story? Everyone loves a good tale-people have been telling them to avid audiences since medieval times, relating legends, myths, folk or fairy tales, fables and other anecdotes to thrill, shock or make them laugh. And today, the modern short story has developed in a way that means each of them can be read independently in one single sitting. No backtracking to find out where you left off the night before or staying up after the witching hour to find the ending. As Nobel prize-winner William Faulkner describes it: "A short story is character driven and a writer's job is to trot along behind him with a paper and pencil trying to keep up long enough to put down what he says and does." It means the short story has become essential reading for holidays, for commuting to or from work, or for busy housebound mums seeking a relaxing half-hour break from doing what housebound mums do. The short story should, first and foremost, be an entertainment-not necessarily a ha-ha-ha entertainment or a shock-horror-OMG entertainment-just something that pleases the reader in the short time it takes to read.

COLLECTION hopes to help the reader find that entertainment. He or she can open it up at random, choose one tale, read (or re-read) it, then put it back with the rest to be picked up again whenever there are a few moments that need filling.