Click here for an excerpt from "Autumn Reflections"

Remarks from readers: Dear Jack Boone, My wife and I read to each other regularly at night for our own entertainment. I bought a copy of Autumn Reflections the other day and we were in tears while reading it as well as entranced by the reality. The critic was right when he said the reader will never forget it. I know we never will. Respectfully, Ken N —Marietta, GA. Review by Professor Robert Hays Southern Tech University ---Maybe we should define a good short story as "brief fiction that keeps you enjoying it as you read, but thinking after you finish it." By that definition, Jack W. Boone has written an appropriately titled collection of short stories. You'll enjoy them. Then you'll enjoy them later, while thinking about them. Boone avoids the quick crutches of sex, deus ex machina, booze, weird folk, exotic places and profanity. He just tells good stories, maybe about ourselves in a mirror. Thanx, Boone!

Autumn Reflections

People tell me that the stories in this book brought back wonderful memories of long ago. The reaction comes from a wide variety of people, mostly in their fifties or over.  Each story is an individual memory something that happened in real life to real people.   

The first story is about an old man who, after many years away, returns to the home where he lived as a child. He reminisced about the old days when he was growing up on the family farm with a loving and wonderful family around him. He tells about the people and animals and the hard times during the depression years leading up to WW II.

Each story will take you back to a gentler time when personal peace and tranquility was a part of our lives. Back when love between family and friends was seldom openly displayed, but you knew it was there.

Some of the stories are sad because they reflect life as it truly was at the time.  Be prepared, and don't be ashamed, to shed a tear or two as you read this one.  It's good for the soul. 

There is no offensive or suggestive language in this book. You will not be ashamed to share it with anyone.  It is not a big book, but it has a powerful message.

THE POTBELLIED STOVE

Potbellied stoves in country stores were local story-telling institutions in the days before radio and television. This story will bring back pleasant memories to those who remember the old country stores and their ornate Franklin stoves. The tales told on winter days are legendary in some parts of the country. We recite a few of them in this story.

JULIO'S LETTER

This is the story of the trials and tribulations of Julio Pasquali, an Italian immigrant, who just couldn't conform to his new country and their strange way of doing things. A loveable character, he runs a meat market in New York city. Even after being in the US for many years, he still had not mastered the language. He clung tenaciously to the old ways of his heritage. You'll love him, just like his customers did as they depended on him for their special cuts of meat for Sunday dinners and celebrations. Even his adversaries admired the old man. The story is in the colloquial language that he used every day.

THE HOOP SKIRT

This story is an account of a maiden lady during the Civil War period who was in extreme distress after eating some raw turnips before church. She was wearing a voluminous hoop skirt at the time, as befitted the dress of the era. When she discovered that her new-found Yankee admirer was about to be captured by the Confederates, the situation took a turn that became quite unusual and amusing.   

This last story may be rated PG14.

THE APOCALYPSE STORIES

THE DEPRESSION

This story is about a man who lost his job when his company was acquired by a corporate raider. His problems started when he refused to believe that his professional talent was not in demand.  He wouldn't step down from his perch until it was nearly too late. His downward spiral is traumatic as we walk with him through his tragic circumstances day by day.

Unfortunately, this scenario could become all too familiar this day and time. The lesson he learned will apply to many people in the future. 

THE WORLD OF TOMMY BURNS

This story is about a desperately poor young man who, after joining the military service, was so ashamed of his poverty related background that he literally invented a family to try to have parity with his peers.  It is a touching and dramatic story. 

UNDER THE GUN

This story is a time calendar of what a family does from the moment an announcement is made that nuclear missiles are on the way to destroy them.

Hour by hour, as the precious time winds down, the family weaknesses and strengths manifests themselves.  This story has a most unusual ending.  You will be surprised.