Compositions for the Young and Old

by Paul Tremblay

A jar that holds your deepest secrets and fears. A fireman confronts his past while trying to save a group of children who have fallen through thin ice. A preacher's daughter goes to fantastic and desperate lengths to write a book like Mark Twain. A man who cures people's pain and sadness through laughter finds his greatest challenge in a little boy. In this debut collection by Paul G. Tremblay, there are twenty stories following the chronological arc of a human life. Twenty stories about the young and old, and everyone in-between.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories

246 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Paul Tremblay has won the Bram Stoker, British Fantasy, the Sheridan Le Fanu, and Massachusetts Book awards and is the author of the New York Times bestselling Horror Movie, The Beast You, Are, The Pallbearers Club, Survivor Song, Growing Things, Disappearance at Devil’s Rock, A Head Full of Ghosts, and the crime novels The Little Sleep and No Sleep Till Wonderland. His novel The Cabin at the End of the World was adapted as the Universal Pictures film Knock at the Cabin. An adaptation of A Head Full of Ghosts is currently filming. His novel Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep is coming in June 2026.

His short fiction and essays have appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Entertainment Weekly online, and numerous year’s-best anthologies. He has a master’s degree in mathematics and lives outside Boston with his family. He is represented by Stephen Barbara, InkWell Management.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

All stories were enjoyable. Hackin at the Peach made me cringe and smile. Paul Tremblay is a great author with engaging stories

[RL Bailey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than his other shorts but still nowhere near his novels. The short story is difficult and a lot of these feel like outlines.

[Jesy Joy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Short stories are definitely not my favorite, and yetz I constantly go into them with hope. I have definitely resd a few I loved. This, unfortunately, wasn't one of them. Right off the rip, I hated the first story.  But I kept going. There were a couple I did enjoy, my favorite being Annabel Leigh. But even that one had its issues (in my opinion, the ending was too abrupt). Several of the stories felt like completely unfinished thoughts with no point. With More Than Eyes does deserve a mention because it was perfectly written even though it was nearly too much for me. I do enjoy Tremblay's work but this one just didn't work for me.

[Merzbau · Rating 4 out of 5]

most of these stories were pretty melancholy but that last one wrecked me

[Victoria Gettinger · Rating 4 out of 5]

A few meh stories, but the rest are great!

[Kurt Newton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful first short story collection by one of the best practitioners of the dark fantastic. If you haven't read Tremblay, start here at the beginning!

[Ryan Edmonds · Rating 5 out of 5]

Few other authors can get to the emotional core of a story as quickly as Tremblay does. This is an amazing debut collection.