200 SHORTS is a collection of flash fiction stories, each one under 1,000 words. Like the offerings at a smorgasbord, there’s something for everyone, the ideal book for readers on the go: they can read entire stories in a page or two while riding life’s treadmill to and from work, on breaks, etc.

That’s what we love about flash fiction. Is there a theme that links the stories in the collection?
200 Shorts covers a multitude of themes from adventurous to downright zany. The under-1,000-words flashes tell stories in  many fiction genres: humor, horror, sci-fi time and space travel, crime noir, fantasy, romance, and more.

Interspersed are ninety-one bio-flashes that follow Anthony Lanzetti from grade school in the 1950s to 1965, the year he lived in Sicily.

Have you got any favourites? Tell us about them.
“The Hook”

Mrs. Penelope is teaching her fourth graders how to write a strong hook to draw readers into their story compositions. When Frankie Boyd, who was absent a few days with the flu, is called on to recite his effort, mean Mrs. Penelope belittles him for pronouncing the word “fury” as “furry,” the way he spelled it in his opening sentence. Frankie holds his ground and all hell breaks loose.

Hmm, OK. Can’t tell where that might go. We’re going to have to read it to find out. Got another one?
“The Painted Wagon”

Uncle Benny shows Anthony the rusty old wagon hanging on the garage wall. He promises one day to paint it so it looks good as new, a present he will eventually give his young nephew. Short on patience, Anthony has other ideas and an essential life lesson to learn about the waiting game.

You mentioned something called bio-flashes. What’s that about?
In 200 SHORTS several of the flashes are narrated by my alter-ego Tony Lanzetti. Each Lanzetti flash tells a sliver of my life that I chose to remember always, both happy and sad events and the lessons they taught me.

That leads us neatly to our next question: tell us about yourself.
I caught the writer’s bug when I was nine years old. A poem to my mother won me much praise and encouragement from her and my father, so to make all of us happy I kept on writing. I taught English for nearly 30 years in middle school, high school, and college, retiring in 2007 and moving from New Jersey to West Virginia.

I am married to my forever love, Sharon Lee.

Have you written any other books that we should read next?
Most of my previous books are poetry collections: A DUSTING OF STAR FALL: LOVE POEMS and TWO CAN PLAY THIS GAME, the latter co-written by a fellow poet Paul Juszyk.

I am currently editing two novels: CARMELU THE SICILIAN and UNDER THE DOME OF NOONAN.

Do you have a website where we can keep up with your work?
www.salvatorebuttaci.wordpress.com and also www.salbuttaci.blogspot.com

How can we follow you on Twitter and/or Facebook?
@sambpoet
www.facebook.com/SalvatoreButtaci

How easily do new storylines come to you? If we give you four random words – Man, Woman, Airport, Darkness – can you give us a brief storyline?
When storylines come to me, I create the scenes in my head so that the brief story has a strong-hook beginning, a middle, and an ending. I let the story work itself out in my mind before I set it down on the monitor.

Fair enough. Does anything come to you from our words?
Karen Fairchild drove to Kennedy Airport to welcome the man she’d been corresponding with for a year now. She’d know Travis Morse by his smile and by the red baseball cap he said he’d wear so she could pick him out in a crowd.

The plane was late arriving. When Travis walked into the passenger waiting room, Karen saw the woman beside him. They were holding hands. She kissed him and he returned the kiss. His sister? Hardly. Karen turned her face towards the exit and headed towards her car. She’d drive away in the darkness but having seen the light in time, she smiled up at the rear view mirror.

What’s next – for you, we mean, not for Karen?
In between promoting my books and those of other authors, I intend to finish editing my books, find a publisher, and promote them too.