1st. Trade paperback. Clarion Publishing (2020). New. Illustrated cover. 199 p.
These 27 short stories by historian and award-winning journalist Charles Culbertson encompass a broad array of topics from the humorous escapades of a 1905 Staunton, Virginia, storekeeper to the drama of a handful of French Legionnaires fighting a last stand in the Moroccan desert.
"Siege at Fort Lyautey and Other Stories" is almost entirely the result of a challenge between the author and fellow writer Don Reid (retired lead singer for The Statler Brothers). Over a series of lunches, Culbertson and Reid would challenge each other to write a short story based on one word, chosen at random. The word "difficult, " for example, resulted in this book's title story, "Siege at Fort Lyautey." Other stories are drawn from Culbertson's vivid imagination as well as from some of his colorful personal adventures.
Culbertson writes in a variety of styles that are particular to the subject matter at hand, but all these stories have one point in common the enduring quality of the writing.
