Great Writers Great Stories: Writers from Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. [Paperback]

Edward Allan Faine (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1999

Great writing, great story-telling is alive and well in the mid-Atlantic. Twenty-seven great writers from Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. share their lives, their experiences and their imaginations. Common themes abound - relationships between mothers and daughters, men and women, and the pain of adolescence - but writing styles and subject matter are as diverse as the population and geography of these mid-Atlantic states. Of interest, three stories share a common, albeit somewhat exotic setting: the contemporary high school.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A welcome addition to a growing genre, the anthology of regional fiction writers: some already familiar, others with auspicious debuts. This is a consistently high-level collection of mid-Atlantic writers at their best." -- Barbara Meade, Co-Owner, Politics & Prose Bookstore, [1999 Bookseller of the Year], Washington, D.C.

"An astonishing peek into the lives of a broad range of characters; a determined fisherman struggles for a great catch, a literature fan has a rude awakening, a young girl masquerades as a lesbian, a woman waits in the dark for a horse killer. The stories are shocking, poignant and satisfying; like turning over rocks in a forest, each story explores candidly the hidden places of the human heart and mind." -- Carrie Tucker, Community Relations Coordinator, Borders Books & Music, Fairfax, Virginia.

"Great Writers Great Stories. How can you resist such a title? Don't if you want to know what's going on in the imaginations of aspiring writers who share your place in time. With 27 represented, IM Press storybook lays out a feast of many courses, from light appetizers through meaty, heavy main courses to rich desserts. Each time I tasted one, I wanted another just to see how different it would be." -- Sandra Olivetti Martin, Editor and Publisher, New Bay Times-Weekly Newspaper, Annapolis, Maryland

From the Publisher

Do you know any of these 27 writers?

Angell Bloom Crist Currie Dempsey Diehl Faine Fleming Hayes Heilprin Herbst Jacobs Larson Lourie McLean Motil Noronha Overton Parish Peabody Pietrzyk Poland Pomeranz Stearns Steenland Wilson Wolf

Some of you do. Twelve have published a book or two, seventeen have won major literary awards.

In any case, after reading GREAT WRITERS GREAT STORIES, register your comment on this site. Your endorsement will bring this book to the attention of other discriminating readers and the New York book scouts. Then we can all laze back and watch the searing heat of celebrity sunshine burn off the fog of anonymity and expose these emerging writers and their work to a wider audience.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: IM Press (June 1, 1999)
• ISBN-10: 0965465160
• ISBN-13: 978-0965465168
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,868,073 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Eclectic Collection with Common Thread, March 30, 2000

By 

Lynn Stearns (Germantown, Maryland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Great Writers Great Stories: Writers from Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. (Paperback)

Great Writers Great Stories is an eclectic collection featuring work from 27 Maryland, Virginia, and Washington D.C. authors. Hats off to editor Ed Faine for presenting work that covers diverse subjects, yet maintains a common thread, making for a smoother read than in many anthologies. While there is a delicate balance of poetic language and subtle imagery, there is also a vivid, often harsh look at reality throughout the collection.

A quote from Barbara Westwood Diehl's "Sparrows in Rain" shows this balance well - "Then bottles hit the sidewalk and rain glass into the street. I worry about my car, and hope the patch of impatiens I planted around the tree out front will be all right." The reader simply has no choice. The scene is real, the characters are alive, and so the reader cares about the outcome. She cares about the fragile relationship of mother and daughter in "Marble Sandcastles" by Lalita Noronha, and the protagonist and her sick dog in R.R. Angell's "It Could Be Worse" and indeed, about every character in every story in Great Writers Great Stories.

For consistently presenting stories that linger on the reader's mind long after putting the book down, care given to language, and characters and situations worth caring about, not to mention the coffee table quality cover of spring scenes at the U.S. National Arboretum, Great Writers Great Stories deserves 5 stars.

0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The worst collection of short stories I've ever read, April 17, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Great Writers Great Stories: Writers from Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. (Paperback)

A few of these stories are redeaming. The one in which a girl pretends to be a lesbian, and the man learning how to fly-fish. The rest of them are downright terrible and should be avoided like the plague. The editor, Edward Faine, has the worst story among the bunch. It reads like it was written by a 16 year old high school student. Don't waste your money.