Short Stories by Jean-Pierre Martinez
The art of making a long story short
A short story isn’t just a short novel, it’s a literary genre in its own right, with its own defining characteristics. Specifically, the art of writing short stories requires leading the reader to a surprise ending. An ending that must be unpredictable and therefore startling. As the story unfolds, the reader is enthralled by the suspense and carried by the taught narration to the reveal that they are burning to discover … unaware they were following a red herring to a conclusion that, while unexpected, is always flawlessly logical. But of course! exclaims the reader as they reach the last page of a well-constructed and deftly written short story. It was all there, I would have seen it coming but for the author’s clever storytelling.
In this short story collection, Jean-Pierre Martinez, who is also a playwright and a scriptwriter of police television series, demonstrates his mastery of delivering the perfect ending to his audience. In each of these seventeen short stories, he takes the reader into a variety of universes to play with (and against) their expectations – and does so brilliantly.
Translation by the author
Original title in French : Vous m’en direz des nouvelles
Published in 2011
Created, as a play, in 2016 at Ruffec (France)