20 Over 40

by David Galef (Editor), Beth Weinhouse (Editor)

As anyone over forty can attest, the middle of life can be complex. It means assuming authority over both the younger generation and the older set: kids and aging parents. Still, midlife fiction has gotten short shrift, if it's gotten any shrift at all.

For those who like a good story but are tired of youthful fiction, 20 over 40 offers welcome relief: a short story anthology by authors over age forty about subjects that have a lot to do with that too-often-ignored time of life. Whether the plot concerns tending to children, taking care of older parents, pursuing a love affair, facing one's own age, or just nursing a midlife crisis, these stories speak to the complexities of real life. These writers are no longer novices, yet they're not jaded or cynical. They know their craft.

400 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2006

About the author

I’ve published extremely short fiction in the collections Laugh Track and My Date with Neanderthal Woman (Dzanc Short Story Collection Prize), extremely long fiction in the novels Flesh, Turning Japanese, and How to Cope with Suburban Stress (Kirkus Best Books of the Year), and a lot in between. My latest is Brevity: A Flash Fiction Handbook, from Columbia University Press. Day job: professor of English and creative writing program director at Montclair State University. I’m also the editor in chief at Vestal Review, the longest-running flash fiction magazine on the planet.
@dgalef
https://davidgalef.com/
https://www.vestalreview.net/