This is a collection of stories that self-deterministically ended up being shorter that what most people would consider book-length. Of course, it raises the question, what is book-length? Nobody really knows if they're being honest. But I guess that a book that is shorter than your weekly shopping list might not be worth the effort of designing a cover for it. Some of these stories came out of thin air, some were written to prove a point, and a few were never short but are, in fact, extracts. Can an extract be a short story in the accepted literary sense? Personally, as Rhett Butler said, 'Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn'. If the extract has something to say, then it's a story, by default. That does not mean that any old extract can be a story, and the extracts in this collection might not work for you. But Rhett has a point, as does Mr Bradbury. Writing to satisfy other people's expectations is sure to lead to madness. So, make of these what you will, and be glad they're not written in the style of Gertrude Stein's stream-of-consciousness. That definitely would be a waste of everyone's time.