Authored Pieces
Short Story Vault
Follow the links below to read several short stories.
Short Stories
Why Do Authors Write At All
There are many reasons to write short stories. Richard Thomas, in his article “Storyville: Why Write Short Stories At All?” (May 1st 2013), lists several practical reason for penning a shorter narrative. He mentions finding a voice, mastering the mechanics, shorter acceptance times, wages, and exposure, etcetera. Authors such as Alice Munro, winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Literature, writes short stories because that is what time allowed when she was younger and it just sort of…fit. Yet, why does she feel compelled to write at all. Joe Bunting, writer, entrepreneur, and author of the bestseller “Let’s Write a Short Story!” states four reasons to author a short story: “The Best Writers Started with Short Stories, They’re Practice, You Need to Publish Something Sooner, and Because You Have Stories to Tell.” Authors and stories from my own past have influenced me, and prompted me in the creation of my own narratives, poetry, and essays. Jim Henson’s 1987 television series, The Storyteller starring Jon Hurt, was a large contributor to my writing career. What author could resist the show’s opening invitation to write, for invitation, it was. “When people told themselves their past with stories, explained their present with stories, foretold the future with stories, the best place by the fire was kept for…the storyteller.” Individually, each author has excellent reasons to write, yet authors like Bunting and Thomas, etcetera have conspicuously omitted the primary reason people write. While they mention we have stories to tell because “we want to stop consuming and start creating,” (Bunting, 2013) they neglect to mention that we live and understand our lives through narrative. We learn and convey information through narrative, and we entertain through narrative. In short, we write short stories to understand human thought processes and perceptions of the universe, real or imagined, and to communicate that understanding to others. Free of the mind and trapped on the page for dissemination, the author’s understanding attains a life of its own beyond the author.
- Jason E. Collinge
Vancouver Version by Jason Edward Collinge
In the best tradition of urban legends, Jason presents this brief ghostly tale.
~ The Burglar and the Fiancée ~
By Jason Edward Collinge
When a young man sets out to find work one morning, he saves a woman's life. Little does he know that this one act of kindness will set in motion a series of events to change his life.
With "The Burglar and the Fiancée," Jason breathes local Vancouver modernity back into the age-old folktale of "The Fisherman's Wife."
By Jason Edward Collinge
Everything has a story and a past. Everything comes, it its elemental origin, from the Earth. Written as an autobiography, this is a brief life story of a wooden car from Cuba, its history told backwards in its own words through personal use, purchase, and manufacture, all the way to original natural resource from which it came. What are the biographies of items around you?