A jar that holds your deepest secrets and fears. A fireman confronts his past while trying to save a group of children who
have fallen through thin ice. A preacher's daughter goes to fantastic and desperate lengths to write a book like Mark Twain.
A man who cures people's pain and sadness through laughter finds his greatest challenge in a little boy. In this debut
collection by Chizine editor Paul G. Tremblay, there are twenty stories following the chronological arc of a human life.
Twenty stories about the young and old, and everyone in-between.
Introduction by author of Monstrocity and Punktown, Jeffrey Thomas.
"The first thing you'll notice about Paul Tremblay's brilliant debut collection is his range. Not only does this guy have storyteller in his genes, but a one or two hit, repetitive and revivisected wonder he most definitely is not. COMPOSITIONS FOR THE YOUNG AND OLD is an amazing story arc documenting the life of every man and the poignant self-examinations that ensue if we are to understand our place in this world. Here are life lessons told with a craftsmanship rarely seen in genre fiction." -- Brian A. Hopkins, multi-award winning author of EL DIA DE LOS MUERTOS
"Paul G. Tremblay writes so cleanly, you can't find a speck of dust in the workings of a story he's had his hands on. The flow of the words is smooth, the dialogue true, the descriptions sparse and evocative--you see the characters not through his eyes, but through your own, by way of well-chosen words that don't bog your mind's eye down with detail, but trigger a familiar version already in your experience. In short stories, he is Bradbury-esque in his control of what is shown, what is said." -- Brett Savory, author of IN AND DOWN and THE DISTANCE TRAVELLED
Contents:
Introduction by Jeffrey Thomas
Perfect
Role Models
The Pond
Reaching
Hurt
City Pier
Dole as Ribbit
The Harlequin and the Train
Cold
The Stairs
With More Than Eyes
Perception
Annabel Leigh
Walls
4'33
Hackin' at the Peach
So Many Things Left Out
The Laughing Man Meets Little Cat
The Jar
Colonel Evans' Last Mission
