Snap Shots

In his novel Writer’s Cramp, and Pot Shots, hisfirst collection of short stories, Alan Blackwoodalready displayed a great gift for brevity andeconomy of words. In Snap Shots , he hashoned this gift to perfection. These are notshort stories as such but sketches of characters,places and situations, brought vividly to life bya microscopic eye for what is just enough andnot a single word more. The fact that nearlyall are based on the author’s own experiencesbrings them into even sharper focus. Suchgem-like pieces, funny or sad or somewhere inbetween, are something quite new in the realmof the written word.‘Alan Blackwood’s short stories arelike novels condensed to a single page,tantalising, evocative, poignant.’John Carey, Emeritus Professor ofEnglish Literature, Oxford University.