Snap Shots — Alan Blackwood

In his novel Writer's Cramp, and Pot Shots, his
first collection of short stories, Alan Blackwood
already displayed a great gift for brevity and
economy of words. In Snap Shots , he has
honed this gift to perfection. These are not
short stories as such but sketches of characters,
places and situations, brought vividly to life by
a microscopic eye for what is just enough and
not a single word more. The fact that nearly
all are based on the author's own experiences
brings them into even sharper focus. Such
gem-like pieces, funny or sad or somewhere in
between, are something quite new in the realm
of the written word.
'Alan Blackwood's short stories are
like novels condensed to a single page,
tantalising, evocative, poignant.'
John Carey, Emeritus Professor of
English Literature, Oxford University.