Short-story book features local authors

Contributors include both professionals and beginners
By Jay Bodas
January 2, 2008
THE SENTINEL
Besides being an attorney, incoming borough councilman Chris Morrison is also a writer of fiction in his free time. "I had always enjoyed writing, but I had never really shared that with anyone else," Morrison said. "Before this, I hadn't been published in anything besides college publications."

Morrison's work appears in the recently published Raconteur Reader, a collection of 30 short stories published by Alex Dawson, owner of Main Street's three-year-old bookstore, The Raconteur. The book's contributors include a range of writers, from those whose work is being published for the first time to those who are award-winning professional writers, including Oscar-nominated screenwriter Robert Festinger, who co-wrote the screenplay for "In the Bedroom."

Fellow Metuchen resident and author Robert Kaplow is also a contributor to the Reader. Kaplow has seven published novels to his credit, and one of his books, "Me and Orson Welles," is now being made into a film by director Richard Linklater and stars teen actor Zac Efron. Kaplow also refers to himself as an "authentic fan" of the Raconteur bookstore. "I am there all the time … I was there today," he said. "The Raconteur is what a bookstore ought to be”