Far Flung: Stories by Peter Cameron

Peter Cameron prose doesn't bowl you over. He is stealthier than that. The stories, much like Hemingway's, might not hit you at the moment, but have a way of creeping back into your brain. That's when I know I've read something good.

The stories here mostly all deal with travel or distance, usually both geographically and inter-personally.  Cameron is a great short story writer. The characters and story develop fully in a short time. This was a good read.

This book was published in 1991. It's amazing how far technologically we have come in that time. These stories exist in a time before the World Wide Web and the ubiquity of cell phones. I am more used to reading of the present or of the far past (Dickins, Christie). For me at 47, reading of the stories from the near past was a little strange, but not in a bad way.

My copy cost $4 and was bought new on clearance from some book store. This book is out of print. New copies start at $99 on Amazon. Crazy. Mine, which is in great shape and a first edition, might be worth $20 if anyone decides they want it.

Lately as I have been reading a book, I have been decided whether to set it free. Many of them have been in my possession for too long. This one is going to be listed on Amazon.