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Little Stories Draws on Rich Literary Subjects From Stendhal To An...



Eleven tales of life that run the full spectrum from birth to death. Lovers betray each other, then move forward in denial. An elderly man faces an empty house whose only resident is his dead wife'ss ghost and an ancient dog. Each story looks at longing, loneliness, and hard lessons learned that explore the dignity in suffering that lifts spirits in Jeff Roberts'ss Little Stories (ISBN 9781432727277, Outskirts Press, 2008).



Jeff Roberts has created a collection of short stories, with playful literary connections, but also with individual and touching plots from his own tender imagination. While Fitzgerald or Stendhal created movie-length stories that take several days to watch, Roberts'ss short stories work like snapshots, capturing in a brief vignette, a pivotal moment in a character'ss life.



Roberts'ss characters are like cameras themselves. The reader is inside the character'ss mind, watching the film from the character'ss perspective, and getting his commentary on the film, being moved by his emotions and coming to empathize with the character--yet Roberts transcends the reader above the character to his greater authorial vision that despite the pain, all is yet right with the world; people make mistakes, but mistakes do not imply stupidity--they reflect human nature, and they lead to the most valuable learning experiences.



Among Roberts'ss use of the classics is Cosette, the well-known heroine of Victor Hugo'ss Les Miserables. Roberts transforms Cosette'ss story into the tale of the loss of a pet. Throughout Little Stories, plays on the classics demonstrate how love is lost in multiple ways. But while pain is inevitable, even the most tragic moments reflect dignity in failure. Roberts teaches the reader to see beauty because the tragic moment defines the character as the opening chapter to a new era in life. Readers finish the stories as if looking at old photographs and remembering when they were that person before experiencing their own life-changing events.



Little Stories takes a critical look at the inevitable moments of betrayal and loneliness in the awkward quest to love and be loved, but the reader will discover the value--and even joy--to be had by looking backward and facing the past. And when the reader closes the book, the sense that these were Little Stories will prevail--little in the sense of too short, too few, leaving a desire to read more tales from the pen of Jeff Roberts, who can evoke in a few pages the emotion that required Hugo or Tolstoy to write a massive novel.



About the Author


Jeff Roberts graduated with a B.A. in Liberal Studies. His writing has been recently nominated for a William Rockhill Nelson Award, and has been featured in the University of Iowa'ss Daily Palette. Little Stories is his first published book, and he is currently working on a novel. Jeff resides with his family in Kansas City, Missouri.



Little Stories (ISBN 9781432727277, Outskirts Press, 2008) can be purchased through local and online bookstores. For more information, visit www.outskirtspress.com/jbroberts. Publicity contact: www.ReaderViews.com. Review copies available upon request.






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