Thematically, these stories range widely, from adultery to first love, from the humorous to the nearly-tragic, and they include central characters of an equally wide spectrum: a child, a teenager, a college student, a nurse, an electrician, a legal secretary, among others. One of the many strengths I see in these stories is the use of local, familiar landmarks and places. No stories take place in Tibet or Somalia, for instance, because these writers know that exotic locations can distract a writer, not to mention a reader, from the importance stuff-what happens to the people in the story . ....