Monterey Shorts

Edited by Walter Gourlay, Chris Kemp and Frances Rossi

Covering a variety of locales, time-frames, and life-styles from the Central Coast of California, the stories are all written by members of FWOMP, with "delightful touches of John Steinbeck, Sam Spade and Frank Herbert."

Monterey Shorts features a foreword by Brian Herbert, New York Times Best-selling author of the Dune Prequels, and cover art by Dan Koffman.

Reunion
Walter E. Gourlay
A retired university professor obeys an inner urge and drives across the continent. He finds himself back in 1943 at Fort Ord, California, at a reunion where he meets his former Army buddies and his long-ago love. Is it time travel? Or....?

Mortuary Beach
Mark C. Angel
Two young men come to the Monterey Bay area to explore its depths. They find that scuba diving there can be a wonderful adventure, or a perilous risk.

The Lizard Catcher
Lele Dahle
Ten-year-old Rose was looking forward to a dreary summer, until the day her mother took her to the egg farm where she saw a girl about her same age....A story about friendship, love and loss, told within the idyllic landscape of a rural Carmel Valley remembered.

Monte-Ray Gun
Byron Merritt
A comedic, futuristic view of the Monterey Peninsula as seen through the eyes of a retro-police detective and his spineless partner as they try to solve a murder of an alien found in the Monterey Intergalactic Aquarium.

Borscht in the Bay
Ken Jones
Long time Pacific Grove resident Clarence “Woody” Woodall has his life upended when he sees what he’s sure is a Russian landing party invading his hometown in the middle of a star-studded autumn night.

Resurrected
Chris Kemp
A perfectly normal young woman — who happens to be the daughter of a witch — takes a forced sabbatical with the mother she can’t stand. When the destination turns out to be an uncanny parallel world, she finds nothing is what it seems, including her mother.

A Flash of Red
Frances J. Rossi
A Flash Of Red is a whodunit-styled story set in Pacific Grove, California. Although meant to entertain, it is also intended as a modern-day parable in which appearances can be deceiving.

A Place to Heal
Shaheen Schmidt
The story of a man who’s lost his soul to the tyranny of a high-paced L.A. life, then starts a different journey after visiting the Monterey Peninsula

If the Tubs Could Talk
Pat Hanson
If the Tubs Could Talk...is a fantasy that occurs to an overstressed woman as she takes a workday reprieve at one of the Central Coast's mystical hot springs.

Dot's Dad Visits Dinosaur Town
Mike Tyrrel
Join a father as he travels to his daughter’s not-so-imaginary place, where she’s the reigning Queen in a land of meat eating dinosaurs. Enjoy the role reversal, as the dad discovers he is the frightened problem child, while his daughter is the soothing adult enforcing seemingly absurd rules.

Visit http://www.fwomp.com for more information

Review by Victim (311003) Rating (8/10)

Review by Victim
How does one go about reviewing a collection of short stories by various authors? You normally have little connection between the stories or the authors, although the genres tend to be the same.

This one, however, is different. The authors are all from a writing group in the Monterey area, and the stories are all based in that area. I know nothing about Monterey, (it's in the USA - California, I think) and based on some of the stories I would like to know more... but then again, based on some of others definitely not!

The stories are not confined to any particular genre; there is a supernatural one in here, almost a horror, but mostly thrillers. There is a lot that has gone into this collection. Again, I would love to read some more by all of these people. The subjects may not be exactly my cup of tea, but every one is a little gem! I have checked on Amazon for this title but it is currently unavailable in the UK, which is sad. However, it is available at Amazon.com for our overseas visitors. I would really recommend this collection.
Victim (31st October 2003)