There are two collections in this book: one of 15 short stories and one of 11 book reviews. Fiction and nonfiction don't usually get combined this way, but, in my writing at least, I think the two complement one another.

A second reason for the fiction/nonfiction merger is that joining the two gives the book a certain heft though not so much so that the reader hesitates at the upfront commitment of slogging through hundreds of pages. And a third reason is that the one part may be of interest but not the other. Political economy, for instance, is not everyone's bag. I get that.

The stories are recent, dating from the publication of Flash! Fiction: Around the Block in 2022 The book reviews are from some of the books I've read since January—books that I can recommend to readers interested.

Peter McMillan

Toronto

October 2023