Editors: Chris Kemp: Byron Merritt: Ken Jones

ISBN: 0976009609

There is something to be said about a group of diverse authors and writers residing in the Monterey Peninsula of California that in 2000' decided to form a writing group with the objective of improving their skills by subjecting their masterpieces to straightforward, rigorous, and mutual critiquing. As Bryon Merritt, one of the principal founders of the group, pointed out to me, this was a group that was not formed to become publishers. However, fortunately for lovers of short stories, this did in fact occur with the publishing of its first anthology, Monterey Shorts. The initial venture has now spawned more stories with its second edition, Monterey Shorts 2: More On The Line: Stories by Fiction Writers of the Monterey Peninsula.

This latest ambitious anthology runs the gamut from absorbing stories reflecting the history of the Monterey Peninsula to its culture and even the psyche of its inhabitants. There is Byron Merritt's A Break In The Trail -a story based on a real person, Charley Parkhurst, who worked for the stage coach lines in the Santa Cruz area in the 1850s and 1860s. Readers will be in for a surprising ending! Another is a comment on the art scene of the area with Frances J. Rossi