And I Wish I'd Asked Why

by David Hall

A collection of hard-hitting short stories about fascinating characters, each struggling to deal with modern life in their own, unique way. (Some of the stories contain swearing, sexual references, and occasional violence.)

152 pages, Paperback

Published May 3, 2022

About the author

An awkward interview
'So here's your opportunity to promote yourself. Go sell yourself to the readers.'
'Umm...I'm not good at that chest pumping stuff. I'm British.'
'Okay. Well, you don't have to 'chest pump', just tell us a little about yourself. Who is David Hall?'
'He's British.'
'Yesss, you've mentioned that. Anything else?'
'Such as?'
'Well, like where do you live?'
'In Britain.'
'Hmm, you're not really helping the reader to get a sense of you as an author. Tell us about the types of stories that you like to write.'
'Oh that's easy. Anything. well, almost anything. Nothing gory, I don't have the stomach for it'
'Right. But you must have a preference for a genre.'
'Oh you mean like ticky boxes... I see... then in that case, I like to write romantic-comedy-suspense stories. Short stories. Yes, definitely romantic-comedy-suspense short stories.'
'Okay, now we're getting somewhere. So that latest book of yours...err...what's it called again?'
'Love Line.'
'Love Line. Of course. Why should readers buy Love Line? What are they missing out on?'
'They are missing out on a romantic-comedy-suspense story. Sorry, short story.'
'Right. But isn't it a bit odd a man writing in the romantic genre?'
'No stranger than you asking that question in 2015.'
'Alrighty then, is that the time? We really need to wrap this up. Anything else you want to say to your readers?'
'Yes. Love Line will make you laugh, probably reach for a glass of wine, and give you goose-bumps with a delightful twist. I am not responsible for you spilling your wine at that time. Thank you.'
'There, that wasn't too bad.'
'Hmmm.'

Reviews

[Robin Ramone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book of short stories that are so well written I didn’t want to put the book down. The short stories are a bit on the dark side but they are brilliant. I picked up this book in a used bookstore in Goathland, England under the local authors section, it was such a great find. Highly recommended.

[The Book · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘And I Wished I’d Asked Why’ is a collection of adult themed, dark short stories by David Hall. Interestingly, the author writes under another name for his children’s books, which is a good idea as the genres are so vastly different. Very gritty and cleverly twisted short stories that each could be made into a longer book by themselves. Keeps the reader trying to second guess what will happen, and I didn’t get any of them correct in my assumptions. A few typos/spelling errors, but not much. 4 stars because of this. We’d recommend it to anyone looking for this type of book.