Introduction for Buxton and Other Stories

 The Introduction for my new short story collection Buxton and Other Stories:

One of thedefinitions Merriam-Webster gives for fantastic is ‘conceived or seeminglyconceived by unrestrained fancy.’ Another is ‘so extreme as to challengebelief.’ Since all the stories in this collection fit either of thosedefinitions, or at least graze them, I considered calling this collection TheFantastics. But there's a double problem with that: First, there’s the 1960play The Fantasticks, which could cause some confusion, and second, Merriam-Websteralso gives a third possible definition of ‘excellent, superlative’, and thatmight convey more than a whiff of conceit.

Sincemy first short story collection was titled 21 Tales, and there are twentystories in this collection, I briefly considered the title Almost 21 MoreTales. But the stories in this collection are very different from my earliernoir stories in that first collection.

Whilethese stories run the gamut from science fiction to horror to mystery,relationships are at the core of most of them—whether it’s the relationshipbetween a husband and wife, a couple which have just started dating, twopartners, a baseball player on his last legs and his parents, or a reporter andthe truth.